Reviews (page 8 of 9)
In den 70/80ern habe ich viel Metal gehört. Und da waren solche prototypisch radiotauglichen, irgendwie hardrockig melodischen Mainstream Songs/Bands per se untendurch bei den Jungs. Das war Musik für die Mädchen. Heute würde man sagen: Die Käufer:innen dieser Platte hören auch gerne: Michael Bolton, Bryan Adams, Celine Dion...
Fun listen but 2.5
i went through a bon jovi phase in middle school back in the late 80’s. i’m not proud of it, but it is true. it’s not that i don’t still like hair metal today, but there are much better bands from that genre that i still will listen to. richie sambora is a mid-level lead guitarist at best and i can think of a handful of guitarists just off the top of my head from that era that can play circles around him (vito bratta, c.c. deville, george lynch, warren demartini, nuno bettencourt, mick mars). for some reason david bryan, the keyboard player, is shoehorned into songs that sound weird with keyboards (more on that later). the rhythm section is perfectly serviceable. and jon bon jovi comes across as the pretty boy in high school that had a very punchable face. with all of that out of the way, on to the album review… side a “let it rock” - the album opener and many people’s introduction to the band (they had two albums before this, but this was truly their commercial breakthrough). it opens with a keyboard solo that sounds like it was lifted straight from phantom of the opera. weird. anyway the song is about how they are here to rock and you’d better not get in their way. “you give love a bad name” - the lead single and JBJ is PISSED. something about some girl broke his heart and he’s calling her out about it. he’s got millions in the bank and a very handsome (yet still punchable) face… i think he’ll be ok. “livin’ on a prayer” - i do not, nor have i ever, gave a shit about tommy or gina, but richie does fiddle around with the talk box, so that’s pretty cool. next… “social disease” - this one is a fun one, actually. i always liked this one. “wanted dead or alive” - JBJ tries to rebrand himself as a badass cowboy on a “steel horse” with a “loaded six string on his back”. and in a genre full of cringe lyrics he utters “i’ve seen a million faces and i’ve rocked them all”. yikes. side b “raise your hands” - when i first heard this song, i thought it was the heaviest riff ever… again, i was in middle school. this song was featured in the movie spaceballs, so there’s that. “without love” - this song is a total “filler” song. “i’d die for you” - song about JBJ’s undying commitment to his girl of the week. i’m not convinced. oh, and more unnecessarily gratuitous keyboards. “never say goodbye” - obligatory power ballad on the album. ol’ jonny and the girl who “lost more than that in his backseat” is certainly a more moving story that tommy and gina. “wild in the streets” - for a song with “wild” in the title, it might be the most boring song on the whole album. and richie blatantly rips off “johnny b. goode” in the guitar solo. not cool. there you have it. i hadn’t listened to this album in well over 30 years and hoping i’ll never have to listen to another bon jovi album again.
Never cared for Bon Jovi. To slick, too radio-friendly
I mean, we know the songs. Very 80s rock. Honestly, I don't think I've ever been like, yeah let's listen to some bon Jovi. So yeah, meh
A Big Mac of a rock record Soulless and lacking in substance but not unpleasant whilst it’s going down
Man, he had some good hits from this album, but man, I got tired of him yelling at me by the end of it. Even had to skip through a couple of them.
Take nothing away, Wanted... Is a great track. The rest is all I abore about 80s/90s 'metal rock' the same stupid guitar sound over every track. Bigger is not always better. Bon has some decent pipes, but thats about my lot.
Z.T. bekannte Melodien. Ansonsten halt Rock. 2,3
I was never a fan of formula rock. Props for trying.
Couple bangers but otherwise not memorable
Cheesy 80's hair metal is definitely a guilty pleasure of mine, but I've never been a Bon Jovi guy cause I grew up in the 90's when they were a shitty adult contemporary band for moms. I'll stick with Twisted Sister.
Mid. Good choruses but repeat way too many times.
Hair metal shouldn't have been invented, i just wasted almost an hour of my life. listen to something worth your time please
Sang along to the radio hits form my childhood but the rest was average
I’m not a fan of this genre at all, but “Wanted Dead or Alive” is objectively a banger. Too bad the rest of the album is mostly generic butt-rock.
Alkuun on ladattu pari hittiä, mutta lopulta kaikki degeneroituu ihmeelliseksi halpa-Springsteen-imitaatioksi. Hititkin ovat peruskulutuksessa kuuntelukelvottomia - toisin kuin baarissa saati karaokessa. 2,5
I guess I like Bon Jovi more than I thought. (5.3) ★★½
Not for me
5000 points from 13 year old lou
Never liked Bon Jovi. Never will like Bon Jovi. 3/10
There are so many awful people on this list: Nazis, incest committers, sexual assaulters, and more pedophiles than you can shake a stick at. And then there is Jon Bon Jovi. I am sure he has done plenty of terrible things, and his involvement in professional and semi-professional sports definitely makes me think he might be a bad person, but he has also been married to his high school sweetheart for forty years, campaigns for Democratic candidates, has given millions to charity, works in soup kitchens, and even talked someone off a bridge and prevented their suicide. Great right? No. I am sorry if this makes me a hipster, but this sucks. This is music for children. This is just what you listen to after "Baby Shark" and before real music. I am glad that Mr. Bon Jovi is out there doing good, and it is much appreciated, but if I never hear another one of his songs again, my life would be improved.
I am not a fan of Bon Jovi, and it's not that they are bad. I'm just not into pop-hair metal. If I listened to hair metal, I would tend toward Motley Crue. I have never heard this album in its entirety, and apart from the hit radio songs, I find this one mostly forgettable.
Maturing is realizing every Bon Jovi song sounds the same…
No doubt this album belongs on this list. You still can't go to a bar without hearing these songs, nearly 40 years later. I just really can't stand the forced singing, paint by numbers songwriting and made for MTV image.
4.5/10 A ne znam. Na stranu sto Bon Jovija dozivljavam kao isfuranog i kao visak na 80s plejlistama, moram priznati da mi skroz ima smisla sto je ovaj album ovdje. Ovo mu je vjerojatno i najvaznije sto je izdao od muzike. Na pocetku odmah krece jako sa hitovima, kasnije se malo razvodni, iako se u ovakvim glam-metal-pop-rock stvarima uvijek nesto dogadja. Osobno mi sve to zvuci slicno i brzo se izliže, obicno nakon 3-4 stvari, ako ne i prije. Tako da necu puno duljiti oko ovog albuma, ovo mi tesko moze ici iznad neke prosjecne ocjene zbog gore navedenih razloga, ali neka ga.
"Slippery When Wet" is the third album by American rock band Bon Jovi. Glam metal, pop metal, pop rock and hard rock. Yep. Critics credit it as an album that turned heavy metal into a radio-friendly format and breakthrough for hair metal. For better or for worse. The big hits were written by Jon Bon Jovi (lead vocals, guitar), Richie Sambora (guitars, synths, backing vocals) and Desmond Child (songwriter). It was a massive success commercially staying at #1 in the US for eight weeks and it also made it up to #6 in the UK. It had generally positive reviews. A held guitar note and spiraling organ keys open the album and the song "Let It Rock." I think they were going for a Deep Purple intro. Sounds very 80's pop metal and overly produced. The band kicks it into a standard rock song. The loud chorus vocals go back and forth with "Woah" and "Let It Rock." The next song starts "Shot to the heart and you're to blame...You give love a bad name." Yeah, a strong, repetitive catchy chorus. Layered guitars and synths. This is the first single and really kickstarted the album commercially. A slow synth intro and that covered guitar with the talk box sound begins "Livin' on a Prayer." Another song with a loud vocal chorus and another one with a cursory guitar solo in mid song (that's most songs on this album). At least Tommy and Gina have each other if he doesn't make it as a guitarist. I wonder if he ever did? Jon compares himself to a cowboy thief in "Wanted Dead or Alive." The song was inspired by Bob Seger's "Turn the Page." They should have just covered that song. Oops, some other heavy metal band did that. More acoustic-guitar based. These lyrics sounded as ridiculous today as they did back in 1986. And, what would a 80's pop metal album be without a ballad. Enter "Never Say Goodbye." He doesn't want the best of times to go away. I will say Jon does give probably his best vocal performance on this song. On the positive side, the album has the guitar and general sound that the late 80's hair metal music would copy, catchy choruses and Jon Bon Jovi appears to be a very good guy. But, what really annoyed me on this album was: the very 80's sounding over-production and over-mixing, the hair metal guitar tricks (whammy bar, voice box), the overuse of loud and repetitive vocal choruses and the word "woah," the cursory mid-song guitar solo on every song, the cursory metal ballad and the memory of bad 80's music (hello Heart). If you can get past these, there's a chance you'll like the album as a whole.
