10 Bands That Changed Rock And Roll
7. Bon Jovi
Once Van Halen got up and running in the late '70s, the focus of rock and roll started to shift back to sunny California. Though the City of Angels was always a hot bed for talent since the '60s, people like Motley Crue and Poison were turning in party rock anthems that would become the sound of hair metal for years to come. Seeing how everyone was gravitating to the West Coast, how the hell did a band from Jersey end up walking away with the most dignity?
Granted, it's not like Bon Jovi have necessarily aged the greatest out of their hair metal peers. A lot of their newer stuff tends to follow trends and capturing Jon Bon Jovi trying way too hard to be Bruce Springsteen, but that doesn't diminish the magic that these guys had on their early records.
From their debut all the way to New Jersey, this was among some of the best hair metal around with touches of heartland rock in for good measure. Even when everyone was looking to cash in on the party rock trend, these were a bunch of guys who had serious chops and were still in it for the love of making music. As much as people just needed a can full of hairspray to get by, it's the ones who actually put the work in that end up coming on top most of the time.