History Music / WhiteLightWhiteHeat

* HumanMail: "The Gift" explores this.

* GrossOutShow: "Lady Godiva's Operation" [[spoiler: about a botched operation of a transvestite]].
* HellIsThatNoise: The second guitar solo of "I Heard Her Call My Name" intentionally invokes this.
-->''And then my mind split open!'' *shriek of feedback*

''White Light/White Heat'' is the second studio album by Music/TheVelvetUnderground, released in 1968. Less iconic than their previous effort, ''Music/TheVelvetUndergroundAndNico'' but equally revered as a groundbreaking record.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* [[GirlInABox Guy In a Box]]: "The Gift" shows us why it is a bad idea.

* VariantCover:
** 1970s U.K. reissues had an alternate cover with a white negative image of toy soldiers.
** The ''Archetypes'' reissue uses a third cover featuring two figures in racing helmets and leather jackets standing in front of an F.W. Woolworth Co. building.
** A New Zealand pressing from the early 1970s has a Warhol-esque illustration of a disembodied pair of female lips sipping a soft drink from a straw.
** Early CD releases use a variant of the 1968 cover that omits the tattoo and resizes and rearranges the text up top to account for the smaller size of a jewel case. The 1996 remastered CD would restore the original LP cover, tattoo and all, with later releases on the format following suit.

* {{Lobotomy}}: Lady Godiva gets one in "Lady Godiva's Operation".

* CoverVersion:
** Music/DavidBowie frequently covered the title track during live performances.
** Music/{{Nirvana}} covered "Here She Comes Now".
** Music/JoyDivision played "Sister Ray" in concert.

* NewSoundAlbum: Compared to their debut this album is far DarkerAndEdgier and the music is far more [[AvantGardeMusic avant-garde]].

** 1970s U.K. reissues had an alternate cover with white negative image of toy soldiers.

* BaldWomen: Lady Godiva (who is actually a transvestite) is shaved bald on the operation table in "Lady Godiva's Operation".

* DidntThinkThisThrough: In "The Gift", Waldo didn't think to make the box easy for Marsha to open--nor did he think to have something to get himself out of the box--with disastrous results; [[spoiler:he ends up having his head bisected when Sheila decides to cut the box in half with a metal cutter]].

--> ''Ah oh, it looks so good''
--> ''Ah oh, she's made out of wood''
--> ''Just look and see''

--> ''White light, white light goin' messin' up my mind''
--> ''White light, and you don't know it's gonna make me go blind''
--> ''White heat, aww white heat, it tickle me down to my toes''
--> ''White light, ooo have mercy, white light have it, goodness knows''
--> ''White light, white light goin' messin' up my brain''
--> ''White light, aww white light, it's gonna drive me insane''
** "Lady Godiva's Operation", where [[spoiler:an operation on a transvestite goes completely wrong.]]

* ObsessionSong: Waldo in "The Gift" [[spoiler:who wants to impress his girlfriend by mailing himself to her in a package]]

--> --'''Music/SidVicious''' on his love for Music/LouReed and Music/VelvetUnderground, "New Wave" magazine, interview conducted by Michael [=McKenzie=], 1978.

''White Light/White Heat'' is the second studio album by Music/VelvetUnderground, released in 1968. Less iconic than their previous effort, ''Music/TheVelvetUndergroundAndNico'' but equally revered as a groundbreaking record.

* ComedicSociopathy[=/=]ComicallyMissingThePoint: In "Sister Ray", when Cecil shoots the sailor, the narrator's only reaction is "Oh, you shouldn't do that/Don't you know you'll stain the carpet/Now don't you know you'll mess the carpet."

** Averted in UK {{Creator/MGM|Records}} editions of the album from 1976 to the mid-80's, which had a white cover with a blurry negative image of toy soldiers (Airfix UsefulNotes/WorldWarII British Eighth Army).

** Averted in UK {{MGM|Records}} editions of the album from 1976 to the mid-80's, which had a white cover with a blurry negative image of toy soldiers (Airfix UsefulNotes/WorldWarII British Eighth Army).

** Averted in UK MGM editions of the album from 1976 to the mid-80's, which had a white cover with a blurry negative image of toy soldiers (Airfix UsefulNotes/WorldWarII British Eighth Army).

* VariantCover: 1970s U.K. reissues had an alternate cover with white negative image of toy soldiers.

"White Light/White Heat" was listed at nr. #293 in Magazine/RollingStone's [[UsefulNotes/RollingStone500GreatestAlbumsOfAllTime 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time]].