Unfortunately kinda mid
Ugh the prom king rock. I did not enjoy this album as a whole. I liked the singles aka the ones society pushed on me but everything else is dribble.
high school quarterback rock. earns points for it's hugely influential hits, loses points for their oversaturation and the types of people who get hype for them. Also loses points for "hair metal" not holding up as a genre in 2024 https://slate.com/culture/2018/04/how-bon-jovi-influenced-pop-music-despite-its-critics.html
I was never a big fan of Bon Jovi, it's alright.
got halfway through the album. it only made sense.
I enjoy a bit of Bon Jovi. But only a bit. Really only the singles stand out on this album. The rest is very generic 80s rock.
Cheesy pop rock, mostly boring.
Forgettable stuff outside of the anthems.
MOR hair thingie
Had a distaste for this in the 80s, but figured there may be a gem on the songs I may not have heard. I was wrong. JBJ may be a good person, but I'll pass on his music.
Definitely has some hits (3), but the tracks outside of that are so blah whatever that I just don’t care to revisit this. Real boring and samey.
Is this “hard rock”? Come on. I don’t know there’s absolutely nothing this guy does better than anyone in the 80s or late 70s in the hair metal rock space. The hits have catchy ass choruses of course but even those songs are kinda unexciting for me. It also doesn’t sound too good. How is it that sooo many artists made amazing sounding records in the 70s but this one sounds pretty one dimensional? Anyways I don’t like the guy. Fidn’t hate listening to it tho, so it’s a strong 2
Perfect for Karaoke. Otherwise nope.
Most songs sound “samey” or do not stand out on their own; almost any song on this record could be a single since they sound nearly identical. There are great guitar riffs and usage of synths on the record, but the overall listening experience gets boring after a few songs.
Yikes kicking it off with that oddly toned organ solo is ROUGH which makes me feel more comfortable when the butt-rock kicks in. After the initial opening rock song about rocking, subsequentially rolling is established, we got the 2 midwestern 1:15 AM dive bar classic jock jams that I am now, thanks to this list, listening to on purpose for the first time ever. Don't get me wrong, these songs earned that shit because they're VERY well written songs-- written by songwriter Desmond Child, the guy they called in on quite a few rock bands in the hair metal era when they needed something to say beyond "rocking is appealing to me, and also you should consider rocking as well". I'm glad to hear songs by Bon Jovi that are NOT the 3 singles, as I've never heard them, but I'm still not sure I'm interested in hearing them again. It's not that I hate hair metal, but something about Bon Jovi always felt unnecessary. Why do we need a "blue-collar New Jersey" branded hair metal guy? I'm not sure what I'm missing here but whereas 80's Ozzy, Crüe, GNR, even Def Leppard can still get me fired up on the right song, Bon Jovi just sounds like he's selling me something pre-packaged and I guess I need a better story here. When you look at the "flawed but passionate rocking rebel" archtype of the 80's hair metal era, JBJ plays the role, but just comes off like a guy that didn't struggle with much his whole life. I guess I could rewatch his origin story but from what I know, he didn't struggle with addiction, didn't party super hard, married his high school sweetheart, and acheived huge success early in life, and for the most part, kept it. Mind you, I'm not trying to glorify addiction or controversy, but part of what was so appealing about these personas was that their passions burned so brightly that they had difficult times managing a reasonable balance, hence the often larger than life identities. Their addictions, their physical appetites, their grandiosities all stemmed from feeling misunderstood and undervalued, so they created these gigantic personas to compensate. Bon Jovi just doesn't fit in, it's just what was popular at the time so he shook up the hairspray and slid into the leather pants.
This just about sums up all that is wrong with the poodle rock that was so popular in the 80's. But it's catchy, he's a pretty boy and he made millions out of it. I so want to only give it 1 but something is making me give it a 2. Probably the same something that makes me sing along with it.
This really hasn’t aged well has it? Everything about it is pure hair-rock-cliche. The ‘love songs’ on here are just so corny. Did girls in the 1980s really want to hear that and feel loved? I wouldn’t know as whatever I was doing in the 1980s wasn’t working either 🤣
One of the first cassettes I purchased with my own money and purchased Young MC’s Stone Cold Rhymin’ album on the same trip! I still listen to Young MC — Bon Jovi, not so much. Still this was a good blast from the past.
Dull. Uninspiring. Even Livin’ On A Prayer is by the numbers. Plus one of the most toxic women I ever worked with is a massive Bon Jovi fan, to the extent of going over to New Jersey to see them. Not for me
Corny, annoying, dated, especially the second half of the album. Can't deny Livin' on a Prayer slaps though.
Livin' on a Prayer, You Give Love a Bad Name, Wanted Dead or Alive are three great songs. The rest is corny thrash. Has aged very poorly. 2*
Bon Jovi, Rock an der Schwelle zu Pop, gute Songs zur damaligen Zeit aber heute etwas verstaubt.
Cheeseball hair-band music. I'm so glad the era of metal pop has passed.
This was difficult to get through because it's just so cheesy, and I can only listen to Mr. Bovine Joni for so long. Not my thing but I get why people at the time were into it.
There are some songs I like on this - but the album as a whole is absolutely atrocious. The vocals sound like a nasty exhaust pipe. I think the album succeeds when it gets quieter, but unfortunately everything seems to be chucked in together as loud as possible. The kick drums, synths, power chords, and synths all feel so overindulgent; its like taking a five course meal and drinking it as a smoothie. I do think I might like the album a bit more if it was better mixed though. Best Song: Living on a Prayer Worst Track: I'd Die For You
There are some records that I don’t think I am capable of giving a totally fair shot to. This is one of those. The music I listened to as a teen killed the hair metal category and this is one of those hair metal albums that seem like cheesy music to me. Don’t get me wrong, I will enjoy when the hits come on at a party or bar. So context matters. But all in all I struggle with the music as like I’ve said above it all feels a little excessive and put on.
Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Poison, etc. all basically collapse into a single point in my mind. Over processed glam rock with 80s tropes beaten to death. Ya know, I don't have a ton of love for the Bon Jovi sound, but in isolation You Give Love A Bad Name is a pop rock jam. Hook is catchy as hell and the instrumentals are all very solid. Livin' On a Prayer on the other hand, I am so tired of. Most interesting point here is the vocoder/talk-box work. Otherwise, Bon Jovi just sounds like he is going to crap himself. Also doesn't help that I have heard this about 10000 times. Social Disease, while having an intro that I'd rather not play in public, is one of the better songs so far. Though I feel like the horns are unnecessary and give a new wave-ish vibe (a la Huey Lewis' Hip to Be Square). Raise Your Hands is the vapid sort of song whose only purposes is to tuck into live shows and call out the name of the host city for a little extra applause. Hell they even pumped in simulated crowd noise into the mix... Welp, I made it through and I don't feel like a better person for it. This particular style of music really doesn't connect for me. Something about the vocals really rubs me like they are trying too hard. Add also the 80s bombastic production where songs feel overstuffed with elements, and it makes for a bad time mm'kay. 2 / 5.
Jovi Bon. Pop metal at it's most average.
I really dislike Bon Jovi's brand of pop rock ballads, but Wanted Dead or Alive is class
Ah boyyy, look I had high hopes and it was close to a 3 but too much of it gave me too much second hand embarrassment. I guess that's my problem but these are my stars to give.
