Maps of Music

Slippery When Wet (1986)

Where the lyrics of Slippery When Wet take you, and where it was really made.

The cover is a wet black garbage bag, but the band first planned a busty woman in a wet yellow T-shirt, and the swap came just before release.

Key places

Where the album was recorded (1986)

Recording site Little Mountain Sound Studios — The album was recorded at Little Mountain Sound Studios in Vancouver. Sessions ran from January to July 1986 under producer Bruce Fairbairn. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Slippery When Wet: third studio album by American rock band Bon Jovi
• Released 18 August 1986 by Mercury Records in North America and Vertigo Records internationally
• Produced by Bruce Fairbairn; recording sessions ran January to July 1986 at Little Mountain Sound Studios in Vancouver
• Includes 'You Give Love a Bad Name', 'Livin' on a Prayer', and 'Wanted Dead or Alive'
• Described as the first glam metal album to have three top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100
• Supported by the Slippery When Wet Tour, July 1986 to October 1987

Background

• Follows 7800° Fahrenheit (1985), which achieved moderate success but did not make the band superstars
• Band moved to a more mainstream sound than the heavier first two albums
• Hired Desmond Child as a collaborator and wrote 30 songs
• Auditioned the songs with local New Jersey and New York teenagers and based the running order on their opinions
• Bob Rock was the mixer
• Jon Bon Jovi was drawn to Fairbairn's sound quality on the 1985 album Without Love by Black 'n Blue, and sought him out right away

Recording

• Sessions took place at Little Mountain Sound Studios in Vancouver
• Jon Bon Jovi was initially reluctant to include 'Livin' on a Prayer'; Sambora convinced him it was a hit, and the band rerecorded it
• The second version is the one on the album and is Bon Jovi's signature song
• 'Edge of a Broken Heart' was written during the making of the album but left off the final release

Cover

• Wet black garbage bag with the album name traced in the water
• Originally planned as a busty woman in a wet yellow T-shirt; swapped just before release
• Record executives feared dominant US store chains would refuse a sexist cover, and Jon Bon Jovi disliked the bright pink border on the band's photograph

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Bon Jovi is an American rock band formed in Sayreville, New Jersey in 1983.
• Jon Bon Jovi began performing live in 1975 at age 13 with his first band, Raze.
• The band was named Bon Jovi on the suggestion of Pamela Maher, following the model of two-word bands such as Van Halen.
• Its debut album Bon Jovi was released on January 21, 1984, with the single "Runaway" reaching the Billboard Hot 100 top forty.

Members

• The current lineup is Jon Bon Jovi, David Bryan, Tico Torres, John Shanks, Phil X, Everett Bradley, and Hugh McDonald.
• Original bassist Alec John Such left in 1994; he died in 2022.
• Guitarist and co-songwriter Richie Sambora left in 2013.

Career

• Slippery When Wet (1986) brought global success, with "You Give Love a Bad Name" and "Livin' on a Prayer" reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
• New Jersey (1988) produced five Billboard Hot 100 top-ten singles, a record for a hard rock album.
• Keep the Faith (1992) marked a shift to a more mature sound.
• "Always" (1994) became the band's biggest-selling and longest-charting single.
• Crush (2000) and "It's My Life" introduced the band to a younger audience.
• "Who Says You Can't Go Home" (2006) won a Grammy and became the first rock band single to top the Billboard country chart.
• The band has sold more than 130 million records worldwide and was inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Robert Christgau in The Village Voice (September 1987): defended the album's mass appeal and asked whether listeners could really resist 'Livin' on a Prayer'
• Jimmy Guterman in Rolling Stone (1990): harshly criticised the band and the album, calling its sentiment condescending and clichéd
• Guterman wrote that Bon Jovi sounds like bad fourth-generation metal, a smudgy Xerox of Quiet Riot

Reappraisal

• The album has been called the one that turned heavy metal into a radio-friendly pop format
• It is also commonly seen as a breakthrough for hair metal
• Ranked 44th in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's Definitive 200 Albums of all time

Records

• Spent eight weeks at No. 1 on the US Billboard 200
• Peaked at No. 1, Bon Jovi's first number-one album in the United States
• Spent 38 weeks in the Billboard 200 top 5
• Billboard named it the top-selling album of 1987
• Three Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hits; 'You Give Love a Bad Name' and 'Livin' on a Prayer' reached No. 1, and 'Wanted Dead or Alive' peaked at No. 7
• RIAA certification of 15× Platinum; Bon Jovi's best-selling album to date
• UK: 3× Platinum (BPI); Canada: Diamond; Australia: 6× Platinum

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Jon Bon Jovi said the band named the album after visiting The No.5 Orange strip club in Vancouver
• Sambora recalled that the band's testosterone was at a very high level during the project
• The first recorded version of 'Livin' on a Prayer' is a hidden track on one CD of the box set 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong
• 'Edge of a Broken Heart' was featured on the soundtrack to the 1987 movie Disorderlies and later released as a B-side
• A 2005 DualDisc reissue added a remastered CD side and a DVD side with the original stereo mix, a 5.1 surround mix, and all 5 music videos
• The 2005 DualDisc was released on September 20, 2005

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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