# What is Billy Idol's White Wedding all about? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 23, 2004, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-billy-idols-white-wedding-all-about/256459 "2004-07-23T02:35:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Evil\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@Evil\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Death)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-billy-idols-white-wedding-all-about/256459/21 "2004-07-24T16:15:40Z")
> [@KRC](#): > > I heard (and later read in a biography of Mr. Idol) that it was about his sister–who was a born-again Christian and therefore supposedly very goody-two-shoes—getting pregnant without benefit of wedding bells. IIRC from the bio, he said she and her boyfriend decided to get married and his mother had to do a lot of work on the wedding dress so it would fit around her belly on the wedding day. If this is true, the song seems to be mocking Idol’s sister for what he perceives as her hypocrisy. Not so much his sister as the people around her trying to cover up. Traditionally, the bride in a white wedding is supposed to be a virgin. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2004, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-billy-idols-white-wedding-all-about/256459/22 "2004-07-25T01:04:50Z")
> [@LorieSmurf](#): > > Whenever I hear that song now, I think of that NewsRadio episode where Beth is singing it opera-style at Lisa’s and Johnny Johnson’s wedding. “Hey little sister. SHOTGUN!” Oh god, me too. Great show! Johnny Johnson: “Hey, I’m evil.” ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/45deac/32.png) [@Evil\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_One)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-billy-idols-white-wedding-all-about/256459/23 "2004-07-27T18:04:10Z")
Perhaps I’m just living up to my name, but I always got an incest vibe from the song. ---
**Author:** ![BrooklynNative](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@BrooklynNative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrooklynNative)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-billy-idols-white-wedding-all-about/256459/24 "2016-01-22T05:06:32Z")
I always got an incest vibe too from this song. “I’ve been away for so long” I let you go for so long" “it’s a nice day to start again” – these lines make no sense in the context of a shotgun wedding. And the guitar chords are very sinister sounding. ---
**Author:** ![Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enter_the_Flagon)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-billy-idols-white-wedding-all-about/256459/25 "2016-01-22T05:21:28Z")
Insert appropriate zombie wedding reference here. Or white zombie, Zombie Idol, etc. But now that it’s awake, I always wondered if the song was meant as a theme song for the movie “Cat People”. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-billy-idols-white-wedding-all-about/256459/26 "2016-01-22T09:19:47Z")
> [@Reeder](#): > > I just wanted to say IMHO it’s a great song. One of the very best ever made. Billy Boys rocks this world! ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-billy-idols-white-wedding-all-about/256459/27 "2016-01-22T09:51:28Z")
> [@Enter\_the\_Flagon](#): > > Insert appropriate zombie wedding reference here. Or white zombie, Zombie Idol, etc. > > But now that it’s awake, I always wondered if the song was meant as a theme song for the movie “Cat People”. Ewww, zombie incest. But from what I remember of an interview, **Mr. Blue Sky** nailed the intended meaning in the first response, all those years ago. Steve Stevens’ guitar parts on the song are still a great set of lead parts. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-billy-idols-white-wedding-all-about/256459/28 "2016-01-22T14:02:30Z")
> [@Coldfire](#): > > OK, this might be my memory playing tricks on me, but as far as I remember, the video for _White Wedding_ featured a panned out shot, filmed form the back of a church (like on a back balcony), showing the entire crowd bringing the Hitler salute as Billy sang the chorus. I think they were pointing. Dammit, now I have to go watch the video. ETA: yeah, at [1:41](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAZQaYKZMTI), they’re all pointing accusingly. ---
**Author:** ![SykoSkotty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@SykoSkotty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SykoSkotty)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-billy-idols-white-wedding-all-about/256459/29 "2016-01-22T14:08:52Z")
I remember reading an interview with Mr. Idol in Playboy magazine some years back and he is quoted as saying the song was indeed about Heroin. More specifically, it was about speed balling, which (IIRC) is shooting up a mixture of heroin and cocaine. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-billy-idols-white-wedding-all-about/256459/30 "2016-01-22T14:10:09Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > Oh god, me too. Great show! > > Johnny Johnson: “Hey, I’m evil.” This. Only way I know about this song. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-billy-idols-white-wedding-all-about/256459/31 "2016-01-22T14:41:23Z")
