Whitesnake

Rising from the ashes of Deep Purple's Mark III and IV lineups, Whitesnake was the brainchild of vocalist David Coverdale, who launched the band in the late 1970s out of Salisbury, England. From the start, Coverdale surrounded himself with serious talent, pulling in ex-Purple colleagues like Jon Lord and Ian Paice alongside blues-drenched guitarists who helped define the band's early sound. That foundation was raw, groove-heavy British hard rock with deep blues roots, owing as much to Free and Bad Company as it did to the Purple pedigree.

The band went through numerous lineup changes over the years, but nothing quite matched the commercial explosion of their 1987 self-titled album. Powered by the monster guitar tandem of John Sykes and Adrian Vandenberg, alongside Vivian Campbell and Rudy Sarzo, that record went diamond and gave the world Here I Go Again and Is This Love, two tracks that became genuine MTV-era anthems. Coverdale's voice, equal parts gravel and silk, was perfectly suited for the era's arena rock ambitions.

Whitesnake often gets lumped in with the hair metal crowd, but their blues credibility runs considerably deeper than most of that scene. Albums like Slide It In and Saints and Sinners show a band with real substance beneath the swagger. Coverdale has kept the name alive for decades, and while the lineups have shuffled constantly, Whitesnake remains a legitimate touchstone of classic hard rock.