[7] It was the final studio album to be released through Geffen as they were dropped from the label after the Greatest Hits tour by the end of 1994.

After touring with their previous multi-platinum eponymous album in August 1988, guitarist Vivian Campbell was having problems with the band due to musical differences.

Adrian Vandenberg had planned to record for the album, but the worsening of an existing injury made it painful for him to play, requiring surgery.

Adrian Vandenberg revealed in several interviews that he thinks Vai's flamboyant guitar playing was somewhat inappropriate, and that a more bluesy approach would have suited the album better.

[15][16] Once again, keyboardist Don Airey, along with session musicians Claude Gaudette and David Rosenthal, was brought in to do some keyboard parts, but just like with Hughes, much of his material didn't make the final cut of the album.

It eventually cracked the top spot in Finland, making it the only album in the band's discography to chart at that peak position.

The album achieved platinum American RIAA certification status on 17 January 1990, while it also managed to be certified gold by Japan (RIAJ) in August 1992.

The single B-Side of the album, "Sweet Lady Luck" was released in 1990, only to be re-released in 1994 for the Greatest Hits promotion.

Slip of the Tongue received a reissue in May 2009 as a two-disc remastered version with a slightly modified running order and ten bonus tracks to commemorate its 20th anniversary through EMI and Geffen.

[22] The Liquor & Poker world tour for the album was the biggest the band had undertaken yet, including their third appearance & second headlining of the famous Castle Donington Monsters of Rock festival on 18 August 1990.

[23] The tour had come to an end on 26 September 1990 at Nippon Budokan, Tokyo, Japan, at which point Coverdale disbanded Whitesnake indefinitely for three years and took a break from the music business until late 1991 when he started to work with Jimmy Page, which resulted in the 1993 album Coverdale•Page.

With fast-gun-for-hire Steve Vai operating all guitars and who knows what other geegaws, they've consolidated their sound into essence of arena: all pomp, flash, male posturing, and sentimentality, this is now the Worst Band in the World.

"[25] Kim Neelt, writing for Rolling Stone, called the album out as "not passionate enough to evoke pleasure" and "dull" as it can be.

Understanding the album's context across tracks like Now You're Gone being compared to Flashdance, she questioned the reactions by summing out the rest of nothing "heartfelt" or "a tad too radio-friendly".

[31] Accessing the album's Coverdale revealed the opening track for Slip of the Tongue was originally titled, "Dominatrix Blues."

Adrian was a "snake" fan and has been from the beginning, his finger on the pulse of what Whitesnake was about [...] we needed an "a hundred miles an hour" track, you know for the live show.

The idea of the lyric is this very powerful woman instead of the man being, all that butch stuff that usually hard rock and heavy metal purports to be.

I knew radio would be all over "Judgement Day" just from the market research we did back then... but, Kalodner, Rosenblatt, Marco Babineau, my manager and some of our radio people, all people whose opinions I trusted, came down to the Record Plant when I was finishing off the album and all confronted me with what they felt was the way to go... that it would be a mistake to go with Judgement Day... Not only I but the band were really upset about that decision...

Stick to your guns if you believe in it...It's the only way..."David Coverdale revealed that the band did attempt to re-visit some of the older tracks in the Whitesnake discography, such as "Ain't Gonna Cry No More" (from Ready an' Willing), "We Wish You Well" (from Lovehunter), and "Burning Heart" (from Vandenberg's eponymous album).

The same thing would apply to the past early-80s Whitesnake albums as it was written in the best that Coverdale was in that position but blatantly set lacking the passion and performance of the rest of the songs.

Stating on how it was written, he said: "That's putting myself in a situation looking if I lost this most precious woman in my life, how I would feel, because you usually blow perfect relationships by being stupid.

Furthermore, Coverdale spoke about its meaning, saying: "The closest I've come to what I've think to that wonderful Chuck Berry style lyric when there's a continuing story.

"To explain further, Coverdale commented on the origins of the song in the 20th-anniversary edition liner notes by saying: "'The Deeper the Love' came from a chorus sequence I'd had for some time, written, if memory serves, in my dear friend Tony Z's house, many years ago... then my little Dutch brother, Adrian, came along and put the musical icing on the cake, and gave me the verse chord sequence.

He had had back surgery in April 1988 due to a herniated disc that had to be removed caused by intensive stage performances he had encountered throughout the years.

In the fine analysis, you're on your own, but you're actually not, a lot of people won't own up that they're in the same boat, because of whatever ridiculous mental mind games they're going through.