Whitesnake

Whitesnake is the 7th studio album by English hard rock band Whitesnake. The record was released as self-titled on 23 March 1987 by Geffen Records in North America, also alternatively titled 1987 on 31 March 1987 by EMI in European markets using an alternative track list that included songs left out from the North American tracks such as, “Looking for Love” & “You’re Gonna Break My Heart Again”. It was also released as Serpens Albus in Japan on 22 April 1987 issued by CBS International/Sony using the North American track listing.

American/Japanese Track Listing:
1. Crying In The Rain ‘87
2. Bad Boys
3. Still of the Night
4. Here I Go Again '87
5. Give Me All Your Love
6. Is This Love
7. Children of the Night
8. Straight for the Heart
9. Don’t Turn Away

European Track Listing:
1. Still of the Night
2. Bad Boys
3. Give Me All Your Love
4. Looking for Love^
5. Crying In The Rain ‘87
6. Is This Love
7. Straight for the Heart
8. Don’t Turn Away
9. Children of the Night
10. Here I Go Again '87
11. You’re Gonna Break My Heart Again^
(^ – indicating not featured in the North American track listing)

Widely viewed as glam metal, the album was a critical hit in its commercial practice by provoking the band’s change into a modern look on their sound and image. Designed by Canadian artist, Hugh Syme, the band’s logo was first widely used to identify their future characteristics as they largely abandoned the “snake” version used on their earlier albums from the late-70’s through “Slide It In.”

By receiving positive reviews from critics, the album reached ground-breaking commercial success, particularly in North America. The album peaked at #2 on Billboard 200, hovering near or at its peak status for the course of 7 months from 13 June 1987 to 23 January 1988, making it by far spending in total more weeks inside the top five than any other album in 1987, selling an average between “390,000 to 800,000 copies before noon on consecutive days” due to MTV’s presence, according to Coverdale. However, the album was barred from the top spot notoriously by Michael Jackson’s Bad and Whitney Houston’s Whitney. The album achieved an American 8x Platinum status by the Recording Industry of America, selling over 8 million copies in 1995. In Canada, it sold 500,000 copies since 1988, earning 5x Platinum. Since its release date, the album has sold over 15 million copies worldwide, although it also reached approximately 20 million according to John Sykes.

Its success in the US boosted its predecessor, Slide It In, from Gold to double Platinum status by RIAA, and would see the band receive a nomination at the 1988 Brit Awards for Best British Group and at the American Music Awards of 1988 for Favorite Pop/Rock Album.

Reception accolades have praised the album’s legacy, with Classic Rock considering it 96th among “100 Greatest British Rock Albums Ever,” magazine Rolling Stone ranked the album 12th among “50 Greatest Hair Metal Albums of All Time,” Martin Popoff listing it 116th in “The Top 500 Heavy Metal Albums of All Time,” and Metal Hammer including the album among “Top 20 best metal albums of 1987.”