Billy Idol shares restored alternate video for “Sweet Sixteen”

Billy Idol has released a restored alternate video for “Sweet Sixteen”, shot in color at Coral Castle in Homestead, Florida, in 1987 and never made public until now. The release marks the 40th anniversary of “Whiplash Smile”, his third solo album, issued in 1986, which includes the song.

According to uDiscover Music, only a black-and-white performance video came out in 1987, when the track was released as a single, while the color version, placing Idol among the stone structures that inspired the song, stayed in the vaults. The new edit was rebuilt from the original film, re-cut shot by shot and color graded. Peter Sinclair directed the original clip; the 2026 restoration was produced by Ilce Tarin Perez, with editing by Morgan James Chadwick and color work by Rob Bessette, in association with the UMG Film Archives.

The song tells the story of Edward Leedskalnin, a Latvian immigrant left by his fiancée the day before their wedding, who spent nearly three decades carving more than 1,000 tons of stone alone. He said it was all for his “Sweet Sixteen”. Idol wrote the song in 1983 and has called it “a heartfelt lament with a story behind it”.

In 2026 Idol received the American Music Awards’ Lifetime Achievement Award and was named to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s class. Los Angeles will proclaim 13 November Billy Idol Day, with Idol and Steve Stevens playing acoustically at City Hall, ahead of their induction on 14 November. In September, R3HAB released a remix of “Cradle of Love”.

Born in 1955 in Stanmore, Billy Idol is an English new wave and dance-rock singer. His newest studio album is “Dream Into It”, released in April 2025, according to MusicBrainz.