
1987 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 only collaboration between vocalist David Coverdale and guitarist John Sykes, the final album to feature original 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, and the first recording to use the band’s new logo which would characterise them in the future.
Crying in the Rain is the first song on the album and is a slightly different version of the original, which was released on the group’s 1982 album Saints & Sinners. The song was inspired by singer David Coverdale’s divorce. From more slower and bluesier it is now much heavier and with a faster sound, influenced by heavy metal. Still of the Night, which was written by David Coverdale & John Sykes was released as the first single from their self-titled 1987 album. It reached #16 in the U.K., #18 on the U.S. Mainstream rock Tracks and #79 on the Billboard Hot 100. It is a popular encore and setlist ender to this day. Bad Boys is the party rocker and also reminds me of Bad Boys Running Wild by Scorpions.
And then we have the big kahuna – Here I Go Again was another song originally written for and released on their 1982 album, Saints & Sinners in October 1982. The song was written by Coverdale and then guitarist Bernie Marsden and written was written while Coverdale’s was at the end of his troubled marriage with his first wife, Julia. It became a classic icon of the 80s and is an evergreen song of the indomitable spirit of the romantic die hard! It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart as a sleeper hit and remained there for one week, being the band’s only number-one single of that chart in their discography to date. It also peaked at number four on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. The re-recording also peaked at number nine in the UK, number 1 in Canada and top 10 in the Netherlands.
Give Me All Your Love was the fourth single released from the album, and reached number 48 on the US Top 100 charts, number 22 on the Mainstream Rock Charts, number 18 in the UK charts, and 49 in New Zealand. Is This Love is the next big song in 1987, released on 18 May 1987 in the UK as the second single and remains a huge hit. Reaching number nine in the UK Singles Chart, and number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, it has been a true ballad and mainstay of their live set list ever since. Children Of The Night is up next and a rightfully rockier song which goes a little lower tempo during the refrain. Straight for the Heart is a fast paced love song that is right up the band’s style. Don’t Turn Away is a plea to your lover to work things out.
Although the North American version ends here, in Europe the album included Looking for Love and You’re Gonna Break My Heart Again. 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 8× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide. It peaked at number two on the US Billboard 200 for ten non-consecutive weeks.