Synopsis

Whitesnake perform "Here I Go Again" on a shadowy concert stage while David Coverdale drives through the night with Tawny Kitaen. The video's defining images show Kitaen in a white negligee, dancing, crawling and performing gymnastic moves across the hoods of two Jaguars. The performance footage, dramatic lighting and sensual car imagery turn the song's theme of loneliness and starting over into a glossy, high-impact piece of 1980s hard-rock spectacle.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was made for the 1987 re-recording of "Here I Go Again," which originally appeared in a different version on Whitesnake's 1982 album *Saints & Sinners*. The new recording became the band's breakthrough hit in the United States.

• The two Jaguars used in the most famous scenes belonged to David Coverdale and video producer Marty Callner. Kitaen's movements across the cars were largely spontaneous rather than a tightly choreographed routine.

• Coverdale later recalled bringing Paula Abdul to the set to help with the choreography. According to his account, Abdul felt Kitaen already knew exactly how to move for the camera.

• Kitaen and Coverdale were romantically involved during the period surrounding the video and married in 1989. She also appeared in Whitesnake's videos for "Still of the Night" and "Is This Love."

• The video's combination of arena-rock performance, glamorous styling and overt sexuality became one of the defining visual formulas of late-1980s hair metal.

• "Here I Go Again" reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on October 10, 1987, helping make Whitesnake one of the era's most visible MTV acts.

• The video was later included by *The New York Times* among its list of 15 essential hair-metal videos.