I hated this as a 15 year old and it hasn’t gotten any better. 1 point boost for Wanted Dead or Alive. While I still hate it, it does have a slight bit of creativity to it. The rest of the album is garbage.
The hits are radio rock fodder, but pleasant enough. I wanted there to be some underrated jam on this album, but no dice. Maybe I'm being too harsh here, but this is the definition of 80s rock mediocrity. I must admit I am a sucker for that synth keyboard.
Pretty much as expected. I didn't hate it and occasionally got my head bobbing, but I wouldn't seek it out.
Quintessential 80s. This is all the hits. This is exactly what I expected. I still hate it. More and more the 80s across many genres is my least favourite era.
As expected. Cheese as all hell
Not really for me, but you can't argue with its slickness and energy!
I understand this meant a lot in the 80s. But seriously? Bon Jovi?
pure cheese
The guitar work elevates this from a 1 star rating. Horrible cliched karaoke fodder.
This is a well made and recorded record. That is everything nice I can say about it. I don’t like this at all. So inauthentic sounding. Just the worst parts of the 80’s. Music made for car commercials featuring a pickup truck driving over random piles of dirt and rocks to show how “off road” the four wheel drive is followed by that same truck driven in the city with the whole family riding to show the comfort and luxury followed by the truck pulling a trailer of 2x4s or an ATV to show the towing capacity. This album makes me want to listen to more Bruce Springsteen, the superior New Jersey artist. I understand why someone might like this so it escapes a 1.
Thoughts before listening: Well I guess this should at least be fun to listen to. Bon Jovi is one of those bands that you know are cheesy as hell, but you can't help singing along to the hits. I know this is one of their most popular albums so I'm sure there will be tons of well known songs. Review: "I've seen a million faces and I've rocked them all". Man this is such an over the top cheesy 80s pop hard rock album, but "Livin' On a Prayer" and "Wanted Dead or Alive" are great. Those 2 songs have remained mainstays of classic rock radio, sports arenas, and karaoke nights for a reason. They're big and dumb epic rock songs and there's nothing wrong with that. The other big hit on this album "You Give Love a Bad Name" doesn't quite rise above the cheeseball aspect, and I'd say the same for the album cuts. There's nothing on here that's pulling me in like those 2 main hits. 2-stars
The best songs are the ones written by Desmond Child. The only sole Bon Jovi written song is "Dead or Alive". The rest of their song are extremely mid. I didn't like this 35+ years ago when I was 12 and I still don't like it lol
I had had all I could take of Bon Jovi by the time this album was released. Not exaggerating when I say that I heard Shot Through the Heart ever day of lunch during high school.
The ugly, broken, second hand 4x4 truck of music that your dad just can't leave behind
Very boring!
I will confess this album does bring back some good memories. However, this is a really dumb, idiotic collection of songs that hurt my brain to the point I may have to see a doctor because this album causes concussions. Advil required.
Some rock hits, karaoke central, overall falls flat
I realize with this project I'm gonna have to listen to a lot of albums and artists I'm not remotely interested in. This is one of them.
OK pop music.
If you ever need an album to envisage American High School in the 80's (The good, the bad and the incredibly suspicious), listen to this. Also: headphones on for the start of Track 4 if you're in a public place.
Very bland 80s stuff, throwing in some questionable 80s glam lyrics... I would give 1.5 if I could, but Dead or Alive is a great song so I feel okay with giving it a 2. Definitely not without merit, but not a great album in my mind.
I appreciate other music more because I listened to this. It is must listen because it makes me enjoy music that isn't this album.
It’s actually spelled Bongiovi. I got through the first few songs but it’s honestly just typical overproduced 80’s nonsense. The man can sing and Richie Sambora can kinda riff but this is the soundtrack to teasing your hair to Mars and jumping in some guys T top Camaro for a cruise down Broadway. Pop rock as fuck with no real purpose except to party with someone named Sharon and smoke Newport 500s. No thanks.
I could just copy and paste my Def Leppard review from a few months back, as I feel the same way about this. It's bland over-produced rock music made for stadiums, it sounds souless to me. The singles are fun, but that's probably nostalgia talking. The rest has nothing to offer me, lyrically or musically. It's the rock equivalent of listening to Taylor Swift or Ed Sheeran, it's really not for me.
Huge yeet dispensable AOR.
Not that good
Not my thing!
i know living on a prayer and you give love a bad name and those are popular for a reason but generally not my vibe
-Oh no, not Bon Jovi! Maybe it will be something different from the hits I've heard?Well shit, all three songs I could think of are there, and it's... not that bad actually. Wish I had listened to this album as a teenager, then maybe it would have had a tiny chance. Feels like something produced by 80's business men, perhaps well made in detail, but lacking any semblance of soul or depth. And that voice gets old fast. Best song of the album: Living on a prayer. Worst: Never say goodbye
I was expecting to enjoy it but obviously ic changed. Not for me now
Obviously I haven't listened to this album in its entirety in the past. It was probably always the same three songs. "Wanted Dead or Alive", "You Give Love a Bad Name" and especially "Livin' on a Prayer" kept popping up on party playlists. These songs are indeed fun at a party. The rest is insignificant and boring. But now I understand better why my brother, who sees himself more in the heavy metal corner, reacted rather sourly when he was compared to Bon Jovi. 2/5
Rocking out with your cocking out. Music for meatheads, and the girls who wanted vanilla hair metal. Except Wanted Dead Or Alive - that is epic. East coast cowboys....
Not my jam at all, but not a *bad* record. I guess it can be liked if it's your style. But for me there's nothing to go back to
1-2, всичките ме дразнят
2.5 Surprised to see this is listed as Metal/Hard Rock with no mention of Pop. Pop isn't necessarily a negative for me, but I would call this soft metal if anything. Not moved by anything other than the usual suspects. I admit I may not be giving those three track their due based on sheer oversaturation, but there's only so many times one can listen to them before you die. Cool guitar though.
Honestly, I was ready for a lot worse than this.
The type of shit my little brother used to listen to when we were younger. I liked a couple songs but most were way too similar and boring.
5/10
This did not make me wet.
Not something I ever have or ever would choose to listen to but the hits still sound OK to me. Rest of it though, meh.
Two stars for the hits which can be fun, but this album really represents everything that I hate about the commercialization of music. Everything sounds so overproduced and phony.
Full Disclosure 1: In middle school, I wore the t shirt. This was 1987. Full Disclosure 2: I, like millions of kids, loved those rock guitars. Full Disclosure 3: Even then, I only listened to three of the songs on this album. I felt the rest were, a term that was new to me in 1987, "filler". Full Disclosure 4: I have always found Bruce Fairbairn's production to suck the life out of any musical statement. Christ, the man got paid for that horn sound. The guitar sound is powerless overdrive. The vocals sound enthusiastic without actually being enthusiastic. The drum and bass sounds are best described as the "impression of bass and drums". Wrap it up, pack it out and ship it Platinum. Fairbairn has created the "impression of rock" without any actual rocking. RIP Bruce Fairbairn. Fuck that guy. Full Disclosure 5: I love dumb rock. I really do. Slade is one of my faves. I'm self-loathing KISS fan (see Ron Nevison's impression of Fairbairn on Crazy Nights)… Secondly, I haven't listened to any of this, either ironically or not, since about 1988, maybe early 1989, and despite the baggage, I wanted to give this a fair shake; I still love early Ratt, Look What the Cat Dragged In gives me the feels, so I wasn't coming with the critical punk-snark. I really wasn't. So Here We Go: Bon Jovi "Slippery When Wet", Polygram, 1987 Cover: The original art, featuring the kind of swimsuit cheesecake you would have found in full poster glory at the local Spencers, was deemed too "racy". If that shit was racy to you, then you'll probably love this record. Side One: 1. "Let It Rock": A keyboard intro, hinting at something in the Deep Purple/Rainbow epic tradition gives way to something to Cop show hard rock about good times while accidentally hinting at a world view like "Watching the Wheels" in the most boorish way possible. 2. "You Give Love a Bad Name": One of the classics that I might have conceded its classic status around 5000 listens ago but like someone who drank themselves sober, I can only finding it grating in sound and lifeless in execution. There is no doubt these guys can play and Jon can sing and write. Listening to this instant cliché, you never can tell. 3. "Livin' on a Prayer": More impression of Hard Rock, with a hard luck narrative knicked from Springsteen and a shouty chorus that has all the catchiness wrung out of it by Fairbairn. 4. "Social Disease" : Wikipedia said Aerosmith wanted this. And why not? It has the signature shitty horn sound that makes post Rehab Aerosmith suggestive of Rock, but without actual Rocking. 5. "Wanted Dead or Alive": Can't say too much here. All the fruit lined up. Stay Gold, Pony Boy. Side Two 1. "Raise Your Hands": Just the suggestion of Rock. 2. "Without Love": [14 year old C.V] "I wouldn't wish this turd on Taylor Dane". 3. "I'd Die for You": Layer Cake Schmaltz clinically tested to create singing and dancing in really stupid people. 4. "Never Say Goodbye": The kind of prom song that wants you to be nostalgic for your now, rose tinting sepia impressions that become precious memories for later. If this describes you, you peaked Senior Year. 5. "Wild in the Streets": More suggestions of Rock. So the "Suggestion of Rock", or "The Impression of Rock" certainly nods to Derrida, but I don't feel like exploring that implication any further, lest I parlay my sobriety into mega church attendance and Trump support. No, no more semiotics here. At no time did I have feel anything with this music. I entertained myself by writing criticism. That's really all this was--an exigence to write about something from my past, to see if it evoked anything. Revised art was of a wet , apparently unused trash bag. Sums up my feelings really well. Suggests, but ultimately empty.
