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Released: Sept. 20, 1988


Rating: 3.643 (average of 7 ratings)


Genre: rock > hair band


Quotable: --


Album Tracks:

  1. Lay Your Hands on Me
  2. Bad Medicine
  3. Born to Be My Baby
  4. Living in Sin
  5. Blood on Blood
  6. Homebound Train
  7. Wild Is the Wind
  8. Ride Cowboy Ride
  9. Stick to Your Guns
  10. I’ll Be There for You
  11. 99 in the Shade
  12. Love for Sale


Sales:

sales in U.S. only 7 million
sales in U.K. only - estimated 600,000
sales in all of Europe as determined by IFPI – click here to go to their site. --
sales worldwide - estimated 15 million


Peak:

peak on U.S. Billboard album chart 1 4
peak on U.K. album chart 1 2


Singles/Hit Songs:

  • Bad Medicine (9/24/88) #1 US, #17 UK, #3 AR
  • Born to Be My Baby (10/8/88) #2a US, #22 UK, #7 AR
  • I’ll Be There for You (1/28/89) #1 US, #18 UK, #5 AR
  • Lay Your Hands on Me (5/27/89) #7 US, #18 UK, #20 AR
  • Living in Sin (10/21/89) #9 US, #35 UK, #37 AR


Awards:

Rated one of the top 1000 albums of all time by Dave’s Music Database. Click to learn more.


New Jersey
Bon Jovi
Review:
“Bon Jovi had perfected a formula for hard pop/rock by the time of New Jersey, concentrating on singalong choruses sung over and over again, frequently by a rough, extensively overdubbed chorus, producing an effect not unlike what these songs sounded like in the arenas and stadiums where they were most often heard” (Ruhlmann).

“The lyrics had that typical pop twist – although they nominally expressed romantic commitment, sentiments such as Lay Your Hands on Me and I’ll Be There for You worked equally well as a means for the band and its audience to reaffirm their affection for each other. The only thing that marred the perfection of this communion was Jon Bon Jovi’s continuing obsession with a certain predecessor from his home state; at times, he seemed to be trying to recreate Born to Run using cheaper materials” (Ruhlmann).


Review Source(s):


Last updated March 26, 2008.