Here I Go Again - 1987 Version; 2008 Remaster

Whitesnake leader David Coverdale wrote the lyric in Portugal. While it's typically thought of as an inspiring song about facing your challenges head-on, it's really a song about heartbreak and the loneliness that comes with it. The song documents the breakdown of Coverdale's first marriage to Julia Borkowski, with whom he tied the knot in 1974.

In 1987, "Here I Go Again" was a #1 hit in America, all over the airwaves and MTV, but the song was written in 1981 and first released in 1982 when Whitesnake was a very different band. David Coverdale wrote it with their guitarist, Bernie Marsden, after the group toured their native UK. They released it on their Saints 'N' Sinners album and issued it as a single in the UK, where it went to #34. By 1987, the band had a different lineup, with Coverdale the only constant. They re-recorded "Here I Go Again" and included it on their 1987 self-titled album. That summer, it was released as a single in America for the first time and rose to #1 in October, thanks in no small part to the music video. In the UK the re-release, labeled the "US Mix," went to #9.

David Coverdale formed Whitesnake after leaving Deep Purple. He was well known in the UK, so Whitesnake had a built-in fanbase there, but cracking America was a lot harder. They made inroads in the US with their 1984 album Slide It In, but it was the Whitesnake album in 1987 that took off. When they toured America to support it, they did so as opening act for Mötley Crüe.