Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet turns 40 on August 18, 2026, marking the anniversary of the album that transformed the New Jersey band from a successful hard rock act into one of the biggest groups in the world.
by Paul Cashmere
Released on August 18, 1986, Slippery When Wet became the defining album of Bon Jovi’s 1980s career, producing three major US singles, including the No. 1 hits You Give Love a Bad Name and Livin’ on a Prayer. The album also established a template for commercially accessible hard rock that would dominate the mainstream through the second half of the decade.
The significance of Slippery When Wet is partly understood by looking at what came immediately before it. Bon Jovi had released their self-titled debut in 1984 and followed it with 7800° Fahrenheit in 1985. Both albums established the group, but neither had produced the scale of commercial breakthrough that Mercury Records was seeking. Slippery When Wet changed that equation almost immediately.
The album was recorded between January and July 1986 at Little Mountain Sound Studios in Vancouver, with Bruce Fairbairn producing and Bob Rock handling engineering and mixing. Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora wrote much of the material, while Desmond Child joined them for four songs, including You Give Love a Bad Name and Livin’ on a Prayer. The collaboration took place in Sambora’s mother’s basement in New Jersey.
The songwriting process was unusually deliberate. The band wrote approximately 30 songs and played demos to teenagers in New York and New Jersey, using their reactions to help determine which material would make the record. The approach reflected a conscious move towards a more mainstream sound while retaining the guitar-driven foundation of the first two albums.
One of the album’s most important decisions involved Livin’ on a Prayer. Jon Bon Jovi initially doubted the song, but Sambora believed it had greater potential. The band subsequently recorded it again, producing the version that became one of Bon Jovi’s defining songs. Its success helped establish the album as something considerably larger than a conventional hard rock release.
The first single, You Give Love a Bad Name, was released on July 23, 1986. Livin’ on a Prayer followed on October 31, while Wanted Dead or Alive was issued on March 2, 1987. Never Say Goodbye became the fourth single in June 1987. The first three singles all reached the US Top 10, with You Give Love a Bad Name and Livin’ on a Prayer reaching No. 1 and Wanted Dead or Alive peaking at No. 7.
The album itself spent eight weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and remained inside the Top Five for 38 weeks. It was the best-selling album in the United States in 1987. In Australia, it reached No. 1 and ultimately received six-times Platinum certification, while the US certification stands at 15-times Platinum.
There are several stories behind the album that have become part of Bon Jovi history. The title was reportedly inspired by a Vancouver strip club, while an early concept had the album called Wanted Dead or Alive, accompanied by a cowboy-themed cover. That artwork was ultimately used for the Wanted Dead or Alive single.
The familiar black plastic bag cover was itself a late change. An earlier design featured a woman in a wet yellow T-shirt, but concerns about whether major retailers would stock it led to a replacement. The minimalist image of water traced across black plastic became one of the most recognisable album covers of the era.
Slippery When Wet also contained songs that developed lives beyond the original album. Edge of a Broken Heart, recorded during the sessions but left off the record, later appeared on the Disorderlies soundtrack and subsequent Bon Jovi compilations and archival releases. Borderline, another song associated with the sessions, was released in Japan.
The album’s immediate aftermath was equally important. Bon Jovi remained on the road from July 1986 through October 1987 for the Slippery When Wet Tour. The next studio album, New Jersey, followed in 1988 and extended the commercial momentum established by Slippery When Wet. Noise11’s Bon Jovi catalogue history has similarly identified Slippery When Wet as the pivotal third album that took the group from its early Mercury releases to global prominence.
Forty years later, the album remains central to Bon Jovi’s live identity. Noise11’s coverage of the band’s Australian performances has repeatedly documented You Give Love a Bad Name, Wanted Dead or Alive and Livin’ on a Prayer among the songs carried forward from the 1986 record.
Slippery When Wet was subsequently revisited in expanded editions, including a 2005 DualDisc release and later editions containing live performances, alternate versions and archival recordings. A 2024 deluxe edition added further material from the era, including an acoustic Wanted Dead or Alive, an alternate Livin’ on a Prayer mix and live recordings from 1987.
For Bon Jovi, August 18, 1986 was the point at which the band’s potential became international reality. Forty years on, Slippery When Wet remains the record against which the rest of the Bon Jovi catalogue is measured.
Tracklisting
Let It Rock
You Give Love A Bad Name
Livin’ On A Prayer
Social Disease
Wanted Dead Or Alive
Raise Your Hands
Without Love
I’d Die For You
Never Say Goodbye
Wild In The Streets
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