SWW review: You can't stop a fire burning out of control
 

Although I won't be able to start a track by track review until probably Sunday at the earliest, I figured I'd post an overview now. Think this one's even longer than the last two, sorry that they're such essays! I hope that some people have the patience to read through them though

SLIPPERY WHEN WET

Overview:

Two albums into their career, Bon Jovi had produced some good music, but neither album had managed to set the world alight. They knew that this time, they would have to change that.

The mood when it came to creating 7800 Farenheit had been sombre; with the band members facing fame and its pitfalls for the first time. However, when it came to writing the third album, the overall vibe was a lot more positive. Most of 1985 had been spent on the road, so after a final show on News Year’s Eve, the band took the next 6 months off touring to go home and write and record the album. As well as this, Jon and Dorothea had got back together. All of this made for a happier, more hopeful band. The songwriting process involved Jon, Richie and a songwriter named Desmond Child (who had had some success writing with Kiss) bouncing ideas off one another in Richie’s parents basement; while the recording was done in Vancouver, with the band staying in a house that quickly came to resemble a bombsite, and visiting a favourite stripclub virtually every night. The band had a chance to relax and bond a bit more, and it was this infectious sense of fun, camaraderie and good times which would be heard all over the album.

And was it the success they hoped it would be? And then some! Stolen from Wikipedia: “Slippery When Wet stayed at #1 for 15 weeks, the record for a hard rock album on the Billboard 200. The album is the band's biggest selling album in the USA and the world. The album has sold over 27 million albums worldwide. With this album's singles, Bon Jovi was the first hard rock band to ever have two consecutive #1 Hot 100 chart hits. Slippery When Wet was the first hard rock album to spawn three Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 hits.With Slippery When Wet, the band twice had the #1 single and the #1 album simultaneously, another hard rock first”.

So what is it about this album that made it quite so successful? To shamelessly steal a political quote which seeks to define democracy (a bit of an odd link I know, but bear with me), I’d say it’s because it’s an album “of the people, by the people, for the people”.

It’s an album “of the people” in that it’s very character driven, in two ways. First, the expansion of the Bon Jovi family to include Desmond Child, a songwriter who gelled so well with the band that he co-wrote this albums two biggest hits, and has had at least one co-writing credit on every album they’ve released since; and the now-legendary producer and engineer team of Bruce Fairbairn and Bob Rock. While work with previous producers and co-writers had yielded some fairly mixed results, here the drive and determination of the band members were finally matched. The distinctive character of each of the eight main players really helped to drive the record. While the previous album had found them struggling for their identity, here they found their defining sound. Some may criticise the band for perhaps relying too heavily on Child, Fairbairn and Rock to mould them; but in my opinion the band was still and always had been the driving force: the talent had always been there; it just needed the right conditions to be distilled and focused properly. Working as part of this team was the spark of inspiration that they needed to raise their game.

The second way that it’s character driven is as a major lyrical theme. Whereas 7800 was littered with references to fire and weapons; Slippery is full of various characters, some named and some not. Characters such as Captain Kidd, The King of Swing, Chino, Joey, Roxie and her girlfriend, the broken man from Without Love, the member of the boy’s brigade and the girl next door from Wild In The Streets, and of course the famous couple Tommy and Gina, are referred to; making the stories told in the lyrics seem more real, more human, and easier for people to relate to.

It’s an album “by the people” in that the band got members of the public – the infamous “pizza parlour jury” to help them select the songs, which as we all know is partially why the band’s defining song was rescued from being merely a b-side on the You Give Love A Bad Name single or something.

And the finished product is most definetly an album “for the people”. As a whole, the album seems to be more “user friendly” than the last two: beginning with the artwork (very “wet” themed: a simple cover depicting the album’s title written in the water in a wet binliner; an equally simple reverse to the cover showing a close up of a woman wearing a wet SWW t-shirt; the band looking like they’re having the time of their lives having a car wash with several scantily clad girls; and the first two colour pictures of the band to appear in album artwork, the first showing them looking relaxed sitting on a fence, and the second onstage and still looking happy); and continuing with the simpler, more fun, and (generally) less tortured lyrics; this album is clearly a celebration of the good times. Boasting a glossier production than ever before (so shiny that arguably the album would probably be slippery when wet … perhaps there was more to using that title than just the combination of a roadsign and a stripshow involving soapy water); and with songs that were more cohesively written; more melodic; featured more stadium – sized, fist in the air, anthemic hooks; and where even the instrumental sections and guitar solos were so memorable and catchy that you could sing along to them; this album was a massive celebration of the power of rock music … as any album that begins with a song called Let It Rock, ends with one called Wild In The Streets, and has one called Raise Your Hands in the middle must be!

In this album, the worlds of metal, hard rock and mainstream pop were seamlessly combined. I like the way that Kerrang! Magazine put it in a recent article on the band, hailing them as the 11th most influential band of the last 25 years: “Bon Jovi had a profound effect on the course of rock music when their 1986 album Slippery When Wet went through the roof. Prior to that, it was a rare occurence for any rock band to penetrate the top 40 but Bon Jovi changed all that with a string of platinum-coated hooks and lead singer Jon Bon Jovi's poster boy looks. Their music reached a massive cross section of people and was, for many, a gateway into the wider rock world”. Kerrang! has also recently declared SWW to be the 8th greatest rock album ever.

