There are some rock songs that simply never get old.
You know the ones. The opening notes hit and suddenly you’re reaching for the imaginary microphone, staring dramatically into the middle distance and convincing yourself that, for approximately four minutes, you’re David Coverdale.
And Whitesnake’s “Is This Love” is absolutely one of them. 🐍❤️
Now Dan Byrne has put his own spin on the legendary rock ballad, sharing a stripped-back one-take vocal cover that puts his voice right at the centre of one of the biggest power ballads of the ’80s.
No massive production. No mountain of studio trickery.
Just Dan, a microphone and one absolutely gigantic tune.
🤘 “One Of The Songs That First Got Me Into Rock Music”
Sharing the performance with his followers, Byrne revealed that “Is This Love” holds a particularly important place in his own musical story.
He described it as:
“One of the songs that first got me into rock music.”
And you can hear why he’d want to tackle this one.
Originally released by Whitesnake in 1987, “Is This Love” became one of the band’s defining songs and remains an essential part of the classic-rock power-ballad canon.
It swaps some of Whitesnake’s usual swaggering hard-rock attack for something slower, emotional and absolutely enormous.
Decades later, it’s still the sort of song capable of turning an entire room into a choir.
🎙️ One Take. One Mic. One Hell Of A Voice.
What makes Byrne’s performance particularly interesting is the simplicity of it.
Rather than trying to recreate every element of the original recording, the focus is firmly on the vocal.
And when you’re covering David Coverdale, there’s nowhere to hide, mun. 😈
The song needs control during those quieter passages before opening up into the soaring melodic sections that made the original such an enduring favourite.
Doing that in a one-take performance adds another layer to the challenge.
No chopping together twenty different vocal takes.
No conveniently disappearing behind a wall of guitars.
You’ve got the microphone.
You’ve got the song.
Now bloody sing it. 🎤🔥
And Byrne clearly has plenty of affection for the material rather than simply picking a famous song for the sake of it.
That makes a difference.
🐍 Why “Is This Love” Still Hits Nearly 40 Years Later
Whitesnake released “Is This Love” during the band’s spectacular late-’80s commercial explosion.
Appearing on their hugely successful 1987 self-titled album, the track became an international hit and helped cement Whitesnake as one of the biggest rock bands on the planet.
But while plenty of songs from that period have become nostalgic curiosities, “Is This Love” has refused to disappear.
Why?
Because underneath the enormous production, big hair and glorious ’80s excess is simply a bloody brilliant song.
The melody is instantly recognisable.
The chorus is massive.
Coverdale’s original vocal performance remains iconic.
And the whole thing sits somewhere between hard rock and the ultimate lights-down-low power ballad.
Basically, it’s scientifically impossible to hear it without attempting the chorus.
We don’t make the rules.
❤️ The Songs That Start Your Rock Obsession
There’s something particularly cool about Byrne choosing a song that helped introduce him to rock music in the first place.
Every rock fan has one.
Maybe yours was hearing Iron Maiden for the first time.
Perhaps someone handed you a Metallica CD.
Maybe your parents blasted AC/DC in the car.
Perhaps Kerrang! TV appeared on the telly and completely destroyed any possibility of you developing sensible musical taste.
And sometimes it’s a song like “Is This Love”.
One tune becomes an album.
One album becomes another band.
Then another.
Before you know it, you’ve spent half your wages on gig tickets, you’ve got seventeen black T-shirts that all look identical to everyone except you, and you’re standing in a muddy festival field paying £8 for chips.
Welcome to rock music. There’s no escape. 😂🤘
🔥 Dan Byrne Continues To Show Why Rock Fans Are Taking Notice
Anyone who’s followed Dan Byrne will already know he’s got the kind of voice made for this sort of material.
There’s power there, but importantly there’s melody too.
And performances like this are a cracking reminder that sometimes you don’t need an elaborate stage, pyro, twenty cameras and enough production equipment to power Newport.
Sometimes a singer, a microphone and a brilliant song will do nicely.
Taking on something as beloved as Whitesnake’s “Is This Love” is always risky because rock fans know every note.
But when the song genuinely means something to the person singing it, that connection comes through.
🎸 The Riff Report Verdict
A classic Whitesnake tune.
A stripped-back one-take performance.
And Dan Byrne letting that voice do the heavy lifting.
Tidy stuff, butt. 🤘🔥
More of these please.
And if Dan starts working his way through the rest of the Whitesnake catalogue, we’re absolutely putting in an early request for “Still of the Night.”
Now that could get properly ridiculous. 😈🐍
What classic rock song first dragged YOU into the wonderful world of riffs?
Let us know — and crank “Is This Love” while you’re thinking about it.
Proudly Welsh. Proudly Loud. 🤘🏴
