Jump to content

Coverdale/Page


Cat

Recommended Posts

23 minutes ago, The Rover 75 said:

Well said Steve, Coverdale did not just pop up out of nowhere. He replaced Ian Gillian in Deep Purple, so he got some good experience there. I get that many people don't like DC, we saw WS a couple of years ago, & had a blast. To each their own.

I can see where some of Robert's irritation towards David Coverdale came from.

Coverdale's Plant like blonde poodle perm popped up out of nowhere. Coverdale had brown hair for years.

The violin bow on Still of The Night popped up out of nowhere as did the whole overall LZ vibe of WS 87.  

Plant should have let it go, better to ignore it... Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.. Etc.. His ego was wounded. He wasn't doing that type of music anymore and there was huge demand for that type of band. Whitesnake, Kingdom Come, Bonham.. etc were ready and willing to fill that void.. 

 Coverdale's conversion seemed very calculated. I really liked 87 but it was always pretty obvious what it was about. 

Edited by the chase
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Robert wasn't a fan, even before Coverdale raised the register, went blond, did Still of the Night, worked with Jimmy, etc. In '85 he was asked about potential live Zeppelin releases, with the interviewer pointing to the success of the Deep Purple Live In London lp (with Coverdale and Hughes, from 1974), and Robert just dismissed it with something like 'well, they were lucky to be live on a stage anywhere'!     

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, SteveAJones said:

We can agree to disagree. Of course Robert did express disdain for AOR rock and the imitators at the time, but targeting Coverdale time and time again for a period of about five years was in my opinion pathological. 

Indeed Steve, who knows, maybe David shagged one of old Roberts birds and he held a grudge?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, SteveAJones said:

Robert did express disdain for AOR rock and the imitators at the time, but targeting Coverdale time and time again for a period of about five years was in my opinion pathological. 

I agree with you here. I don't hate Coverdale, but I do find him to be a bit of an arrogant neanderthal. Having said that, I could see why anyone would dislike him, but Robert took it to a whole different level. You and I can banter back and forth, and critique Coverdale, in relative anonimity, but Robert took his celebrity and used it against David, in a very public way. That was wrong, and it was cheap. Mind you, I've never considered Robert to be a "nice guy", so I shouldn't be surprised. Nonetheless, Robert's public bashing of Coverdale was in poor taste.

Edited by The Dark Lord
Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, the chase said:

I can see where some of Robert's irritation towards David Coverdale came from.

Coverdale's Plant like blonde poodle perm popped up out of nowhere. Coverdale had brown hair for years.

The violin bow on Still of The Night popped up out of nowhere as did the whole overall LZ vibe of WS 87.  

Plant should have let it go, better to ignore it... Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.. Etc.. His ego was wounded. He wasn't doing that type of music anymore and there was huge demand for that type of band. Whitesnake, Kingdom Come, Bonham.. etc were ready and willing to fill that void.. 

 Coverdale's conversion seemed very calculated. I really liked 87 but it was always pretty obvious what it was about. 

The violin bow solo in that song was ridiculous (but it should be Page, not Plant, who's irritated by it), but I always thought this album sounded more like Rainbow (AOR era, not Dio) than Zep.  Which sort of makes sense, given Coverdale's past collaboration with Blackmore.  Indeed, the riff in Still of the Night supposedly originated from an old Deep Purple session. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of the funniest things I remember from that time was an article in Spin. I'm pretty sure it was a Plant interview. There was a picture of RP in his Zeppelin peak... Under it read "I come from the land of the ice and snow" Below was a picture of David Coverdale ... And it read .. "I do too".. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, Brigante said:

Robert wasn't a fan, even before Coverdale raised the register, went blond, did Still of the Night, worked with Jimmy, etc. In '85 he was asked about potential live Zeppelin releases, with the interviewer pointing to the success of the Deep Purple Live In London lp (with Coverdale and Hughes, from 1974), and Robert just dismissed it with something like 'well, they were lucky to be live on a stage anywhere'!     

Below, I've copied and pasted a comment Knebby, a former poster, made several years ago on another thread.  The italics are mine.

Oh and I can say the first time I heard Plant "taking shots at " Coverdale was in 1981 - when Coverdale could only dream of the kind of success Plant had seen.