Not my thing
Pretty dull stadium rock
It's whatever. Not an essential listen.
Hvis jeg skal høre puddelrock, og det er et stort HVIS, så skal det være Bon Jovi. Det er cheesy, men der er også en uimodståelig charme og catchyness på nogle af numrene. Albummet mangler ikke hits. You Give Love A Bad Name, Living On A Prayer og Wanted Dead Or Alive står ud på albummet. Men resten virker som blege versioner af samme sange og gør særligt B siden til én lang ørkenvandring i hårmetallens klichéer. Og kan vi så lige snakke om keyboardspillet på I’d Die For You… Det er ikke 1-1 Runaway fra deres debut. Men det er godt nok lidt for tæt på.
Oh boy was this familiar. Strident glitzy music - music of a time. It was my time but during this album my time got mixed up with the trashier humans I spent time with. It seems the whole album was always on high radio rotation during my youth; the songs are so familiar. Optimistically, as familiar as sunshine, beaches, sunscreen and sunburn. Looking a bit closer, it's more like the familiar of sunburn, driving beat up old cars, sadness and hangovers, with a side notes of burnt asphalt, bad crushes and stale beer. It's definitely flavoured with frantic teenager energy being exerted from a weekend of social posing, followed by the tired Sunday, the money poured into the local bar/nightclub/pizza store, and the late Sunday moody feelings, wondering, how do I fit. Listen to Bon Jovi? I dunno - Iet's try music therapy. It's those memories I get from this album, but the music? It's ok. Just a bit better than ok, still, I'm unlikely to listen to it again. It was good to return to the memory of sunburn and stale beer though - I don't miss those years at all.
altså... jeg har ikke tænkt mig at benægte at Livin' on a Prayer ikke er en bop......... men den her genre er bare ikke ældet godt overhovedet og den stakkels mand lyder som om det gør ondt på ham at synge. God guitarist ig
Kæft det er dum, men det ville være løgn hvis jeg sagde det ikke er catchy. Specielt Livin on a Prayer (begge dele, både vanvittigt dum og virkelig catchy)
I'm surprised Bon Jovi even has any other albums, because it seems all of his hits are from the first half of this album. Livin' On a Prayer is definitely the best tune here, with Wanted Dead or Alive behind it. The rest of the album doesnt really do anything for me. The music is ok, but nothing unique or impressive enough to stand out for me. Do I enjoy the singles when I catch them on the radio? Sure. Would I ever seek out this album again? Probably not.
Knew this one from my dad. Has some good hits, but just not my taste. Good memories with Never Say Goodbye
Eh
Very 80s
The unfortunate situation where the best songs on the album are overplayed to death. The remaining songs are too bland to revisit, resulting in an album that is just not worth your time, even with the big hits being as big as they are, because you're already tired of them before they've even started.
I don’t like yellinf
Some certified hits but the album sounds like the same song over and over
Don't like hair/glam metal.
Meh
meh
straszny mix, pare spoko, pare nie do sluchania, z kilkoma klasykami (You Give Love A Bad Name, Livin' On A Prayer)
Not really in to this ‘accesible’ metal sound. I’d rather listen to acdc or metallica.
Went back and forth on whether Bon Jovi is better or worse than Backstreet Boys. I think better, but not by a lot. Didn't hate it, but wasn't proud to be listening to it.
Slippery When Wet (1986) - This is the 3rd album from Bon Jovi that pretty much made everyone sit up and take notice. This was the epitome of big hair, big album sales, and big glam rock/pop rock singles. 1986 was a great year for Bon Jovi. I listened to the entire album all the way through and many of the songs are now cringe worthy, cheesy glam rock amd and power ballads. Sadly, what appealed to me in 1986 doesn't have that same appeal now. Why? I think a lot of the songs like "Livin' On a Prayer", "Wanted Dead Or Alive", "I'd Die For You", and "You Give Love A Bad Name" were and still are played and overplayed. If I've heard these songs once I've heard them 100 times. Jon Bon Jovi has vocals you either love or you hate. I'm somewhere in the middle. Richie Sambora on guitar doesn't get any better. With the repeated listen songs like "Raise Your Hands" and "Wild In the Streets" sound great after so many years. There are reasons Slippery When Wet was a #1 album on the US Billboard 200 Chart and certified 12 x Platinum by the RIAA for 12 million copies in the US. Sadly, this album doesn't hold up, doesn't capture me with its songs like it did 38 years ago. It falls flat. 2 stars.
God, there's not much to like about this. Vocals are horrible, so are the wailing guitars and the keyboard elements are sooooooo dated. Lyrics not much cop either. Naff
not for me but it was ok i suppose
Some of the songs are classics, but the album as a whole wasn’t as impressive. I was looking for more variety from song to song. To me it felt like Bon Jovi was perfecting a style of rock and stuck with that style for almost every song, which is respectable, but I prefer albums with some kind of diversity or experimenting of new styles from song to song. like that’s why kanye the goat
Iconic I guess, not too excited. Not great, but not too bad either. Iconic for a reason I guess
Guitar work saves this album. If you have heard one Bon Jovi power ballad then you have heard them all. He found the formula and did not deviate.
There are some pop hits that remain fun. But the whole Bon Jovi schtick is tiresome.
You Give Love a Bad Name, Livin' on a Prayer, and Dead or Alive are all excellent songs, all-time greats even. The rest of this album is pretty boring; Bon Jovi doesn't really vary their music all that much: the lyrics are forgettable, the chords are largely the same, and the sound is the same. I like the sound okay, and I think he perfected it on those three songs. Because of that, this is a fine album, but not a great one. Favorite song is obviously Livin' on a Prayer, but You Give Love a Bad Name is just about as good. Least favorite songs were Social Disease and Wild in the Street.
Another album by another group that all my life I have chosen not to listen to, and this gets filed in the bin of overplayed music. Needless to say I don't really care for or like this and or this style of music. It's just too pop and the image they portray reminds me of jocks in high school that were beloved by all the girls and who looked down on meager fellows like myself, so yeah, even though the lead singer is reputed to be a good guy, I'll just say I'm happy for him having success but I wish it wasn't at the cost of me having to hear these songs over and over and over too many times.
I know people love but not my favorite. Weren’t back in the day and aren’t now.
Overall, I don’t care for it. Never have cared for much of Bon Jovi. I’ve never liked heavy metal, even in my younger days. I do enjoy wanted Dead or Alive, but that’s about it.
