Things are getting a little weird in this installment of the EHSDA Song of the Week. We’re jumping ahead to 2003, when indie guitar rock was experiencing a comeback. A gloriously strange band out of Detroit called Electric Six released a single that was about the electricity between two people, but could also generally apply to electrical safety.
You probably didn’t hear “Danger! High Voltage” on your local top 40 radio station. It may have been played on alternative rock or college radio, but it really made a splash in the U.K., where it topped the singles charts. Adding to the song’s mystique was the rumor that the backing vocals were performed by an uncredited Jack White of fellow Detroit act The White Stripes. It certainly sounds like him, but the vocals were credited to a John S. O’Leary.
Electric Six were known for combining comedic lyrics with elements of multiple genres, including disco, garage rock, metal and punk, and this song is no exception. Frontman Dick Valentine may not be singing about electrical hazards, but he certainly succeeds in getting “Danger! High Voltage” stuck in your head.