Until Slippery When Wet’s release in the summer of 1986, the bright eyes, meticulously-coiffed tresses and titanium jawlines of Bon Jovi were relegated openers, not quite in the echelon in which they saw themselves. Their first two records — 1984’s self-titled debut and 1985’s 7800° Fahrenheit — were successes, but not overwhelmingly so. They charted at 43 and 37, respectively, on the US Billboard charts, falling to 58 and 72 by the end of the year. They were talented, had a knack for melodies and chorus writing, and demonstrated the capability to conjure that all-important breakout single. They certainly looked the part, all swaddled in spandex and animal print with hair that reached the heights of frontman Jon Bon Jovi’s low tenor.
The summer of ‘86 proved to be the right time for their breakout. A second wave of glam metal was cresting over the US, welling up from the Los Angeles’ Sunset Strip, where club bookings were opting towards celebratory party rock music, rather than punk, which didn’t always make enough cash to pay for the headaches their live shows could cause. MTV had begun to plug glam metal into heavy rotation, and the reaches of this braggadocious and, at times, absurd machismo music began to creep farther from outright heaviness and more towards radio-friendly. Songs started getting catchier and more romantic in an attempt to universalize their appeal, and so began the age of the power ballad. That summer was dominated by long-haired men wearing extremely tight pants. Bands like Poison, Van Halen and Stryper were dominating the Top 10. Even the novelty of Europe’s “Final Countdown" undeniably fit the bill. And the biggest do of them all belonged to Bon Jovi. Slippery When Wet was the highest-selling album of seismic 1986, beyond even his follically blessed contemporaries. It outperformed cultural milestones like Joshua Tree, Master of Puppets, Graceland, and Bad by year's end.
While their aesthetic resembled their peers, stylistically, Bon Jovi was able to separate themselves as somewhat spiritually distinguished from the jockeying motifs which the model had established itself as. So often it seems that an artist’s most outstanding work comes from a change in routine or some type of diversion. Bon Jovi was no different. They decided to travel outside of the States to record, choosing Little Mountain Studios in Vancouver to figure out how, with the help of producer Bruce Fairburn, to reach a new level of stardom. Fairburn’s polished sound was what they were looking for, and his work with Blue Oyster Cult and Prism, in which he played trumpet, impressed the group. So, like all great rock and rollers, when it came down to the grind of it all, they went to the strippers. In the neighbourhood of the studio was a gentlemen's club where dancers would take performative showers on stage. Thus, Slippery When Wet.
They also brought in an outside songwriter for the first time. Desmond Child, who had penned massive singles for the likes of KISS, Cher, and Bonnie Tyler. Child, like Bon Jovi (Jon), was heavily influenced by another New Jersey artist, and so while the rest of the glam class were steeped in the influence of heavier bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, they veered toward the plight of the rugged everyman. There’s a heavy reverence for heartland rock seeped into the album’s fabric. A gunslinger trail song written amidst Bon Jovi’s touring insomnia, “Wanted Dead Or Alive” was inspired by Bob Seger’s “Turn The Page.” Bruce Springsteen is clearly held in particular esteem throughout. “Wild In The Streets” is indebted to the rugged Jersey rock The Boss had smacked the nation upside the head with. “Living On A Prayer,” the anthemic paean to Tommy and Gina, is quintessential heartlandia, and its inclusion in the Americana canon was clearly guided by Nebraska’s (1982) salt-of-the-earth songwriting and the blue-collar stadium rock Springsteen perfected on Born In the U.S.A. (1984).
About 30 songs were written with Child, and once most were whittled out, the editing process was done as it had been on Bon Jovi and 7800° Fahrenheit. The album’s material and sequencing would be anointed by the people. Of the 30 tracks the band recorded with Fairbairn, the ten that ultimately made the album were chosen with the help of ‘focus groups,’ i.e. local kids who happened to be hanging out at Pizza Pie Jury, a pizza joint in Sayreville, New Jersey. The songs were chosen and arranged as per the volume of the feedback when the band invited them back to their local studio to test the material. Those pizza boys and girls can be attributed for the inclusion of “Never Say Goodbye” and “Wild In The Streets.” History thanks those Vancouver dancers and Jersey pizza kids as the unknowing muses behind the defining album of hair metal's heyday.
From there, they were off. The western imagery of “Wanted Dead Or Alive,” became a self-fulfilling prophecy; the Slippery When Wet Tour brought on 220-odd shows in fifteen months. They became the biggest band in the world, and they had the receipts to prove it. They peaked at number one in seven countries. They were in the US Top Five for 38 weeks. Fifteen times platinum in the US, and Diamond in Canada. Fairburn profited as much as anyone; Slippery When Wet’s crystal clear production and arena-ready umph attracted Aerosmith, AC/DC, Chicago, Van Halen, INXS and more. Desmond Child’s co-writing resume continues to surface on the charts. Slippery When Wet took over the world briefly and established an indelible moment among rock’s most notorious eras. Not only, for a short while, were elastic jeans, vests with no shirt, headbands, and elaborate bleaching the agreed-upon normal way to dress, but an interesting thing was happening beneath the pomp: metal was becoming mainstream. And at the fore, was Bon Jovi.
Want more Bon Jovi? Classic Albums Live brings a note for note, cut for cut recreation of the quintessential album to the Jack Singer Concert Hall on November 1. Get your tickets now.