Du pas tant bon rock 4.5/10
This album is huge. The big hits are some of the biggest rock songs of the 80’s, and I’ve heard them plenty of time. And I just don’t get it. I never have. Much like I said in my review of Like a Prayer, this prompts zero emotional response in my brain. I’ve listened to hard rock albums that sound very much like this. But there is something that feels off about this. To put it simply, it’s just a little boring and repetitive. The most interesting song is Wanted Dead or Alive, because it breaks away from the sound of the rest of the album, but only slightly. Before I became aware of the music from the 80’s that is actually really good, I used to be very adamant in the sentiment that I didn’t like 80’s music. And when I talk about the generic overplayed and overproduced rock music from this era, this is what I mean. There is just much better rock music from other decades, let alone the 80’s, that I would rather listen to. Rating: 4/10
The most cliché band in rock history. Try me. Just look at the cheese flowing from these grooves; arguably the 3 cheesiest songs of the 80s packed into one 43 minute album. Truly an amazing feat. The lyrics from each of these songs - just take the hits if you want - are just a list of cliches strung together to create huge chant anthems. Honestly - I mean, you can throw a dart at a group of albums to find grade 10 level phrases like this ... bad lyrics are a dime a dozen (<--see what I did there) - but has there ever an album more chock full of thoughtless throwaway bumper-sticker simple stupid slogan lyrics than here? I usually don't care but... I guess I do here. Start the album with "Let It Rock" - please, that's nothing ... "you can't stop a fire raging out of control... if you want to cross that line... " i mean this is just song 1. Before arguably the worst big song ever in "You Give Love A..." (no wait, we had "Pour Some Sugar On Me" last week... no no wait "Wanted Dead or Alive" is only a few tracks away!) which is collegiate-level instruction on how to cookie-cutter an 80s rock song - or current pop song. Hmm... there really is a similarity between Bon Jovi and Taylor Swift... oh "you can't start a fire without a spark" in track 4, did they run out of shitty lyrics already and had to recycle? I'm not being fair, I do love to shit all over this band (and also in full disclosure I remember their first single as a kid and I liked it - "Runaway" - so how was this any different at all, other than EVERYWHERE.) often without thinking - I knew this album would come along one day. It'll sound absurd (and does) but this group edged out what my (loser) group would have called "proper" hard rock - who gives a shit but apparently as a teenager I did. I can throw out some compliments - they can play (although with the incredible production who knows how much this was sliced up - credit to Bruce Fairbairn, this is just as much his album) their instruments. And any guitar solo that can be "sung" is a good and memorable one; Richie Sambora has his share on this. OK much like Def Leppard's 2nd era these guys put out absolutely commercial and *perfect* for-the-era pop rock that just happened to have that snarly pinched-harmonic guitar to put it into the "hard rock" (it wasn't) category. Add in the huge and massively tracked background gang vocals and it all sounds huge and amazing and was brilliant. Hell, it is brilliant. It's a perfectly constructed 1987 album that was a monster I'll give that to them. I just really really don't like this band. The effort made saves this from a 1 although I will now resume shitting on them for eternity. 3/10 2 stars.
Dad rock with undeniably/annoying level of catchiness
5 stars for Livin' on A Prayer, minus 3 stars for everything else being shit
waterboarding by mediocrity
Next 5 songs played by my Spotify Algorithm: The Police - Every Breath You Take Credence Clearwater Revival - Have You Ever Seen the Rain Iron Maiden - Run To the Hills Skid Row - I Remember You Queen - I Want to Break Free
80's hair metal and classic rock in general have such a strange nostalgia for me because that is all my father would listen to. I could never get him to listen to any other genre, it was impossible, and because of that I burnt out of this kind of music before I was even an adult. Don't get me wrong, the certified bangers are amazing but holy shit just listen to the basic ass drum beat and guitar progression in the first song of this album, extremely predictable and absolute snoozefest. Even with instantly recognizable classic rock anthems that almost every english speaking person knows, its hard to give this album a good score. It's just so basic and way too "radio-friendly make me money" to be considered metal. Plus almost every song fades out, what's up with that and 80's music.
Every song has the exact same tempo and feeling. Cheesiest lyrics ever.
I don't think I have ever listened to an entire Bon Jovi album. And after this album, I don't think I ever will. Arguably Bon Jovi's best album... There are a lot of great songs on here. The first half is great! I can totally see why Bon Jovi was huge in the 80s. Great vocals. Killer guitar solos. But as I said the first half is great. The second half is just utter shit. The singles are the only good songs. The other ones are just boring and uninspiring. It started off a 5/5 and ended with a 2/5 solely on how awful the second half was. If there was one redeeming song in the second half; 3/5. But nope. Not for me. I don't hate Bon Jovi but this album being his best? Nah.
The unfortunate situation where the best songs on the album are overplayed to death thanks to classic pop-rock radio stations and minor league sporting games. The remaining songs are too bland to revisit, resulting in an album that is just not worth your time, even with the big hits being as big as they are, because you're already tired of them before they've even started.
Ha ok. Check your brain in at the door. This is no time to be po-faced. I probably wouldn't ever listen to any of this by choice (except for today) but I can't really argue with what it does. First half all well and good. This is so 1986 it almost hurts. Other stuff I might eviscerate for that but for some reason I just can't bring myself to do that to this. All I will say is partway through Raise Your Hands I realised I was bored, and was very much ready for the record to end three songs before the finish. Interesting how much the last song is a massive rip of mid 80s Bruce, fellow New Jersey bloke.
The hits are fun and familiar, but the rest of the album doesn’t do much for me.
Slippery When Wet is one of the albums I was forced to listen to when I was a kid in the late 80s. Overall my opinion of it hasn’t changed. The singles are good, everything else is a poor man’s guns and roses. The closer Wild in the Streets is a poor man’s Bruce Springsteen, they are better when impersonating Bruce than GnR. Maybe that’s only cause Bruce is better. All that being said, if you don’t sing along to Living on a Prayer at the top of your lungs, you are dead inside. 5.5
Bleh.
This is the perfect example of 80s rock music. I've never been a huge Bon Jovi fan. They've got some bangers, but the lyrics are sophomoric, and the subject matter is full of tropes. I can't hate on it entirely, but I wouldn't have revisited this album on my own.
Hair metal is probably the stupidest genre to ever enter this earth
In my book, this is the definition of rock music mediocrity. At the same time, I'll say with a straight face that Livin’ on a Prayer and You Give Love a Bad Name are rather catchy.
I remember very well when this album was getting a lot of airplay. I was in college at the time so it was played at parties too. I didn’t think much of it, good or bad, at the time. Just kind of harmless, sometimes fun, pop. I know there’s a lot of nostalgia for some of these songs in my age group, and that’s always enjoyable to watch. Listening to it now, I have a similar experience. It’s not bad, sometimes fun and catchy, but overall doesn’t do much for me.
Gotta be honest, I did not expect this to start with a Dracula ass keyboard solo. Perhaps I should have. "Livin' on a Prayer," "Wanted Dead or Alive," and "You Give Love a Bad Name" are the pinnacle of hair metal. Arguably that is damning with faint praise, but they are genuinely good. It's just tough to suffer through the rest.
Hu!
"Fuck Jon Bon Jovi" - Steve-o
Hmm... was kind of surprised when this popped up. Robert Dimery must have had some affection for this in order to be included. I'll be amazed if anyone considers this to be their favorite album of all time because it sure as hell is not mine. Yeah, it is anthemic but there are moments throughout that reassures its overall one track minded nature (of course, it was the 80s and spandex worn rock and roll was the rage) and sense of sameness. Uh, it's Slippery When Wet. Yeah, no shit. Favorites: Livin' on a Prayer, Wanted Dead or Alive, Raise Your Hands, Without Love, Wild in the Streets.
ok
YOU'RE LISTENING TO FUCKLER ROCK FM RADIO *eagle sound effect* THE ONLY RADIO STATION WITH BALLS. THIS AIN'T YOUR GRANNY'S MUSIC *explosion sound effect* ROCK SO HARD, YOUR DICK WILL GET HARD AS WELL *Livin' On A Prayer starts playing* Cheesy, fake, plastic, but also kind of endearing in a way. Can't say I'm not glad that Hair Metal is a thing of the distant past now, but it sure was a thing that happened.
