Song#: 3154
Date: 06/13/1987
Debut: 92
Peak: 79
Weeks: 7
Genre: Hard Rock
Pop Bits: This UK band formed by former Deep Purple singer David Coverdale had been having success in the 80s at home grabbing four Top 10 albums. In the US, they had trouble breaking through. Their 1980 album Ready an' Willing got to #90 with the single "Fool for Your Love" able to chart at #53, but the band's next two albums didn't make an impression. Their 1985 album Slide it In gained them a bigger audience thanks to a pair of Rock chart tracks and it even went gold, but it still didn't break them through on a wide scale. Taking a cue from other hard rock/glam metal bands that were having success at the time, Coverdale decided to add some more mainstream elements to the next effort. The self-titled disc was mainly all written by Coverdale and band member John Sykes and this first single got things kicked off. Released in April, the song did well at Rock getting to #18 boosted by a video that became highly successful on MTV. Eventually it was able to cross over to the Pop chart for a few weeks, but by that time the album had already taken off. The week this song debuted on the Pop chart, the album reached its peak of #2 on the album chart and had already gone gold. With rock and metal fans on board, the band could then unleash a pair of mainstream-ready singles that would send sales of the album to over 8 million copies in the US.
ReduxReview: A little Led Zeppelin anyone? Coverdale certainly found inspiration in that band and his former band Deep Purple for this track. While the tune wore its influences on its sleeves with Coverdale even sounding quite Robert Plant-ish, I wouldn't call it an imitation or rip off. I thought enough was done to make the song stand on its own while showing off some classic rock references. I dug the tune right away and I ended up buying the album because I wanted the full version of the song and not the crappy single edit. It's an epic hard rock track done in a big 80s fashion and I think it still holds up today.
ReduxRating: 8/10
Trivia: The video for this song quickly got the attention of viewers. Out of the box it became the channel's most requested video. Sure the song was good, but what made a lot of folks want to see it again was actress/model Tawny Kitaen. She was Coverdale's girlfriend at the time and this was her first appearance in a Whitesnake video. It wasn't her first music video though. She previously appeared in the video for Ratt's "Back for More" in 1984. She was also the model seen on the cover of the band's debut album. This came about due to her relationship with Ratt guitarist Robbin Crosby. But after they split, Kitaen then started up with Coverdale. They would eventually marry in 1989, but would divorce a couple of years later.
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