10 Even More Perfect 1980s Rock Albums With No Bad Songs
8. Bon Jovi - Slippery When Wet
Being perfectly honest, it was a close call here between 1984's self-titled debut Bon Jovi and 1986's Slippery When Wet to make this list. While Bon Jovi does have the stunning opening track of Runaway, overall it has to be Slippery When Wet that gets the nod here.
Bringing in songwriter and producer Desmond Child, this '86 album not only changed things for Bon Jovi, it's also viewed as creating a record that fully ushered in the era of what would become known as hair metal.
You Give Love a Bad Name, Livin' on a Prayer, and Wanted Dead or Alive are clearly the three biggest tunes on Slippery When Wet, but arguably the best - and the perfect example of hair metal - is Raise Your Hands, which features a wondrous mixture of gravelly, strained lead vocals, fist-pumping harmonies, frenetic guitar energy, and a rugged, driving beat and bass that pushes everything along.
That said, that description of Raise Your Hands could be used on pretty much all of the songs on Slippery When Wet - in particular on album-closer Wild in the Streets. But for the '80s and the landscape of rock at that time, that certainly was (and is) not a bad thing.