White Wedding (song)

"White Wedding"
Song

"White Wedding" is a song by Billy Idol that appeared on his album Billy Idol (1982). Although "the Big 80's:Episode I" of VH1's Pop-up Video trivia show claims Idol wrote the song to voice his displeasure with his sister's fiance (who impregnated her before marrying her), this has turned out not to be the case. On an episode of VH1 Storytellers, Idol claims that there was never any family resentment towards his sister, and that the song was simply heightened fantasy and nothing more.

It is often considered his most successful song, although other Idol songs charted higher. It reached #36 on the Billboard Hot 100 on its original release, and reached #6 in the UK upon its release there in 1985.

Music video

The music video, featuring Idol attending a gothic wedding, is one of his best-known videos. The bride in the music video is played by Perri Lister, Idol's real-life girlfriend at the time. In a memorable scene from the video, Idol forces the wedding ring onto the bride's finger and cuts her knuckle. Lister insisted that her knuckle actually be cut in order for the scene to appear more realistic. MTV initially removed this scene from the video. The video was filmed in a real church outside of London. The MTV-edited version of the video is included on the DVD portion of The Very Best of Billy Idol: Idolize Yourself CD/DVD package.

Other versions and appearances

The song has been covered by many bands including Australian 80's Revival band John West Experience and other bands including, covered Murderdolls, Ten Masked Men, Ardor (of Tanzwut), Deathstars, Doro, Rowland S. Howard on his album Teenage Snuff Film, Sentenced, Aiden, The Way of All Flesh. Kayvon Zand, Whip, The House Jacks, and the band Queens of the Stone Age on their 2007 album Era Vulgaris as a B-Side. Additionally, the ska band Umbrella Bed covered it on their album "King Size." Serbian punk rock band KBO! recorded a version on their 2001 cover album (Ne) Menjajte Stanicu ((Do Not) Change The Station). Post-hardcore band Aiden recorded a version of White Wedding for Kerrang!s cover CD High Voltage!: A Brief History of Rock and on their EP Rain In Hell. Part of it is included in Franz Ferdinand's cover of Gwen Stefani's "What You Waiting For?". The song has also been covered by Nightmare of the Elf. Also, the gothic rock/steampunk band Abney Park recorded a cover on their 2005 album Taxidermy. The band Radio Cult released a cover of the song on their album "Mix Tape" in 2006.

"White Wedding" was featured on the fictional radio station K-DST in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. It has been featured in the 1998 film, The Wedding Singer and the TV series, My Name Is Earl. It was also sung by Eva Avila, in the 2006 Canadian Idol show 80's Hits and by Toby Rand on the finale of the television show Rockstar: Supernova. It was also featured in the skate video CKY.

The line, "It's a nice day to start again", was featured on the sticker on the front of Billy's 2005 comeback album, Devil's Playground.

The song was remixed as (Trashcan Jack vs Billy Idol) "Club Wedding" (Frenetic) under Digital Dog's Jack Rokka guise. It has appeared on numerous dance compilations such as Wild Bassline (CD02 Mixed by Brooklyn Bounce) and Clubland 12.

The song is included in the video games Rock Band 2, Rock Band Unplugged, Guitar Hero Van Halen and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

The Web site DustFilms.com features a "literal video" version of this song, with parody lyrics describing the actual events taking place in the video.

Charts

Chart (1982/1985)	Peak position
UK Singles Chart	61
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	36
U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks	4

Notes:

• ¹ - UK re-release in 1985