Losimba New Jersey was my first contact with Bon Jovi, and I got the album shortly after its release. At the time it was certainly one of my favourite albums and it still one I enjoy. As I hadn't heard Slippery When Wet at the time and Runaway was the only other Bon Jovi song I knew, it's difficult to say the album gave me exactly what I expected from a Bon Jovi album in 1988. So I'll try a different approach.

Though I wouldn't consider all songs extraordinary, none of them is near or below average. Originally I had some problems with Ride Cowboy Ride until I finally realized that this wee mono piece is a prequel or intro to Stick To Your Guns which has always been one of the better songs of New Jersey. The other song I rate higher now than in 1988 is Lay Your Hands On Me. The reason is simply that I really love album opening sequences with pompous drums, bells or the like. On ther other hand, my rating of I'll Be There For You has dropped from a 6 star to a 4.5 star song. But the best song of the album is still Blood On Blood, and that is mainly because of the lyrics. Especially at the time it was so refreshing to have something else than love songs by someone else than Saga. The music of the song isn't bad either, and back in '88 the more than 6 minutes were definitely a bonus.

All in all New Jersey is my favourite band album by Bon Jovi. It is not absolutely perfect, so no 5 stars, but I have no hesitation to award four and a half.

aglasshouse Flashback to the mid eighties:

You were standing in the middle of a Bon Jovi concert during the popularity of their 1986 album Slippery When Wet. The album, being likely their most popular album to date, was greeted with applause from the pop music community and they were gifted with a big 'ol pat on the back.

Now you, the metalhead, are surrounded by a bunch of drooling teenagers (mostly teenage girls who swoon over that luscious Jon), while shitty pop ballads molest your ear-holes as you try to make your way out of the army of idiots that surrounds you and to someplace where you can try to suppress memories of Jon Bon Jovi's face before you.

At least, this is how I imagine I would feel like at a Bon Jovi gathering. Of course, I'm way too young to know how it went down during the 80's and the general boom of Bon Jovi, and instead I was born at a time where they were just becoming total crap that people cared less and less about.

Not to mention, I'm from a time where constant tracks from this stupid, lust-filled album (not to mention with a clear and obvious innuendo as a album title) blared from the radio every goddamn second: "WWEWEEH WEHEHEW / LIVING ON A PRAAAYERRR!!!" No. Just stop please.

Perhaps the only song I can actually stand on this album is 'You Give Love a Bad Name'. Even then, I'm constantly overshadowed by the fact that these songs are being written by a total dense jerk who's done nothing except saying stupid crap during interviews and have the constant and unwavering ability to make horrible pop - rock music for teenage girls.

TL;DR: I loathe almost everything on this release. I would not recommend it to any metalhead of any kind.

I do not recommend this album.

Mjöllnir Surely one of the most well known relics of the rock side of the embarassing 80s™. Of course I'm only making fun of decade stereotypes but Bon Jovi did capture much of the cliché of the commercial hard rock at the time but managed not to take the brunt of the backlash on its dramatic fall from grace. As for me, I'm glad as I think there's some cracking tunes on offer here. Shamelessly radio friendly and wanting to reach the big time so bad as they were, its fun and vibrant with a sound that many tried to emulate after. Not particuarly metallic but loud guitars, bass and drums form the base of the songs, with mild keyboard "dressing", wrapped up in a crystal clear production and making sure they're always catchy. The hits are what people remember, but Let It Rock and Raise Your Hands I find quite fun too. The others I can happily leave.

AtomicCrimsonRush The best Bon Jovi album radiates with sexual energy and had girls swooning in delight as the metal ballads were pounded out. Jovi became master of the ballad, there was metal but it was shrouded in commercial excess, radio friendly and false metal if ever there were a term, though Manowar would send black arrows into the hearts of this type of girly mush. That is why girls populated the crowds, and the band wouldn't complain, though it lacked any punch or crunch.

Okay, they could play and proved it with lead breaks that soared and some power riffs that jammed themself into your cranium mercilessly. Let It Rock, You Give Love a Bad Name, Livin' on a Prayer and Wanted Dead or Alive became live staples by the band and rarely would they get better than this. It isn't heavy but the tunes sure as heck were memorable and dominated the 80s airwaves, and continue to do so.

Stephen Bon Jovi labelled their fourth album by the pride of their home town, New Jersey, and though seems hard to defeat the victorious 30 million sales of "Slippery When Wet", this album carved another important record for being the only hard rock album in history that spawned five singles on the Top 10 of Billboard Hot 100.

Among those chart-conqueror singles, I don't like "Lay Your Hands On Me" as I found it's too boring and disposable, "I'll Be There For You" is a decent generic ballad, but "Bad Medicine" and "Born To Be My Baby" are essential upbeat rockers and the heart-throbbing backstreet ballad, "Living In Sin" is legendary and I consider it as one of their greatest piece ever penned.

After the previous "Wanted Dead or Alive", Bon Jovi had a big interest in a wild west cowboy theme reflected on tracks such as "Blood On Blood", "Ride Cowboy Ride", and "Stick To Your Guns". The list of great songs here goes on with the anthemic "Wild Is The Wind" and the acoustical outro of "Love For Sale".

"New Jersey" is a crucial part of Bon Jovi's growing phase and a huge nostalgic memory to many. Remember when hairs are long and the hysterical shout of "when you get drunk, I'll be the wine" with guitars on your lap and the neighbor girl fell in love secretly to you. Whether you like it or not, Bon Jovi plays an important role of dragging many new fans to the rock/metal community, and "New Jersey" is their one thing to blame.

jampa17 Rock is meant for last. A new chapter for the delight of music lovers.

Well, is not like I don’t know how risky it is to my reputation to rate a Glam Metal album, worse to rate a Glam Metal DVD. Well, I don’t care, I think these guys really lose their energy through time, but as musicians they remain capable to play as hard as their early days and I do enjoy this DVD.

To describe this DVD I will be brief. OK, you want old Bon Jovi hits (accept it, you rock with them and maybe some pick some nice girls by talking about him…) here are maybe the best live recording of the mighty Living on a Prayer, Lay Your Hands On Me (My favorite song from Jovis), Bad Medicine, Keep the Faith, You Give Love a Bad Name among others, with some more recent material, the unique It’s my Life and Say it Isn’t So. The crowd shows a lot of energy for being a lot of girls and people in their thirties. 40 some thousand person were present in this wonderful show. The arrangements of the songs are cool, good, and Sambora really did a great job with the solos, and shows he is capable to use a lot of different techniques when he want to. Of course, you won’t hear devil lyrics, screams and rockin’ signs, just a bunch of good musicians playing great music that doesn’t seems to lose energy or pass away through time.

The only complain that I have is the awful arrangement for an energetic song like Runaway, with that boring only piano result with complete boreness. I always have to skip it. Besides that, this DVD is there for any metalish out there… well, no, is better for glam metal fans and people who only like Metal in small doses. Those guys, I don’t know if they could be interesting in this site though but this is a good performance and the quality of sound and video worth the price. 4 stars is OK, because the longevity of the songs and the excellent performance from this active old guys, who shows that time only pass for better. They maybe lost a little of energy but get better as musicians and this performance shows it, quite clear.

Just a little warning… at the beginning of One Wild Night, watch out, John Bon Jovi suppose to dance a ChaChaCha and he caress his *ss, something that no metalhead wants to see... so... just skip it... but the DVD worth the watch.