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After celebrating their debut album with a deluxe edition last year, Bon Jovi will offer similar treatment to their biggest album: 1986's Slippery When Wet.
The New Jersey rockers' third LP will be reissued February 28 in a variety of formats including a 2CD expansion with seven bonus tracks (nearly all of which are previously unreleased) as well as a picture disc, cassette and - novelty alert! - a clear vinyl pressing filled with liquid. Everything aside from the 2CD is limited in quantities - 1500 for the picture disc, 1300 for the "liquid disc" and 500 for the cassette - and available through the band's official store. (The 2CD will be available at general retailers including Amazon.)
After the minor success of their self-titled debut and the single "Runaway" - and the similarly minor impact of follow-up 7800° Fahrenheit a year later - Slippery When Wet was a make-or-break for the band. Luckily, the band - frontman Jon Bon Jovi, guitarist Richie Sambora, keyboardist David Bryan, bassist Alec John Such and drummer Tico Torres - had some secret weapons in their arsenal. Bon Jovi and Sambora co-wrote four tracks - including singles "Livin' on a Prayer" and "You Give Love a Bad Name" - with songwriter Desmond Child, a budding collaborator who'd contributed to tracks by KISS ("I Was Made for Loving You"), Cher (three tracks from her underrated I Paralyze) and Bonnie Tyler ("If You Were a Woman and I Were a Man").
With a song arsenal that split the difference between pure pop and glam metal and the skills of producer Bruce Fairbairn and engineer/mixer Bob Rock, Slippery When Wet became Bon Jovi's unquestionable breakthrough. The album topped the Billboard 200 and became the best-selling album of 1987 thanks to the chart-toppers "You Give Love a Bad Name" and "Livin' on a Prayer" (the potential of which was doubted by Jon Bon Jovi at first; now, it's their signature song) and the Top 10, acoustic-driven "Wanted Dead or Alive." (A fourth single, "Never Say Goodbye," was only released to radio but became a staple.) The sound and character of Slippery When Wet proved influential as well: within a year, Desmond Child and Bruce Fairbairn would become key collaborators for Aerosmith as they entered a pop-rock phase with major commercial returns on the albums Permanent Vacation (1987), Pump (1989) and Get a Grip (1993).
The deluxe Slippery When Wet is augmented by a bonus disc of tracks including the original acoustic B-side version of "Wanted Dead or Alive" and extended mixes of "Livin' on a Prayer" (featured in the band's 2024 docuseries Thank You, Goodnight) and album cut "Raise Your Hands," remixed by the band's longtime engineer Obie O'Brien. (O'Brien remixed Slippery When Wet for 5.1 surround sound in 2005, and in doing so extended many of the tracks from their original master tapes.) The disc concludes with four live tracks from the Slippery When Wet Tour of 1987, all of which are different from the pair of live cuts included on a reissue campaign from 2010. (The live versions of "Wanted Dead or Alive" and "Wild in the Streets" featured here were included, in different mixes, as B-sides to singles from Slippery When Wet and follow-up New Jersey (1988). Curiously, the bonus disc does not include fan favorite Slippery outtake "Edge of a Broken Heart," included on the soundtrack to the 1987 comedy Disorderlies as well as the band's 2004 rarities box set 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong.)
You can pre-order all versions of the Slippery When Wet reissue below. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
Slippery When Wet (Deluxe Edition) (Mercury/UMe, 2025)
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Picture Disc: Official Store
Liquid-Filled LP: Official Store
Cassette: Official Store
Disc 1: Original album (released as Mercury 830 264-1 M-1, 1986)
- Let It Rock
- You Give Love a Bad Name
- Livin' on a Prayer
- Social Disease
- Wanted Dead or Alive
- Raise Your Hands
- Without Love
- I'd Die for You
- Never Say Goodbye
- Wild in the Streets
Disc 2: Bonus material (* previously unreleased; ** previously unreleased mix)
- Wanted Dead or Alive (Acoustic Version)
- Livin' on a Prayer (Thank You Goodnight Mix) *
- Raise Your Hands (Extended Obie O'Brien Mix) *
- Wild in the Streets (Live @ Cincinnati Gardens, Cincinnati, OH - 3/19/1987) **
- Livin' on a Prayer (Live @ Cobo Arena, Detroit, MI - 3/11/1987) *
- Wanted Dead or Alive (Live @ Cobo Arena, Detroit, MI - 3/11/1987) **
- Let it Rock (Live @ Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY - 8/9/1987) *
Tracks 1 and original mix of 6 released on Mercury CD single CD7P 01, 1987
Original mix of Track 4 released on "I'll Be There for You" U.K. 12" - Mercury JOV 512, 1989
Release Round-Up: Week of October 24
Release Round-Up: Week of February 28
Release Round-Up: Week of November 22
A "Runaway" Hit: Bon Jovi Prep Physical Deluxe Edition of Debut Album
Garbage release. Admittedly I'm no Bon Jovi fan, but this was a huge album. This might have constituted a deluxe edition a year after the album came out, but 40 years on? Nope. As for the gimmicky "liquid" LP - give me a break. Ugh - what a cash grab.
Without the hits nobody would care about this album. The b-Side is as bad as 7800 Fahrenheit. The only song that aged well is Dead or Alive and that would be better placed on Blaze of Glory. Meh....
Actually Slippery is a killer solid album, the non singles like "Without Love" & "I'd Die For You" would also be hits if released as singles...zero filler...this album deserves the boxset treatment, with both covers reversible, perhaps a plastic cover filled with water as well...
If you say so, lol. I'd rather play Dr. Feel good than anything Bon Jovi pre Keep the Faith. New Jersey had some decent tracks but is too long.
Dr feelgood?really? Comparing to Slippery this is a joke.You're really funny man.Breakthrough album which catapulted Jovi to stratosphere of rock&roll and you said it's as bad as 7800?you need to relax, grab a bootle of wine and listen to this album once again, and again.
Leaving off the two B-sides was a dumb move. And what a pathetic attempt at a bonus disc, just 7 tracks? Why not more of the extended mixes if there are more available? Just the usual chuck a few live tracks on and think that's ok approach.
New Jersey had a really good deluxe edition, with B-sides added onto the end of the main album, and a whole disc of demos. Why have they abandoned that approach for Slippery? The deluxe of the debut album was similarly under served, I'm guessing there wasn't much bonus material to add. But this reissue campaign has really come off the rails, skipping the second album entirely, and just dropping half-hearted attempts at deluxe editions. D-
This reissue is both pointless & lame...40th anniversary of an influential, kinda innovative & hugely popular album (12 million sold) that was actually in hindsight quite enjoyable, surely deserves the deluxe boxset treatment like Def Leppard's 40th anniversary 4CD/1BluRay set last year...but this?? Oh no no no...who was the genius who greenlighted this?? Should be fired...they shoulda consulted us what they should have done...hey, if they did a good/great box for "New Jersey", a box of outtakes/B-sides ("100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong") & a Japanese hits/faves box ("Very Best Of 1984-2024"), they are not exactly skimpy in this department, so you would THINK they would go all out & celebrate "Slippery" at this time, but no?? Both shocking & disappointing...hey maybe they can course correct?? This type of deluxe is good for maybe "7800 Fahrenheit" (whose actual 40th IS this year), but not "Slippery"...that 40th is next year...they can hit the brakes & get a proper set together in time for 2026/even 2027 would be OK...with negative feedback, hopefully the Bon Jovi camp can fix this...fans are rightfully upset...