Songfacts®:

• This hank of hair metal was the first single from Whitesnake's 1987 self-titled album, a landmark of the genre. It's a feral rocker with lead singer David Coverdale sniffing around the lady's door in the still of the night, like a wolf during a full moon. He wrote the song with the group's guitarist, John Sykes.
• "Still Of The Night" was a medium hit, but Whitesnake's next single was a lot bigger: "Here I Go Again." That one was actually a new version of the song, which was originally released in 1982. The 1987 update was a #1 hit in America and was followed by the ballad "Is This Love?," which went to #2.
• Does this song sound like Led Zeppelin to you? Many listeners think it does. The naked vocals followed by the huge riff evokes Zep's "Black Dog"; the bridge brings up memories of "Kashmir."
  
  "I don't understand how most people didn't see this as a Zeppelin copy band," Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante told Greg Prato. "When I heard 'Still of the Night,' I was like, 'This is f--king 'Whole Lotta Love'!"
• According to David Coverdale, the song was musically inspired by the 1957 Elvis Presley hit "Jailhouse Rock."
• "Still Of The Night" was the first Whitesnake video to feature David Coverdale's girlfriend, Tawny Kitaen. MTV was only six years old in 1987 and their main audience was teenage boys who loved videos with preening rock stars and beautiful women. Kitaen also appeared in Whitesnake's "Here I Go Again," "Is This Love?" and "Fool For Your Lovin'" videos.
• By the time the album was released, Whitesnake guitarist John Sykes had left the band, replaced by Adrian Vandenberg and Vivian Campbell, who are in the video.