20 Surprising Facts About Bon Jovi’s ‘Slippery When Wet’

On August 18th, 1986, Bon Jovi released their third album, Slippery When Wet. This record would go on to become their best-selling to date. Here are 20 interesting facts you might not know about it:

Most of the songs on the album were written by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora. The band’s record company enlisted renowned songwriter Desmond Child to assist. Along with Jon and Richie, Desmond penned hits like “You Give Love a Bad Name” and “Livin’ on a Prayer” in the basement of Richie’s mom’s house in New Jersey.

When they had 30 songs written, the band tested them out on teens in New York and New Jersey, choosing tracks for the album based on the kids’ reactions. Jon chose producer Bruce Fairbairn for Slippery When Wet because he loved the sound quality of heavy metal band Black ‘N Blue’s 1985 album Without Love, which Bruce had produced.

Before settling on the title Slippery When Wet, the band considered naming the album Wanted Dead or Alive. They even had a cover made with the group dressed as cowboys, which was later used for the single release of that song. The final album name was inspired by a visit to a strip club in Vancouver.

The cover art for Slippery When Wet is a wet black garbage bag with the album title traced in the water, a last-minute decision. The original cover featured a busty woman in a yellow shirt with the album title. It was scrapped due to concerns over its potentially sexist content and the bright pink border added by the record company.

Slippery When Wet produced three top ten singles: “Wanted Dead or Alive,” “You Give Love a Bad Name,” and “Livin’ on a Prayer,” with the latter two topping the charts. This made it the first rock album with three hits in the top ten.

“You Give Love a Bad Name” became the band’s first number-one song. Interestingly, it was originally written for Bonnie Tyler as “If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man)” but was re-written by Desmond with Jon and Richie after its initial performance.

Jon was initially hesitant to include “Livin’ on a Prayer” on the album because he didn’t think it was good enough. Richie convinced him otherwise, and they compromised by re-recording the track, which went on to become a massive hit.

The popular version of “Livin’ on a Prayer” features a fade-out ending, but the studio version is 43 seconds longer, featuring a revisit to the intro riff and a talk box solo.

Jon was inspired to write “Livin’ on a Prayer” by the trickle-down economics of the Reagan era and “Wanted Dead or Alive” after listening to Bob Seger’s “Turn the Page.” “Wanted Dead or Alive” was written during a sleepless night on the tour bus when Jon realized that the rock star lifestyle resembled that of an outlaw’s, filled with fleeting stops, girls, and booze.

“Edge of a Broken Heart” was written during the sessions for Slippery When Wet, but it didn’t make it onto the album. It later appeared on the soundtrack to the 1987 film Disorderlies.

“Never Say Goodbye” wasn’t eligible for the Billboard Hot 100 chart because it was never released as a commercial single, though it did make it to number 28 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart.

The release of Slippery When Wet marked Bon Jovi’s first record to top the charts, spending eight weeks at number one and 38 weeks in the top five on the Billboard 200. It was the best-selling album of 1987 and has since gone platinum 12 times, signifying over 12 million copies sold. It remains one of the best-selling albums of all time in America.

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