Reviews (page 3 of 10)
Decent 3
Penis music. Pero mentiría si dijera que no he cantado los estribillos de You give love a bad name y de Livin' on a prayer.
Boy howdy. It's big and dumb. Really big and dumb. Fat licks played by the whole band with usually little nuance involved in arranging. Music made for the arena rock circuit specifically. Lyrics that work as rhymes but again lack subtlety and thought for the most part. It's a himbo given new form as sound waves. But, forgive me, I like it. It's an identity that is clear and I appreciate that I can participate in it without too much effort, just this once. Junk food is bad for you, but I really like a donut or a fat burger when I'm in the mood. I'm not a man made of stone and I admit it. I scream the gearshift key change in Livin' on a Prayer along with Bon Jovi any time I'm not in a strictly quiet environment. I am a human person.
The album that put Bon Jovi on the map, so many great tracks, and perhaps the greatest rock anthem of all time. And the fact that I'm not talking about "Livin' on A Prayer" says it all. 5 stars all around. Highlights: "You Give Love A Bad Name", "Livin' on A Prayer" and "Wanted Dead or Alive"
Uno de los mejores albumes del mundo
Aunque este estilo de rock no es lo que suelo escuchar, me pareció un disco excelente. Está lleno de temazos que enganchan rapidísimo gracias a los riffs de guitarra, los sintetizadores y la fuerza enorme de las voces en los estribillos. Canciones como Livin' on a Prayer y You Give Love a Bad Name ya las tenía agregadas de antes; acá se lucen un montón marcando el ritmo general del álbum con unas armonías vocales súper pegadizas. Termina siendo un trabajo redondo que disfruté muchísimo.
It's hard not to enjoy something when you've heard so many of the songs before- this album is definitely one of the more iconic albums, and I enjoyed all of the songs that I'm not too familiar with. I shouldn't have put off listening to this as much as I did.
This might be the one album I've really been waiting for since day 1 because I have a minor Bon Jovi thing and it's incredibly upsetting to have only 1 of their albums on this list (whilst freaking Nick Cave gets 5). Apart from doing this, I very rarely listen to albums in their entirety and so coming across an album where I know every song and the majority of the lyrics is kind of unusual. So yes, that definitely skews my review and helps me look past some of the admittedly cheesy songs but the cheesiness is what makes them iconic songs and part of the reason why I love them so much.
Starting the first track with an organ is a power move I can respect. It's hard not give this a high score when there are so many bangers on it, however I must caveat this rating with the acknowledgement that outside the undeniable hits the lyrics are unimaginative and instrumentation very similar. But it's Bon Jovi so whatever
Pinnacle of glamrock? Maybe.
Whilst living on a prayer is a certified banger, most of the album is just a bit too cheesy for my tastes
Album was a bit mixed. However the first half was very good so drags this up to a 4 just about.
The bangers here make up for some of the drearier tracks
This is one of the albums I was dreading, not because I thought it would be bad, but because I thought it would be really boring. I've hated Livin on a Prayer for a while now, due to it being super overplayed, and never been crazy about You Give Love a Bad Name. I think Wanted Dead Or Alive is their best song, which isn't saying much. Every other song is forgettable or just ok. Low 3.
80s synth rock, with a few really popular hits that won't fail to get people jumping and dancing (Livin on a Prayer, You give love a bad name). I just so happened to listen to a rendition of Livin on a Prayer in a pub a few weeks ago, what a coincidence. Would I listen to this on repeat? Nah, probably it sounds too glam for my taste. But I'll definitely karaoke Livin on a Prayer
Full of classics even if I’m not a huge Bon Jovi guy
Nope
The hits are great fun. The rest of the album is bad.
Pretty generic rock, which is not bad in and of itself, there’s some iconic songs on here. However, the album is heavily frontloaded and the second half did not really do it for me.
Me parece un álbum muy rock metal, en algunas canciones me recuerda a rainbow
I hate this but it's kinda awesome? I would not be surprised if this sold 15M copies. I'm not going to look it up.
I thought I’d love it. So many hits. But the album tracks felt flat. Then I started questioning if the singles were any good.
I hate pop. Pop disguised as hard rock or metal or whatever isn’t much better. I was glad when grunge came around because it drove out the hair bands like Bon Jovi. Wanted… is probably the least wussy, for lack of a better word, on the whole album. Relative to stuff coming out now, I don’t mind it as much as I did in the late eighties, but I’m still not going to listen to it if given the choice.
low energy boomer rock
Fine but nothing special in my opinion.
Bon Jovi is insufferable.
Started a 2, ended a 3 … I GUESS
The childhood memories flood back with this one. Some of the songs are best left in the 80s, but most are still bangers.
I was wondering when we'd get the New Jersey rockers, and here we are. It's a good selection for them, especially given how many hits this album produced (and shocking to read that the album's been certified 18x platinum--that's a *lot* of albums), and I'm also glad that this is the only Bon Jovi addition in the collection, as they seem best in limited doses. And as much as I scoffed at Bon Jovi in high school, considering them even greater posers than the likes of Motley Crue and Quiet Riot, I have more respect for them now, as they (like Aerosmith, Guns-n-Roses and Metallica) all seemed to decide that they wanted to stay in front of large crowds, and found ways to do that over and over. The album overall is surprisingly solid--possibly benefiting from the audience-polling that they did to figure out the right tracks and order for the album--and about as vacuous, formulaic and still entertaining as I expected. Aside from the four massive hits, everything else is fairly forgettable, but nothing feels painful or out of place (aside from perhaps "Without love"). I guess they were right in claiming 100M fans can't be wrong....
They are good at what they do. Given how much I'm not a fan, I'm impressed with how many of their songs it turns out I know.
has some bangers and classics but i wouldn't listen to it everyday... at one point all the songs started to sound the same so i got bored
hard hitters in this album and mister Bon Jovi is really hot
MUITO BOM
Listened to before? Partially Context? A popular 80s hard rock album, with many ambiguous hits. Reviewed in a holistic format. I have a personal vendetta against mainstream hard rock music. It's trashy without political subtext. It's relentlessly masculine (and often misogynistic). It reminds me of those white middle aged couples that go to sports games and get drunk and start making out. Still, I have to credit "Living On a Prayer" for being a huge factor in getting me into rock music, even if I did end up going on a much more alternative route. It and "You Give Love a Bad Name" are undeniably great songs. I'd even say "Let It Rock" is a pretty good song. The rest are okay at best: very heavily dated and cushion for the smash hits. The whole album is also very one-note and can get it old when it's not being exceptional. Ultimately, I feel the same way about this album as I do about songs like "Party in the USA": unless I'm at some kind of fun event, where everyone's singing along, I don't want to hear it. And even then, in an ideal world, we'd be singing along to "Wild in the Streets" by the Circle Jerks rather than "Wild in the Streets" by Bon Jovi.
perfectly serviceable 80s rock album with all of the required bits, even the misogyny! really not my taste.
Overly polished pop rock, the definition of kitch
Pre-Listening Notes: IhateBonJoviIhateBonJoviIhateBonJoviIhateBonJoviIhateBonJoviIhateBonJoviIhateBonJoviIhateBonJoviIhateBonJoviIhateBonJoviIhateBonJoviIhateBonJoviIhateBonJoviIhateBonJoviIhateBonJoviIhateBonJoviIhateBonJoviIhateBonJovi Mid-Listening Notes: Bon Jovi is so disgusting in the least camp way possible. There are albums that could get away with having pornographic noises as a pseudo-interlude, but here it just comes across as incredibly sincere in the most disgusting way. Post-Listening Notes: I need to take a shower 1/5
Yes, we all know the hits, but Raise Your Hands is the best song on this record...not least of all for its appearance in Space Balls.