This song is among the most common songs played at weddings. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-billy-idols-white-wedding-all-about/256459/32 "2016-01-22T16:15:21Z")
Zombie and all but I recently read Billy Idol’s autobiography and he talks about this song and making the video for it. It is indeed about his sister’s wedding, I’ll see if I can find the paragraph and quote it if folks are interested. Nothing to do with anything awful (e.g. incest, white power, etc) as some have suggested. The bride in the video is played by Idol’s g/f at the time (Perri Lister), a professional dancer and mother of his son Willem. She’s one of the girls smacking their own butts in time to the music. As a young lad I most definitely enjoyed the video 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-billy-idols-white-wedding-all-about/256459/33 "2016-01-22T17:39:51Z")
Does anybody know what the sister’s response to the song was? ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-billy-idols-white-wedding-all-about/256459/34 "2016-01-22T17:50:46Z")
> [@Charlie\_Wayne](#): > > One of the very best ever made. Billy Boys rocks this world! Who is Billy Boys? ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-billy-idols-white-wedding-all-about/256459/35 "2016-01-22T18:29:06Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > Who is Billy Boys? Billy and the Boingers? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ubgwVwK0SPg/hqdefault.jpg "Billy and the Boingers, U Stink But I (Heart) U") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubgwVwK0SPg) ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-billy-idols-white-wedding-all-about/256459/36 "2016-01-23T20:44:29Z")
OK, just flipped open Billy Idol’s autobiography (“Dancing With Myself”) and here’s what he says about the song: “I stared at the blank piece of scrap paper in front of me. Taking the pen sitting alongside it in hand, I wrote _white wedding_ at the top. What made me think of that? Well, my sister had recently gone to the altar pregnant. And while that fact was perfectly all right with everyone, seeing as how she loved the guy, I started thinking about how, in the more recent past, this would have been called a “shotgun wedding.” I started to imagine at alternative reality, one in which I was pissed off at this violation of my sister and I arrive at the wedding hell-bent on revenge.” (Dancing With Myself, page 162) So the song originated with him thinking about his sister’s wedding which evidently didn’t have any special drama associated with it however he used that as a jumping-off point to write a darker song. Some of the other lyrics “create an uneasy feel” and some of them he says are related to his solo career after his previous band (Gen X) broke up. So there you go. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-billy-idols-white-wedding-all-about/256459/37 "2016-01-23T22:19:53Z")
> [@Enter\_the\_Flagon](#): > > Insert appropriate zombie wedding reference here. Or white zombie, Zombie Idol, etc. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/FG1NrQYXjLU/maxresdefault.jpg "Billy Idol - Dancing With Myself") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG1NrQYXjLU) ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2016, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-billy-idols-white-wedding-all-about/256459/38 "2016-01-24T03:46:12Z")
My big brother told me it was about satanic rituals when they first started playing it years ago and until this day I assumed he was telling the truth. I feel duped. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2016, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-billy-idols-white-wedding-all-about/256459/39 "2016-01-24T12:55:29Z")
> [@Rushgeekgirl](#): > > My big brother told me it was about satanic rituals when they first started playing it years ago and until this day I assumed he was telling the truth. I feel duped. Yep - and KISS stands for Knights in Satan’s Service, and when you play Queen’s Another One Bites the Dust backwards, you hear “I like to smoke marijuana”!!! Clearly the video was trying to stir the pot with teenage minds like ours back in the day. Billy’s sneer is one of the best. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2016, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-billy-idols-white-wedding-all-about/256459/40 "2016-01-24T17:30:11Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > Who is Billy Boys? I made a typo. I was either trying to say “Billy Boy’s one of the best” or “Billy Boy is one of the best.” Funny thing … I have no recollection whatsoever of making that post. Geez. No wonder I get into so much trouble. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-billy-idols-white-wedding-all-about/256459.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-billy-idols-white-wedding-all-about/256459.md?page=3)