Artist: Bon Jovi
Label: Mercury Records
Release: 1986
In the mid-eighties, the more-or-less handsome faces (I’ll gladly leave the detailed analysis to you) of a quintet of New Jersey cowboys, predictably named Bon Jovi, soon started attracting, after a well-received debut, the annoying stigma of yet another one-hit-wonder band, when out of nowhere our “nasty” friends get hit with Slippery When Wet. This time Jon and company don’t slip on the slippery ground, quite the opposite. On the wings of new producer Bruce Fairbairn, Slippery When Wet shows for the first time a strongly cohesive picture of Jon’s little troop, which in later years became the proverbial Bon Jovi quality. Big, pompous choruses, hair a notch bigger still, and a heap of friendly, tuneful little ballads give the average Bon Jovi fan, used to unobtrusive, heart-friendly melodies, a revelation of a special kind, much like a young girl discovering that the little cove south of the belly button serves some purpose other than the daily discharge of sharply aromatized natural juices. With Slippery, Bon Jovi outgrew these problems of our confused lass too, which you can spot at every turn from the very first listen to this document.
Bon Jovi stride into their most successful era in grand style, with the opening drone of David’s souped-up Hammond, which fuses the old tradition and the new school of black-and-white keyboard playing, and through which Let It Rock proudly leaps into the spotlight. It’s a fresh combination, thoroughly road-tested in the commercial sense, of a hard-hitting, choppy bass line, mighty backing vocals and Sambora’s clipped riffing, which in dazzling style announces the birth of a new branch of “hair metal” in the bud. And “hair metal” it is! The swagger of its proudly, strictly rhythmic parading is interrupted to some extent by the structurally similar but lyrically quite different You Give Lova A Bad Name, one of the biggest hard rock anthems of the eighties, where the rough sound of the Hammond politely steps aside for more modern synthetic touches, with which the “Jovis”, while delivering verses that are, at least content-wise, lightly packaged, finally reveal the full sharpness of Jon and Richie’s kitchen. It works astonishingly well, especially the energetic placement of Jon’s charismatic voice, which roughly sketches out the image of traditionally self-confident American machismo, acceptable under certain (liberally interpreted) conditions even to the average European rocker soul. Livin’ On A Prayer especially, an optimistic, or if you prefer a more fitting term, “American way” kind of almost fairytale testimony, whose signature Sambora guitar intro nearly everybody knows these days, is a unique artistic peak of the entire Bon Jovi career (including the gentleman’s “unique” Hollywood adventures). A tuneful song, thanks to its inspired chorus, it still draws a smile on your time-worn faces after, hard as it is to believe, a full twenty-one years. Even the fairly average Social Disease can’t spoil the good taste in your ears. The banal intro, probably conceived as a direct showcase of Jon’s overly emphasized genital activities, doesn’t sound the least bit impressive. Whatever, Wanted Dead Or Alive quickly puts things in their place, a new triumph of the always-victorious combo of that era: Jon’s cowboy act and Sambora’s exceptional guitar playing. The power of the guitarist’s vocals is especially impressive, and to everyone’s delight, in quite a few spots it proudly peeks out from under Jon’s ever-dominant presence.
That a band of Bon Jovi’s caliber absolutely needs the support of some especially touching little ballad to successfully conquer the top of the charts was probably explained to the boys by none other than Bruce Fairbairn, who deserves thanks for boldly steering the band on its turbulent road to rock heaven. Without Love and the especially imposing Never Say Goodbye show detailed analysis and a final mastery of the power ballad formula, in which Jon Bon Jovi, in the role of the unattainable stud idealized by the average schoolgirl, finally shines in the role of the unhappily-in-love outcast too. Proper material for a tear-hungry American population, which quickly made Slippery When Wet its own right after its release, thereby flinging wide open the doors of fame for the incorrigible band of New Jersey cowboys, doors the boys undoubtedly earned.
Lineup
Jon Bon Jovi: vocals
Richie Sambora: guitar, backing vocals
Alec John Such: bass
David Bryan: keyboards
Tico Torres: drums
Production
Bruce Fairbairn
Tracklist
1.Let It Rock
2.You Give Love A Bad Name
3.Livin’ On A Prayer
4.Social Disease
5.Wanted Dead Or Alive
6.Raise Your Hands
7.Without Love
8.I’d Die For You
9.Never Say Goodbye
10.Wild In The Street
Album length: 43.42