2.5
It's shit, I hate it, but it would seem disingenuous to give it 1* as it was defo influential and catchy.
Just not mine, not fish not flesh
Mid
This just kinda fucking sucks
Hit and miss. A few songs are okay, and others are practically begging to be radio singles. Meh.
Bon Jovi's music is rock music that is just too polished for me. The album is fine enough for some background music though.
A bunch of hits on here, but, well, it’s pretty average isn’t it? Sanitised rock with nothing interesting to say and only vaguely enjoyable to listen to.
Ok
This was my first tape cassette. My mom bought for me when I was 6 or 7. We were a MTV household, I grew up on music videos and you give love a bad name and living n a prayer were in heavy rotation. I had no understanding of what the lyrics in those songs meant but the music grabbed me. Rocking guitars and catchy chorus's. I used to jam to it on a little yellow, one speaker cassette player. Then one day my baby bro no older than 2 got a hold of the cassette and ripped the tape out and I haven't listened to the whole album since. It comes out fires blazing with 2 out of the first 3 tracks being those I already mentioned. Wanted Dead or Alive is another great track but the rest of the album falls short. It'll probably another 35 years before I listen to anything other than tracks 2,3 or 5 of this album.
Some BIG stadium classics and some very questionable lyrics. Stadium rock that isn't really for me.
You Give Love A Bad Name, Livin' On A Prayer, and Wanted Dead Or Alive — two good songs and one great one. If you only heard those three songs, you wouldn’t know how terrible this album is. They saved it from a one star rating. There's some variety to their failures: D-grade Van Halen impressions and bad Journey vibes top my own list. Apologies should've been issued to their influences for this mostly terrible record.
There are definitely some bangers here, but, yea.
This album aged like milk for me, it inexplicably got worse every listen. There are a few great songs scattered throughout the record but for the most part the entire album comes off as highly repetitive and simplistic. There isn't much depth to the tracks, which isn't inherently a problem but makes repeated listenings exhausting - I got almost everything I could out of the album just from the first listen. Standout tracks for me were You Give Love A Bad Name, obviously, and Raise Your Hands, but I actually don't particularly foresee myself returning to any other song from this LP, including the other two singles. This gets a lukewarm, but strong, 2/5. It was originally going to be a 3 but the sheer exhaustion I got from repeated listenings soured the taste too significantly.
I LOVED this record when I was little kid. It's very polished pop music with a hard rock (hair metal?) shroud. There are some bangers here and it brings back some good memories but it doesn't do much more than that for me anymore.
Too much of this growing up
Era defining: sounds like sweaty people with big hair rocking out in the 80s. It’s fun, not really my vibe, but I can understand it in the context of its time.
so hard to take bon jovi seriously these days, but it's actually pretty good.
Bland, generic 80s hair metal.
Damn, Bon Jovi really broke out their Big Book of Cliches for this one. I feel like it is only on this list due to its commercial success, and it only had commercial success because of three hits which are 'good' at best. The second half packed with cheesy, soapy love songs really put me off this album. 4/10
Vraiment insipide. Même les hits n'arrivent pas à remonter la moyenne d'appréciation de l'album.
Few bangers but overall meh
I remember when I was a kid thinking this is what a proper rockstar is. After listening to this, I was wrong.
Two stars... Livin on a prayer get in the bin.
osea seamos sinceros alguien esperaba que me encante bon jovi? 6/10
Cheesy as hell, feels very forced but there are saving graces like the production, especially the mixing (the high bass was a very pleasant surprise) but it can't hide the fact that the music included just isn't very good. I especially dislike the lyrics that are just Robert Plant knockoffs, substituting bland cliché for bland cliché. Overall, the record felt forced and uninspired, much longer than the 40 minute runtime would have you think. A disappointing record.
Pretty fun not much to say tho rly, contains some absolute bangers Fav (new) song: raise your hands
Not for me
JBJ - being married to his childhood Sweetheart for 30+ years is nice! JBJ - as a philanthropist is great JBJ as a singer is grating BJ as a band is mindnumbing I don’t even have the energy to mock them. But they have written some successful ear worms and I don’t hate them.
Big Hair P(l)op
some of their biggest hits on here, the Bon Jovi fans must have lost their minds when this came out, felt like an extended end to a night in a club cheese room though
I remember when this was out and popular. It was maybe the first time I realized I had nothing in common with most of America. Jon is such a poser of a singer and the album is just one cliche after another. As Sadie put it: "This band is mid." Having said that, "Living on a Prayer" is fucking great. So it's gets an extra star.
I find this band boring. I've got such a bad association with New Jersey and this band, this album, this year all congeals in trite lyrics and stereotypical riffs. I know it's an important 80s album to people who like this sort of thing. I do think the album title is funny and clever.
Listening to a Bon Jovi song on the radio every once and a while is fun but a whole album? no
Radio-friendly hard rock. It is what it is.
it’s exactly what i’d expect from bon jovi, which isn’t much. organ was fun
Eh. Not unlistenable, I suppose.
This wasn't bad, just very forgettable. I think this might be a 1 star if it wasn't for the couple of hard hitting in your face single tracks. I didn't hate it, just didn't find anything here particularly interesting.
The organs are fun. But this music is only enjoyable if you are listening to one song at a party. Only listen to bon Jovi in album format if you want to cringe for 45 mins and wish you were at a party, drunk.
Ehhh - it's Bon Jovi. There are some catchy arena rock songs on this album. They all sound so similar to me in their arrangement, and the lyrics are one cliche after another. .
I know the singles from this album. I know plenty of people who like Bon Jovi, and Slippery When Wet has a special place in their hearts. After all of these years, I still can't decide why you would listen to Bon Jovi. It's not like I got a rash from listening, but I didn't find any tracks that tempted me to listen again. ¿Is the band playing rock-star, or is this the type of music you put out because you're a rock star? Tough guy love songs. No thanks.
The album is not very good. Though I am not the biggest fan of hair metal and glam metal and could just be biased. However nothing other than Livin' On A Prayer and You Give Love A Bad Name, really stand out here. Jon Bon Jovi's voice just does not sound that great either Favorite Track: Livin' On A Prayer Least Favorite Track: Wild In The Streets
Was there ever a time people took Bon Jovi seriously? This sounds like a bunch of suburban dads trying to impersonate a heavy metal group. Also, does he really yell "rock band" before the guitar solo in Wild in the Streets? Pretty good song, then suddenly it's a joke.
Pretty typical dad rock music. 3 bangers and the rest blends in fairly well.
I tried to listen to it all. But they're so irritating, while being boring and repetitive. I remember finishing an assignment with the radio blaring non stop hair metal all night. I wasn't listening, just having it in the background. It was one long song, with exaggerated drum beats, shouted choruses, generic solos, and great dollops of pretentiousness. Listening to an album of this crap gives me that same feeling. What's really sad is that I believe Jon is a good person who writes good stories.
Vocals bad. Music pretty bad
Poodle perm rock. Cringey pop tunes with clichéd sub par Springsteen lyrics. Dumb ass album that hit the charts with 2 massive songs. Competent but inane. 2
Seems unlike most of the reviewers on here, I haven't heard most of these songs. Fairly boring and almost painfully redundant, like a more glammy AC/DC, but I guess I can see the reason for it's inclusion as a token hair metal album.
"it's is my life" -Jon Bovi there are people in this world who's lives were changed by jon bon and his band. they couldn't imagine a life without his leotard clad perm rock. to them this album must be a fucking banger because even the ones i don't know are the same quality as the big uns. in my opinion that is a low quality, but in memory to drunken student times where i knew no better it deserves an extra star.
I know this music was revolutionary for the time, but it has been done by everyone and comes off as cheesy.
