Whitesnake, commonly known as 1987, is the seventh studio album by British-American rock band Whitesnake. The album was released by Geffen Records in the US on 16 March 1987 and by EMI Records in the UK two weeks later.
1987 was a critical and commercial success around the world, eventually selling over 8 million copies in the US alone and thus being certified 8× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide. The album peaked at number two on the US Billboard 200 for ten non-consecutive weeks and was barred from the top spot by U2's Joshua Tree. The album spent more weeks in the Top 5 than any other album in 1987. Whitesnake is the band's highest-charting album in the US and peaked at number eight on the UK Albums Chart.
"Still of the Night", "Here I Go Again '87", "Is This Love", and "Give Me All Your Love ('88 Mix)" were released as official singles from 1987, and "Crying in the Rain '87" was released as a promotional single from the album. "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 number two, respectively.
Aside from its commercial success, 1987 is notable for the band's shift to a glam metal look and sound. At the 1988 Brit Awards, Whitesnake was nominated for Best British Group. At the American Music Awards of 1988, it received a nomination for Favorite Pop/Rock Album for 1987.
Background
The supporting tour for Slide It In came to an end in January 1985, when Whitesnake played two shows at the Rock in Rio festival in Brazil. After the band's performance at the last show, drummer Cozy Powell left the group. After almost ten years since David Coverdale had started his solo career and formed Whitesnake, he was actually about to fold the band. However, executives at Geffen Records asked Coverdale to continue working with guitarist John Sykes, as they saw potential in the two. Whitesnake had previously signed with Geffen for distribution in the US and Canada only, while in Europe they remained with EMI, except in France, where Carrere Records released the album.
Songwriting and production Coverdale wanted the band's sound "to be leaner, meaner and more electrifying ... felt it was time for a change. I didn't want to stay in the same old traditional blues and pop scenario". It was kind of "Americanization", but rather than following popular trends, "it was a series of synchronised elements that came together". However, Coverdale recalls that "the only downside was it was the only time I'd embraced a fashion presentation, as opposed to being stylized in what I do. I think that disappointed a lot of my hardcore people".
In the spring of 1985, Coverdale and Sykes decamped to the town of Le Rayol in the south of France to start writing material for a new album. According to Coverdale, bassist Neil Murray also helped with some of the arrangements. Two songs that would emerge from these sessions would be two of Whitesnake's biggest hits: "Still of the Night", based on an old demo by Coverdale and Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, and "Is This Love", originally written for Tina Turner. The middle atmospherics with cello riff of "Still of the Night" was Coverdale's idea after experimenting with introduction atmospheric sounds from a synthesizer on "Looking for Love". According to Coverdale, there was a great potential and creativity between him and Sykes, however, "personality-wise, it was a crash collision". As per Murray, Coverdale admired Sykes' cockiness, arrogance and self-confidence, which helped with the writing and initial creative spark between them in France. However, as the album progressed, Sykes' ambitiousness and artistic vision grew to the point he was imposing himself as a co-leader in the band alongside Coverdale, undermining the latter's sole leadership of the band.
Coverdale, Sykes and Murray then moved to Los Angeles, where they rehearsed and started auditioning for drummers, and hired Aynsley Dunbar. With their line-up complete, Whitesnake headed up to Little Mountain Sound Studios in Vancouver, Canada, in late September 1985 to lay down basic tracks for the new record with Mike Stone producing. One of the first issues the band faced was Sykes' desire to achieve a specific guitar sound that he wanted, which he eventually found with the help of Coverdale's friend and engineer Bob Rock, who had previously worked with Bon Jovi on the multi-platinum album Slippery When Wet. Additionally, sessions were delayed by illnesses within the band, including Sykes being hospitalised for strep throat. Sykes also briefly returned to England in January 1986 to attend Thin Lizzy bandmate Phil Lynott's funeral.
The next problem the band faced was a serious sinus infection with which Coverdale was stricken in spring of 1986. This put the album's production behind schedule, especially when Coverdale underwent surgery and half a year-long rehabilitation program without a guarantee the voice would come back. Additionally, the album had run over budget in April 1986, so the wages stopped for the other members of the band; Sykes stayed around to work on his guitar parts, while Murray and Dunbar were not required and were encouraged to find other work.
