Bon Jovi's debut album, released in 1984, featured a sound a bit more raw than that of Slippery Than Wet, but clearly hinted at the glory that was to come in great songs like "Runaway."
This is it: the chart-topping album that turned Bon Jovi into the biggest band in the world in 1986. "Livin' on a Prayer" was released as the second single off the album, joining "Wanted Dead and Alive" and "You Give Love a Bad Name" in cracking the top ten. The album has sold more than 28 million copies worldwide.
New Jersey was the multiplatinum follow-up to Slippery When Wet. The strains of constant recording and touring to support both records from 1986 to '89 nearly led to a breakup of the band. But the music here still captures Bon Jovi at their '80s peak.
While the band went on hiatus for a couple years at the beginning of the 1990s, Jon Bon Jovi took the opportunity to put together this memorable solo project, the soundtrack to the Western film Young Guns II. The title track became a huge hit, and Bon Jovi also made his acting debut in a brief cameo in the film.
By the dawn of the 21st century, a rejuvenated Bon Jovi released the hit record Crash, which introduced the band to a whole new generation of who barely remembered the big-hair days of the 1980s. "It's My Life" became a huge hit single.
In the 2000s, the band took a radical new stylistic direction. Recording in Nashville, the band released what was essentially a country record.