White Wedding – Billy Idol | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning
Chart Performance: Pop (#36) & Mainstream Rock (#4) ; 1983
Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne
With his platinum hair, practiced sneer, and sexually suggestive videos, Billy Idol was ideally suited to MTV. After all, the one-time William Broad had always flowed with the fashion, starting in the heady days of Britain’s punk revolution when, as part of The Bromley Contingent, he followed the Sex Pistols.
Soon he was fronting his very own band, Generation X, the first punkers to appear on the BBC’s famous Top Of The Pops. Generation X enjoyed some success, then the band fell apart, and Idol moved to New York.
There he joined up with Kiss manager, Bill Aucoin, and – in 1981 – released the four song EP Don’t Stop, which included. Dancing With My Self and a remake of Tommy James and The Shondells‘ Mony Mony, both of which became Idol signature tunes.
A self-titled full length LP followed with White Wedding. Released in late 1982, Wedding sank without a trace, yet, extensive MTV rotations revived it in late spring, 1983. Two summers later it finally cracked the UK Top 10.
This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.
Produced by:
- Keith Forsey
Lyrics Written by:
- Billy Idol
Ed Osborne
Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).