Oh boy, 80s arena rock. It's not horrendous; it's okay for what it is, I guess. Pop metal hooks arent the worst thing in the world. But personally, I find myself annoyed by all the 80s guitar squeals, and mostly bored by the rest of it. Special shout out to whoever created the ugly trash bag and water droplet album cover in the 11th hour.
It’s OK but I wouldn’t pick it
DESENGANADO PELA MEDICINA, RETORNEI (esqueci do site pqp) ouvi esse aqui e quis chorar de tristeza como pode glam rock mainstream de estádio ter existido né, trem ruim do caralho
lembra mto qdo eu tinha 10 anos, livin on a prayer era um CLÁSSICO do carro do ex-marido da minha irmã. não escutaria nem pagando. mas se desligar o cérebro dá até pra se divertir um pouco. glam rock de arena de qualidade PÍFIA
Can't hate it. It's super cheesy but it's so damn catchy.
Couldn't wait for it to be over
Bon Jovi is not my favorite, but this album is really good. There are a lot of huge hits throughout and this is just a strong album. These are simple classic rock tunes. It is a great time. Actual rating...3.5 Liked Songs: "You Give Love A Bad Name" , "Livin' On A Prayer" , "Social Disease" , "Wanted Dead Or Alive" , "Raise Your Hands" , "I'd Die for You" , "Wild In The Streets"
New guy just dropped, listening to Bon Jovi to own the hipsters Will I listen to again: 0%
9 year old me rocked the fuck out to this album and I carry a modest amount of shame about that. It’s reassuring at least to know those whammy bar skills still deliver. Fun fact: “Raise your hands” played in Spaceballs when Barf was eating in the Winnebago.
Finest hard rock opera
Don't ever play Bon Jovi at your wedding or I'll leave the dance floor. Too overplayed? Maybe. Do I get why this is on the list? I guess. Just not into it!
Imagine if Geese were even 10 percent this awesome
Late 60s rock. Legendary album. Debut. Established new guitar style. Super long album.
really coool, the song Livin' On A Prayer went viral on tt previously
This one has all the hits?
me vuelve loca este album
Albums that could have been a single
Don't get me wrong, it's catchy stuff and there's even some hits on this one, but Bon Jovi really aged badly and I don't think it sounds as good as common people think it does.
3 mega hits, catchy like nothing else, but damn... The other songs are fillers, and annoying fillers.
3 huge hits. Rest is pretty meh.
Very slippery. Great BJ album lots of his best on this album. It started to lose me a bit on the second half. But still great.
While this really isn't my favorite genre, nor do I really love any of these tracks, I have to recognize that these are bangers. Fuck the RYM nerds, I think this album has a lot of merit, even if it lacks any sort of artistic integrity. Every year, we need a hit factory kinda band, and Bon Jovi was the 1986 edition. The record label gave these guys money and writing talent, and they made hits. Is that really that bad?
This has aged...poorly
Really good guitar!!! Kinda drops off after the start
Did air drums to this too many times to give it 3 stars, second half trails off but dead or alive is great
Loved it when I was 15. I'm not 15 anymore
rock on
Queen may have popularized [[glam rock]] but Bon Jovi definitely added on to it. "Slippery When Wet" combines heavier guitar sounds with catchy refrains. Songs like "Livin On A Prayer", "Wanted Dead Or Alive", and "You Give Love A Bad Name", you can listen to these songs and instantly think of how loud an arena would be when everyone shouts those songs in unison.
squidward on a chairrr i hate hard rock i hate hard rock i hate hard rock i hate hard rock i hate hard rock i hate hard rock i hate hard rock i hate hard rock i hate hard rock i hate hard rock i hate hard rock i hate hard rock i hate hard rock i hate hard rock i hate hard rock i hate hard rock i hate hard rock ts so boring omg the only time i can tolerate music like this at my white families family barbeques. would maybe go hard when im in my 40s
PURE HITS
I wanna do business with Mr Von Joni himself. Mr Bovine Joni himself. 3.
Honestly surprised at the amount of hits on this album. Bon Jovi really put in the A game for this album. Would rate higher but I still have trauma from these songs doing them in a high school production of Rock Of Ages
People that don't enjoy this should really just let their hair down and pull down the windows and enjoy this cheesy glam rock album. There really are some great hits in this album, and some album tracks that you almost want to roll your eyes at, but this is the 80s at its peak.
My guy solid AF album it' like a 4.5 not a solid 5. Raining out now so we're going with a 4
Actually has multiple classics on it
What an abysmal record. You can tell that the band is trying their hardest to be Van Halen, but they have a modicum of the talent. Mr. Jovi is no Diamond Dave, and while Roth's sometimes awful lyrics can be overlooked due to his persona and swagger, Jon Bon Jovi has none of that. Just a lame, limp, lifeless album that for some reason has lyrics about having sex in the back of cars way too often.
Terrific guitar work and vocals. Some cheesy songwriting prevents the 5th star.
While I never went to a Bon Jovi concert, I would imagine the group could get everyone off their seats. The music isn’t bad, some songs are memorable so I’m giving them a 3.
As a Jersey Guy, respect to Bon Jovi. They accomplished a lot taking metal/hair band music into the pop main stream. A couple huge songs on this album, but nothing I love.
Glam pop version of a Michael Bolton record. This in the mid-80s was what passed for metal. Soulless music stripped of all life brought to you by a band that ripped off every other shitty pop metal band operating at the time. Loverboy, Bryan Adams, Def Leopard, Foreigner, Toto, Styx the list is endless and unfortunately demonstrates that in America, people will listen to records with no original ideas. The Michael Bolton reference at the beginning of this review is not a throwaway comment. This is an album filled with the stupidest lyrics ever committed to be sung and is just an endless whine. You Give Live A Bad Name, I’d Die For You, Never Say Goodbye, Wanted Dead or Alive - an endless stream of cliches and just outright offensively stupid lyrics make this record a slog. Even Livin on a Prayer is a Foreigner ripoff. Hair metal making the charts shows just how fucked up the ecosystem that controls radio actually is. Intellectually bankrupt and shameless corporate rock this is as bad as every Steely Dan record and may be the only reason why this album should never be allowed to be played publicly. Listening to this album all the way through made me stupider. There is no redeeming value to this music and Bon Jovi should be ashamed for releasing this into society. We are all worse off for having heard it. This confirms what I largely suspected. The author of this list - 1001 Albums You Should Listen Too Before You Die- is a fucking idiot. Those who conspired with him should be imprisoned for life and forced to only listen to Slippery When Wet. Dumb asses. 0/5
Rock and roll is supposed to have rough edges and jagged corners - in part, that's where the thrill of listening to the Cramps or the Minutemen or The Jesus And Mary Chain comes from. Bon Jovi's third studio album is the antithesis of that - it's a collection of tracks that have been compressed, slathered with reverb, and EQ'd to death, in order to make the disc as "radio ready" as possible. There's no trace of Elvis, Beatles or the Rolling Stones on this record, instead it's the spiritual heir of Boston, Foreigner, Journey and the glut of hyperprocessed junk food rock from the 70s.
It’s Bon Jovi! It’s rock!
Standard for it's time and genre
The first half of this album is rip snorting fun. The back half falls away into generic and boring filler tracks. Still mostly good and mostly fun
OK.
