Here are the five of Whitesnake’s most underrated songs.
Although Whitesnake will forever be sewn into the fabric of not only American, but international pop culture with their 1987 self-titled album (and specifically “Here I Go Again”), there is so much more to the British hard rock band as well as so many other songs hidden within the band’s discography that never truly got their time to shine in the sun.
Started in the heart of London in 1978 by sultry vocalist and songwriter extraordinaire David Coverdale, Whitesnake released a total of six other records prior to their self-titled album that hark some of the bands most impressive work. Ranging from songs drenched and dripping in the influence of blues rock to songs that took a page from the heavier bands of the time, there’s a Whitesnake song for everyone and a hell of a lot of Whitesnake songs that certainly don’t get enough love.
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The group also boasted work from some of the most impressive musicians of the era. Bernie Marsden, John Sykes, Adrian Vandenberg, Steve Vai, Jon Lord, Ian Paice, Cozy Powell, etc, are just a handful of the names that passed through Whitesnake over the years. When you have a that many great players contributing to a band’s catalog, there are bound to be a few hidden gems.
Let’s dive in to the five most underrated cuts in Whitesnake’s catalog; these songs show just how much there is to love beyond “Here I Go Again.”
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“Gambler” – ‘Slide It In’ (1984)
Start an argument with any serious Whitesnake fan about the most underrated deep cut in the band’s catalog and “Gambler” usually comes up pretty fast.
It sits on Side One, Track One of the band’s sixth studio release, Slide It In, and somehow still gets treated like a footnote against the hits on the album; a la “Love Ain’t No Stranger” or “Slow ‘An Easy.”
Written by David Coverdale and guitarist Mel Galley, “Gambler” is moody in a way that most of Slide It In isn’t. Jon Lord’s keyboard work is all over this track and he’s joined by arguably the best lineup that Whitesnake ever had over the course of their almost 45 years as a band. Featuring John Sykes on guitar on the U.S. release and Galley on the U.K. mix with Cozy Powell on drums on both versions of the record… it doesn’t get much better than that.
There’s a certain rawness to “Gambler” that makes it stand out when you stick it against the slicker Whitesnake material that would be released towards the latter half of the decade. Sure, the production on Slide It In is definitely bigger than what it was on the band’s earliest albums, but “Gambler” and Slide It In as a whole strays away from feeling too polished or put together.
“Gambler” sadly never got the single treatment or the large MTV push that came along with a music video, but it remains one of the best songs in Whitesnake’s catalog.
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“Love To Keep You Warm” – ‘Trouble’ (1978)
“Love To Keep You Warm” is a perfect example of the Whitesnake that existed long before “Here I Go Again” was anywhere near becoming a hit. The song appears on the band’s 1978 debut Trouble, and if you only know Whitesnake for the giant guitars, this is a different band entirely.
“Love To Keep You Warm” leans HARD into their blues influences. The riff has swagger while Coverdale spends most of the song doing what he does best: singing about love, lust, and everything in between. And yeah, the lyrics are exactly what you’d expect from a song called “Love To Keep You Warm.”
At this point in Whitesnake’s career, they were far from being a band that would ever be associated with arena rock. The record has more in common with the British blues rock that Coverdale came from with Deep Purple; songs such as this one showed just how comfortable he was in that world. Bernie Marsden and Mick Moody gave the band plenty of guitar muscle.
The entire song has that loose, slightly dirty feeling that made early Whitesnake so much fun. All the band was worried about was groove and attitude. You can literally hear the personality of the band on this album, and in this song in particular. If you’re willing to dive into the band’s history before MTV, this is just one example of the magic that lives in that space.
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“You’re Gonna Break My Heart Again” – ‘Whitesnake’ (1987)
With how massive the band’s 1987 self-titled record was, it feels like it’d be impossible for the record to have a song that would qualify as being underrated. Surprisingly enough, there are a few — and they actually didn’t end up on the album’s original North American track listing; therefore weren’t ever released as singles and never received the attention they deserved.
“You’re Gonna Break My Heart Again” was one of two additional tracks that were featured on the European version of the record, alongside “Looking For Love.” Written by Coverdale and Sykes before their creative relationship and personal friendship fell apart, Sykes’ riff on “You’re Gonna Break My Heart Again” has the same bite that he brought to songs like “Still Of The Night.”
On this one, Coverdale sounds more pissed off than wounded, and has a different energy than the longing and pining that he shares on the rest of the album. It has a real sense of tension as Coverdale dives into the story of a toxic relationship that he can’t seem to escape from.
The production is of course very of its time, but it’s not really a bad thing here. The huge drums and layered guitars are exactly what you’d expect from Whitesnake at this stage in their career.
If you only know this album for the four songs that were borderline inescapable in 1987, give it another listen.
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“Restless Heart” – ‘Restless Heart’ (1997)
By 1997, Whitesnake were a completely different beast than the band that had dominated the charts a decade earlier. David Coverdale had spent years away from the group and the days of MTV and Aqua Net seemed far behind him.
“Restless Heart” was a return to Whitesnake’s bluesier roots instead of trying to recreate the band’s peak, which unfortunately, was way in the past. The song is slow, smokey and incredibly reminiscent of the early Whitesnake sound that we saw on albums like Trouble, Lovehunter, and Ready An’ Willing. Coverdale sounds older, wiser, and more reflective.
The album of the same name, Restless Heart, was originally supposed to be a David Coverdale solo record before the Whitesnake name got attached to it. That distinction matters because the record sounds much more intimate than what most people probably picture when they think of Whitesnake. There’s more blues, more soul and a lot less interest in chasing the sound associated with their biggest hits.
At this point in the band’s career, Coverdale was more concerned with making music he loved than trying to make Whitesnake the biggest band in the room.
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“Now You’re Gone” – ‘Slip of the Tongue’ (1989)
By the time Whitesnake released Slip of the Tongue in 1989, the band had pretty much reached the point where everything had to be way bigger and way flashier. Hair metal, which is the genre that Whitesnake shifted to for as the ’80s progressed, was reaching a point of oversaturation and was nearing what would soon be its end.
Steve Vai was now in the mix, along with Adrian Vandenberg, and the band’s patriarch David Coverdale was riding the high of the massive success of their 1987 self-titled release; Whitesnake had firmly established themselves as one of the biggest had rock bands in the world. Tucked within the new heights that the band was reaching, “Now You’re Gone” is a song that never truly reached its potential despite being the third single.
“Now You’re Gone” is one of the more vulnerable moments on Slip of the Tongue, giving Coverdale the opportunity to show off his strengths.
Give this one another listen. It’s one of the more standout moments on an album that people love to file under hair metal excess.