It is such an incredible album.
To me, the biggest testament to it's power is my own case. It was the first ever Bon Jovi album I got, and really the first "real" album I ever got. It was 2001, and I was 13, and even then the album totally blew my mind. I can sill recite every track.

good review. i liked it...although i am pissed drunk and have no clue what i am doing...what the heck am i doing? well,,,good review!

Hehehe, I'll thank alcohol for that comment :D

LET IT ROCK - The first sound of the album is a distorted guitar, laying the foundation for Dave's "Pink Flamingoes" keyboard solo: essentially a shorter, more melodic version of Eddie Van Halen's Eruption, played on what sounds like an electric organ; it's a strange but electrifying way to open the album. Then, with the guitar surging to the forefront, the song proper begins, and instantly it becomes apparent quite how mammoth it sounds: finally proper recording of vocals, with both Jon and the backing vocals sounding bigger and fuller than ever before; a guitar style that seems to mix the Randy Rhoads or Van Halen style tone and techniques of the first album with the AC/DC groove of the second; and synths which for the most part seek to add depth and compliment guitar lines rather than play a lead role. With a more laid back style, "whoah-oh-oh" backing vocal hook, a simple chorus which proudly shows that the band are now actually capable of doing proper lead and backing vocal duels, lyrics which tell of a number of characters desire just to rock, and Richie pulling out a dazzling virtuoso guitar performance throughout; this song may not be particularly clever, but it certainly is big, and a great introduction to the band's new sound.

4/5

You Give Love A Bad Name - The band's breakthrough hit single is a strutting pop metal anthem. Instantly punching the listener in the face with its opening acapella shouting of the chorus, the quality of the vocal recording immediately stands it out from their previous attempts to create such a song. The drum and bass also stand out as particularly prominent here: with the bass at times stealing the attention from the guitar; and the rock solid drumming driving it all the way to the finish line, pausing only for the classic "air-drumming, hands clapping above the head" breakdown following the guitar solo. Dave continues his supporting role here; Richie contributes an effective pop-metal riffing style; and Jon sounds on top form, coming across as both sneering and seductive; while the backing vocals again manage to lift the song - especially apparent in the chorus and outro - even higher. Of course, in terms of writing the song wouldn't be out of place on either of the last two albums; but here it manages to sound bigger and better than any of their songs from this template have before.

4/5

Livin' On A Prayer - The intro alone is captivating: fading in with haunting keyboards; one of the band's most distinctive bass lines; a moment of pure fantasy for air drummers everywhere; the classic talk box riff; and of course "Once upon a time / not so long ago ....". This is the band at their most unshamedly anthemic: with the lyrical story of Tommy and Gina being the perfect metaphor for holding on when life is tough; and the prominence of synthesised organs making it sound for all the world like a pop metal hymn. But this is far from cut from the generic pop metal template: the use of the talk box, coupled with the unusual combination of atmospheric synths and an earthshaking bass line driving the verses; and the contrast of this with the slashing guitar chords and stabbing keyboard during the pre chorus sets it apart. And that's before we even come to the chorus. Possibly the mightiest pop chorus EVER written; with the vocal performance of a lifetime from all involved; but especially Jon, singing higher (without going into falsetto) than possibly he ever has before. And then of course there's the guitar solo, already spotlighted because of the heavy use of the talk box over the rest of the song; it is simply one of the most melodic, memorable, and singalong and air guitar friendly guitar solos ever put to record. And how can anyone forget the all conquering, fist in the air "you live for the fight when that's all that you've got" bridge, soaring into one of the most uplifting key changes in rock history. Make no mistake, this song is magical, and its anthemic status looks set for many many years to come.

5/5

Love it. You're spot on with Prayer.

Its a lovely sunny day here, and reading this review just makes me want to leave work and drive around in the sun with SWW blastin from my car stereo!

cant think of much better!

Thank ye kindly for the comments :D

Social Disease - And speaking of attention grabbing intros ... heh, after the orgasming and fun lines ("You mean that's it?!" "Doctor Bon Jovi, please report to ...."), this turns out to be the fun, somewhat sleazy rocker that there's at least one of on most of the band's albums (Get Ready and In & Out Of Love being the previous two). Particularly guitar heavy, it adopts a slower hard rock stance, much in the vein of some of the songs from 7800 Fahrenheit. What sets it apart though is its use of synthesised brass instruments, giving it a slightly E-Street Band - esque RnB flavour. A fun song with some amusing innuendos ("She can run a bullet train on 38 double D's," or Jon rather pevertedly laughing that it's "nothing that a shot won't cure" at the end), but ultimately one without much impact, especially sandwiched between two of the band's defining moments.

2+/5

Love the review so far although Bad Name (Though many of us may tire of hearing it live after all these years) probably deserves a 5 aswell as Prayer. Now don't spoil it by not saying that Wanted Dead Or Alive is the greatest song in the history of music......ever!