3.5/5
I fucking have bon jovi
Number: 71 Date: 3/14/2026 Artist: Bon Jovi Album: Slippery When Wet Year: 1986 Genre: Metal Rock Rating: 2 Notes: Before: Argh, my third least favorite genre, behind Rap and Modern Country. I foresee a 2 rating. We'll see. I've never listened to this album but I'm sure I'll recognize some of the songs. During: Yep, pretty much what I was expecting. After : Well, that was awful. I was going to give it a 1 even though my composite rating is a 2. I had a change of hear though and decided 2 is about right, all things considered. I do agree it deserves to be on this list though, if for no other reason than as an example of this type of music. Rating Track Name 1 Let It Rock 2 You Give Love A Bad Name 1 Livin' On A Prayer 1 Social Disease 2 Wanted Dead Or Alive 1 Raise Your Hands 1 Without Love 1 I'd Die For You 1 Never Say Goodbye 1 Wild In The Streets ----------------------------------------------------- 1.20 WEIGHTED AVERAGE (accounts for song lengths) 1 my personal rating 4 suitability for this list 2 relevance ----------------------------------------------- 2.3 composite rating
Lots of fun tunes, some bangers.
This album might well be the turning point for hard rock as we knew it in the 80s, the "peak" that marked the beginning of the decline. Richie Sambora was a way better player than I ever gave him credit for and the keyboardist reasonably decent. The rhythm section was dire (and got no help from the production). Jon Bon Jovi's vocals? Did the job that needed to be done to get his face on MTV, I guess. Now I'll hopefully go another thirty or forty years before I have to listen to it again.
Despite some obviously very catchy 80s glamorous hair metal tracks, it's all quite shallow really isn't it? It's just Jovi pretending he's in love with women to get them to sleep with him in ten different forms. Can't deserve anything too high as a result of that but the catchiness does still hold true, and there are some definite memory associations with many of these tracks for me.
8 year old core
Overdreven, ongenuanceerd, en puberaal. Dikke 4/5!
Cringeworthy.
This style of 80s rock not my favorite but this album feels like the archetype with a bunch of classics in a row
Can I shock you? I think I actually loved this. It’s a Bon Jovi greatest hits (almost) with an admittedly terrible title. There’s some real 80s slop on here with ridiculous lyrics but that’s the point i suppose - silly, ridiculous, loud and raucus. It’s stadium rock, or it wants to be. 3.7/5.0 Best Song: You Give Love A Bad Name
It sucks and it's class at the same time. The bangers are massive and the bad songs are terrible, but somehow it's just the same song over again. This is maybe the most defining album of the 80s, in the fact it is the most 80s sounding album. Best Track: Obvs livin on a prayer
I was so pumped that the album opens with a couple of true eighties classics, but the rest of the tracks are so aggressively mid. It's the real deal, but that's all it is.
Fun and silly
I hate to say so, and call me basic if you like, but I've actually enjoyed so much listening to this album. Maybe this album (or Bon Jovi in general) is one of the reasons why metal started to become poppier and ultramainstream, and it's full of generic, basic, cliché and pretty predictable songs. But it's truly a lot of fun, and it flows pretty well. The songs never become too cloying, and it's a very well (over)produced album. Yes, of course it's made for the hits... But, call it a guilty pleasure, this album has very nice songs, and it sounds so good. Also, they have a very distinctive sound, which is not always something easy. Of course it's because of the stadium focus of this music, but it's part of the band's personality too. And... well, I've liked it. What else can I say?
Shit-stain/pit-stain rock that is very occasionally kind of fun.
I don't like bon jovi
cool
It's incredibly uncool to admit that I kind of love this. It's unbelievably cheesy, over the top, and embarrassing. But it's also just infectiously fun, isn't it? Look, I grew up with this music. I felt the bitter shame when my dad would blast this album throughout the house as I was kid. Such incredibly ridiculous music, I hoped my friends wouldn't hear it. But now, as an adult, I kind of get it. At a certain point, you get older and stop caring so much about what other people think. Life is too short to resist what is obviously great (albeit also kind of dumb) feel good music. It's freeing to admit liking this and finally abandoning any attempt to be cool. It's not worth it. Sorry I made fun of this one, Dad.
joah bon jovi halt
Solid hair metal. My Metallica loving 14 year old self would have given this an angry 1. But my love of hair metal runs deep. So, though it is certainly no Master of Puppets, I'm going 5.
Most of these songs haunt my dreams from overexposure. I'll still give 4 stars bc if songs live rent free in my subconscious mind, there is something undeniably special about their songwriting and performance.
Yes, I’ve heard the hits from this album. Who hasn’t? I never put name and face to music, so I was mildly surprised… this guy rocks pretty damn hard! And here I thought he was just another pretty face. Still not a big fan, but can’t ignore the success.
“I’ve seen a million faces and I’ve rocked them all.” Ugh. Well, it has at least three songs I have heard an uncountable amount of times. Mr. Jovi has a recognizable, formidable singing voice. There’s some shreddage, you could say, I guess. I should just accept this as a fun party record and move on, but it left me empty when it was all said and done. Just no cake under this frosting. Huge hooks and obviously it has staying power, but I did not enjoy my album experience today. Sorry Mr. Jovi. Your soul kitchen is cool though!
04/03/26 Começou bem, acabou cheesy
Livin' On A Prayer is admittedly a great song. However, Bon Jovi is a very overrated band in my opinion.
First half was a solid supplement to my squats. Second half was high school footballer music
Loud, silly, cheesy - and fun!
Aged like fine milk. Livin’ on a Prayer and You Give Love A Bad Name are good songs, but have been played to death since 1986. The rest is the most generic 80s rock you can find, complete with endless ‘woh-oh’ choruses and power guitar. Very generic overall.
I’d love to be able to say that my taste is too cool and sophisticated to enjoy this incredibly cheesy generic 80s arena rock, but unfortunately that’s not true. What is true, though, is that the trio of monster hits on side one (‘You Give Love a Bad Name’, ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’, ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’) are easily the best songs on the album, and most of the rest are several notches down in quality. The lyrics are almost uniformly awful, the production dated, but it’s so catchy and infectious it’s hard to resist. Switch off brain and enjoy.
Classic!! 4.5
Not my cup of tea, but I can definitely understand why others enjoy it.
Very nice rock album
10/10. É o Bon Jovi no auge.
A lot of his songs I've heard through osmosis. Not bad, but never been my type of music.
Boy am I sick of "Living on a Prayer" but I'd be an idiot to deny that this album was one of the most groundbreaking works of music to come out of the 80s, and therefore rightfully belongs on this list. This album pretty much encapsulates hair metal as a sound & genre. It's loud, dumb fun. While not meant to be taken *too* seriously, Bon Jovi and the full band are all solid musicians, and the finished product (while dated in some areas) is quite satisfying.
Don't normally like Bon Jovi, this is no different.
The non-singles were better than I was anticipating.
