David Bowie was “The Man” who got me hooked on White Light/White Heat, the song by The Velvet Underground.
It was 1983, and I was just a kid. The first time was in a darkened den of depravity – The Pen Theatres in St. Catharines, Ontario. I went to see the fabulously gritty Bowie documentary/concert film Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. If you haven’t seen it, you should.
Here’s a little taste of White Light/White Heat, vintage 1973:
Later that same year, as they say, David hooked me up again with another shot of White Light/White Heat. This time it was in person as his Serious Moonlight Tour rolled into the old Exhibition Stadium in Toronto.
Bowie’s 1983 version of White Light/White Heat was a very different injection than the one he gave us with The Spiders in ‘73. The ‘83 Serious Moonlight version had a big band, big production values, and BIG crowds. The show I was at had a crowd of over 50,000, and he had played the night before at the same venue, so over 101,000 shots of White Light/White Heat were given in Toronto that September.
In short, Serious Moonlight was Serious Moola.
It was also seriously great, with a special treat being original Spider from Mars Mick Ronson joining David et al. for a crazy-great version of Jean Genie. I digress, though. Here’s how David was serving up White Light/White Heat in 1983:
1990: Into the White (again, and with The Pixies)
For a few brief years, The Pixies were astonishingly good. Unbelievably good. So when they played The Latin Quarter at Grand and Woodward, I said to myself, “Come On Pilgrim, time to head on over into Detroit proper!”
One of the highlights for me that night, aside from standing beside Black Francis for most of the opening act, was the 30th of 36 songs The Pixies played, Into the White.
The angelic Kim Deal sang Into the White, and I recall the stage lights being shone on the audience during that song, literally taking us Into the White. Here’s a pretty good approximation:
Afterwards, my mind was a tad scrambled, and there was a minor disagreement between my Downriver friend and myself. I was dumb and thought that White Light/White Heat was a Bowie original, and maybe even confused it with Into the White. In my defence, it was a Sunday night, and I think part of my brain was subconsciously writing an essay due in a dozen hours or so.
2026: The return of The Thin White Duke?
Uh, well, it was a Tuesday night, and I was listening to Moondog’s Ballroom on the radio when I heard another cover of White Light/White Heat.
This time, it was by Maple Blues Award-winning singer Kirby Sewell, covering White Light/White Heat in what looks to be a church basement in East Coulee, Alberta.
Naturally, I shared the video with my friend Steve, who makes up one-half of Detroit’s premier Velvet Underground Ukulele Duo Thumbs Up. Steve put into words exactly what I was thinking:
“I never imagined that one slowed down and bluesy, but he fuckin nailed it!”
Check out Velvet Underground Ukulele Duo Thumbs Up on YouTube. Here they are doing Lou Reed’s Walk on the Wild Side.
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