Helt greit + Aldri vært noe særlig Bon Jovi fan.
plagsomt i lengden
Antaisin 1/5 mutta siitä tulisi liian tosikko olo.
For the past 35 years, I honestly thought that the lyrics we're "shot through the heart, and you're too late, you need lovin', and band-aid." I thought this was very clever and ironic because, obviously, a band-aid wouldn't do anything for a bleeding heart. But it turns out I was wrong, and this album sucks.
Certainly catchy, but also shallow and not creative
Christ this is cringe rock. Perfectly fun after a couple of cans at a bar and some interesting and the production is good at points. Never knew how straight cheese rock lots of their songs are. Didn't have fun with this one.
The three big singles are absolute bangers and the rest is just... fine I guess
Ridiculo. Fora "you give love" e "livin" não vale nada. Achamos até alguns exemplos de que eles reaproveitaram a mesma melodia em outras músicas. Pfff...
Boring copy of van halen
Ugh yo really haha
Not even the undeniably catchy singalong karaoke classic Livin’ On A Prayer can rescue this puddle of non-threatening, meaningless, bubblegum metal drivel. Everyone involved in this project has heard heavy metal rock and merely copied the basic building blocks without having any flair, originality or purpose.
Nothing memorable here. Hair metal, Says it all Cover art 2/5
Oh dear. The singles suggest more than the album delivers. Formulaic nonsense.
This album is considered a breakthrough for 80s hair metal. Having now actually heard it in full, I am even less convinced this is a good thing.
This has lots of familiar songs on it. It makes me feel nostalgic, but with a more critical ear, it is pretty bland rock.
While the album definitely has some classic songs it is a little to pop for my taste.
1/10/2022
The hits make me feel drunk as I'm immediately transported to cheesy nightclubs from my uni days. I wouldn't describe the feeling as nostalgia, as that puts too much of a positive spin on it. The non-hits are all a bit crap The exception to those two categories is Wanted Dead or Alive. A bonafide great song that has not been run into the ground through being over played.
Picture yourself in a night club on "rock night" and the DJ turns down the chorus to Livin on a Prayer so you can all go WHOA-OH!
Och nö. Cock rock. Ok, wenn mans nicht ernst nimmt.
This passage from Wikipedia tells you everything you need to know about this album: "...the band named the album Slippery When Wet after visiting The No.5 Orange strip club in Vancouver, British Columbia. According to Sambora, "This woman descended from the ceiling on a pole and proceeded to take all her clothes off. When she got in a shower and soaped herself up, we just about lost our tongues. We just sat there and said, 'We will be here every day.' That energized us through the whole project."" I really don't understand why this album is on this list. Sure, there are some hits with catchy, anthemic melodies, but it doesn't break any new ground, it's basic, simplistic, generic arena rock with mediocre lyrics and singing that makes me believe Jon Bon Jovi was constipated throughout the making of this album. Hated it then, still hate it now. 2 stars, only because I can't deny some songs are catchy.
These 2 stars are for Livin' On A Prayer
Even though there is a LOT of hard rock and heavy metal I love, I really don't love much pop metal or glam metal like this. I vastly prefer British rock to American rock, I must say, even though I'm American born and raised. The cheesiness is slightly sickening to me at parts. I do love the solo guitar work and tone, I hear some Van Halen influence there I think. The vocalist is talented but the voice does get on my nerves a bit. Didn't hate the album, didn't love it. When I tell people I like rock and metal this isn't what I mean. I don't knock other people for liking it though.
Before listening to it again after a long time I thought Slippery When Wet would be more fun and enjoyable. I guess it did not age well.
I am almost certain that I should give this a 1 but there's probably worse things to listen to
Nope nope nope nope nope nope nope ❌❌❌ I told myself I would give every album on this list a fair shake and listen to it all the way through, no matter what. I guess I lied to myself. Sorry self, but I refuse to listen to this one. If I had the power to rewrite history I would take an eraser to this albums existence.
Full disclosure: I hate Bon Jovi. They are the clearest representation of everything wrong with rock at that time - inauthentic, image-first hit chasers who were so bad at getting those hits that they brought in an external writer for album #3. They are not rock and roll, they are content. I know plenty of these songs far too well already, but will give the whole thing a go and see if there's something to improve my perspective. ---- Nah, fuck off. The first song is a limp-dicked rip off of Deep Purple's "Perfect Strangers" intro and it gets more annoying from there. Why are the guitars both very loud and very muffled? Why does every other bar require a synth fill or shred break? Why are all the lyrics either nonsense crap or "whoooah-ah-oooah"? I'd forgive it if they weren't so serious about being so hard rockin' and dangerous. This album sounds like what people who hate Def Leppard think Def Leppard sounds like. Or rather, if Def Leppard weren't funny. It's the perfect album to represent Reagan's USA. Thank fuck that it wouldn't be long until the world got Appetite for Destruction... ---- I think this album is really a 2-star, but having read plenty of reviews saying "this is a 3 or 4 but I'm giving it a 5 because of all the wrongos who gave it a 1 by default" I've decided to give it a 1. Fuck you.
Nope... burn it with fire (hairspray is flammable)
Nice things first: "Wanted Dead or Alive" is an arresting, musically interesting song. And I guess they've nailed the pop-radio formula. Richie Sambora definitely adds great metal licks. But "Wanted Dead or Alive" is ruined by insipid lyrics. Taken as a whole, it's a pop album about a hair-metal lifestyle. It's got a lot to offer if you're looking for sentimentality and hair-metal costumes. Good for nostalgic enjoyment and also (40 years later) ironic enjoyment. I never listened to the whole album before, but the songs I wasn't familiar with were real pop stinkers: "Social Disease," "Without Love," "I'd Die for You." "Never Say Goodbye" was probably a prom theme, but I've forgotten. Bottom line: I hate it. Another one of the "1-star but for historical purposes, for understanding how and why music that's hugely popular can also suck, it probably belongs on a list of 1000 albums" that I suppose people should be aware of.
this album is nothing
Nope. Sure there are some 'bangers' on there that everyone sings when they're drunk but it's just meh. It's rock sure but not special enough. 1/5.
I don't like this guy's voice, at all. Side one is pure dreck.
One of the worst albums on this list so far, I hate everything about it. However I will participate in a Livin on a Prayer singalong every time
Bovine diarrhoea is also slippery and wet. Whoa, whoa, whoa, w'w'whoa, whoa, whoa...
i hate bon jovi
Wow, I’m almost impressed by how terrible this is. There’s good fast food, and then there’s bad fast food. The latter doesn’t just leave you with a guilty conscience about the garbage you’ve just shoved into your digestive system - it doesn’t even deliver the sweet, saccharine rush that makes you turn to junk food for comfort in the first place. If Bon Jovi were food, they’d fall squarely into that latter category. The best thing I can say about Slippery When Wet is that Bon Jovi managed a not insignificant feat: they created a cliché version of a genre that is already a cliché - and somehow made it sound sterile in the process. This is toothless, risk-free music dressed up as something edgier than it really is. Really doubt that the editors of this list even spun Slippery When Wet from front to back; I’d even go so far as to claim that doing so is impossible without risking to loose one’s faith in artistic integrity.
Nope
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
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
New guy just dropped, listening to Bon Jovi to own the hipsters Will I listen to again: 0%
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.
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.
I fucking have bon jovi
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.
Holy shit is this ever bad.
Can I give this zero stars?
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
Shit
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.
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
Pure ear cancer
"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.
I just can't do it. A whole Bon Jovi album in one sitting is like torture.
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
Makes my skin crawl Music for people who thought The Wolf of Wall Street was aspirational.
can't stand this... Dec. 23rd, 2025
Not for me
Nope
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.
Einfach nein.
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.
Bah...New Jersey produces some very popular bands but not great ones. Bon Jovi is an annoyance for me. Wimpy hair rock that every drunk chick freaks out over. I understand that this belongs on the list though...it's was a monstrous(ity) hit album that features 3 tracks that have been beaten to death by every rock station, dive bar, and sporting event. The supporting tracks have gone unlistened by the world and for good reason...they suck. "Wild in the Streets" sounded like it may be a nod to the Boss. 1.2 stars for this sexual inuendo.