I didn’t want to like it as much as I did and that’s on having an open mind. Felt super cringe and very high school musical with the anthemic vocals and straight ahead drumming (actually the drums were the major thing I would change across the album). But overall I felt …. Kinda awesome ???? There’s a reason why he’s an icon I guess. Crazy that he’s Milly Bobby Brown’s father in law. We really do have to hold on to what we’ve got ❤️
I WANT to give it more but i feel that thats just because ik most of the songs and it is a bit nostalgic... I liked it mostly, I just know that if i listened to it today (w/o knowing anything about it) i would not have been too impressed and i would have found his voice annoying:( Iconic guitar solos tho
i mean. i had fun! i'm just not sure why this album is on the list in the first place. im guessing sheer popularity put it here bc it doesnt seem revolutionary or influential even in the realm of glam-rock. very shiny and phony - i suppose maybe it was influential in how shiny / polished / poppy it was? if anything theres probably other slimy phony arena pop-rockers who r very indebted to this album. the 3/4 measure before the keychange in living on a prayer remains one of the most hype moments in music history though that couple seconds is truly brilliant
if I was forced at gunpoint to listen to bon jovi I'd choose to be shot. singing in that fake rasp all the time has to hurt as much as it does to hear
Contains some of the band's biggest hits with "You give love a bad name", "Livin' on a Prayer" and "Wanted Dead or Alive"; both the former tracks helping to define what a rock anthem actually is. Both are still hella fun to this day, with incredible riffs that just inspire a good mood. "Wanted Dead or Alive" with it's twangy cowboy guitars and epic delivery of the title line makes it a fun track, too. This album is definitely getting a 3, because it's a fun listen and I've always been a sucker for the right kind of synth and guitar together. My only gripe is, even when it's trying to be serious (like in "Without Love") it still just comes off as silly, but that may be by association with the kinds of lyrics and tone that usually accompany the guitar chords and drums still heard in this track from others that are more whimsical. ******************************************************************************* This is another album with some weirdly hateful reviews, someone literally spending some 6-7 paragraphs to explain why it's so awful. Seems to be hair metal itself is incredibly divisive; a separate homework assignment I may have to do. To me, all it says is that these people - leaving the 1* reviews - can't seem to understand that not everything requires profundity and nuance. Sometimes, just some plain dumb fun is all we want. The "switch your brain off" and enjoy feeling we've all had in one medium or another after a long day or when you're in a party mood. It's why bad movies and video games are equally as successful. Despite that, I can appreciate - as I have said many times previously - that when you consider yourself not just a fan of a medium but an enthusiast bordering on connoisseurship, you may well deplore what's dumbed down and popular for the sake of itself. For me that's always been video games: The Call of Duty's, Fortnite's and FIFA's of the world are the lowest common denominator and unfairly detract from games with far better story or design. That being said... these games are a bit of dumb fun for when you need them; you don't always want to get bogged down into RPG lore or complex mechanics, you just want to shoot someone in the face.
War der Lieblingssänger meiner Mudder, klar n paar tolle Songs dabei, aber hat mich jetzt nicht sonderlich mitgerissen. Schon sehr poppiger/schnulziger Rock
Zugegeben ein paar eingängige Lieder haben sie, aber mag ihre Art von Musik überhaupt nicht. Das ständige "whow" oder wie man immer dieses Geräusch nennt, quasi jedes Lied baut darauf auf. Bin gleich abgeturnt.
Banger, Banger noch ein Banger. Rest auch okay!
You know what, it’s got a good flow and a lot of bangers 🤘
Ever have a childhood friend you didn't really like but you just hung out with anyway? I did and his name was Austin. One time we took what little money we had as a kid to best buy to buy some CDs. I bought Metallica's ...And Justice for All, and what did this motherfucker buy? This. I remember making fun of him for it relentlessly, calling him all kinds of rude things that boys call eachother. We were in boy scouts together at the time (this must have been 6th grade or so) and not too long after this CD buying incident we went to a summer camp retreat. This guy loaded this CD into his mom's Ford Windstar with no AC in the 100+ degree summer heat. The soundtrack to the 5 hour drive to and from this fucking camp was this CD over, and over, and over again. Sweating my ass off, trying not to throw up from being carsick as hell on my way to some fucking camp I don't even want to go to with this bullshit playing the entire time. This is the soundtrack to hell, and not in a cool slayer way.
Some of the songs from this album have definitely been overplayed, but I didn't hate the ones I hadn't really heard yet. Bon Jovi's voice can get a bit much after a while, but there's a time and place for this album, I suppose. Karaoke bars, mostly.
It has the significant bangers, but aside those, its not extremely amazing. Those bangers do make up for it though!
Three stars for the three classics on this album. The rest is filler and sounds massively dated
I used to work on a studio where we’d regularly have cheesy 80s rock sessions and Bon Jovi featured heavily. In fact I used to enjoy breaking silence by turning up the speakers and blasting _You Give Love a Bad Name_ randomly which always shocked my mate. So I do have something of a soft spot for them but they’re mainly a best of band for me. The big songs are great but an albums worth tends to be a little too much. My wife is a big fan though, so I will end up listening to this again.
3.5 rounded up for all the hits!
Amazing craftsmanship.
Dead or Alive is one of the best songs of the 80s. Unfortunately, everything else this band has done is pure garbage. I love Bon Jovi as a person. The band is talented. Like a Toyota, it checks many of the boxes on paper but I just can’t stand it.
I enjoyed this
Brilliant 80/90s soft rock with standouts. Love it
Ok don’t might not be ‘cool’ to enjoy this but how can you not just go with it. Probably one of the best examples of big hair 80’s cheesy rock there is out there!
Soft rock at its finest. It never occurred to me before how close this is to Bruce Springsteen but with a slight edge. Big hits, power ballads and some very passable album tracks make this a fine example of the genre. If you can get past the stupid hair and massive cheese factor, there is plenty to enjoy.
Is this peak hair metal? It’s definitely up there; the album starts strong but then it’s a little too naff and cheesy for me in the end. This is going to sound sexist, but I think there is a deliberate (and successful) attempt to woo the female market here. I think the Def Lepard and Van Halen albums we’ve already had on the list are just a bit better and sillier for my tastes.
This is an arena rock show crammed onto a studio album. The songs have amazing hooks and high energy throughout. Of course the singles are the strongest examples of Bon Jovi's charm. While the other tracks lack that special something, they're not far off. You Give Love A Bad Name Livin' On A Prayer Wanted Dead Or Alive
Iconic.
Habrá sido todo un discazo en su momento. Not for me.
Ok, it's dated. The production isn't the best, the sound feels somehow flat. Their hits still work, and the rest of the album is not far behind, if you're just looking for some fun.
There are countless incurable diseases, and the only thing that hurts me so much is the unrepeatability of childhood. I haven't listened to this record in ages yet I remembered every song and lyric. It transported me back to a time and place where everything felt a little bit easier than now, with the weight of a teenager on my shoulders, worries I thought were the most unbearable in the world, like the first heartbreak, an unanounced exam at school, your crush believing you don't exist, your friends hyping you up to do some stuff you regret later. Looking back, they feel almost comical and surreal when compared to now once I'm navigating adulthood and parenthood. Drinking beer, shooting pool, playing darts, discussing football, science, aliens, Mortal Kombat: Conquest the TV series from 1998, the golden generation of France that won the World Cup, whether Daniel Defoe's book 'Robinson Crusoe' is the best book ever, whether popsicles and ice creams are cousins, computers, Grand Theft Auto and Age of Empires, 'Black Knight' with Martin Lawrence, my new DVD and surround system, and naturally, Bon Jovi's hits. Of course, I no longer listen to Bon Jovi nor have I thought of their music. Of course, my favourite band in the world is The National and I rate 'I Love You Honeybear' by Father John Misty. Of course, I come around as the archetypal music snob that sits in the corner and criticises every person at a party. Of course my friends are married with kids and we rarely see each other. Of course I can no longer recognise my hometown or locate the places we used to roam. Of course I can only travel to my childhood and formative years through music. Of course I'm a nostalgic man. Of course I'm clinging on to memories. Memories are films about ghosts.
#857. Bon Jovi is terrible, I don't really need to listen to this whole album to figure that out, but I guess I will. And yep, still awful. I'll give it an extra star though because I remember Wanted Dead or Alive was fun to play on Guitar Hero. 3/5: whatever.
Þetta er kjánalegt en fílaða. Jon er fínn náungi með hjartað á réttum stað. Þetta rokk er auðvitað ekkert svakalega menningarlegt en það má alveg dilla sér við þetta.
I get it. I get the Bon Jovi hype. I understand why everyone loved him.
+You Give Love A Bad Name +Livin' On A Prayer +Wanted Dead Or Alive +Never Say Goodbye
I was pondering on this one for a while. On ome hand I used to like this much more then I was a kid and it has few legendary tracks. On the other hand, I don't really listen to them anymore. Still Wanted dead or alive holds up to me to this day and album has a few very good album tracks so all in all, considering 4 stars.
