Review of Whitesnake Show Completely Missed the Mark

Heavy metal fans are quite accustomed by now to receiving insults to their intelligence and severe criticism of their bands. However, Mike Boehm’s review of the Whitesnake concert (“Whitesnake Gives New Meaning to Triteness,” May 14) is the article par excellence in this category.

Obviously, Mr. Boehm did not see the same concert that I and about 20,000 other people saw Friday and Saturday nights. Whitesnake played to packed and happy crowds. Does Boehm know that David Coverdale had fans in the audience that spanned three generations? Or that Coverdale’s “generic raspy voice” blew Sam Kinison’s famous yells right off the stage Friday when Kinison came out for a cameo during the encore?

Boehm wrote a wordy review that certainly would credit any undergraduate journalism major, but he completely missed the point of the entire show. Whitesnake recognizes what rock fans want and expect, which is what the band gave. The fans had a great time and cheered when given the opportunity to participate by singing and, yes, holding up their lighters.

And I don’t see the crime in sounding like Led Zeppelin, the definitive rock band of our generation. At this point musically, anyone will sound like someone else, regardless of genre (opera, country, rap, et al).

Boehm called guitarist Steve Vai’s matador outfits “gaudy.” I suppose the only way for a metal band to earn critical acclaim is to sport crew cuts and Brooks Brothers suits and to sing about such uplifting subjects as our deteriorating ozone layer and the onslaught of AIDS victims. Personally, I’ll take “trite” love songs any time.

JULIE NEAL

La Habra