Still of the Night (song)

"Still of the Night" is a song by the English band Whitesnake. It was released as the first single from their self titled 1987 album. It reached #16 in the U.K.,[4] #18 on the U.S. Mainstream rock Tracks and #79 on the Billboard Hot 100.

This article is about the song by Whitesnake. For other uses, see Still of the Night.

"Still of the Night"
Single by Whitesnake
from the album Whitesnake
B-side"Here I Go Again" and "You're Gonna Break My Heart Again"
Released16 March 1987 (UK)
Recorded1986
Genre
Length6:41 (album version)
3:58 (single version)
LabelGeffen, EMI
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Whitesnake singles chronology
"Slow an' Easy"
(1984)		 "Still of the Night"
(1987)		 "Here I Go Again 87"
(1987)
Music video
"Still of the Night" on YouTube

Background

The song was written by lead singer David Coverdale and guitarist John Sykes, and proved to be one of the band's most popular songs. Both the current Whitesnake lineup and John Sykes play the song as their live encore.

In 2009, in an interview with Metal Hammer, Coverdale commented on the origins of the song:[5]

"When my mother died I was going through the stuff at her house and found some early demo cassettes. One of them was a song that Ritchie Blackmore and I had been working on which was the basic premise of what would become "Still of the Night". It was totally unrecognizable, so Ritchie doesn't have anything to worry about... neither do I! Ha ha ha! I took it as far as I could then I gave it to Sykes when we were in the south of France, and he put the big guitar hero stuff on there. John hated blues so I had to work within those parameters. I manipulated to be electric blues, but how he performed it was fabulous for his time and relatively unique because of the songs. There were a lot of people doing that widdly stuff but they didn't have the quality of those songs."

Music video

The director of the music video was Marty Callner. Initially the female role of the "Whitesnake woman" was planned for the pre-fame Claudia Schiffer, but the night before the shoot the plan fell apart. As such Callner called Coverdale to discuss changes on the story boards, but seeing the attractiveness of Coverdale's future wife Tawny Kitaen she was chosen to be play the role.[6][7] Part of the video's set design was Coverdale's idea inspired by Elvis Presley's movie Jailhouse Rock, but "it's like much more idealized prison cells, but this was done with a big full moon. And the band was fantastic – they sold the song brilliantly".[8] The band in the music video is not the same on the audio track. Of the original band that recorded the song, only vocalist David Coverdale appears. Studio bassist Neil Murray was replaced with Rudy Sarzo in the video. Likewise drummer Ansley Dunbar was replaced by Tommy Aldridge, and both guitarists Adrian Vandenberg and Vivian Campbell appear on the video, but do not play on the song.

Legacy

In 2009, the track was named the 27th best hard rock song of all time by VH1.[9]

Track listing
  1. "Still of the Night" – 6:38
  2. "Here I Go Again" – 4:33
  3. "You're Gonna Break My Heart Again" – 4:11

Personnel

Charts
Chart (1987) Peak
position
UK Singles (The Official Charts Company)[10] 16
Ireland (IRMA)[11] 23
US Billboard Hot 100[12] 79
US Billboard Mainstream Rock [13] 18

References
  1. "A&R Legend John Kalodner Talks Aerosmith and Why Rock Won't Reach the Masses Again". LA Weekly. 13 June 2016. Retrieved 10 February 2021. commemorating Whitesnake's self-titled 1987 album, which featured the band's epic pop-metal hits "Here I Go Again" and "Still of the Night"
  2. "36 Essential '80s Pop Metal Tracks". Stereogum. 5 April 2017. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  3. Martin Popoff (15 August 2014). The Big Book of Hair Metal. Voyageur Press. p. 131.
  4. "Whitesnake The Official Charts Company".
  5. Lawson, Dom (29 July 2009). "Whitesnake: The Story Behind 1987". Metal Hammer. Retrieved 6 December 2020 – via Louder Sound.
  6. Hotten, Jon (June 2001). "Year of the snake". Classic Rock #28. p. 28.
  7. "Actress Tawny Kitaen Looks Back On Whitesnake's 'Here I Go Again' Video". Blabbermouth.net. 4 June 2020. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  8. Kaufman, Spencer (13 March 2019). "David Coverdale Tells the Story Behind Whitesnake's Iconic "Here I Go Again" Video". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 5 December 2020 – via Yahoo!.
  9. "spreadit.org music". Archived from the original on 4 January 2009. Retrieved 7 February 2009.
  10. "Whitesnake – Official Charts". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  11. "The Irish Charts - All there is to know". Irishcharts.ie. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
  12. "Whitesnake Hot 100 chart". Billboard. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  13. "Whitesnake Mainstream Rock Airplay chart". Billboard. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
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