Retro Video of the Week: "Pride and Joy" by Coverdale-Page

Thirty years ago today -- in the midst of the grunge boom -- the world got what they didn't know they needed:  the one-off collaboration of former Deep Purple and Whitesnake lead singer David Coverdale and Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page released their self-titled album, Coverdale-Page.  It's weird to say, but the combination of blues-based rock and blustery hard rock from two giants of classic rock and hair metal was a breath of fresh air.  

I was (and still am) a big fan of Zeppelin and Whitesnake -- and Deep Purple too, but not necessarily the Coverdale era -- and I wasn't one of those people who limited myself to one genre of rock, so I ate this up.  And I certainly wasn't the only one.  The album went to #5 on the Billboard album chart, #4 on the UK album chart, and Top 10 on the album charts in four other countries.  It eventually went platinum in the U.S.

The duo released four singles from the album in the U.S., and they were all pretty successful on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, with "Pride and Joy" topping the chart, "Shake My Tree" reaching #3, "Take Me For a Little While" hitting #15 (and #29 on the UK pop chart), and "Over Now" going to #24.

I went with the video for "Pride and Joy" because I think the song is a perfect example of the collaboration.  It sounds like something that could have been on Led Zeppelin III, starting off with a swirl of acoustic guitars, but with Coverdale kind of sounding like Axl Rose, and then it bursts into electric, hard rock bombast.  The video shows Coverdale definitely looking more '80s hair metal than anything else that would have been considered acceptable in the era of baggy clothes and Doc Martens.  But dammit, it worked.