Would BJ be here now if it wasnt for....

not possible cause they always say they where close to lose their record deal after 7800 so if slippery would have been a flop they would have dissapeard and by now sure no BJ would exist anymore. I don`t think they would have splittet emediately after loosing the deal but after some years

I doubt it. There were a lot of successful bands in the 80's and lots more waiting to be signed. And with all the transformations of Bon Jovi's record company, I really doubt they would have held onto their recording contract if not for the success of SWW.

No

Nope. SWW not only gave them the fans, but the CONFIDENCE. Without SWW, there would be no New Jersey, even if they had the chance to make another record. It's all about the 'tude. And a few years down the road, they would be dumped by the record company anyway.

yeah, i believe they still would've made it, depending if SWW had SOME success. Even if it sold as much, or just a little bit more than BJ and 7800, they still would've made it big with NJ, pending on if they still wanted to. Also, I agree on the fact that Crush brought them back into the limelight with the generation that grew up with Bon Jovi, and the Generation that discovered them with It's My Life.

bon jovi's success would of course not come off without SWW.

Difficult to say. Probably not since the record company probably wouldn't have given them much more chances. When you think of the industry today, you have to be succesfull with your first album, otherwise you are out. BJ were lucky enough that they started their career in a different time where the record companies still had the money to build up a band. A pal of mine works at EMI (record company where for example Robbie Williams is) and we had a very interesting conversation about this on Saturday. BJ wouldn't have a big chance today.

I was a fan since the first album, so SWW made no difference to me. Runaway got me hooked on the band. I guess SWW made them more popular around the globe, but I think they would have survived without it.

No

They wouldn't have been around without question. The only reason I say this is because i read an interview with Richie one time where he talks about SWW. He says he thought 7800 was a mediocre album and they had to tour like crazy to get it to go gold. He said that if their third album wasn't great, he didn't think there was going to be a Bon Jovi.