"Here I Go Again" - Whitesnake (1987)

10 years after leaving Deep Purple to form Whitesnake, David Coverdale finally scored a breakthrough with their self-titled album. The album built on the commercial savvy and success displayed on 1984's "Slide It In." This hit single was a new version of a song that originally appeared on 1982's "Saints & Sinners". Wisely, Coverdale replaced the phrase "...like a hobo I was born to walk alone..." with "...like a drifter..." (If you've heard the original you know what I mean!)

"Here I Go Again" gave the band it's first U.S. #1 and, along with the #2 follow-up, "Is This Love," carried the album to #2 on the charts. The song had enough pop panache to make it accessible to the female market but was hard-edged enough to keep the rockers interested. Of course, the videos featuring Mrs. Coverdale, Tawny Kitaen, may have helped on that score too.

Speaking of videos and visual appeal, it's interesting that between the recording of the album and the production of the videos, Coverdale fired the entire band and replaced them with the "prettier" lineup of Vivian Campbell, Adrian Vandenberg, Rudy Sarzo, and Tommy Aldridge.