Edited 28 May 2008 by Knebby
Disco Duck here again:  Coverdale and Whitesnake were still doing their blues rock thing and he still had brown hair in 1981.  No one could have accused him of imitating Plant during this period.   Who knows why Plant had a bee in his bonnet about the guy. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On ‎2‎/‎13‎/‎2016 at 0:29 PM, JohnOsbourne said:

The violin bow solo in that song was ridiculous (but it should be Page, not Plant, who's irritated by it), but I always thought this album sounded more like Rainbow (AOR era, not Dio) than Zep.  Which sort of makes sense, given Coverdale's past collaboration with Blackmore.  Indeed, the riff in Still of the Night supposedly originated from an old Deep Purple session. 

Agreed. I don't hear a Led Zeppelin influence on mid to late 1980s era Whitesnake at all. Visual cues, sure. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, SteveAJones said:

Agreed. I don't hear a Led Zeppelin influence on mid to late 1980s era Whitesnake at all. Visual cues, sure. 

Agreed, I would state Slide it In was much more blatantly Zeppelinesque than the 1987 album. I remember when the title single came out and everyone thought it was Robert Plant's new album...too bad, it only sounded a wee bit different than Shaken n' Stirred which was released a few months later.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I still think Still Of The Night was an attempt to sound and look like Led Zeppelin. There is an obvious Immigrant Song gallop in the main riff, the middle section breakdown is very Whole Lotta Love like and the violin bow visual ... when there is as far as I can tell no violin bow in the track. What else could they be trying to imitate? Not Rainbow.. I love the song, but the attempt is pretty obvious. 

Crying In The Rain is a great track and is IMO Whitesnake at their very best...

I would imagine the visual side is what irked the boys in LZ more than the music.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can remember when Still of the Night came out, everyone I knew was all excited thinking it was some new Led Zeppelin song. Nobody I new back then were big Whitesnake fans to begin with, but after Still of the Night, Whitesnake officially became a joke to everyone I knew.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/12/2016 at 11:53 AM, the chase said:

I can see where some of Robert's irritation towards David Coverdale came from.

Coverdale's Plant like blonde poodle perm popped up out of nowhere. Coverdale had brown hair for years.

The violin bow on Still of The Night popped up out of nowhere as did the whole overall LZ vibe of WS 87.  

Plant should have let it go, better to ignore it... Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.. Etc.. His ego was wounded. He wasn't doing that type of music anymore and there was huge demand for that type of band. Whitesnake, Kingdom Come, Bonham.. etc were ready and willing to fill that void.. 

 Coverdale's conversion seemed very calculated. I really liked 87 but it was always pretty obvious what it was about. 

I think you are 100% wrong and here is why, the following could have been created by Led Zeppelin, it's David in the 1970's

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for posting that, Zepscoda. Hats off to Coverdale for not being bitter about Page jumping ship and forgoing a tour to reunite with Plant. After investing so much time in something, it would have been easy for Coverdale to be bitter about the whole experience. But he's always complimentary about Page in interviews and never has a dig. Well, not in public, anyway...

Edited by Flares
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/17/2016 at 9:26 AM, Charles J. White said:

I think you are 100% wrong and here is why, the following could have been created by Led Zeppelin, it's David in the 1970's

 

 

You can think whatever you like Charles. I think Still Of The Night was an obvious attempt to boost Whitesnake in the States by modernizing their sound and image by using something proven that would get them more attention and sell them more records. No more Bernie Marsden in T-shirt's. Instead we get Adrian Vandenberg miming he's using a violin bow. 

I prefer the earlier stuff. I bought Ready and Willing in 1980 and know Purples history as much as the next guy. So I'm familiar with Coverdales history. He's a great singer. 

But again SOTN was pretty calculated and who really cares. It's still a great track. 

Ritchie Blackmore has stated more than once that Led Zeppelin was a major reason Purple went heavier and replaced Simper and Evans with Gillan and Glover. He loved their direction and made DP a much heavier band largely because of Zeppelin.. Very cool he would even admit this.. 

