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Slippery When Wet 1986
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Slippery When Wet

When Bon Jovi released Slippery When Wet in August 1986, they were no longer a band trying to make a name for themselves. Their previous album, 7800° Fahrenheit, had met with moderate success, but the band wanted to make a leap. For this third studio album, they decided to change their approach, seeking a more accessible sound than their first two works, which leaned more towards heavy metal. The idea was to make the genre radio-friendly, and to achieve this, they enlisted the collaboration of Desmond Child. Together, they wrote around thirty songs, and to decide the final track order, they presented them to a group of teenagers in New Jersey and New York, basing their decisions on the reactions. The production was handled by Bruce Fairbairn, whom Jon Bon Jovi had admired for the sound of an album he produced for Black 'n Blue. The recording took place between January and July 1986 at Little Mountain Sound Studios in Vancouver, Canada.

Year
1986
Songs
11
Duration
53 min 47 seg
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About the album

Slippery When Wet, according to DoReSol

The result was an album that contained several of Bon Jovi's most well-known songs. Tracks like You Give Love a Bad Name, Livin' on a Prayer, and Wanted Dead or Alive became instant hits, making Slippery When Wet the first glam metal album to place three songs in the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. The band embarked on the Slippery When Wet Tour, which ran from July 1986 to October 1987, to promote the album. The album was an immediate commercial success, topping the sales charts in the United States for eight weeks and being named the best-selling album of 1987 by Billboard. To date, it is Bon Jovi's most successful album, with an 18x Platinum certification in the United States.

The songwriting for many of the songs was by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora. However, You Give Love a Bad Name, Livin' on a Prayer, Without Love, and I'd Die For You were co-written with Desmond Child, marking the first time he collaborated with the band. Child traveled to New Jersey and worked with them in the basement of Sambora's mother's house. Interestingly, Jon Bon Jovi was initially hesitant to include Livin' on a Prayer, but Sambora convinced him of its potential as a hit. A song that was left off the final cut, but which many consider to have fit perfectly, was Edge of a Broken Heart. Although they never played it live, it was included on the soundtrack of the 1987 film Disorderlies and has appeared on various reissues and collections by the group. The album, with its mix of influences ranging from classic rock to the swagger of Rod Stewart, demonstrated Bon Jovi's ability to fuse different styles, solidifying its place as a landmark in rock music.