Two bangers, rest dross
Standouts Let it Rock You Give Love a Bad Name Livin' on a Prayer Wanted Dead or Alive
Holy shit is this ever bad.
This came out when I was 11 years old in Standard 4 (grade 6). We used to play all these songs at house parties and think we were bad. We then grew up. If ever there was a dated genre it is this big hair pop/rock masquerading as hard rock. Is it terrible? no, it is just kind of cheesy. Musically, this is not bad though if you are into classic rock drums and guitar riffs, and I can see why you will still enjoy this today. All that said, I cannot fault this either. and can see why it is on the list. Classic rock is just not for me though. As for my rating, I think nostalgia is doing a lot of heavy lifting here...2.5 stars
Absolute-masterpiece, loved it, more of these, pls ❣️
This is good in the way that it is just kind of ubiquitous. Its so ingrained in culture that I barely noticed i was listening to it.
What a hits machine this thing is. He sure keeps the energy coming. It’s like hair band Springsteen. Ultimately, there are some good tunes here and not too many flops.
Can I give this zero stars?
Some songs are vibey but not really my cup of tea and i think it's so overplayed that i can't even listen it properly anymore.
It's not absolute ass, but it ain't good. It sounded much cooler when I was 10 and hadn't found punk rock yet.
For me, this is a great example of how something popular and award winning can be just not all that good. If I was forced to listen to hair rock, I'd absolutely choose Motley Crue over these guys.
4 stars
I liked some moments of this one which is more than I expected.
Meh, not much of a Bon Jovi fan. I loved classic rock as a teenager, but even then I was never was a big fan
It's pretty bad, over-the-top, cheesy, and dated. But on rare occasion in a fun way, so it's not the worst thing I've ever heard.
It’s Bon Jovi.
The first two songs were really good. Everything else was just so average.
This album came out when I was 12. It was cool and I was not. It also made me feel happy at an age when not much else did. By that measure alone it is a powerful album. Is it good music? It still makes me happy when not much else does. That's an unqualified yes. 5/5
Absolute Classic.
Shit
Coldplay left me well, cold
I mean, at least it has their 3 best songs on it? Otherwise, Bon Jovi sucks chunks
Pretty peak 80s cheese
Fun at times, but mostly just trite and corny.
Always thought of Bon Jovi as the sound of 80s rock, but never thought of him as a crossover artist combining hair metal and pop. Kinda fun.
This is like if Neil Diamond or a yacht rocker went hard! It’s cheesy. However, it slays.
Bon Jovi er ikke bra. Det må være lov å lage musikk kun for å få fitte, men jeg må få slippe å høre på den. Bon Jovi brøt reglene, for tre av låtene her er helt umulig å unngå å høre. Produksjonen på skiva er også jævlig dritt, men nå spikker jeg flis. Bassen i Livin' on a Prayer er helseskadelig; ooa ooa gjennom talkbox en krigsforbrytelse. Faktisk er hele bandet en krigserklæring på god smak. Etter 30 minutter begynte jeg å føle meg uvel. Under Never Say Goodbye kunne jeg gjenkjenne følelser av kvalme. Når det endelig er over og jeg burde føle lettelse, kan jeg bare kjenne utmattelse. Aldri igjen.
Ålreit, så får jeg stå fram som Bon Jovi-fan. Har alltid likt både SWW og New Jersey. Lenge før jeg oppdaga Bob Dylan og Beatles var det metal og hardrock fra 80-tallet som gjaldt for meg. Mye pga foreldrene mine, og sikkert litt pga V-Rock i Vice City også ("Let It Rock" burde 100 prosent vært med) Men ja, Bon Jovi er harry, men faen som de kan skrive låter! Jeg vil nesten kalle de gruppemedlemmene som har gitt plata 1 for feige, som ikke kan anerkjenne the might of "You Give Love A Bad Name" og "Livin' On A Prayer". For å være fair så er det ikke alle låtene som har blitt tidløse klassikere og har tålt tidens tann. "Social Disease" virker veldig utdatert pga den rævva blåsersynthen feks. "Raise Your Hands" er litt i grenseland pga sin synth, men fortsatt en bop. En låt hvor 80-tallssynthen fremdeles funker er "I'd Die For You" Ja, også vrir det seg litt når de synger "I'm a cowboy" på "Wanted Dead or Alive", men låta i seg selv er fet (Shoutout til Richie Sambora). Slippery When Wet gir meg lyst til å ta lappen. Det er kjørerock. Eventuelt GTA-rock, om det får være en egen sjanger. Hadde jeg vurdert plata i 1986 hadde den sikkert fått full score fra meg, og jeg hadde ønsket meg "Never Say Goodbye" som klinelåt på skoleballet. Men som nevnt har den fått noe wear gjennom årene. Men fortsatt et godt bidrag til glam/hair metal som sjanger.
Let it stop You give music a bad name Living on a paycheck Social collapse Wanted Dead or Dead Put down your hands Without talent I want to die Say goodbye Mild in the streets
5 stars - This is my childhood right here. I listened to this album often sometimes two or three times a week and certain songs every day. Absolutely, a generation defining record.
Classic Dad Rock album
Kinda mad that I liked this so much but honestly great time
Livin on a prayer!
There's a reason this album rules karaoke nights. Even if these songs sound dated they have a charm to them and mostly well written. Frankly, they're also well performed.
we so back
Actually surprised by this. Not a bad album at all. Truly a 3.5 but bumping it up to 4 as it is higher than most 3 albums I’ve reviewed.
An album that can’t really be taken seriously - more a collection of songs that drunk people can sing together. A generous 3 for the hair and teeth.
Pure ear cancer
This was fuckn amazing! I like the way it is ripe and fast, true 80's rock n roll, but it has sweetness and emotions in a romantic way
Why is this so much better than the rest of its genre? Where others sound sleazy and gross, this manages to be fun and engaging and almost wholesome. Sexual reference is still there but its more subtle rather than written by a 14 year old boy. There are some cracking pop songs here too and these boys can play. This just makes you smile.
"Slippery When Wet was an instant commercial success, spending eight weeks at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and was named by Billboard as the top-selling album of 1987." This is the irrefutable demonstration that people haven't become stupid because of the internet, or social networks, or smartphones. They have always been. These technologies just made the fact blatant. However, already 40 years ago, the hints were clear enough to those who wanted to see them.
Tiene sus buenos temazos históricos. El resto un rock 80ero normal.
There's plenty to not like about this, but at the end of the day there's enough catchy sections and three absolutely massive hits that combine to more than 4 billion streams on Spotify.
Really good album. Contains most of their biggest hits. More hair metal than I remember them - mostly the b sides. Eddie Van Halen influence for sure. Notable tracks include You Give Love A Bad Name, Livin’ On A Prayer, Wanted Dead Or Alive, Raise your Hands, Never Say Goodbye.
Hmm some catchy songs but otherwise easily forgotten
0 songs added to my favorites. Would avoid listening again.
Not much was bigger in the 80’s rock scene than Bon Jovi - and I loved this album. Just hearing the opening to “Let It Rock” brought back so many memories and, whilst I seldom but do anything occasionally listen to Bon Jovi these days, I knew most of the albums lyrics. This is definitely my favourite Bon Jovi album, even though it’s 80’s cheese factor is way up there and the band has done technically better albums. It includes one of my 100 favourite songs of all time “Wanted Dead or Alive” and has some great hits.
Honestly it feels like a parody of itself but the "hits" gets it to a three for me
I just can't do it. A whole Bon Jovi album in one sitting is like torture.
