Fueled by massive anthems like “You Give Love a Bad Name”, “Wanted Dead or Alive”, and the timeless drunk karaoke favorite “Livin’ on a Prayer”, Slippery When Wet rocketed the New Jersey group to global superstardom. Produced by Bruce Fairbairn and polished to a shimmering, radio-ready perfection, Slippery When Wet bridged the gap between glam metal bombast and pop accessibility. Jon Bon Jovi’s charismatic vocals and Richie Sambora’s iconic guitar riffs proved to be an irresistible combination, propelling the album to the top of the charts and making it the best-selling album of 1987 in the good ol’ USA. We love our stadium rock goddammit, and there’s not many bands better at that than Bon Jovi.
Even decades later (38 years in fact), Slippery When Wet remains a touchstone in the pop-glam metal genre, encapsulating an era of big hair and even bigger hooks. Bon Jovi’s uncanny ability to craft songs that balanced swagger with sincerity set them apart from their peers and helped the album resonate far beyond the ’80s. The best thing about this album (besides all the kick-ass songs) is the process in which they made it– the band holed up in New Jersey in the spring of ’86, wrote 30 songs for the album, and auditioned them for local New Jersey/New York teenagers before cutting them down to the 10 songs that made the final cut. Even more impressively, legend has it the album’s running order is based on the opinions of those teenagers. A great story for a great album that never fails to get your fist pumping.
Standout Songs: “Let It Rock”, “You Give Love A Bad Name”, “Livin’ On A Prayer”, “Wanted Dead or Alive”, “Wild In The Streets”