Edited by the chase
added content
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/19/2016 at 7:07 PM, the chase said:

You can think whatever you like Charles. I think Still Of The Night was an obvious attempt to boost Whitesnake in the States by modernizing their sound and image by using something proven that would get them more attention and sell them more records. No more Bernie Marsden in T-shirt's. Instead we get Adrian Vandenberg miming he's using a violin bow. 

 

For those that don't know the whole story, and based off what I've read, not many do, Coverdale was in debt to his record company. He owed them over $300,000 dollars and set out to make 1987 a huge success. He knew they had the songs, with much of the thanks being owed to John Sykes, who was a great guitarist and worked really well with David.

But, after being sacked, when Adrian Vandenberg joined, the violin bow was all his idea. I have a Coverdale/Page interview on tape where David discusses this and Page, ever so cool, said it didn't upset him, it just made him laugh. David said... 'What was I going to do? Tell him no?' When talking about Vandenberg's idea to use a bow in the video.

I'm one of those that is a big fan of David's. His time with Jimmy was the best for Jimmy post Zeppelin by a long shot! The fact that so many Zeppelin fans hate David is a direct result of all the slamming of him that Robert did in the 80's. It's so funny too... Plant accusing someone of ripping him off, when so many of his so-called lyrics come straight out of blues songs recorded years before Zeppelin.

All I can say to those that don't like David is you have no idea what you're missing! He's a very talented singer and has produced some incredible music over the years! Oh, and as a guitarist, I can tell you that the riff in Still Of The Night is nothing like Immigrant Song. Immigrant Song is so easy to play, while Still Of The Night takes much more dexterity and skill. The riff is much more difficult to play. The only thing similar to the tracks is that both are in F#. But the riffs are not even close to being the same.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Dr Death said:

For those that don't know the whole story, and based off what I've read, not many do, Coverdale was in debt to his record company. He owed them over $300,000 dollars and set out to make 1987 a huge success. He knew they had the songs, with much of the thanks being owed to John Sykes, who was a great guitarist and worked really well with David.

But, after being sacked, when Adrian Vandenberg joined, the violin bow was all his idea. I have a Coverdale/Page interview on tape where David discusses this and Page, ever so cool, said it didn't upset him, it just made him laugh. David said... 'What was I going to do? Tell him no?' When talking about Vandenberg's idea to use a bow in the video.

I'm one of those that is a big fan of David's. His time with Jimmy was the best for Jimmy post Zeppelin by a long shot! The fact that so many Zeppelin fans hate David is a direct result of all the slamming of him that Robert did in the 80's. It's so funny too... Plant accusing someone of ripping him off, when so many of his so-called lyrics come straight out of blues songs recorded years before Zeppelin.

All I can say to those that don't like David is you have no idea what you're missing! He's a very talented singer and has produced some incredible music over the years! Oh, and as a guitarist, I can tell you that the riff in Still Of The Night is nothing like Immigrant Song. Immigrant Song is so easy to play, while Still Of The Night takes much more dexterity and skill. The riff is much more difficult to play. The only thing similar to the tracks is that both are in F#. But the riffs are not even close to being the same.

I cannot speak for anyone else but as a singer I really like David Coverdale, over the years he took pains to take care of his voice...something Robert did not do. On the other hand, what I don't like about David is he just tries too hard IMO to the point of pandering to the lowest common denominator in a live setting. Sorry, but nothing turns me off faster than some dope onstage talking to the crowd as if they were all a bunch of 14 year olds.

"Cleveland!!!! How the fuck are you!!! I betcha all you gents are gonna get some serious pussy tonight...FUCK YEAH!!! And you ladies...you better satisfy these hungry motherfuckers!!! FUCK YEAH,,,CLEVELAND!!!"

Now I have seen numerous interviews with David and he is a very dignified and articulate person most of the time, but the shit he pulls live is just disgusting and sophomoric. David reminds me of that guy who just HAS to be liked by everyone.

Now, regarding that riff in SOTN, I agree, it is very different from Immigrant Song but it does not take much skill or dexterity, in fact I picked it up within two takes after I first heard it in 87'. A good riff does not have to be complex, it just has to say something which the riff in SOTN does in spades. You want a motherfucker of a complex riff? Try pulling off Hots on for Nowhere, that is one goddamned tricky ass riff, in fact the whole song is complex as all hell. HOFN is a song which if your band can play it well, you have one very, very talented band of musicians.

