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A nightmare of epic proportions
Music Radar has a feature on how Whitesnake turned into a hair metal band, in the process nearly running itself into the ground. It is based on a 2021 DC’s interview with the Outlaw magazine.
It was one of the biggest rock albums of the ’80s. Whitesnake’s 1987 – titled simply Whitesnake in America – was a multi-million selling blockbuster that yielded a US number one hit with the anthem Here I Go Again. But as the band’s leader and frontman David Coverdale revealed, the making of this album was a nightmare of epic proportions.
At one point, Coverdale was struggling with an acute sinus infection and fearing that his career as a singer might end. As recording was delayed, he was warned that he was $3m in debt to his label Geffen Records. And before the album was completed, guitarist John Sykes was dismissed after allegedly suggesting that if Coverdale lost his voice, Whitesnake should continue with a different singer – a proposition as ridiculous as it was mutinous.
“It was,” Coverdale said, “a very troubling time in my life.”
Continue reading in Music Radar.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
It’s amazing how many people here in the USA never knew DC was in Purple. I really found that out on the Purple Tour talking with a couple in their early 20’s.
November 26th, 2024 at 06:51The 1987 album, Slip of the Tongue, and to a lesser degree Slide in In are what he’s known for here. I love Coverdale/Page and really wanted to see them and was hoping it would be a longer collaboration than one album. I’ve heard the problem was Jimmy Page’s manager who thought the tour wouldn’t sell, even though the CP album was a top 10 hit! Bill Curbishley who manages The Who, Robert Plant, and Judas Priest then took over as Page’s manager and got him to work with Plant. I got to see them in 95 in Philly and was surprised that Robert sang Shake My Tree!
In case you are worried about your septum too, read this:
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/24977-nasal-valve-collapse
IIRC, John Sykes has denied to ever have proposed to tour Whitesnake with a different singer (and also have him finish the album) and John Kalodner hasn’t confirmed it either, but Keith Olsen has. Make of that what you will. The fact that Kalodner is one of the few people with which DC categorically refuses to kiss and make up again even to this day might indicate that Kalodner was in on the scheme. He was certainly an advocate of Sykes’ rock star image and songwriting skills and believed that the success of 1987 could only be repeated with the Coverdale-Sykes axis (I guess Slip Of The Tongue proved him right!).
May I ask a heretic question? If DC had indeed been unable to sing again for the foreseeable future, would John Sykes’ idea have been so terrible? It’s a business. Or is my memory deceiving me and DC did not act in exactly the same way when Mel Galley broke his arm and needed a brace (unceremoniously firing him and continuing with just Sykes) or Adrian Vandenberg jammed his nerve (getting in Steve Vai to record all of Slip Of The Tongues guitar parts)?
Of course, I understand the vital difference: Quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi, for our lad from Saltburn-by-the-Sea!
https://www.darlingtonandstocktontimes.co.uk/resources/images/17884422/?type=responsive-gallery-fullscreen
And there the cattle must rest.
https://teessidepsychogeography.wordpress.com/2020/05/24/cows-on-saltburn-beach-j-c-warburg/
November 26th, 2024 at 07:25From a historical perspective DC made the second fundamental move in his long musical career (the first was a cassette he sent to DP management in 1973). Going live in America and the 1987 album ensured his life and musical existence. Three songs from that album, which are his cornerstone, are still well played on radio stations today. As an old DC fan, I’m not very happy that DC physically and vocally resembles Vince Neil, that baritone is gone, he has screaming vocals, instead of hard rock-blues now that boring hair metal music. However, he undeniably made a good commercial move. Rock art returned in the company of Jimmy Page (for me the best author’s work since Physical Graffiti to date). An excellent album of the old British hard rock blues school, but without commercial support.
November 26th, 2024 at 09:05Neil had some interesting things to say about the making of ‘1987’ in his Rolling Stone interview, too:
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/neil-murray-whitesnake-black-sabbath-bassist-1211886/
I think that overall it is a good album, very much in the spirit of the time. I was a teenager back then and we wanted to be cool and have a good time. The albums like that were a perfect music to accompany our coming of age. If I want to get a feelgood vibe these days, I play some 1980s hair metal rather than bloated 1970s prog (as much as I like it) or drugged out and depressed grunge.
That said, ‘1987’ made a strong adverse impact on David’s career and the way he was perceived by his fan base. The album eclipsed everything else he has ever done so much that people barely know his other records, Snake or Purple. I was at a Whitesnake show in 2004 and my friend was there, too, although not with me. The show was awesome with David in a great form and Reb and Doug being top notch. They played all the good stuff including ‘Burn’, ‘Don’t Break My Heart Again’ etc. And yet when I talked about it later with my friend, who was generally well versed in classic rock, it turned out he was still disappointed. The reason was they “didn’t play the hits” meaning ‘1987’ in its entirety or close to it.
