Richie is the sole reason for Bon Jovi world acclaim.

Good because the point is redundant.... I could say Edge should have been their second biggest hit but we will never really know. The same goes for Prayer if it was never released as a single.

"Bon Jovi have never been more than your average cock-rock band with an excellent guitarist"

While I don't completely agree with the statement, there's some truth behind it. Beyond that silly hypothetical discussion around Prayer, fact is, Richie is one of the factors that distinguishes Bon Jovi from the 80s crowd. While they would have made it big in the 80s with any half-decent player, I don't think they could have survived the 90s with, say, CC Deville or even more accomplished players like Paul Gilbert...

Just to add my 2c

Richie was certainly very vocals about how much he liked the song and Jon was the only band member who didn't like it. The rest of the band, co-writer Desmond Child, Bruce Fairbairn, Bob Rock and everyone else who heard it, thought it had that 'something' that could make it a hit. Hugh McDonald re-wrote the funky bass line bass line which was recorded. When the band brought in a bunch of teenagers who'd hang out near the studio, Livin' On A Prayer was one of the most popular of the 20+songs the band played to them. The track list of Slippery When Wet is in order of their preference.

Jon's admitted he was wrong not to include Edge Of A Broken Heart too.

Jon has admitted several times that he sucks at picking songs. He had shelved Always and we would have never heard it but for some guy at the record company who thought it had potential.

That song brought in a lot of fans so arguably the record company guy is the sole reason that Bon Jovi made it past 1994. Or maybe it's the fact that Jon and Richie are very talented guys.

Source? First I heard of this.

Source? I call bullshit on that one. Social Disease was more popular than Wanted and Never Say Goodbye?

Yeah bull on the second one, no album should be stacked based on how good the songs are, you'd have a strong start and a weak finish.

Also from Hugh's old website (I had to do some digging):

"That bass line went through a lot of changes," recalls McDonald. "Originally, it sounded like the intro to the Four Tops' 'I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)'. Bruce Fairbairn, who produced the album, noticed the similarity, and so did everyone else. So Richie, Jon and I worked until we came up with the line you hear on the record."

This also means that the bassline wasn't reworked because Jon did not like it, but whatever version was recorded for Slippery (or would Jon have prefered the song not to make it out of demo stage?) already had the new bass line.

I've never understood the love for 'Edge Of A Broken Heart'. It's never done anything for me.

One on my top 5 Bon Jovi songs to date.

I feel the same way... kind of. It's a great b-side. There are a couple of songs on Slippery I'd probably trade it for, but I don't think it is some long lost jewel that was destined to be a timeless classic if only it had been released as a single. I can't think of a song on Slippery that sounds more dated than EOABH. It had a pretty awesome bridge, but everything else is just somewhere between okay and good.