Edited by IpMan
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Dr Death said:

For those that don't know the whole story, and based off what I've read, not many do, Coverdale was in debt to his record company. He owed them over $300,000 dollars and set out to make 1987 a huge success. He knew they had the songs, with much of the thanks being owed to John Sykes, who was a great guitarist and worked really well with David.

But, after being sacked, when Adrian Vandenberg joined, the violin bow was all his idea. I have a Coverdale/Page interview on tape where David discusses this and Page, ever so cool, said it didn't upset him, it just made him laugh. David said... 'What was I going to do? Tell him no?' When talking about Vandenberg's idea to use a bow in the video.

I'm one of those that is a big fan of David's. His time with Jimmy was the best for Jimmy post Zeppelin by a long shot! The fact that so many Zeppelin fans hate David is a direct result of all the slamming of him that Robert did in the 80's. It's so funny too... Plant accusing someone of ripping him off, when so many of his so-called lyrics come straight out of blues songs recorded years before Zeppelin.

All I can say to those that don't like David is you have no idea what you're missing! He's a very talented singer and has produced some incredible music over the years! Oh, and as a guitarist, I can tell you that the riff in Still Of The Night is nothing like Immigrant Song. Immigrant Song is so easy to play, while Still Of The Night takes much more dexterity and skill. The riff is much more difficult to play. The only thing similar to the tracks is that both are in F#. But the riffs are not even close to being the same.

Yep knew all of that except for the amount of debt.. Coverdale had a deviated septum and required surgery and was going to be out of action for several months. He didn't keep the band on retainer. I also know he gave Adrian all the credit / blame for the bow. Like Coverdale couldn't have said no to it. Give me a break. Never said SOTN was as easy to play as Immigrant Song either. I said it had a similar gallop , which it does.. 

I do agree with you about Plant being rather hypocritical calling someone out for copying. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Dr Death said:

For those that don't know the whole story, and based off what I've read, not many do, Coverdale was in debt to his record company. He owed them over $300,000 dollars and set out to make 1987 a huge success. He knew they had the songs, with much of the thanks being owed to John Sykes, who was a great guitarist and worked really well with David.

But, after being sacked, when Adrian Vandenberg joined, the violin bow was all his idea. I have a Coverdale/Page interview on tape where David discusses this and Page, ever so cool, said it didn't upset him, it just made him laugh. David said... 'What was I going to do? Tell him no?' When talking about Vandenberg's idea to use a bow in the video.

I'm one of those that is a big fan of David's. His time with Jimmy was the best for Jimmy post Zeppelin by a long shot! The fact that so many Zeppelin fans hate David is a direct result of all the slamming of him that Robert did in the 80's. It's so funny too... Plant accusing someone of ripping him off, when so many of his so-called lyrics come straight out of blues songs recorded years before Zeppelin.

All I can say to those that don't like David is you have no idea what you're missing! He's a very talented singer and has produced some incredible music over the years! Oh, and as a guitarist, I can tell you that the riff in Still Of The Night is nothing like Immigrant Song. Immigrant Song is so easy to play, while Still Of The Night takes much more dexterity and skill. The riff is much more difficult to play. The only thing similar to the tracks is that both are in F#. But the riffs are not even close to being the same.

Nah. I dislike Coverdale because he is a gross Neanderthal, and not because Plant hates him. It's not the voice that matters; it's the message, and that is where Coverdale fails in spades, much of the time. As for Plant, I only tolerate Robert, so nothing he says sways me.....ever. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, The Dark Lord said:

Nah. I dislike Coverdale because he is a gross Neanderthal, and not because Plant hates him. It's not the voice that matters; it's the message, and that is where Coverdale fails in spades, much of the time. As for Plant, I only tolerate Robert, so nothing he says sways me.....ever. 

"Gross Neanderthal". lol. Plant was probably a bit like Coverdale in his early twenties until he realised how absurd the whole game was and matured. Guys like Coverdale are cartoon-like caricatures with no depth. He's a poster boy for a certain brand of shallow LA rock. For all their faults, Plant and Page are cultured and have soul, That's what separates them from rock's masses. I think Floyd are the same.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...