November 26th, 2024 at 10:26John Sykes has new album coming out next year, hell has froze over 🤣
November 26th, 2024 at 13:02For its time and for what it wanted to be, 1987 is undoubtedly a fine album. For all its intentions to crack the US market, it had some real Brit swagger courtesy of John Sykes’ guitar overdubs armies. Don Airey’s keyboard and bass synth work added some contemporary commercial sheen and Ainsley Dunbar’s hyperbole drumming gave drama. Somewhere, Neil (otherwise such a wonderful bass player if you just let him) also played on it though I’m not quite sure whether even knows exactly where. (Keith Olsen has stated that most of the bass you hear on 1987 is from Don Airey who also provided synth bass on Judas Priest albums.)
And to top it all: DC’s truly charismatic voice, even if he was in part doing stuff in the studio that would ruin his vocal cords live.
But looking back at it today, for all the uncertainty in its longwinded gestation, it was the right album at the right time. Sort of DC’s Gladiator movie, grandiose, overwhelming and not weighed down with too much substance. Bad boys hitting it big, finally.
November 26th, 2024 at 16:17#5, Sykes says that every year, and every year it becomes an even bigger joke.
November 26th, 2024 at 17:30That Neil Murray interview, which I have read several times over the years, is so enlightening, Timmi, thanks for posting it, but also deeply depressing. Sentences like “I don’t have a wife, children or grandchildren or a paid for house” or “I’m a very, very unknown quantity” really make me gulp, this is Neil Murray after all, the man who made early Whitesnake – unlike Rainbow – groove and is one of the most rhythmically intricate rock finger players around.
Once you finish reading the interview, you get the feeling that the last time Neil was in a musical environment where he truly blossomed and felt happy was more than 45 years ago. And that ever since then, poor Neil has been providing chugging root notes for Gary Moore, John Sykes, Tony Iommi and Brian May or trying to sound like Geezer Butler and John Deacon to meet expectations and pay the rent.
I’ve seen him play with Whitesnake (4x), Black Sabbath, that godawful Queen musical (together with the great Laurie Wisefield) and more recently with Purpendicular reunited with Ian Paice. But the last time I really saw him smile on stage was in May 1981 in Mannheim …
https://youtube.com/watch?v=7SIPDENfFjo&si=4WsNDJJVJayvHDcH
That’s not a whole lot to show for half a century and a bassist as talented/a person as nice & straightforward as Neil whose praises have regularly been sung by other musicians.
Ouch. Beware of rock musician careers then.
November 26th, 2024 at 19:24It‘s ironic, DC and John Sykes had this one-of-a-kind musical combustion with 1987, then separated because their egos could not take each other and have never again with all their individual forays reached something as artistically and commercially impactful.
November 26th, 2024 at 20:03@ 7….Me holding my breath 🤐
November 26th, 2024 at 21:24Some credit for Neil where credit’s due …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CruohregnXA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB_jVo8DN9k
And with Sabbath in Moscow – at 01:22:38 you’re gonna hear an unusual tune with them … Hank Marvinommi & The Sabbathows! 😎
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYp5YFltCLI
November 27th, 2024 at 03:12@ 11…..Uwe i really enjoy the new Iommi & Xerjoff song and video called – Scent Of Dark, based on Tony’s new perfume. If you haven’t seen that yet check it out.
November 27th, 2024 at 12:57Meanwhile, sources close to Herr Coverdale reveal that live renditions of 1987 material will not happen any time soon.
https://blabbermouth.net/news/whitesnakes-reb-beach-doesnt-believe-david-coverdale-will-tour-again-i-dont-think-he-wants-to-do-that-anymore
Get well soon, Doug Aldrich, I didn’t know about his throat cancer nor about Reb Beach deputizing for him with the The Dead Daisies until now.
November 27th, 2024 at 15:03@8 It is a depressing read at times. It goes on to show how important it is to be proactive in show business. If you want to do your own stuff or just stand your ground money wise, you need to be on the lookout all the time. Neil probably missed his big paycheck when he didn’t fight aggresively enough for his royalties from ‘1987’ Bob Daisley style. If he had received just a couple cents from each copy sold, he could have been a millionaire.
In terms of what he might have done on his own, we can look at Lawrence Cottle who he also mentioned in that interview. Lawrence would be a hired gun for big names, earn some quid and then he would go back to his own band and play whatever he wanted. I like that approach.
November 27th, 2024 at 18:54Thanks Timmi, I had only heard a snippet of it quite a while back, it’s a nice slab of Iommi doom & gloom and even features Glenn’s current drummer from the Purple Revue: Ash Sheehan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xala32PZ5vU
The strings work well too. And Tony even plays some major key notes in his solo, but only just a little – still, I didn’t know he had in him, next thing we know, he will be auditioning for a resurrected Allman Brothers Band … 😂
November 27th, 2024 at 18:55@11 Uwe
Apache!
November 28th, 2024 at 17:45I remember this piece performed by Rockets.