Dreadful. The three massively famous songs - “You Give Love a Bad Name”, “Wanted Dead or Alive” and “Livin on a Prayer” are passable in isolation, but in context of the album are avatars of the hollowness of the whole Bon Jovi project. A slick facsimile of hair metal with none of the sleaze or grit, empty platitudes and not a single original idea.
fucking shite. worst guitar, vocal, lyrical, chorus style ever. The members of this band just seem like horrible, arrogant people. At least Van Halen had some type of substance, and that was like half a decade before this. Favourite songs: none. Overall around 2/10
God awful
Not my cup of tea
As bland and predictable as rock music can get. It's music that is specifically engineered to be played in a stadium, it has to be so simple that crowds of extremely basic people can sing along
Twats
If you like Bon Jovi, this might be an all timer. His three biggest songs in one album. Pretty insane. I do not like Bon Jovi. So I did not like this at all.
A tribute to drunk boomer moms everywhere.
I'm emphatically not a Bon Jovi fan. In fact the whole hair pop metal scene of the 80s is just cringe as hell. I decided to give this a fresh listen since I've basically avoided Bon Jovi since around 2000 as much as possible, but all I can say is I was right. This shit is so painful to listen to. Sure, the hooks are solid and all, but the lyrics are god awful, the 80s drums are tacky, the keys a little too polished and make the sum of the parts sounds gooberish. I'm happy it's been 25 years since I've listened to Bon Jovi and I was right to do so. I won't be coming back to this one ever.
Whenever I have albums like this I can't help but be glad Nirvana killed this stuff, and not because I like Nirvana anyway but because we really didn't need 10,000 more albums of this shit. I get this stuff is fun or cheesy goodness but to me its the exact kind of cheese that made so much rock (ESPECIALLY 80s ROCK) sound the fucking same and it was always boring despite how much it tries to hype you up Just, so glad its dead because we don't need this
This is the absolute worst kind of music made by the worst kind of people. This is literal dribble made exclusively to pack arenas and sell a brand. They just took a heaping scoop of rock du jour and put into a vat of shit that is this album. No creativity, no soul, no innovation. Fuck you Bon Jovi. I also had to go to an awful Bon Jovi concert while he was 30 years past his prime with my ex-girlfriend and her family and I'm totally not bitter about it at all.
Why can’t I leave 0 stars. This was a glam dream from hell
NEJ! Hur mycket jag än älskar att skriva och läsa sågningar, för det är alltid dom bästa recensionerna. Men Nej det här går inte... Jag mår bokstavligen illa Jag lyssnar fan hellre på Venom Etta så svag att det borde va en nolla men det går tydligen inte Lyssna hellre på Bruce Springsteen & The E-Street Band - Born in the USA, Europe - The final countdown
meh
I didn't realize how much I hate Bon Jovi until listening to this straight through.
https://media.tenor.com/f-hcv7s5qfAAAAAM/not-listening.gif
Really can't stand this guy and his music. I wish all of Buffalo would have stayed a Bon Jovi free zone. Even if him moving the Buffalo Bills was just a rumor started by Donald Trump he still sucks.
It is a bit like someone said "people like Ratt, people like Styx" and Bon Jovi was like "say no more fam" and went and recorded this album and then took it to a record executive to give the band notes and then the band re-recorded to appease the corporate record execs and then the album was on the Billboard Hot 100 and went on to sell 15 million copies leaving us stuck with poppy crap corpo rock masquerading as rebellious anti-establishment music with tracks that cops and administrators at construction companies play on their way home from work to feel badass.
let it rock- 2 you give love a bad name- 2. stop living on a prayer- squidward on a chair. 2 social diseases- 2 wanted dead or alive- 1. can this song end already raise your hands- 2 without love- 2 id die for you- good lord. 1 never say goodbye- 2 wild in the streets- 1
I like “livin on a prayer.” It does a disservice to too many drunken college nights to pretend otherwise. But I won’t say any of these songs are good. I wonder if I could learn the guitar parts to this entire album in a day. Oh, maybe not: I see a couple scattered measures in some of the guitar solos that would be tricky for me. I couldn’t play the “raise your hands” riff, especially that harmonic run. Maybe I could get to 90% in a day. I mean this sincerely: in “wanted dead or alive,” is he a cowboy or a rock star? If he’s a rock star, nobody wants him dead. If he’s a cowboy, he doesn’t ride a steel horse. A steel horse is, I assume, a tour bus. I would guess he’d say he’s both a metaphorical cowboy *and* a real rock star, but then the writing is full of mixed metaphors and it’s just bad. A loaded six-string isn’t a thing. What makes you say you might not make it back? Sir, we are talking about a Wednesday night at an arena in Minneapolis, not the OK Corral. What about being on the road makes you a cowboy? When the best explanation for a song’s lyrics is “we didn’t think about it for longer than about five seconds,” that’s not great. I know “raise your hands” from a movie. What movie, Google? Oh, it’s Spaceballs. I kinda thought that was a fake bad song they made up for the movie. Guess not! It is a real bad song Bon Jovi made up and then voluntarily chose to include on an actual album people paid money for. Between a 1 and a 2. On the one hand, there’s no artistic merit to any of this and my “crass sellout” alarms are blaring. On the other, how many times have I screamed “whoa-oh” in my life because of this album? That’s worth something. Okay, so I wrote that last paragraph with about four songs to go on the album. And those songs sucked. I’m going to give this a 1, add “livin on a prayer” to my ongoing playlist for this project, and note that my nostalgia for that song is very strong and the 1 rating is not a reflection of good times had at parties and weddings. It is a reflection that Bon Jovi fucking sucks.
Just can't give the love and appreciation that most people have for Bon Jovi and his classic rock vibes.
one time in grade 7 me, brian danielson and cole jefferies all wore canadian tuxedos to english class and performed a lip sync'd version of Livin' on a Prayer as like a boy band. I do not remember what assignment inspired us to do that but I do remember two things distinctly. number 1 is that it was completely my idea. the song, the dress code, the choreo. I also stayed up until like 2am on a school night to fully memorize the lyrics to the song to improve my lip syncing. The second thing I remember is that we were the only students who came to class in costumes, the only students who did a performance of any kind AND we got a near failing grade on the assignment because apparently I completely misunderstood what we were supposed to do and convinced bryan and cole (a students) that I understood the assignment better than them (B- student btw) anyways, unrelated to the story bon jovi sucks
A dangerously combustible mix of hair spray, pure cocaine, industrial cynicism, and half remembered Springsteen songs. I've known this album as anything other than a corny joke to bellow along with when it the hits come on the radio - three singalong karaoke mega jams that are undeniably fun despite being way overplayed and incredibly crap. Listening through in full I realize that even the hits are way too long and the joke wears off after the first chorus, but the song keeps going, and goooooooooing. The rest is 80s pop metal filler with an emphasis on the pop - the metal is exclusively the palm muted riffs and squealing pinch harmonics on the guitar. It sucks at such a deeply fundamental it's almost good. Almost...
There is nothing about this style that I relate or react positively to. Whatever extremely valid reasons people may have for enjoying this type of music - it's "fun", "badass", hooky, nostalgic, etc. - are not reasons that I personally find agreeable or applicable. There is nothing on a musical, lyrical, or production level that moves, intrigues, or excites me in any way whatsoever. I like so many artists, albums, and songs for so many different reasons - for instance, I think some of them are fun, badass, hooky, nostalgic, etc. But when I consider every element that has ever brought me enjoyment in any given song, album, or genre, I don't hear any of them present in music like this. 0.5/5
* zero stars
It's so slippery, no chance to stay sober with it
This was a great rock album for teenage girls.
Awful awful 80's rock.
ei kummoitsa musiikkia tämä...
Sounds like the music that the people that used to beat me up in high school listen to
Wondered if this would change my opinion on Bon Jovi, it did not.
Over-produced, over-confident nonsense.