The Untold Truth Of Whitesnake ·
Emma Payne
Published Jan 03, 2026
If you're just looking at Whitesnake's release history, you'd think the band has existed smoothly and without controversy at least until 1989, when the band took an eight-year break between albums. But the fact is that Whitesnake essentially broke up in 1982.
As Louder reports, there was a lot going on for the band that year. David Coverdale had launched an effort to update and adjust the band's sound, moving away from the bluesy early material and towards a more hard rock approach. The band wasn't getting along, and while their albums had sold well in Europe and the U.K., they hadn't managed a breakthrough in the all-important U.S. market.
Then, Coverdale's daughter, Jessica, contracted bacterial meningitis. The lead singer decided to put the band on hold while he went home to look after her. The band, however, saw it differently: Guitarist Bernie Marsden, drummer Ian Paice, and bassist Neil Murray say they thought Coverdale was acting like he was Whitesnake and treating them as employees, not co-equal members. So they walked out.
That might have been fine with Coverdale. He hired new band members and reshaped the band into a heavy metal outfit whose next album, 1984's Slide It In, would be the breakthrough he'd been looking for since 1978.
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