Slippery When Wet- Bon Jovi (1987)
After two moderately successful albums, the group changed their approach and hired professional songwriter Desmond Child as a collaborator. Bruce Fairbairn was chosen to produce and, in early 1986, Bon Jovi moved to Vancouver, Canada to spend six months recording a third album. They named it Slippery When Wet after visiting a strip club in Vancouver.
"We were getting a lot of hassle from everyone around us to make the perfect third album," Jon Bon Jovi recalled. "We kept being told that it had to sell, or the band's career would stall."
On August 16, 1986, Slippery When Wet was released. It spent eight weeks atop the Billboard 200.
Slippery… was named 1987's top-selling album by Billboard "Livin' On A Prayer" won an MTV Video Music Award for Best Stage Performance. The band won an award for Favorite Pop/Rock Band at the American Music Awards and an award for Favorite Rock Group at the People's Choice Awards. When Slippery When Wet was released in August 1986, Bon Jovi was the support act for 38 Special.
By the end of 1986, Bon Jovi were well into six months of headline dates in arenas across America. In August 1987, they headlined England's Monsters of Rock festival. During their set, Dee Snider, Bruce Dickinson and Paul Stanley guested to perform "We're an American Band". The band ended the year having headlined 130 shows in the "Tour Without End", grossing $28,400,000. Asked what this breakthrough to worldwide fame meant, Jon Bon Jovi said, "Everything is bigger, and it moves twice as fast. You're recognized twice as often. This is bigger, the whole world gets bigger. You have to sell more records, be huger. You get smarter and you understand the business a little more, so it's more responsibility. You understand it now, and you want to make sure everything goes right".
An amazing album 8/10
Tracks
Side one
1. "Let It Rock" Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora 5:26
2. "You Give Love a Bad Name" Bon Jovi, Sambora, Desmond Child 3:43
3. "Livin' on a Prayer" Bon Jovi, Sambora, Child 4:09
4. "Social Disease" Bon Jovi, Sambora 4:18
5. "Wanted Dead or Alive" Bon Jovi, Sambora 5:09 Side two No. Title Writer(s) Length
6. "Raise Your Hands" Bon Jovi, Sambora 4:17
7. "Without Love" Bon Jovi, Sambora, Child 3:31
8. "I'd Die for You" Bon Jovi, Sambora, Child 4:31
9. "Never Say Goodbye" Bon Jovi, Sambora 4:49
10. "Wild in the Streets" Bon Jovi 3:56