Skyscraper

Skyscraper was David Lee Roth's second full-length album, following Eat 'Em and Smile of 1986. Ted Templeman had produced the first one; this time Roth produced the record himself with Steve Vai as co-producer, and Vai has recalled the two of them working as a small production team, with time to double guitars and work out harmonies. It was recorded at studios including Capitol Studios, Stucco Blue Studios and Smoketree Ranch. Brett Tuggle, the band's new keyboard player, co-wrote "Just Like Paradise", "Stand Up" and "Perfect Timing" with Roth; Vai co-wrote six songs, and the opening "Knucklebones" came from the brothers Gregg and Matt Bissonette. The band was again Vai, bassist Billy Sheehan and drummer Gregg Bissonette, but Sheehan recalls the parts being recorded one musician at a time, and the result felt stiff to him; he left once the album was finished, and Matt Bissonette took his place. The cover photograph, by the adventure photographer Galen Rowell, shows Roth hanging from the granite face of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park, and scenes for the "Just Like Paradise" video were filmed on the same shoot. Warner Bros. brought the release forward from 26 January to 21 January 1988, and that evening a mountain-shaped "living billboard" was unveiled on the roof of Tower Records on Sunset Boulevard, drawing a large crowd. "Just Like Paradise", released ahead of the album, spent four weeks at number one on Billboard's Album Rock Tracks chart and reached number 6 on the Hot 100. The album entered the Billboard 200 at number 22, peaked at number 6 on the chart dated 27 February 1988 and stayed for 27 weeks; it reached number 11 in the UK and number 12 on Japan's Oricon albums chart. The RIAA certified it gold and platinum on the same day, 29 March 1988. "Stand Up" reached number 64 on the Hot 100, and the mostly acoustic ballad "Damn Good" number 2 on the rock chart. Vai names "Hina", "Damn Good" and the title track as his favourites; he stayed through the 1988 tour and left in 1989 to join Whitesnake.