Is This Love

Let’s get the obvious out of the way: David Coverdale looked like he lost a fight with a curling iron and a wind machine. The video featured Tawny Kitaen doing gymnastics on a car. The band wore more spandex than a Jane Fonda workout tape.

It was 1987. This was normal.

Now that we’ve acknowledged the absurdity, can we talk about how good this song actually is?

Whitesnake wasn’t supposed to make you feel things. They were supposed to make you nod your head and appreciate the guitar tone and maybe think about buying a Camaro. David Coverdale built his career on sex and swagger—“Here I Go Again,” “Still of the Night,” songs for driving too fast and making questionable decisions.

Then he wrote this. And instead of telling us how he felt, he asked.

“Is this love that I’m feeling?”

That question mark changes everything. This isn’t a power ballad where the singer knows all the answers and you’re just along for the ride. This is a guy in leather pants admitting he has no idea what’s happening to him. The bravado cracked. Something real got through.

John Sykes’ guitar doesn’t shred here—it aches. Those melodic runs in the chorus are searching for something, not showing off. Even when the song builds to full arena-rock bombast, the uncertainty stays. The question never gets answered because love doesn’t come with answers. It comes with more questions.

I used to be embarrassed by this song. Too soft. Too earnest. Too much like something your mom would slow-dance to at a wedding in 1989.

Then I got older. Then I fell in love a few times. Then I stood in my own kitchen at 2 AM, wondering if what I felt was real or just chemicals and wishful thinking.

Turns out David Coverdale—ridiculous hair, spandex, Tawny Kitaen and all—knew something I didn’t.

The question is the point.

If you’re certain, it’s not love. It’s something else. Love is supposed to terrify you. It’s supposed to make you ask if this is real even while you’re living it.

Is this love that I’m feeling?

Thirty-seven years later, I’m still not sure.

That’s how I know it is.