Despite rumors to the contrary, this song is not about Idol's actual little sister. "Little sister" is slang for girlfriend. He is singing about a woman/girl he loves marrying someone else while he still loves her.
Idol does have a sister who was getting married, but on an episode of VH1 Storytellers, he explained that his sister's wedding simply gave him the idea for the song. (Thanks, Jon - Atlanta, GA)
This was used in the movie The Wedding Singer. After getting dumped at the altar, Adam Sandler tells his friends to "turn this crap off" after the video comes on. Idol later appears in the movie as himself. He helps get Sandler together with Drew Barrymore.
In the UK, this did not become a hit until 1985, when it was released there for the third time.
This song is very anti-marriage, and yet many people have it played at their weddings. (Thanks, Sara - Madison, WI)
Herman's Hermits recorded this for the 2002 album When Pigs Fly: Songs You Never Thought You'd Hear. Cevin Soling, who put the album together, explains why he chose this song for Herman's Hermits: "They have that very sweet, innocent persona. And you think of Herman's Hermits, you think that the cute, adorable Peter Noone fronting this very sweet, innocent thing. And then you've got Billy Idol who's kind of the antithesis of that. A friend of mine got to play the song for Billy Idol on the air, and she was interviewing him, so she played the Herman's Hermit's 'White Wedding' for Billy Idol. I think he just said the word, 'Frightening.'"
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