"I always had this thing about the "struggling musician,"" Steve Stevens says, taking five during a photo session in New York. "I was always terrified of that. Still am. I didn't want to fail. I never minded the thought of being poor at doing something, but I didn't want to fail at it."

Mind you, there�s no unemployment line in Our Steve�s immediate future. No way. We�re talking guitar hero here; a man in demand, with a swell wardrobe to match. Even his hair looks successful. Working with everyone from the Thompson Twins to Ron Wood while continuing to man the frets for Billy Idol (most conspicuously on the latter�s new album, Whiplash Smile), Stevens has been working flat out these past 12 months. The Jewish kid from Queens turned Whirling Dervish. ��His Royal Hairness,� as his equipment man likes to say. Playing guitar that sounds exactly the way he looks: fast, flash, and flapping in a hot wired wind tunnel at 600 miles an hour.