Slip Of The Tongue bonbed - why?

[Love_Industry]

Recycling FFYL and hiring Vai were good decisions for the time and somewhat saved the album and tour.

The problem started much earlier when Cov hired two guitarists who weren't very good songwriters. Viv's songwriting was mostly recycling Trev Fleming riffs to fit Dio songs, and Adrian wrote a couple of mediocre Eurometal albums.

That's why SOTT bombed. No hits even if Vai did what he could to make the generic Adrian songs interesting. Some of them are even quite good - Wings of the Storm, Sailing Ships, Now You're Gone - others are obvious ripoffs like Judgment Day and The Deeper the Love. Cheap an'Nasty is close to Slide It In and could have been a hit... with different lyrics and title.

[Mister Freeze]

The 1987 album was a lightning-in-a-bottle moment.

There's nothing on the Blue Murder album that suggests John Sykes would've saved the follow-up.

Slip Of The Tongue was a corporate rock project that failed to find the right songs. Coverdale had the voice, but the inspiration was long gone.

[VinnieVincentsVag]

As much as I respect Vai and his playing, I thought he kinda ruined the album.

[Tommy2Tone84]

IMO the reason was the bad first single.
Fool For Your Loving is not a good song. Maybe mainstream people liked it at the 70's (in the U.K.) but I find it very weak.

They should have picked:

1. Judgement Day (more Zeppelish stuff)
2. Now You're Gone (guaranteed airplay)
3. Sailing Ships (good power ballad)

The album bombed because of the lousy Fool For Your Loving stupid bluesy song wrongfully updated with Vai's guitars.

Speak for yourself. I like that song. Bernie and Mickey co-wrote it. I liked Vai in the band. If anyone lifted right out, it was the Dutchman.

Now You’ve Gone was a single as was The Deeper The Love.

I agree Sailing Ships also should’ve been a single. JD is killer but more of an album cut. Same with Wings

The only complaints I have with the record is Kitten’s Got Claws and Cheap N Nasty. Other than that it’s flawless right down to the front cover. It went platinum here. That isn’t the 8 million that WS87 eventually sold. But I think that had more to do with fans learning the band was the David Coverdale show more than anything. Vai wasn’t the pretty boy Sykes (who didn’t write a note on Slide It In and didn’t write Here I Go Again or Crying In The Rain) was either. Maybe that had something to do with it.

Then again it’s not like Blue Murder were all that successful

[kytepunches]

For me at the time , i was already drifting away from the softer metal. Albums like this one were going in the wrong direction . This one sounded like a bunch of love songs for women . My money was going to heavier bands like Metallica, GNR , Exodus , Megadeth ect. It’s not a “bad “ album , but most of the songs are forgettable IMO.

[Love_Industry]

The 1987 album was a lightning-in-a-bottle moment.

There's nothing on the Blue Murder album that suggests John Sykes would've saved the follow-up.

Good point. Half of 1987, written by Sykes, was competent but unremarkable filler. Crying in the Rain and Here I Go Again were remakes. Still of the Night was written around a riff Cov and Blackmore jammed on in the 70s.

Is This Love and Give Me All Your Love were bona fide Coverdale/Sykes hit singles but without the success of SotN and HIGA and the videos the album wouldn't have sold much more than Slide or Slip.

[Bono Nettencourt]

The 1987 album was a lightning-in-a-bottle moment.

There's nothing on the Blue Murder album that suggests John Sykes would've saved the follow-up.

Also true. Cov and Sykes together were greater than the sum of their parts.

As much as I respect Vai and his playing, I thought he kinda ruined the album.

Agree. After basically replacing Eddie in the EEAS band, he thought he was God, and overplayed over everything.

[Darrien]

I remember not liking the singles from Slip and then forgot about them. 1989 was a strong year for hair metal and Whitesnake just didn't have what it takes to keep up.

[Wild Obsession]

The band and album seemed "dated" by the time it was released, and Via's sterile, soulless style didn't help.

[ParaDime77]

Didn’t bomb in my home, I love the album to this day!

[NineteenEightyFour]

I'll take the earlier Purple-ish version of "Fool For Your Loving" any day. As much as a fan as I am of Vai, he never fit this band.

[ijwthstd]

Anyone see the tour? Who did you get, Faster Pussycat, Bad English or Kix?

Seen boxscores ranging from sold out to like 2500 way back when.