Who do know it?
Do you?
I know it as the original from Hank Marvin & The Shadows, AndreA!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TwULx_wDiI
Some guy from a Brit heavy metal outfit who dresses up like Robin Hood played it too …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdBRdkrAovA
The Italian with the chopped finger tips did this on the Shadows tribute album “TWANG!” from 1996:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxRRmUI_l5Q
November 28th, 2024 at 23:17I checked out the Rockets version, AndreA, it’s a disco arrangement! 😂
https://youtu.be/7MbPwpaMnzI
I faintly remember the sci-fi alien look of the band, but I don’t think I ever heard anything from them. I’m no disco music hater, but their version totally lacks the mood of The Shadows’ original.
Initially I thought you were talking about ‘The Rockets’ from Detroit
https://youtu.be/zoLHfVo8B2s
https://youtu.be/-KOx_6SJ-1Y,
a band featuring Jim McCarty from The Detroit Wheels and also Cactus on lead guitar. They never made it, but they became Detroit local heroes.
Your Rockets were originally a French band that moved to Bella Italia and enjoyed most of its success there.
https://youtu.be/TxLMyG_2qJk
I think I prefer the guys from Detroit a bit more! 🤣 But they of course never meant a thing in Europe.
November 29th, 2024 at 14:59Thanks to AndreA & Uwe for the heads up for the French band Le Rockets. I have never come across them before & I must say kudos to them for an alternative take on a few classics there. A French space rock band from the mid 1970’s, well I never! Cheers.
November 29th, 2024 at 21:45The story gets more fantastical with the telling. DC was $3m in debt to the record company? Kalodnar says DC owes him everything….DC says his career was on the skids….Come on…he was the singer in Purple, getting regular royalties that would have given him a great lifestyle even if he did nothing else after 1976. Whitesnake from 77-81 were successful in Europe and beyond. Yes, he might have had a throat problem, and the album might not have been as big a seller as it became but the idea that the poor boy was on the scrapheap and facing impoverishment is a complete fairy story told to sell a narrative. Maybe these guys believe their own bullshit but don’t expect the rest of us to swallow it. DC sold his soul for success…he got it and good luck to him but spare us the hard-done by hero crap.
December 4th, 2024 at 03:39True, with Whitesnake and DC everything always has to be larger than life.
But liquidity might have still been an issue, I don’t think that in the 80ies back catalog sales of Mk III/IV albums were substantial and his purge of old Whitesnake and separation from the old Purple management under John Coletta cost him dearly too, not too mention the divorce from Julia and the costly specialist medical treatment for his daughter Jessica
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTbpEmhU8EIBHxdxBmTpBs-b_XjqOamWv14rak6m9qV7riY-_q48fTVYac&s
whose life was hanging by a mere thread for a while in the early 80s.
Plus those recording sessions for 1987 took several years and people like Mike Stone and Keith Olsen plus North American recording facilities aren’t cheap. Geffen pre-financed, but expected a return on their investment, Coverdale lived in LA, not the cheapest place in the US of A so I’ve heard. (My son tells me stories of a single cappuccino being 12 bucks and more – without tipping!) by now. I don’t believe that someone like John Kalodner worked for free either. And DC doesn’t really care for a frugal lifestyle: Austerity is for him a German-speaking country near the Alps I think. 🤣
Did he sell his soul (and very Faustian: even his voice?) for success? I think that’s a fair assessment. He came from a humble background and people like that, even if they have come from rags to riches, always fear that it might be gone again tomorrow. DC, the son of an unemployed father while his mother provided for the family, opted for utmost financial security. Who can blame him.
December 4th, 2024 at 11:05Not sure here, Notlob. Running a band is expensive and so is recording – especially when it takes years which was the case for 1987 – and DP were cheated on by management etc as far as I know. So it could be the truth that DC was in debt. The first incarnation of WS sure didn’t make a fortune for the musos involved. I think the wealth DC enjoys today comes more or less from the post-87 era.
December 4th, 2024 at 11:35I think the royalties from Bernie Marsden’s co-write of Here I Go Again would have enabled him an economically more than stable life and if he had never played another note once the song had hit no 1 in the US. All his solo projects and albums following that success were basically only a glorified hobby. He didn’t need to earn money with music ever again. If you’re not wasteful, one major hit can support you all your life.
December 4th, 2024 at 15:04Indeed keeping a band going is expensive but DC was never on the hook for all the recording costs/delays, he had major company backing and was being told to reshape WS to create a new, fresher look for the MTV market. In other words, the company was investing in him and even if the project ended up costing $$$, he was never personally going to be liable for it all. Add in the accounts we have from old DP members about the regular royalties they received for years and the fact that WS did sell a ton in Europe, which was more than a market in those days to make many bands comfortable, and you can understand why some of us find the ‘I was broke but I backed myself against the odds’ trope to be a little clichéd.
December 5th, 2024 at 05:32