Contrary to popular critical opinion, Bon Jovi—and 'Slippery When Wet' in particular—was never truly a heavy metal band. At most, they fall under hard rock, more commonly filed into the glam metal or arena rock subgenre. That distinction matters, because in their earliest incarnation Bon Jovi was arguably one of the most popular and radio-friendly rock bands of the latter half of the 1980s. It was nearly impossible to go anywhere in 1986 or 1987 without hearing one of their three massive hits—“You Give Love a Bad Name,” “Livin’ on a Prayer,” or “Wanted Dead or Alive”—whether it was on Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 or in relentless rotation on MTV. This album is deeply nostalgic for me, which makes it difficult to listen with a completely critical ear nearly forty years later. Oddly enough, my first instinct when revisiting it is always that the opening track feels wrong—but that’s purely a quirk of memory. The kid up the street who first played the record for me put on Side B instead of Side A, so in my mind the album has always opened with “Raise Your Hands” (yes, the same song that introduces Barf and Lone Star in Spaceballs) rather than “Let It Rock.” I may have forgotten that kid’s name decades ago, but that sequencing error is permanently burned into my brain. Reevaluated today, 'Slippery When Wet' easily earns a 4.5 out of 5. It probably never quite reaches a perfect score, largely because the album burns through its three biggest singles in the first half, which causes a noticeable dip in momentum. Even so, it remains an incredible record and unquestionably deserves its place on the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die list.
It's been a long time since I've listened to this one. It's still a solid rock album and you can't deny the effect it had on the music that followed. To this day, I am still tired of the big hits on the album (You Give Love a Bad Name, Livin' on a Prayer, Wanted Dead or Alive), but thankfully there are some additional bangers here to keep my interest (Raise Your Hands, Wild in the Streets). This is one album that definitely deserves to be on this list. It doesn't quite reach the heights of some of their contemporaries for me (lookin' at you Hysteria) but it's a great album on it's own merits.
I mean, it's not bad...
Sounds hard and popy at the sams time, really "theatrical" over all. It's a good album, but other than the two famous songs, I only found "Wanted dead or alive" to be interesting. The others are one time listens for me.
Classic and iconic 80s glam rock/pop sound with some huge hits on this album, so no surprises standout songs being, ‘You give love a bad name’, ’Livin’ on a prayer’ and ‘Wanted dead or alive, I think dead or alive is my favourite on the album. These songs do the heavy lifting on the album, but I think that’s because it tends to be the ones you know contributing the liking of songs. I think the other songs on the album are good maybe some had the potential to be one of the hit songs but that’s just how things go. The album is a fun and enjoyable listen perhaps not a musical piece of art but a great listen regardless.
Goeie powerrock maken is een kunst en Jon Bon en z'n vriendjes zitten erop. Dikke gitaren, over-de-top romantische ontboezemingen, snoeiharde drums en bam. Het betere werk, kortom.
"OOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH We're halfway thè-ere" En dan nog twee maal: "OOOOOOOOOOOOOH-HOOOOOOOOO". Effe serieus, dit is toch gewoon het Baila de gasolina van de '80's? Toegegeven, de tekst is heel wat meer serieus. Maar de truc is toch om op een heel toegankelijke en (voor de tijd) moderne muziek het volledige publiek uit volle borst mee te laten brullen. En ja, dat is zeker een kunst. Dus wie weet, horen jullie me ooit nog eens uit volle borst meebrullen.
Lekker, we zitten in een redelijk goede streak zo aan het begin van het jaar. En of je nu Bon Jovi en de bombastische glam metal van de jaren 80 goed vindt of niet, dit is een album dat dus in de lijstjes van best selling albums of all time staan. Wel uit de tijd dat er nog albums verkocht werden natuurlijk, maar het geeft maar aan hoe bekend dit album is of was. Overigens is dit het enige album van Bon Jovi in deze snoblijst. Aangezien er genoeg minder bekende artiesten met meerdere albums in staan, had Bon Jovi toch ook niet misstaan met bijv Keep the Faith. Toegegeven, dat staat misschien iets te vol met 90s ballads, misschien de reden dat ook Aerosmiths Get a Grip niet in deze lijst staat. Maar dat soort rockballads waren in die tijd wel degelijk erg groot in de hitlijsten, dus ik had niet geklaagd over een dergelijke keuze. Zoals ik dat al regelmatig heb gedaan over vele andere keuzes die onze snobs hebben gemaakt. Op dit album waan je je bij elk nummer sowieso in die iconische videoclip(s), die meerdere keren is gekopieerd of nagebootst; daar is een docu of minidocu van meen ik me te herinneren. Het lijkt net of het live-opnames zijn van een concert of desnoods een rehearsal, maar dat is schijnbaar niet (bij alle clips) het geval. Veelal is het in scene gezet. Vanwege het succes van die live-clips op MTV, hebben ze dat concept zoveel mogelijk uitgemolken als ze konden. Verder is de muziek aanstekelijke hair en glam metal. Het is uptempo en heeft een hoog meezing-gehalte, of voor degenen die niet in de auto meezingen: een hoog met je voet meetik-gehalte. Helemaal bij de kneiters van hits die hier op staan. Zelfs Raise Your Hands, dat begint met een hele dikke Iron Maiden-achtige riff, maakt Bon Jovi alsnog tot een enorme meezinger. Dit is gewoon de definitie van een stadionband. Allemaal meeklappen, meezingen en handjes in de lucht. Als volleerd klapvee doe ik er dit keer graag aan mee. Heer-lijk, 5 sterren geven, raise your hands en meezingen maar!
Classic album, no bad tracks. Representative of an oft-dismissed but super fun era in rock music. Glad to see 80’s hair bands get a little love here. 🤘
This is pure fire from start to finish just high power hair metal at its best, it is very hard not to have a good time listening to this album. It may even be the best hair metal album ever!
Bon Jovi are great. I still remember when my dad told me to listen to this album when i was little.
They say don’t judge a book by its cover, but to be fair the cover for Slippery When Wet is also rubbish.
I can't possibly give this one less than four stars due to the magnificent majesty of the three singles - three of the best yellalong songs of all time - but my god do the album cuts suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. Incredibly low effort.
The hits still stand the test of time. The rest of the album.... does not.
It’s an alright album, I do like the guitar work and obviously the hits are good, some of the other songs are lacking in substance, pretty generic 80s rock tbh
Glam metal, their hits, heavy metal to pop sing a longs You give love a bad name Livin on a prayer Wanted dead or alive
Big dumb fun, except the dumb vastly outweighs the fun I've never much cared for Livin' On A Prayer, but hearing it's worse bootlegs as the album goes on sure makes you appreciate it
I've definitely heard this whole album before, but not since I was a kid, and the non-hits are memories that aren't exactly clear. Obviously this one's got a majority of Bon Jovi's biggest and greatest hits. Being able to sit down and listen to this with a more critical ear, the songs are solid, but Jon Bon Jovi kind of oversings things a bit. It's a little tiring. I always loved Richie Sambora though, both as a lead guitarist and background singer. The songs where he's ripping on either of those are hard to deny. And there's definitely something to be said about Tico Torres' drumming. It makes for a good primer for anthemic rock drums.
Pretty good. Classic 80s glam stuff. Some fantastic singles, and other bits, but also some filler. Overall enjoyed it, but could have done with some variety.
It’s an iconic hard rock/metal album. I love it so much and listened to it twice today. This is the only Bon Jovi album on the list and I wish there were more. It’s an easy listen — kind of pop metal and very accessible, though not everyone enjoys it, and that's fine. I was shocked while reading reviews because there are so many snobby reviews with low ratings. Some people call it outdated or annoying, but I think it’s just a chill, fun and classic album. 4/5 ———————————— Liked songs: — You Give Love A Bad Name — Livin’ On A Prayer — Wanted Dead Or Alive
Far too much synth to open an album with a track titled ‘Let it Rock’ for my liking. It does however descend into hair metal by numbers, which feels very dated and almost a parody. you give love a bad name continues the dated feel, but at least brings the semblance of a good tune and a sing along chorus. Livin on a prayer is undeniably a eighties classic and maintains the good vibes from the previous track. Social disease is frankly horrendous. Wanted dead or alive brings some welcome relief before we go back to generic 80s hair rock. The majority of this album follows a very generic formula, which unfortunately is one i dont like
I like Bon Jovi generally but, aside from the obvious (“You Give Love a Bad Name”, “Livin’ on a Prayer”, and “Wanted Dead or Alive”), this album has not aged particularly well, nor does it have any standouts beyond those.
