Bon Jovi "Never Say Goodbye (Single & Video)"

"Never Say Goodbye" is a song by American rock band Bon Jovi, written by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora. It was a track off the band's third album, Slippery When Wet, in June 15, 1987, and reached number 11 on the mainstream rock charts and number 21 in the UK Singles Chart. Because it was not released domestically as a commercially available single, "Never Say Goodbye" was ineligible to chart on the Billboard Hot 100; nevertheless, it reached number 28 on the Hot 100 Airplay survey.

The song was featured on some versions of the band's Cross Road greatest hits album and is still occasionally performed live by the band in concert.

"Never Say Goodbye" is a power ballad, featuring drawn out vocals and a slow tempo, in contrast to the other tracks on Slippery When Wet, which are of a much faster, metal pace.

The song is in the key of A major and progresses to C# minor, D major and D minor.

Bon Jovi "Wanted Dead Or Alive (Single & Video)"

"Wanted Dead or Alive" is a power ballad by American glam metal band Bon Jovi. It is from their 1986 album Slippery When Wet. The song was written by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora and was released in March 3, 1987 as the album's third single. During a February 20, 2008 encore performance in Detroit, Jon Bon Jovi told the crowd about running into Bob Seger at a Pistons game. As he introduced his song "Wanted Dead or Alive", he said it was inspired by Seger's "Turn the Page" hit and called the song the band's anthem. The song peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #13 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, making it the third single from the album to reach the Top 10 of the Hot 100. As a result, Slippery When Wet was the first glam metal album to have 3 top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100.

In 2001 a live version from the album One Wild Night Live 1985–2001 was released as a single featuring a promotional music video. In 2003 a new version was released on the album This Left Feels Right and this version was also released as a single with a promotional video.

Considered to be one of the band's signature songs, it is the theme song for Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch TV show. It was also featured in the movies Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, and Wild Hogs. The song has been used in episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Supernatural, The Sopranos, Miami Vice and The Vampire Diaries.

The song was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in 2015.

The song's title pays homage to Jon's admiration for Old West heroes, and how he identifies with them as being hated and loved at the same time ("wanted dead or alive", so to speak). During an interview on Inside the Actors Studio, Jon said he got the inspiration for the song early one morning when he could not sleep while riding in a tour bus. The "lifestyle of every rock band" was similar to that of outlaws in that each was, "a young band of thieves, riding into town, stealing the money, the girls, and the booze before the sun came up."

Jon Bon Jovi said during a concert in Detroit, Michigan, on February 20, 2008, that the song "absolutely positively was influenced by [Bob] Seger's 'Turn the Page.'" Bon Jovi performed "Turn the Page" during a concert in Toronto, Ontario on July 21, 2010. Afterward, Jon told the audience he remembered listening to this song in 1985 while traveling on a tour bus in the midwest and telling Richie Sambora, "We got to write a song like this." The following year the duo composed "Wanted Dead or Alive".

The music video was filmed in black and white by cinematographer Derek M. Allen and features footage from the band's Slippery When Wet Tour, including shots from Rochester, New York's War Memorial Auditorium; Chicago's UIC Pavilion; Rochester, Minnesota's Mayo Civic Center; Denver's McNichols Arena; Pittsburgh's Fort Pitt Tunnel and skyline; Huntington, West Virginia; Oklahoma City and other venues. The video captures the life-on-the-road feeling, with several shots of the exhausted band members. The audio for the video uses the short (edited) version of the song.

In Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet Special Edition, Jon and Richie perform the acoustic version of "Wanted Dead or Alive" live, and before singing they mention they wrote the song in Richie's mother's basement a year ago (1985 or 1986) and Richie says "Mom, this is for you" and Jon thanks her by saying "Thanks for Richie's mom for not doing the laundry the day we wrote this song, it's called 'Wanted Dead or Alive'". In this version, Richie and Jon take turns singing during the second and the last verse. The guitar solo is performed on one of Sambora's trademark multi-neck 12-string Ovation guitars, rather than switching to an electric guitar for the solo and last verse of the song.

The song's video was placed on The New York Times' list of the 15 Essential Hair-Metal Videos.

Bon Jovi "Livin' On A Prayer (Single & Video)"

"Livin' on a Prayer" is a song by the American rock band Bon Jovi, and is the band's second chart-topping single from their third album Slippery When Wet. Written by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora and Desmond Child, the single, released in late 1986, was well received at both rock and pop radio and its music video was given heavy rotation at MTV, giving the band their first No. 1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart and their second consecutive No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hit.

"Livin' on a Prayer" is the band's signature song, topping fan-voted lists and re-charting around the world decades after its release. The original 45-RPM single release sold 800,000 copies in the United States, and in 2013 was certified triple platinum for over 3 million digital downloads. The official music video has over 775 million views on YouTube as of March 2021.

Jon Bon Jovi did not like the original recording of this song, which can be found as a hidden track on 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong. Lead guitarist Richie Sambora, however, convinced him the song was good, and they reworked it with a new bassline (recorded by Hugh McDonald uncredited), different drum fills and the use of a talk box to include it on Slippery When Wet. The song spent two weeks at number one on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, from January 31 to February 14, 1987, and four weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, from February 14 to March 14. It also hit number four on the UK Singles Chart.

