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)

1. Let It Rock
2. You Give Love a Bad Name
3. Livin' on a Prayer
4. Social Disease
5. Wanted Dead or Alive
6. Raise Your Hands
7. Without Love
8. I'd Die for You
9. Never Say Goodbye
10. Wild in the Streets

Disc 2: Bonus material (* previously unreleased; ** previously unreleased mix)

1. Wanted Dead or Alive (Acoustic Version)
2. Livin' on a Prayer (Thank You Goodnight Mix) *
3. Raise Your Hands (Extended Obie O'Brien Mix) *
4. Wild in the Streets (Live @ Cincinnati Gardens, Cincinnati, OH - 3/19/1987) **
5. Livin' on a Prayer (Live @ Cobo Arena, Detroit, MI - 3/11/1987) *
6. Wanted Dead or Alive (Live @ Cobo Arena, Detroit, MI - 3/11/1987) **
7. 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