The high: Wanted Dead or Alive is probably my favourite Bon Jovi song. The low: The start of Social Distortion made me want to crawl into a little ball (urrrgghh), and somehow it being sandwiched between two massive hit singles made it even worse. However, I do not care that this album is dated and cheesy and possibly the least cool album on this 1001 Album list, I (mostly) had a good time listening to it. It's so unbelievably 80s, I felt like I should be wearing leg warmers and sporting a fresh perm. Fun. Should be 3.5, but in a half starless world, it's getting: 3/5 (Side note: Classifying this as "hard rock" is absolutely laughable)
There’s a dude on here who’s favorite album is Kid A and he submitted a fucking Bjork album and went on this diatribe about how special he is for not liking this album and I’ve never wanted to give a person a swirlie more. What a fucking nerd. I’m not gonna pretend this is a perfect album. But it is fucking good. It’s catchy. It’s FUN! You’re allowed to have FUN YOU FUCKS.
Very good Album’s best : Let it Rock
I did not expect to be crying over Bon Jovi but I just like really loved it. 10/10 album. I wanna hear Travis garland cover this whole thing also
Some decent songs but also some cliche garbage. It's hair metal but far from the worst example of it so I'll give it that.
To be fair...great album
Lots of good hits here; quite a jam.
Hard rock with no edge. 2nd rate Bruce Springsteen lyrics to let you know they’re from New Jersey. This is my least favorite genre of music. Hard pass.
An enjoyable album if you don't take it too seriously. Cheesy lyrics, big choruses, guitar solos and relentless horniness - it's not ground-breaking but can't deny Bon Jovi are fun
> the Beatles I wasn't gonna give it 5 stars but by my own metric, if this album came on at a party, I would be belting every word...
A quintessential 80's album that screams of an open window road trip. Some of his greatest hits on here
OMG, a hair "metal" album on this list? Well, I guess when there are albums by Destiny's Child or A-ha (!) on this list, why not Bon Jovi? It surely forces me to listen to albums I normally would never play, no matter how critically acclaimed or the opposite (in this case). Bon Jovi are THE pinnacle of mainstream (hard) rock, and by the time they had their hits, I was already listening to Metallica, Anthrax, Megadeth, and the likes, so all we could do when hearing and seeing these hair "metal" bands was give them a laugh and a shrug. This, apart from some guitar solos, had nothing to do with metal. Fast forward nearly 40 years, and my opinion hasn't changed much - although I can see the craft in their catchy and cheesy hits (in particular "Livin' on a Prayer"), this album is merely mediocre and made for flat radio pop rock. Not my cup of tea, even after all those years. 2/5
Great listen. So many hits and just makes you wanna sing along.
Full of classics
I was never much of a fan, but they're fun (honestly, who doesn't like to rock out to Living on a Prayer???) and they definitely popularized pop hair metal, so they get a solid 4 for influence.
This album (or at least the hits) lifted my spirits in 1986 and it still makes me smile. A few thoughts: 1. They have hair, but this is not metal; it's pop rock. There was plenty of hard rock/metal out there in the 80s, but it had the disadvantage of alienating half the population. Bon Jovi's great contribution was to make rock music that was appealing to girls. 2. Don't blame Jon and Richie if you don't like the songs, blame Desmond Child. 3. If you are inclined to knock off a point when the artist is an asshole (Clapton, Morrissey, Kid Rock, et al) you could consider that JBJ is a living saint. Unlike certain other NJ denizens who talk a big game but don't do anything, Jon and Dorothea are out there building housing and feeding people. All in all that's a 4. I know I'm in the minority among civilized people.
mom is going to use this to spread the gospel of saint bongiovi. he seems lovely. i just wish he made better music. it's mass market radio rock. its fine. 2.5
Hair band sound, bad poetry, and songs that you can’t help but sing along too. Fun, but ultimately a waste of time.
I hate hair metal so much omg. I did TRY to listen to this but I’m losing hope that this list is gonna be anything other than dad rock
Better than Coldplay
Not a fan of Bon Jovi, but hard to deny how much staying power this album has. So many hits.
2 Billion + Plays songs on this album "You Give Love a Bad Name" & "Livin' On A Prayer" at 2B. This might be one of my favorite albums of all time.
Very well done, very poor generic ‘80s rock-pop. “Let It Rock” kicks it off with loads of organ and sounds like Yes or Kansas playing a third rate AC/DC song. Side one contains the big numbers, “You Give Love a Bad Name”, Living On A Prayer”, with that irritating voice box, and “Wanted Dead or Alive” - the three Bon Jovi songs I thought I never had to hear again although the Atmos mix seems to add a lot of keyboards to the soundscape, so that was a thing - now I never have to listen again. The rest of the album is full of forgettable, very earnest tracks with no substance and very little depth. I just don’t get Bon Jovi; there aren’t even any ‘guilty pleasures’ here. There are worse records but maybe not many as bland.
Makes my skin crawl Music for people who thought The Wolf of Wall Street was aspirational.
The hits are pretty good but the rest is forgettable
Hell yeah! Great rock with some classics on this album!
Foundational rock, and Living on a Prayer was my favorite song as a child. Amazing, intense instrumentation with such classic vocals.
Couple of bangers and a whole lot of dreck.
Yeah!
Their third album. Rock / Metal. Peak 80s Hair Metal Faux Rock ! Is it cheesey ? Yes. Is is simple? Yes. Does it have catchy lyrics and provide some good fun ? Yes, not everything has to be Sgt Pepper. This album does exactly what it says on the tin. The album isn't trying to do anything other than make you dance and sing along, and I am fine with it.
can't stand this... Dec. 23rd, 2025
It’s fine. Not offensively bad but also not particularly good
holy grail of rock
It is a relic of the era. Very grating and manic in parts but then has 6 really good songs
You gotta love it for what it is
Not for me
Éste último tiempo he tenido una escucha errática de los discos del reto pero acá estamos. Firmes. Como los pelos de Jon Bon Jovi. Álbum completamente hitero. Marida muy bien con un paseo en bici en una mañana de verano y levanta cualquier reunión. Hasta mañana y gracias
Certified hood classic
This album just felt like the 80s in a really good way, I enjoyed every song and it just felt really polished. I recognized so many of these songs so I think it was just a nostalgic experience all around. 4/5, idk if I’d recommend it to people tho
Great album. Nothing more to really say.
Bon Jovi is just too basic. This is exactly what I think about when I think of rock. And I mean it's good, but I want something more. Just a little disappointed, not my favorite album.
meh
Minus one for cringe from Social Disease, but this is still one of the great albums of the 80s.
Legendary growing up, it was everywhere. Through the years it has grown tired to me, formulaic and a product of the 80s. Plus, I can’t stand JBJ’s voice.
More than a cohesive album, this looks like a list of 4 mainstream rock songs plus filler. It’s true, the big hits are here, but cannot see the depth underneath. I guess it’s the product of its time?
verstand op nul, blik op oneindig.. danvloer op, luidkeels meezingen en luchtgitaar spelen... zo moet je deze plaat benaderen en dan valt het op zich nog mee (behalve de zeemzoeterige obligate ballads)
Nope
Hármetall er ekki málið og þess vegna finnst mér svolítið erfitt að skrifa þetta, en þessi plata er ansi fín. Lögin eru alltof mikið spiluð en þau virka, flutningurinn er fínn og hljómsveitin vel spilandi, og einstaka línur meira að segja skemmtilegar. 3,4 stjörnur og tölum ekki um þetta meira.
