British punk rocker Billy Idol can barely believe one of his greatest hits was more than 40 years ago. “It’s peculiar,” he told dpa in a telephone interview, thinking back to 1983, when “Rebel Yell” was released and brought him global stardom. “It’s a long time, but of course, it feels like it was just yesterday.” To mark the 40th anniversary, an expanded new edition of the cult album is being released, somewhat belatedly. “I think we wanted to make some kind of a statement with the second record because so many people were sort of slagging off the 80s,” he says. “The people in the 60s and 70s…