[War_in_D]

Anyone see the tour? Who did you get, Faster Pussycat, Bad English or Kix?

Seen boxscores ranging from sold out to like 2500 way back when.

I saw the tour in June of 1990, Winnipeg, Canada. It was brutal. Faster Pussycat opened. About 2,500 there in a full size arena. The thing felt like a dress rehearsal.

Later that same week, Motley and Tesla played. Every seat sold. The roof blown off.

[Love_Industry]

Wanted to see them when I was in New York Feb 1990. Nassau Coliseum was sold out and I didn't want to go all the way to Long Island without a ticket. Had they played MSG I would have given it a try. Think Great White opened?

Saw them in Stockholm in August instead. Sold out Ericsson Globe with Poison and Quierboys opening.

[Bono Nettencourt]

Great White opened for them in 88.

[Love_Industry]

Great White opened for them in 88.

You're right. Kix opened for them in Feb 1990, also at that show.

Just saw on Setlist.fm that I could have seen them in New Haven the week before if I knew about it.

[daveg]

Saw this tour when they merged with the Kiss tour for one date. WS/Kiss/Slaughter/Faster..

They had been bitching for weeks about who would headline. Kiss finally relented to opening, but put WS down relentlessly in the press for weeks leading up to the show. Was really odd seeing Kiss play a full show in the blazing sun. When WS came on, I'd guess half the crowd had left..and halfway though the set about 1/4 full. We stayed and actually enjoyed WS. They did play a super short set for a headliner. Think it was only 9 or 10 songs.
Lots of booing between songs in the beginning. Kisstards were out in full force that day.

As someone mentioned above, Motley/Tesla came through a few days later, and blew the roof off the Skydome in Toronto. First stadium show I had ever been to, and it was wild

[War_in_D]

Saw this tour when they merged with the Kiss tour for one date. WS/Kiss/Slaughter/Faster..

They had been bitching for weeks about who would headline. Kiss finally relented to opening, but put WS down relentlessly in the press for weeks leading up to the show. Was really odd seeing Kiss play a full show in the blazing sun. When WS came on, I'd guess half the crowd had left..and halfway though the set about 1/4 full. We stayed and actually enjoyed WS. They did play a super short set for a headliner. Think it was only 9 or 10 songs.
Lots of booing between songs in the beginning. Kisstards were out in full force that day.

As someone mentioned above, Motley/Tesla came through a few days later, and blew the roof off the Skydome in Toronto. First stadium show I had ever been to, and it was wild

Was the WS/KISS show in Toronto? Which venue?

[daveg]

Saw this tour when they merged with the Kiss tour for one date. WS/Kiss/Slaughter/Faster..

They had been bitching for weeks about who would headline. Kiss finally relented to opening, but put WS down relentlessly in the press for weeks leading up to the show. Was really odd seeing Kiss play a full show in the blazing sun. When WS came on, I'd guess half the crowd had left..and halfway though the set about 1/4 full. We stayed and actually enjoyed WS. They did play a super short set for a headliner. Think it was only 9 or 10 songs.
Lots of booing between songs in the beginning. Kisstards were out in full force that day.

As someone mentioned above, Motley/Tesla came through a few days later, and blew the roof off the Skydome in Toronto. First stadium show I had ever been to, and it was wild

Was the WS/KISS show in Toronto? Which venue?

Yes Toronto.....Old Exhibition Stadium.

I also remember that when Kiss said they would open, WS, then told Gene and Paul they were not allowed to use any pyro.

[Van Ailin']

Now You’re Gone was a single - nowhere close to being a hit.

Judgement Day is a long Kashmir ripoff with zero chorus/hook, and Kingdom Come had just done a Kashmir ripoff 10x better/more commercial that had been all over rock radio already (Get It On). Radio wouldn’t have touched “Judgment Day”

Agree. First, it was way too "Kashmir-like" and then it had the secondary sin of just not working very well as a song. Wings of a Storm would have worked better if it were heavier and less airbrushed. It needed a little more "oomph," but I remember liking that one. It's not a terrible album, but really only the title track and Sailing Ships took good advantage of what Vai had to offer. I think essentially the Blue Murder album songs but with Coverdale singing and out earlier, perhaps late 1988, would have been an enormous success.

[FreddyFender]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXW2CgTPZtE

This is obviously just them rehearsing, but a real recording of this would have been better than anything on SOTT outside of Fool For Your Loving.