No
Popular, but not my type of music
ALL of the testosterone, Mr. Bovi?
Hair Metal at its finest. And by finest I mean at its candy pop lucrative boy band best. Shite with loudness and pomp used to sugarcoat it.
Zwei gute Songs, der Rest auf Dauer etwas anstrengend, 2 1/2 aber ich runde auf.
****An good album, fun and high energy
3.5
J'ai toujours eu un faible pour les 5 premiers albums de Bon Jovi. Et comme dirait China Jon Bon Jovi est tellement un bon gars.
Du kitsch bien assumé je suis pour! Des sing along bien plaisantes. J'avais jamais réalisé aussi que du Bon Jovi c'était autant synth-oriented. Le gros orgue en début de 1ere toune 10/10. La dernière toune a l'air d'être volée à Springsteen.
Non mais quelle agréable surprise. Je partais avec un a priori négatif mais j’ai adoré. Outre les 2 méga succès que sont You give love a bad name et living on a prayer, j’ai aussi adoré Let It Rock qui commence parfaitement l’album. De l’orgue suivi de « oooohh-ooohh-ooooh »? Que demande de plus? Ensuite social disease avec la phrase « can’t start a fire without a spark » répétée plusieurs fois… bon jovi et Sambora sont-ils des fans de Bruce? C’est des ti-gars du New Jersey alors possible! Ensuite le melange glan rock et country dans Wanted Dead or Alive, ça marche vraiment bien! Un autre ver d’oreille! I’d die for you qui sonne comme (I just) Died in your Arms au début avec les synthés mais qui rapidement se mets à rocker pas mal plus. Finalement Wild in the Streets qui sonne tellement comme une chanson de Bruce Springsteen, c’est à s’y méprendre. J’ai fait une tite recherche et Bon Jovi est un méga fan de Bruce. Je trouve que ça parait. Bon Jovi a par ailleurs une voix magnifique. Le tout est très maximaliste et hyper-produit, on est loin du velvet underground du début de semaine. Mais en char, le volume à 11, ça faisait la job en masse! Certains tounes me semblent un peu plus drabes (Raise your hands, without love, la balade never say goodbye) alors je donnerait plus 4.5/5. Mais je me sens généreux aujourd’hui.
Much respect for a big sound that can their guitar talk.
Great
Einfach nein.
2 Punkte wegen raise your hands ansonsten Schrott
I didn't think I cared about Bon Jovi but I guess he's pretty good because several of the songs on this album are sing-along good.
Icon of the genre. Plays like an arena anthem karaoke greatest hits
This album had all the hits. Bon Jovi songs may be a bit cheesy and anthemy but they're just too good not to love.
First, the Black Album and now Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet. It’s almost the two extremes of hard rock in that era, and I was way into both albums. Slippery When Wet, I had on cassette because CDs weren’t the big thing yet. Plus, they were super expensive. Slippery When Wet was about 3 years before I began to transition over to CDs, but I digress. Bon Jovi became a huge monster at this time because of this album, and it was only their second album. They would go on to become even bigger. I'm listening to this album for the first time in probably 35 years, and I can hear why I was way into it back in middle school. And, as a 51-year-old man, I can look back at my 12-year-old self and say, “What an idiot," well, kind of. Slippery When Wet came out in 1986, and the first single was You Give Love a Bad Name. It was undeniable, and I bought the album almost immediately. Then you discover what may be the best song on the album Wanted Dead or Alive, though Let It Rock is a banger too. As a kid, I’m sure I thought the whole album was great. It was filled with lyrics of rocking and sex, and the hooks were big and the guitars loud. I'm quite certain I thought I was listening to the heaviest of metal at the time. However, as the listens continued, even as a kid, I knew the keyboards and keyboardist David Bryan were goofy as hell. That may be what stopped me from buying the follow-up album, New Jersey. The four singles from this album are easily the best songs on the album: You Give Love a Bad Name, Livin’ on a Prayer, Wanted Dead or Alive and Never Say Goodbye. A few of the songs are just bland filler tracks like Social Disease and Without Love. Songs like those you’d hear on every new hair metal band that popped up two to three years later. However, the album has a second tier of songs that I believe are could have been as good as the singles. Songs like Raise Your Hands, I’d Die For You, and Wild In the Streets. Raise Your Hands is a particularly great jam, though, again, Bryan’s keyboards turn a great rocker into just an okay rocker. I could have sworn that was a single, but Wikipedia would never steer me wrong. So, if you haven’t heard Slippery When Wet, and you want to try to get a feel for what it was like back in 1986 when this juggernaut really exploded on the scene, then Slippery When Wet is your time machine. Honestly, I’m surprised I enjoyed re-listening to it as much as I did, to be honest. Maybe I wasn't an idiot back then after all.
I feel like Bon Jovi (and maybe all the 80s hair metal bands) suffered from putting image over substance. By that, I mean it seems like they cared more about being rock stars than about making quality music. They did enough to create some catchy songs- guitar hooks, booming rhythms, and derivative pop-esque lyrics sung with some 'tude. But the rest of their energy went to looking the part. Putting it all together could result in complete disaster. And it probably should. But clearly, these guys are talented; they manage to take a recipe for what could be awful music and create some pretty good tracks. I think a lot of that comes from Sambora's guitar prowess, and that they change things up enough to keep the flow interesting. They ended up with three songs here that are iconic even now, close to 40 years after the album came out. Maybe it was lightning in a bottle. After all, they really haven't put out anything remotely close to Slippery When Wet in the last few decades. But, they've stuck around all that time, and continue to sell out concerts (I'm assuming). And they still manage to get my head rocking a little bit. There's something to be said for that. It's not all good, though. Outside of the three most popular songs, the shine fades a bit. You remember that it's 80s hair metal and that there's really only surface-level value to the music. It kind of reminds me of modern country, where a song or two seems pretty fun and enjoyable. But then you hear more and realize it's mostly just drivel. There's some pop structure that they put a slide guitar on and grabbed someone with a drawl to sing over. Similarly, this album seems more like pop masquerading as rock/metal instead of actually being rock/metal. I do think this is better than a lot of hair metal out there. But it's still hair metal, at it's mid-80s peak. I can definitely sit back and enjoy it well enough. And that's the point, right? To enjoy some radio rock without thinking about it too much? If so, it does its job. I appreciate it for what it is at that level. That's about the best I say for it when considering a list like this. Overall: 3/5
A fun listen, but I'd rather just listen to Springsteen.
# Playlist Track - You Give Love a Bad Name # Notes - Oh boy, this takes me waaay back. When I was studying English as a kid, my teacher had us listen "You Give Love" a bunch of times and write down the lyrics. I eventually got a tape copy of the song. - This also have "Livin' on a Prayer" which is arguably on of the most iconic rock song openings of all time. - From there on, is more of a mixed bag. Dead or Alive is a bit too silly, and closing up the album with "Wind in the streets" was probably a poor decision. - Still, pretty decent record. Recommended.
Good album .
A great and legendary album. I don't think I have anything to add to this Fav songs - You Give Love A Bad Name, I'd Die For You 5/5
If I had a karaoke machine with Bon Jovi on it, I would smash it into tiny pieces rather than sing along to this vapid shite.
80s stadium rock at its finest. 3.5/5
Man, what a fun album Fave track: You give love a bad name
Awful, cheesy, milquetoast garbage. Even the well known anthems have become annoying instaskips at this point. 1/5
i can't tell if i didn't like it or if every song on it has been overplayed to the point i couldn't stand it