New rehearsed and recorded with the band Gen X in 1980, both in demo-sessions and on their long-player "Kiss Me Deadly", playing the guitar track on the "Dancing with Myself" single release. The lead singer Billy Idol and bassist Tony James wanted him to be the newly re-branded band's lead guitarist, but they reluctantly decided against it due to his professional unreliability caused by his increasingly severe narcotic habit. The Gen X song "Heavens Inside" was written by Billy Idol about New.