
Whitesnake is the seventh studio album by British rock band Whitesnake, released on March 23, 1987 by Geffen Records in the United States, and by EMI Records in the UK one week later. It was co-written and recorded for over a year in what would be the first and final collaboration between vocalist David Coverdale and guitarist John Sykes, as well as the final album to feature longtime bassist Neil Murray. The album, besides its commercial success, is remarkable for the band’s change to a more modern glam metal look and sound, and the first recording to use the band’s new logo which would characterise them in the future.
Initially the album was released worldwide with different titles, tracklists and by different record labels. In Europe and Australia, it was titled 1987 and included two extra songs absent from the North American version, “Looking for Love” and “You’re Gonna Break My Heart Again”, while in Japan the album was released as Serpens Albus with the North American tracklist. The 20th and 30th anniversary remastered reissues have a common tracklist, including the additional tracks.
The album was a critical and commercial success around the world, eventually selling over 8 million copies in the US alone and thus going eight times Platinum by RIAA in February 1995. It peaked at No. 2 on the US Billboard 200 for ten nonconsecutive weeks, barred from the top spot by three different albums, including Michael Jackson’s Bad, and was more weeks in the Top 5 than any other album in 1987. Whitesnake was the band’s highest-charting album in the US and peaked at No. 8 on the UK Albums Chart.
Four songs were released as official singles, “Still of the Night”, “Here I Go Again ’87”, “Is This Love”, “Give Me All Your Love (’88 Mix)”, and one as a promotional single, “Crying in the Rain ’87”. Among them, “Here I Go Again” and “Is This Love” are the band’s most successful charting hits, topping the Billboard Hot 100 at number one and two respectively.
Its success in the US boosted its predecessor, Slide It In (1984), from Gold to double Platinum status by RIAA, and would see the band receive a nomination at the 1988 Brit Awards for Best British Group and at the American Music Awards of 1988 for Favorite Pop/Rock Album.
- “Still of the Night” 6:38
- “Bad Boys” 4:09
- “Give Me All Your Love” 3:30
- “Looking for Love” 6:33
- “Crying in the Rain” 5:37
- “Is This Love” 4:43
- “Straight for the Heart” 3:40
- “Don’t Turn Away” 5:11
- “Children of the Night” 4:24
- “Here I Go Again” 4:33
- “You’re Gonna Break My Heart Again” 4:11
David Coverdale – lead vocals
John Sykes – guitars, backing vocals
Neil Murray – bass
Aynsley Dunbar – drums, percussion
Don Airey and Bill Cuomo – keyboards
Adrian Vandenberg – guitar solo on “Here I Go Again”
Dann Huff – guitar on “Here I Go Again ’87” (Radio Mix)
Mark Andes – bass on “Here I Go Again ’87” (Radio Mix)
Denny Carmassi – drums on “Here I Go Again ’87” (Radio Mix)[72]
Vivian Campbell – guitar solo on “Give Me All Your Love” (’88 Mix)
Tommy Funderburk – Backing vocals “Here I Go Again”, “Is This Love”, “Still of the Night”, “Give Me All Your Love”, “Don’t Turn Away”