Bon Jovi
– Slippery When Wet
There are albums that beg for depth, and there are albums that rev the engine, toss the keys in your lap, and dare you to floor it. Slippery When Wet does the latter—loud, shiny, and soaked in hair spray and ego. It’s pop-metal as neon gospel, built on anthems that make no apologies for wanting stadiums and strip malls to sing in unison.
Best of…
Jon Bon Jovi sells these songs like a preacher in a leather jacket. The emotion is big. The ambition is bigger. And it’s all riding shotgun with Richie Sambora’s guitar work, which doesn’t so much shred as strut. They weren’t chasing art here. They were chasing hits—and they caught ‘em by the throat. Every track sounds like it’s trying to beat the last one to the top of the charts.
But underneath the gloss, there’s a weird sincerity holding the whole thing together. They really meant it. That’s what saves it from parody. Bon Jovi wasn’t winking. He was staring straight into your teenage soul and shouting, “You’ve got one shot, don’t screw it up.” And you believed him—because you needed to.
Choice Tracks
You Give Love a Bad Name
Opens with a war cry and never looks back. The hook is nuclear, the attitude unshakable. If you ever needed a crash course in mid-’80s radio dominance, start here.
Livin’ on a Prayer
You’ve heard it a million times, and it still works. The working-class desperation. The soaring chorus. The talkbox. It shouldn’t hold up, but it does—mostly because it taps into something bigger than the band.
Wanted Dead or Alive
Bon Jovi’s cowboy fantasy, dripping with denim and dusk. It leans into melodrama, but Sambora’s 12-string intro gives it just enough grit to feel like a ballad for misfits on the run.
Never Say Goodbye
High school heartbreak wrapped in prom night slow dance lighting. It’s syrupy. It’s earnest. And yeah, it works—because Bon Jovi knows exactly what moment he’s selling, and he sells the hell out of it.
Slippery When Wet isn’t subtle, and it doesn’t try to be. It’s loud, bold, and built to conquer every mall parking lot and bedroom wall in 1986. Bon Jovi wanted the crown—and this album handed it to them, hairspray and all.