Well, There's Nothing to Lose and There's Nothing to Prove...

A super-grainy live clip of Billy Idol and Generation X. The sound is good though:

I love the history of this song. The Wikipedia entry nails it pretty good here:

"Dancing with Myself" is a song by the band Generation X released in 1981, from their album Kiss Me Deadly. It was one of their first true hit singles. At the time of its release, the band shortened their name to simply "Gen X." Also of note, the band contained only Billy Idol and Tony James from the original line-up. Idol went on to have great success with the single when he released a more pop friendly version (absent of the driving guitar and bass in the Gen X version) on his first solo release, Don't Stop.

Some have speculated that the song is about masturbation, but Idol himself said during his VH1 Storytellers appearance that the song was inspired by Tony James and Billy Idol witnessing patrons watch themselves dance in the space enhancing mirrors which covered the walls of a Japanese night club during the band's 1979 Japanese Tour.

Actually, I bought Kiss Me Deadly right when it came out. It was a British import and the "Gen X" thing was just getting going. Billy Idol was glam-punk, and everybody thought he was cool -- obvously, since "Dancing With Myself," along with "White Wedding," made him a huge star over the next couple of years.

I loved the album. Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols played guitar on a number of tracks. The production was Phil Spector-ish, with lots of overlaid sounds and booming kinds of bass and vocals. It wasn't a tinny kind of trash-punk, but a supremely polished outing.

Personally, the whole masterbation debate came around later. I was just 20 years-old at the time (and naive). Thinking about it now, it's pretty obvious with Idol's ejaculatory screams at the song's conclusion.

I saw Billy Idol, with Tony James on guitar, twice, at the Roxy Theatre on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood - 1981 or so ... seems like ages ago, but great times.