The album version of the song, timed around 4:10, fades out at the end. However, the music video game Guitar Hero World Tour features the song's original studio ending, where the band revisit the intro riff and end with a talk box solo; this version ends at 4:53. The original ending is also playable on the similar video game Rock Band 2, though edited in this case (thereby eliminating the talk box solo at the end). The version included on the 2005 DualDisc edition of Slippery When Wet has an extended version of the original ending, with a different talk box solo playing over the riff (possibly taken from an outtake of the song); this version, which fades out at the end like the standard version of the song, ends at 5:06.

After the September 11, 2001 attacks – in which New Jersey was the second-hardest hit state after New York, suffering hundreds of casualties among both WTC workers and first responders – the band performed an acoustic version of this song for New York. Bon Jovi performed a similar version as part of the special America: A Tribute to Heroes.

The song reveals two characters, Tommy and Gina, a working-class couple who struggle to make ends meet. Tommy loses his job as a dockworker due to a strike while Gina works as a diner waitress. The storyline was inspired by real-life events that Jon Bon Jovi and songwriter Desmond Child experienced in the 1970s. Jon Bon Jovi had an acquaintance who was a star baseball player in his school and wanted to be a professional baseball player only for his girlfriend to inform him of her pregnancy wherein he gave up the ambition and took up a job in a factory. Desmond Child was a taxi driver in New York while his then-girlfriend, singer-songwriter Maria Vidal, worked as a waitress in a diner named "Once Upon A Stove", similar to Gina in the song. The owner, manager, and other employees of the diner called Vidal as Gina due to her slight physical resemblance to Italian actress and photographer Gina Lollobrigida.

"It deals with the way that two kids – Tommy and Gina – face life's struggles," noted Bon Jovi, "and how their love and ambitions get them through the hard times. It's working class and it's real… I wanted to incorporate the movie element, and tell a story about people I knew. So instead of doing what I did on 'Runaway', where the girl didn't have a name, I gave them names, which gave them an identity… Tommy and Gina aren't two specific people; they represent a lifestyle."

Bon Jovi explained that he "wrote that song during the Reagan Era and the trickle-down economics are really inspirational to writing songs". Tommy and Gina are also referred to in Bon Jovi's 2000 single "It's My Life".

The music video was filmed on September 17, 1986, at the Grand Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, California and was directed by Wayne Isham. It all starts with a silhouette of the band walking down the hall and it features shots of the band rehearsing, filmed in black and white, then playing in front of a crowd, in color.

In the beginning of the video, Jon has a harness attached by professional stunt coordinators and stunt spotters, and during the final chorus, he soars over the crowd via overhead wires attached to the harness.

Bon Jovi "You Give Love A Bad Name (Single & Video)"

"You Give Love a Bad Name" is a song by American glam metal band Bon Jovi, released as the first single from their 1986 album Slippery When Wet. Written by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, and Desmond Child about a woman who has jilted her lover, the song reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 on November 29, 1986 and became the band's first number one hit. In 2007, the song reentered the charts at No. 29 after Blake Lewis performed it on American Idol. In 2009 it was named the 20th greatest hard rock song of all time by VH1. Despite the lyrics of the chorus, the song should not be confused with "Shot Through the Heart", an unrelated song from Bon Jovi's 1984 self-titled debut album.

"You Give Love a Bad Name" was originally written for Bonnie Tyler under the title "If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man)" with different lyrics. Dissatisfied with its success in the US and the UK, Desmond Child re-wrote the song with Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora.

The song is written in the key of C minor and has a tempo of 123 BPM.

The album version of the song ends with the title being repeated until it fades.

Upon the release of the Ava Max song "Kings & Queens", comparisons were drawn with that song, "You Give Love a Bad Name" and "If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man)", and reviews highlighted Desmond Child's credit as a songwriter for "Kings & Queens".

The music video for the song used all-color concert footage (the only all-color video song from Slippery When Wet) and photogenic shots primarily of Jon Bon Jovi, as well as other band members in concert. This video was filmed at the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, California.

Bon Jovi was now being managed by Doc McGhee, who realized that Bon Jovi needed a video for MTV. Doc hired video director Wayne Isham, who had directed videos for Doc's other band, Mötley Crüe. The two bands were competitive with each other and Mötley Crüe felt betrayed that Wayne would direct one of Bon Jovi's videos.

Wayne had the band's name painted on the stage and made sure that the band did not see it until they began shooting.

Bon Jovi had been opening for 38 Special, but became a headlining act after the video debuted.

Bon Jovi "Hardest Part Is The Night (Single & Video)"

"The Hardest Part Is the Night" is a single by American rock band Bon Jovi. It is taken from their second album, 7800° Fahrenheit. It is notable for being the first Bon Jovi single to be released in the UK, where it charted at #68. It was the only single from the album not to chart in the U.S.

Among Bon Jovi's early songs, "The Hardest Part is the Night" is the one that expresses most clearly Jon Bon Jovi's concerns with working class issues and the struggles of the underdog, a theme that would later bring success to the band with "Livin' on a Prayer". The song makes vague references to a young man battling against the odds to succeed in life, though he knows that he is ultimately "going down".

The promotional video was an excerpt from a live performance in Japan and was directed by Sadao Matsunago for Spirit Entertainment, Ltd.