While recovering, various invoices started circulating from Toronto and London, with Coverdale saying that "received no support from Sykes at that time" and "he did everything he could to take advantage of me being compromised". Allegedly Sykes grew impatient, claiming that the singer "used every excuse possible to explain why he didn't want to record his vocals", and reportedly suggested bringing in a new vocalist and carrying on without Coverdale, which eventually led to the end of Coverdale's working relationship with both Sykes and producer Stone. Sykes denied this in 2017, stating: "Now I want to correct a rumour that I know has been out there for a long time. It's been said that when David was having his troubles, I went to Geffen and urged them to bring in another singer to replace him in Whitesnake. That's rubbish. How on earth could you ever have anyone fronting Whitesnake apart from David Coverdale?". Additionally, Sykes maintained that he remained loyal to Coverdale and finishing his work on the album when the wages had stopped, even turning down other gigs in the process. Producer Stone was instead said to be the one suggesting a replacement singer, which ended Coverdale's partnership with him, although Sykes was still intent on completing his guitar parts with Stone.
After Coverdale recovered, he started to work on his vocal tracks with record producer Ron Nevison, before soon switching to Keith Olsen in August 1986 because "it didn't sound good at all ... he [Ron] did great with other people, just not with me". Olsen asked him to sing "Still of the Night" in the first studio session, but although he almost vomited, "sang the song twice, fingers crossed – and that's what's on the record". After Sykes completed vocals in LA, Sykes and Murray finished their instrumental parts in London with producer Stone during October and November 1986. The tapes were returned to Los Angeles, where final overdubs and mixing was completed in December by Olsen. Vandenberg was brought in at this point to record the guitar solo for the re-recorded version of "Here I Go Again" because Sykes disliked the song; Coverdale was also discussing the possibility of Vandenberg officially joining Whitesnake. Coincidentally, as Vandenberg recalled overhearing mid-session, Sykes came to confront Coverdale in the studio after being sidelined during the London sessions, resulting in the latter storming off.
With the recording process done and the album slated to be released in early 1987, Coverdale made the decision to let the other members of the band go, due to personal differences. According to Coverdale, he was facing trust issues with band members, his depression upon arrival to L.A. from a holiday in Munich, where he had seen his daughter from his first marriage, and a massive debt, due to not having worked for two to three years. From Sykes' perspective, he had reasoned that Coverdale wanted to take more control and start from a clean slate after all that happened.
The album was the first to be recorded digitally by the band, primarily with the use of synthesizers that can be heard prominently with the album's sound approach. In US pressings, the album was claimed to be recorded on analogue. Coverdale had expressed his advocacy for the perceived "warmth" of analogue recording in many interviews, while working on his solo album Into the Light in 2000.
Artwork On the band's new logo and cover artwork, Coverdale worked with Canadian graphic artist Hugh Syme. Based on Coverdale's idea, Syme created a Celtic runic-style amulet with various elements representing the Sun, Moon, fertility and others.
Release and promotion For the new line-up of the band, Coverdale recruited lead guitarist Adrian Vandenberg (with whom he had already discussed plans), rhythm guitarist Vivian Campbell, bassist Rudy Sarzo and drummer Tommy Aldridge. This line-up, dubbed "The Vid[eo] Kids" by Coverdale, toured in support of the album, and all appeared in music videos for "Still of the Night" (which was the most requested video on MTV when it was released), "Is This Love", "Here I Go Again" and "Give Me All Your Love", the first three of which prominently featured Coverdale's then new partner Tawny Kitaen, all with heavy MTV and radio airplay.
The album was titled as Whitesnake in the US and Canada, released on 16 March 1987 by Geffen (Many sources, including Coverdale, claimed the release date was on 23 March and 7 April). In Europe, the album was simply called 1987, featuring a different running order and two extra tracks: "Looking for Love" and "You're Gonna Break My Heart Again", released on 30 March through EMI. Coverdale considers "Looking for Love" one of the best songs he wrote with Sykes, but it was not included in the North American version because of Kalodner's preference for "Children of the Night" and time constraints of vinyl records limited to about 20 minutes a side. These two songs were for the first time released in North America in 1994 on Whitesnake's Greatest Hits compilation. In Japan, the album was titled Serpens Albus in reference to the illustrated text on the album's artwork, which means "white snake" in Latin, but with the North American tracklist, released on 22 April by CBS/Sony. In Australia, the album was released as 1987 but had the North American track order on the original vinyl, and the European order on CD. In Bulgaria, the album was released on LP and cassette as 1987 and used a slightly modified version of the European track order, without "You're Gonna Break My Heart Again", while "Here I Go Again '87" was replaced with the radio mix version
Commercial performance