“Judgment Day” by Whitesnake

"Judgment Day" is one of the songs David Coverdale wrote with Adrian Vandenberg for Slip of the Tongue, Whitesnake's eighth album, which Geffen released in the US on 7 November 1989 and EMI put out in Europe six days later. By the time the tapes rolled, though, a wrist injury had benched Vandenberg, and Steve Vai played most of the guitar on the record, this track included.

Coverdale sings lead with Tommy Funderburk behind him, Rudy Sarzo plays bass, Tommy Aldridge drums, and Don Airey and Claude Gaudette split the keyboards. Keith Olsen produced, engineered and mixed with Mike Clink, and the result is all gloss and fretboard fireworks. That shift split the critics: some cheered Vai's chops, others missed the band's bluesy roots.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.