Album Review: Bon Jovi - Slippery When Wet (1986)

Some of my earliest memories of hard rock music involve the band Bon Jovi.  Back in the eighties, I never liked hard rock music - in fact, I loathed it, and by extension, I didn't think much of Bon Jovi's songs either. But like all rock music, it was a classic case of 'my, how the tables have turned.'  I never liked rock music on the whole until about 1998, when my favorite radio station, which played pop music from the eighties until the then present nineties, decided to switch to a purely contemporary playlist.  I found two problems with that - firstly, the late nineties was for me, a time when music started to suck big time, and secondly, I still wanted to hear my eighties songs, the stuff that I grew up with all those years ago. But that change in format turned out to be a mixed blessing as it forced me to embrace a style of music that I was hesitant to embrace for many years, and it was a change I will never regret, one that in turn changed me forever. I decided to switch to a classic rock station, and from there my repertoire of music that I liked increased exponentially.  I soon became a big fan of classic rock, and from there my taste quickly expanded to include harder styles of rock music (there were some exceptions to this rule - I loved AC/DC since The Razors Edge, probably because my silly sense of humor was enthralled by Brian Johnson's voice). Soon, what I used to hate, I quickly came to love. Bon Jovi is a good example of this dichotomy between the tastes of the old-but-young me and me from 1998 onward, and the album I am reviewing here, Slippery When Wet, contains two of their biggest hits, "You Give Love a Bad Name" and "Livin' On a Prayer."  In fact, these two songs were the reason I bought the album in the first place.  I've decided to go over the album in full this time, and I have to say it isn't surprisingly bad.  Not shit hot, mind you.  There are some respectable songs to be found here, aside from the aforementioned classics and the likes of "Wanted Dead or Alive", which is another well-known Bon Jovi staple.  Listening to "Let it Rock", "Raise Your Hands", "Without Love" and "I'd Die For You", and I'm beginning to understand why this album is considered by many to be their best. Do you, or perhaps will you, consider it to be their best?  There's only one way to find out.  A good album to say the least.  A-