Hearing Coverdale sing that bit of the chorus is a reminder that his voice was as good as it gets - songs just weren't there.

[Van Ailin']

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXW2CgTPZtE

This is obviously just them rehearsing, but a real recording of this would have been better than anything on SOTT outside of Fool For Your Loving.

Hearing Coverdale sing that bit of the chorus is a reminder that his voice was as good as it gets - songs just weren't there.

I knew that would likely be the case once it was announced that Adrian Vandenberg was the main co-writer. I had two Vandenberg albums, and there were maybe three good songs among both albums put together. And almost all really mediocre ones. I also wasn't moved much by his playing. Remember thinking that Vivian Campbell might bring some interesting things, but as we see from his writing in Def Leppard, Riverdogs and Shadow King, he really isn't a strong writer. I've liked The Last In Line, but suspect that Bain and then Phil Soussan have a big hand in that. Viv is solid and consistent, but he's not the big talent that guitar magazines built him up to be in the 80s. Dio and perhaps the Bain/Dio writing partnership was clearly the real talent in that band, and maybe that's part of why Wendy didn't want to cut Viv in too much (lest he then have a controlling vote for years to come). I imagine the rationale for not giving Sykes a bigger piece of Whitesnake was similar, but in that case, Sykes really was the best talent in the room. Coverdale got so screechy that I think Sykes was a better singer, too.

[Bono Nettencourt]

Agree with above - they were two of the most overrated guitarists in 80s metal.

[Love_Industry]

Agree with above - they were two of the most overrated guitarists in 80s metal.

Add John Norum to the list and you have the top three of one trick pony guitarists.
What they could do was play fast and that's about it.
Oh and they were young and could run around a lot on stage.

[woblinweebles]

Anyone see the tour? Who did you get, Faster Pussycat, Bad English or Kix?

Seen boxscores ranging from sold out to like 2500 way back when.

Saw the tour in Dallas at Reunion Arena with Bad English opening. According to Billboard, they sold 10,091 out of 12, 000

[DemonFilth2001]

I saw it in Columbia,SC. Bad English. I remember the arena being pretty packed.

[Bono Nettencourt]

Agree with above - they were two of the most overrated guitarists in 80s metal.

Add John Norum to the list and you have the top three of one trick pony guitarists.
What they could do was play fast and that's about it.
Oh and they were young and could run around a lot on stage.

Yeah he's another one who was all hype.

[Anthrax442]

I mean, it went Platinum in 1990, it's not like it didn't move at all. And Fool For Your Loving is a fine song, although, if I'm honest, I THINK I prefer the original version.

It was released at the end of the hairband era, for comparison's sake, Blaze of Glory only went Double Platinum, and ALAE sold just under a million, so I'm not sure what people were expecting, it's not like 1987 was going to happen again.

And you can talk all you want about Vai/Vandenberg being a downgrade from Sykes/Campbell, but I think the real issue is that, for marketing purposes, Coverdale was already 100 years old when 1987 hit, and he was now two years older. He simply wasn't going to be able to compete with younger bands like Firehouse/Trixter/Warrant in the youth market.

[kanister]

It's a decent album and sold just as much as it deserved or maybe even more.

[Van Ailin']

I mean, it went Platinum in 1990, it's not like it didn't move at all. And Fool For Your Loving is a fine song, although, if I'm honest, I THINK I prefer the original version.

It was released at the end of the hairband era, for comparison's sake, Blaze of Glory only went Double Platinum, and ALAE sold just under a million, so I'm not sure what people were expecting, it's not like 1987 was going to happen again.

And you can talk all you want about Vai/Vandenberg being a downgrade from Sykes/Campbell, but I think the real issue is that, for marketing purposes, Coverdale was already 100 years old when 1987 hit, and he was now two years older. He simply wasn't going to be able to compete with younger bands like Firehouse/Trixter/Warrant in the youth market.

Sykes/Campbell? That never happened.

Blaze of Glory was awful and shouldn't have sold more than a thousand copes.

Firehouse and Trixter were awful although Steve Brown turned out OK. I didn't like Warrant, but their second album had two really strong songs so there was that. I do think Coverdale both looked and sounded old on the tour. He clearly blew his voice out again on the 1987 album tour, and really it's never been very good since. That real warmth he had on 1987 was gone.