Whitesnake Whitesnake (Geffen, 1987)
By Micah Holmquist
March 11, 2000

My parents gave me a cassette copy of Whitesnake’s self-titled disc for Christmas in 1987. I have no idea why they gave the tape. At the time, I remember being surprised because I had not asked for it and, while I knew of Whitesnake and did not dislike them, I was by no means a fan. Yet in the months that followed, I listened to the Whitesnake tape more than any of the others that I had actually asked for. Perhaps part of this stems from what the other tapes were. I won’t name any names out of embarrassment -yes people who can admit their former love for Whitesnake can be embarrassed- but let’s just say the name of one of the recordings artists is a place you might have breakfast at and was not very good by any standard. The Whitesnake tape, on the other hand, contained fast and furious music that projected excitement. They were cool.

And they were cool for two things -music and choruses. Before I recently bought the release on cd, I couldn’t have recalled a single verse from memory save from "Here I go Again" and "Is this Love?," the two biggest hits from the album and interestingly enough my two least favorite songs. But lyrics were nearly irrelevant to what the group was doing. They projected an image of rough-edged, longhaired rebels who lived life on the edge and to the fullest. The verses didn’t hurt that image but they were minor compared to choruses, guitar riffs, and thundering drums. All you needed to know was they were "Bad Boys," "Children of the Night," and going "Straight for the Heart."

There is something to be said for swagger but Whitesnake is nowhere near as good on those terms as I remember it being. Maybe it would be better if I could get the lyrics out of my head but I can’t. Take the opening verse from "Bad Boys":

I know you, you know me
I’m the black sheep of the family
I’m in an’ out of trouble
I’m the talk of the town
I get wild in the street
When the sun goes down

First of all, what family is vocalist David Coverdale talking about? More importantly, what exactly was he thinking when he wrote these lines? Did he entertain the possibility that he was actually expressing isolation or real anger at society? If so, then he was deeply deluded and needs study. The problem isn’t that they lyrics are cliched. Rather they are cliched but not funny. Of course the above lyrics make Coverdale regular poet laureate compared to how "Here I go Again" begins:

I don’t know where I’m going
But, I sure know where I’ve been

So you remember the past but are unable to predict the future. That’s not impressive, let alone profound.

But enough of the literary criticism, a part of me says. What about the music? After all, that’s why I really liked them so how does that pass the test of time. Well it isn't bad. Guitarist John Sykes, bassist Neil Murray, and most importantly drummer Aynsley Dunbar project a certain bravado that is hard to beat and perfectly matches Coverdale. "Bad Boys" and "Straight for the Heart" make for compelling sing alongs and are really a rock and roll roller coaster ride. That is, they are fast and furious, end quickly, don’t project anything other than energy, but are fun for the moment. Still other tracks that I once loved, namely "Crying in the Rain" and "Still of the Night," are just annoying. "Here I go Again" and "Is this Love" are slightly better than I remember them being but that’s not saying much.

As glam metal goes, these aren’t bad but neither are they masterpieces. I remember reading a review of the follow up album to this one by Whitesnake that appeared in Rolling Stone in the fall of 1989. The reviewer was just trashing the group, not just for that release -which I understood wasn’t all that great- but for all of their previous work as well. I didn’t understand where he was coming from at the time. Now I do.

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