Whitesnake (album)

This article is about the Whitesnake 1987 album. For the 1977 David Coverdale solo album, see White Snake (album).

Whitesnake
First edition of the album with new logo
Studio album by
Whitesnake
Released23 March 1987 (US)[1]
30 March 1987 (UK)[2]
RecordedSeptember 1985 – November 1986[3]
Studio
Genre
Length42:25 (US version)
53:10 (European version)
Label
Producer
Whitesnake chronology
Slide It In
(1984) 		Whitesnake
(1987) 		Slip of the Tongue
(1989)
Singles from Whitesnake
  1. "Still of the Night"
    Released: March 1987 (UK)
  2. "Is This Love"
    Released: May 1987 (UK)
  3. "Here I Go Again '87"
    Released: June 1987 (US)
  4. "Give Me All Your Love ('88 Mix)"
    Released: January 1988[8]
John Sykes chronology
Slide It In
(1984) 		Whitesnake
(1987) 		Blue Murder
(1989)

Whitesnake is the seventh studio album by English rock band Whitesnake, released on 23 March 1987, by Geffen Records in the US and by EMI Records in the UK one week after. 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, the final album to feature longtime bassist Neil Murray and the only album with drummer Aynsley Dunbar. The album, besides its commercial success, is remarkable for the band's change to a more modern glam metal look and sound,[9] 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 being certified 8x Platinum by Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in February 1995. It peaked at number two on the US Billboard 200 for ten non-consecutive 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 number eight 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. The album's 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.

  1. ^ "RIAA". Recording Industry Association of America.
  2. ^ "BPI certifications for Whitesnake".
  3. ^ Popoff, Martin (2018). The Deep Purple Family. Vol. 2 (2nd ed.). Wymer Publishing. p. 117. ISBN 978-1-908724-87-8.
  4. ^ Popoff, Martin (2015). Sail away : Whitesnake's fantastic voyage. London: Soundcheck Books. p. 171. ISBN 978-0-9575700-8-5. OCLC 890937663.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Popoff was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference latimes was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Huey was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Strong, Martin Charles (1995). The Great Rock Discography. Canongate Press. p. 894. ISBN 9780862415419.
  9. ^ Popoff, Martin (2014). The Big Book of Hair Metal: The Illustrated Oral History of Heavy Metal's Debauched Decade. Minneapolis: Voyageur Press. p. 127. ISBN 978-1-62788-375-7. OCLC 891379313.