So, while a lot of their pop-metal peers ended up stranded on the last branch of an evolutionary tree, Bon Jovi and Slippery When Wet both resonate as products of their time and a step in the continuum of loose-letting, party-friendly rock-trash-bag-black and wet T-shirt contest alike. And because they are, at heart, a pop band, they pull it all together with a seamlessness that makes you not care where they’re coming from in the first place.
![let it rock bon jovi album let it rock bon jovi album](https://images.eil.com/large_image/BON_JOVI_LET%2BIT%2BROCK-514.jpg)
They could tap into the nostalgia of a Skynyrd ballad (“Never Say Goodbye”) just as naturally as they could channel the swagger of a Rod Stewart rave-up (“Wild in the Streets”). They had enough of a taste of heavy metal to sound contemporary (“You Give Love a Bad Name,” “Social Disease”), but-compared to pinups like Poison and Mötley Crüe-they also felt like classic rock (“Livin’ on a Prayer,” “Wanted Dead or Alive”). That the band could pass as both spoke to what a massive phenomenon 1986’s Slippery When Wet became. One image was meant to be fun and trashy (figuratively, at least), the other tough and stoic. Slippery When Wet is ranked at 44 on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 200 essential albums list. Both sound great, but this original has a bit more mid range energy, and upfront presence.
![let it rock bon jovi album let it rock bon jovi album](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/63/fe/09/63fe0936a15444a8ce9cc9b7f8665f86.jpg)
just did a back to back comparo on this original and the 2014 reissue, and this original wins by a little bit. Executives worried that stores wouldn’t sell the LP, so they made a change, swapping in a photo of a wet garbage bag with the title streaked in black. Slippery When Wet is Bon Jovi’s third studio album. referencing Slippery When Wet ( LP, Album, 53 - Hauppauge Pressing, Red Inner Sleeve) 422-830 264-1 M-1. The original cover of Bon Jovi’s third album featured a woman in a wet T-shirt with the words Slippery When Wet on the front, framed by a hot-pink border.