In their early years, Whitesnake played in a hard-edged blues rock and heavy metal influenced style. By the mid-80s, the band had moved towards a more commercially friendly arena rock and pop metal ethos, garnering them major hits such as "Love Ain't No Stranger", "Now You're Gone", "Slide It In", "Still of the Night", and the iconic tune "Here I Go Again" (arguably their 'signature song'). They were named the 85th greatest hard rock band of all time by VH1.
Whitesnake were active primarily in the 80s, but they still tour, albeit with an entirely new line-up (bar Coverdale), to this day. Some of the most famous musicians who have joined the band for a time include Jon Lord, Ian Paice, Cozy Powell, Neil Murray, Bernie Marsden, Micky Moody, Rudy Sarzo, John Sykes, Adrian Vandenberg, Vivian Campbell, Tommy Aldridge, and Steve Vai.
The band's early material has been compared by critics to Deep Purple. This is not only because three past members of the band were once in Deep Purple but also because of their sound and influences. Later, the band took on a sound more in line with the hair metal style popular in the mid to late 80s, but they never truly left their heavy, blues rock roots behind
Formed in 1978 by David Coverdale after leaving Deep Purple, Whitesnake were originally a straightforwards heavy rock group with Jon Lord and Ian Paice from Deep Purple in the band. Despite a few album releases and constant touring, Whitesnake was unable to attain any significant commercial success in America, though becoming popular in the U.K., Europe, and Japan. Their critical reviews as well for their albums were somewhat mixed.
After acquaintance with Chris Cuttler, Fred Frith and most importantly, young guitarist John Sykes, David Coverdale decided to turn to a slicker, more commercially viable sound. Whitesnake made their first major splash in the States in 1984 with the album 'Slide It In', featuring the self-titled single as well as rock tracks "Slow An' Easy" and "Love Ain't No Stranger". All three of them gained major airplay and were eaten up by fans. Sykes was not involved in any of the song writing for 'Slide It In', though re-did some of Micky Moody's guitar work in the American remastering of the U.K. version of the album.
Three years later, thanks to radio-friendly, Zeppelin-ish songwriting and MTV friendly Tawny Kitaen's automobile acrobatics, Whitesnake became superstars with the album 'Whitesnake' (titled '1987' in Europe, and 'Serpens Albus' in Japan). Containing the U.S. smash hits "Here I Go Again", "Is This Love", "Still of the Night" and others, the album eventually sold over 10 million copies. Coverdale replaced the entire band for the subsequent tour, ditching Sykes for guitarists Adrian Vandenberg and Vivian Campbell. Also joining the band at this point were bassist Rudy Sarzo and drummer Tommy Aldridge.
Campbell left shortly after the tour (going on to replace Steve Clark in Def Leppard. Vandenberg, despite penning most of the material on the follow-up album, was unable to record due to a freak wrist injury. Guitar virtuoso Steve Vai was brought in to record all of the guitar parts for Slip of the Tongue, which was released in the spring of 1989. Despite going platinum, the album did not reach the stratospheric heights of Whitesnake (entitled 1987 in Europe, and Serpens Albus in Japan). With a divorce looming, and the alternative 'grunge' movement threatening to destroy the melodic rock movement, Coverdale dissolved Whitesnake.
In the late 90s, David Coverdale and Adrian Vandenberg finally recorded together again. Initially intended to be a Coverdale solo effort, the Whitesnake name was eventually attached (much like the Tony Iommi/Black Sabbath projects of the late 80s). The resulting products were a new studio album entitled Restless Heart, and the live acoustic set, Starkers In Tokyo.
In the early 2000's Coverdale relaunched Whitesnake fully with an entirely new lineup centred around guitarists Reb Beach and Doug Aldrich (previously of Winger and Lion/Dio). This Whitesnake embarked on tours across the globe, releasing the "Live In the Still of the Night" DVD and "Live... In the Shadow of the Blues" on CD in 2006. A new studio album, "Good to be Bad", was released in 2008 reaching the top 10 in the UK album charts.
Over the last few years Coverdale has been involved in a remastering project which has seen all albums from 1978's Trouble, to 1989's Slip of the Tongue reissued with bonus material.
Whitesnake released Forevermore, on March 25, 2011 in Europe, and on the 29th in North America. They have released a number of scheduled 2011 tour dates on their website, with six scheduled UK tour dates and other European dates. In February 2011, Whitesnake was announced as one of the headliners to play the annual Rocklahoma festival in Pryor, Oklahoma, on Memorial Day weekend. A digital single for the song 'Love Will Set You Free' was released, along with a video for the song, on February 21.
The album Forevermore was released as a special edition 'Snakepack' through Classic Rock magazine on 25 March, a full 3 weeks before its commercial release. The fan pack includes the full, official new album Forevermore, a 132-page magazine, poster and pin badge. On 20 March 2011, Whitesnake announced that Brian Ruedy would play keyboards on the Forevermore World Tour.
The album did not chart highly upon its official release in the UK (number 33, possibly due to the copies released as part of the aforementioned Classic Rock Snakepack, which are not eligible for the charts). It did, however, show signs of Whitesnake's slow rebuild of support in the US with the album charting at number 49 - the band's highest charting album since the 80s.
