You have a friend who isn't a Bon Jovi fan but tolerates/is curious about/likes their work. He also happens to be a music junkie and is amassing many bands for his mp3 collection. He wants you, his friend who he knows to be a hopeless Jovi Nerd, to recommend the albums he should have for his collection. For the sake of a good list, let's say he wants 5 albums. What do you pick?
I'm going to be controversial here and say Slippery is not essential. I know Jon, I know, it's your Thriller and all that, arguably one of the most iconic rock albums of all time. The bottom line is, outside of the Holy Trinity, its a pretty mediocre album with a lot of artifacts from their first two records. Yeah, Raise Your Hands and Never Say Goodbye are good songs. I'd Die For You is a fan favorite, I get that. But you want your friend to get a TOTAL representation of Bon Jovi, at their best. Does Slippery When Wet, the album that some inaccurately call their peak, qualify as one of the best? I don't think it does.
If you put Crossroads on this list, your pal gets Prayer, Wanted and Bad Name. He gets Runaway and In and Out of Love. Maybe Blaze or Never Say Goodbye, depending on what version. You get the essentials, while also getting the two artifacts from the fledgling days worth holding onto. Besides, how can you not give them Always and Saturday Night? Crossroads seems like a logical choice.
I think the only album of the 80s that needs to be in this friend's collection is New Jersey. From a technical standpoint, I think it can be confidently argued to be a superior album, one of the best albums of the decade. It has the gloss of Hair Metal while at the same time signaling the band had firmly found its voice. You get all the hits from it, while at the same time getting quality album tracks like Blood on Blood and Homebound Train. I'd rather get that then the second half of SWW. So NJ is in my compilation.
Next is Keep the Faith. This was the breakthrough album, and though some of you will argue Slippery deserves to be here instead, I want my friend to hear Dry County. I want him to see this band's epic. I also want him to hear quirky gems like I Believe and If I Was Your Mother. Yes, I know, in addition to NJ, several tracks repeat from Crossroads. But I see no problem having Keep the Faith show up twice. God knows it's worth the extra listen.
So were at 3. For number 4, there's absolutely no way in hell I'm not putting These Days on here. No, it's not completely perfect. But I truly believe it's their best album on all levels, and as close to perfect as most bands can get. Now your friend will see this band brood. Hey God, These Days, My Guitar Lies Bleeding In My Arms, Something To Believe In... songs that are in the upper echelon of their catalog. The most complete album they've ever penned. By now, you've painted a pretty fresh picture for Bon Jovi: not as arena glam fossils, but as a band of many colors.
You got one slot left. You have to show them something to demonstrate the band's still going. Something from this decade. A week ago I'd be seeing Have A Nice Day, because, lukewarm as parts of it are, it was the best album of the decade, and has some very strong points. Obviously right now, a newcomer in the form of The Circle has become the prime choice. The Circle is the true heir to where THese Days and KTF left off. It shows the band has aged, but not lamely, as Lost Highway or Bounce would so profoundly suggest. It certainly caps off a compilation nicely.
So there you have it. Some of you will croon for Slippery, others who may not care for the 90s as much may use Tokyo Road or something like that. That's fine; for me this is the best representation of the band's studio work. Though I am missing two songs that I think are fairly essential: It's My Life and Whole Lot of Leaving (still a favorite of mine, I don't care what anyone says). So maybe I'll edit the Circle, throw out WWBTF and Fast Cars, and put those two on it instead
1. Crossroads
2. New Jersey
3. Keep The Faith
4. These Days
5. The Circle
Now, to do homework...