While
Slippery When Wet was their breakthrough, I was probably a little young for Bon Jovi when it was released. I first listened to
New Jersey around 1991 when I signed up for Columbia House and trying new things was inconsequential because after all, it was only a penny! The sound of
New Jersey resonated with me right away and was my introduction to "hair metal" although it was the early 90s and rock was moving into its grunge/alternative phase. It wasn't oversexed, it wasn't angry, it was almost positive. In the VH1 series
I Love the 80s, Dee Snider commented about Jon Bon Jovi's penchant for smiling in his music videos, which was not really a characteristic of serious rockers.
Bon Jovi moved towards a more serious sound in 1992 with the release of
Keep the Faith, and they moved back into the mainstream in 1994 with
Cross Road. I didn't necessarily keep up on all their releases afterwards, but I finally saw them in concert five years ago. I
still own
New Jersey on both cassette and CD. I admit that a couple of the tracks on
Slippery When Wet are better than anything you find on
New Jersey, but
New Jersey is a much better overall album. It's not just me - thirty years later, it still holds the record for most top 10 singles off of a hard rock album.
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