Doug Aldrich and Reb Beach are Whitesnake longest standing guitar players, both being in the band 10 years by 2012.
Whitesnake are set to embark on their farewell tour in May 2022, beginning in the UK and Ireland with Foreigner and Europe. In July 2021, the group announced the addition of multi-instrumentalist Dino Jelusick to their ranks, turning Whitesnake into a septet for the first time. Later that November, Michael Devin parted ways with the band. He was replaced by Tanya O'Callaghan, marking the first female musician to join the band.
Website: http://www.whitesnake.com/
Breakdown
Whitesnake Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Megaton surprise but your eyes never made it a shakedown.
Shot you full of rock 'n' roll, couldn't make your soul,
Didn't burn you to the bone.
Do what the man says, take the money and run.
But, I never saw the splendor
In stealing all your gold,
And doing what I'm told.
I never saw the tears but I knew you cried for rhythm 'n' blues.
Screaming like a wildcat I knew that I had nothing to lose.
Shot you full of rock 'n' roll, couldn't make your soul,
Didn't burn you to the bone.
Do what the man says, take the money and run.
But, I never saw the splendor
In stealing all your gold,
Taking all your silver
And doing what I'm told.
It's just a breakdown,
Breakdown,
Breakdown,
Breakdown.
Shaking like a leaf in the wind see me blowing away.
Never see me fall on the ground till I've had my say.
Shot you full of rock 'n' roll, couldn't make your soul,
Didn't burn you to the bone.
Do what the man says, take the money and run.
But, I never saw the splendor
In stealing all your gold,
Taking all your silver
And doing what I'm told.
It's just a breakdown,
Breakdown,
Breakdown,
It's just a breakdown.
Getting near the end, now I knew the time was right for a breakdown.
Megaton surprise but your eyes never made it a shakedown.
Shot you full of rock 'n' roll, couldn't make your soul,
Didn't burn you to the bone.
Do what the man says, take the money and run.
But, I never saw the splendor
In stealing all your gold,
Taking all your silver
And doing what I'm told.
It's just a breakdown,
Breakdown,
Breakdown,
Breakdown.
The lyrics to Whitesnake's "Breakdown" express the artist's rejection of the music industry's lucrative yet corrupt system. The singer knows that their time in the industry is limited and they are ready for a "breakdown." They are aware that those in charge will try to exploit them, but the singer has nothing to lose and will not succumb to their tactics. The artist won't steal or blindly follow orders, preferring to seek their own musical truth. They know that the industry won't be able to take away the importance of soulful rhythm and blues, which allows them to scream like a "wildcat." The song repeats the phrase "breakdown" as an expression of the final release of the artist's frustration with the industry.
Line by Line Meaning
Getting near the end, now I knew the time was right for a breakdown.
The singer knew it was the right time for a breakdown as they approached the end of something.
Megaton surprise but your eyes never made it a shakedown.
Despite there being a large surprise, the person the singer is talking to never acted as though they were being shaken down.
Shot you full of rock 'n' roll, couldn't make your soul, Didn't burn you to the bone.
The singer tried to inject the person with rock 'n' roll, but it couldn't transform their soul and didn't cause any physical harm.
Do what the man says, take the money and run.
The artist advises someone to follow the orders of others and get out with the money.
But, I never saw the splendor In stealing all your gold, Taking all your silver And doing what I'm told.
The artist never saw any glory or beauty in taking the wealth of others and following orders.
I never saw the tears but I knew you cried for rhythm 'n' blues.
Even though the singer never saw tears, they knew that the person they're talking to cried for rhythm and blues music.
Screaming like a wildcat I knew that I had nothing to lose.
The singer felt they had nothing left to lose, and yelled like a wildcat.
It's just a breakdown, Breakdown, Breakdown, Breakdown.
The song is just a breakdown, but repeated multiple times.
Shaking like a leaf in the wind see me blowing away.
The artist compares themselves to a leaf blowing in the wind, trembling with fear.
Never see me fall on the ground till I've had my say.
The artist vows to stay standing until they've had the chance to speak their mind.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: DAVID COVERDALE, MICKY MOODY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
vince
on Slide It In
You talk too much
Never saying what's on your mind
It's written on your face
And in the words you hide behind
I know what you want
I can see what you're looking for
I know what you want from me
And I'm gonna give you more
I'm gonna slide it in, right to the top
Slide it in, I ain't never gonna stop
Slide it in, right to the top
I'm gonna slide it in, slide it in, slide it in, in baby
Sometimes you seem
Just like a stranger to me
But all the games you play
Make it so easy to see
You're looking for love
Though you try to deny
The things you put me through
Tell me what I've got to do to you
I'm gonna slide it in right to the top
Slide it in, I ain't never gonna stop
Slide it in, right to the top
I'm gonna slide it in, slide it in
You talk too much
Always treating me so unkind
I know what I've got to do
To get me some peace of mind
I'm gonna slide it in, right to the top
Slide it in, I ain't never gonna stop
Slide it in, right to the top
I'm gonna slide it in, slide it in
Slide it in, right to the top
Slide it in, I ain't never gonna stop
Slide it in, right to the top
I'm gonna slide it in, slide it in, slide it
Slide it in, slide it in
Right to the top, baby