'80s Rock Icon Opens Up About Overdose That Almost Killed Him

'80s rock icon Billy Idol is baring all in his upcoming documentaryBilly Idol Should Be Dead. In the two-hour doc, which premieres on Sky Arts in the U.K. on March 26, the 70-year-old "White Wedding" singer recounts the high and low points of his epic rock and roll lifestyle — including a near-death experience he had one night in 1984.

After a three-year stint in the U.S., Idol went back home to London in 1984 to perform on the legendary British music show Top of the Pops. It was every musician's dream. But for the "Rebel Yell" hitmaker, it almost didn't happen. "I nearly ruined it and nobody knew," he revealed to Mirror.

"On our return to London we met some pals and they had some of the strongest heroin, Persian Brown, I think," Idol explained. "Everybody did a line and they all nodded out except me and a mate and we did a few more lines." That's when things got scary.

"I was basically dying," Idol revealed. "I was turning blue. So they put me in an ice bath and walked me around on the roof of the building."

As is the case for many rock stars, drugs were a large part of Idol's lifestyle. "The drugs just happened to come along," he said. "Drugs ruined some things, but life is just a little like that."

The drugs seemed all the more alluring because all the other artists were doing them. "A lot of the people we loved were heroin addicts back then. Lou Reed wrote the song 'Heroin,'" Idol explained. "We were not thinking how dangerous it was. Instead you think ‘maybe this can unleash something.'"

In a classic MTV promo, Idol says, "Too much is never enough." But over the years, drug use began to take a toll on the "Dancing With Myself" singer. "I started to realize it [drug addiction] was changing my personality and was perverting me in a way," he said. "But it takes a lot for the real personality to take back control. It takes a lot more than you think."