I followed them during the releases of their first two albums and when 'Slippery When Wet' came out and people thought they might be a one album wonder I knew better. 'New Jersey' is one of the best follow up records to a 'bust out' record ever (along with Def Leppard 'Hysteria' and pearl Jam 'Vs.'). this album showed the new Bon Jovi fans that this band had more hits in them, and cemented them into the music scene.

in addition this is the best BJ album off all. 'Slippery When Wet' has a few songs that are as good or better then songs on 'New Jersey' but as a whole 'New Jersey' never lets up and is one of the best rock albums you'll hear.


A terrific followup to Slippery When Wet.   January 16, 2001
B. GOODWIN (LIMA, OHIO United States)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful

After the awesome success of Slippery When Wet, the band had to be intimidated by thought of following that album up. But if they were, they don't show it as this album blisters. These guys aren't your let your hair grow to your ass musicians who can't really play and just got where they were because of the way they looked. These guys can play. Bad Medicine, Lay Your Hands On Me, & Living In Sin are killer tunes and Richie Sambora is underated as a guitarists. They right terrific lyrics and add fantastic instrument playing to make truly awesome and unforgettable songs. No Bon JOvi collection should be without this one.


Bon Jovi: New Jersey review   November 26, 2000
WulfmanJax (Oklahoma)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

How do you follow up an album like Slippery When Wet? Well, frankly, just like this! While New Jersey didn't quite make the big splash that Slippery did it certainly still made a big "wave" in the hair-rock world! Slippery would have been the perfect cd if it would have replaced some of its songs with ones like "Bad Medicine", "Lay Your Hands on Me", or "Stick to Your Guns". All of these are great rock songs especially "Bad Medicine". This cd relies more on the voices of the group and less on the, not so inconsiderable, guitar playing of Richie Sambora, this is what makes this cd different than Slippery. "Bad Medicine" I guess is the "You Give Love a Bad Name" song for NJ, and "Lay Your Hands on Me" is the "Let it Rock" song of NJ. So I guess, in a way, it still highly resembles Slippery, but why shouldn't it? I mean, Slippery was one of the best rock albums of the '80's, so why not try to repeat the formula that made that album? You could argue all day about how different and alike the 2 albums are but still one thing is definately agreeable; both are awesome! "Bad Medicine" has great lyrics, guitars, drums, and vocals. "Lay Your Hands on Me", while not the best song in terms of lyrics is still a powerful rock song. "Blood on Blood" is a great song and a great anthem to any guy teen group. "Born to be my Baby", Living in Sin", "Wild is the Wind" are all wonderful rock songs too. "I'll be There for You" is not the best rock ballad out there, or even Jovi's greatest, but it's still good. "Love for Sale" is different and funny, that is what makes that song work. "99 in the Shade", although it has a strange tune is good too. I think this album represents the versatility of Bon Jovi, not only in the songs, but in the style of music. Several songs on this cd are nothing like any of their previous or later cds. You can really tell though that Jon and Richie both find their voices in this one too. Their vocals were mixed very well with the music. Although this isn't their best, with Slippery still being #1,in my opinion, NJ is a close second. In closing I'll say this; I can't find enough great things to say about Bon Jovi (the man and the group) their songs, lyrics, guitars, drums, voices, and talent are all top notch stuff, and New Jersey mixes all of their great talent together into one cd. So, if you're an '80's "hair-rock" music fan, buy it! if your a Bon Jovi fan you should already have it! If you're just a fan of great rock in general, you should buy it. Frankly, New Jersey and Slippery When Wet make a magnificent team! So put them in a cd player and play both of them back to back... the way it should be!


Bon Jovi at their best   March 2, 2006
Bartosz Grzegorzyca (Cracow, Poland)
5 out of 6 found this review helpful

Bon Jovi is a band that may not be the best one (the best one's were Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones or Pink Floyd), but their record-sales say otherwise. There is perhaps a grain of truth in the notion that half of their audience were teenagers and women and their sucess was soemwhat overrated, as well as that they went big on Jon Bon Jovi's coiffeur and outlook, though.
Nonetheless, I think they truly deserved their overwhealming breakthrough from the 80's offering people catchy, competent and well-ctrafted pop-rock-metal tunes played on and on by the MTV. All in all, that's how metal sounded in the mid-80's (just take Whitesnake or Def Leppard). Personally, I have always been an advocate of this band, turning a blind eye on what other narrow-minded people kept saying about it. Yes, Bon Jovi has made couple of cheesy songs ("Always") and some both cheesy and too commercial as well ("It's my life"). "It's my life" was a cheap trial to break to the pop-charts, but, if there are any open-minded music passionates there, you will notice that other bands had it as well (Van Halen had "Jump", KISS had "I was made for loving you").
One has to take the band as a whole, and simply can't deny the skillful and well-crafted musicanship of albums like "New Jersey" or "Keep the faith". So, if you are too narrow-minded to rate this, you simply have no right to proclaim yourself a music-passionate or music-knower.
"New Jersey" is undoubtedly Bon Jovi at their peak; simply, that's what BJ is all about. Although it didn't match the blockbuster of 18 million copies sold worldwide (up to this day, I mean), it was a great follow-up to "Slippery when wet" and nonetheless sold in spades (I guess 7 millions in the US alone in 1988, don't know how much up to this point). It was also the most popular one in Poland at that time, and everyone that year cuddled and danced to slow, wonderful love ballad "I'll be there for you". It was a time when Bon Jovi truly had the power to rule half of the world population. They were just everywhere; "straight-in-your face", like McDonald's or Coca-Cola.
"New Jersey" is much more mature an album, both lyrically and musically. In fact, to my opinion, THIS is the band's best one (better than "Slippery"). Songs are well-skilled, tuneful and catchy as always, but somehow the integrity of this one is probably the most appealing; in my view the most crafted and detailed in their career. There is absolutely no filler on this album. And, although I personally don't like "Bad medicine" considering it as one of the few truly cheesy BJ songs, the whole is undeniably amazing. "New Jersey" produced an amazing 5 Top-ten singles establsihing the band as international superstars and and almost matching the incredible status of its predecessor. Moreover, with the follow-up tour the band comfirmed how well they do on stage. Personally, I would recommend this one to any newcomer who would like to get into Bon Jovi for their music; and to any sceptic who is, pitifully, too narrow-minded to open for different musical genres.
It starts with a great kicking hard-rocker "Lay your hands", through cheesy "Bad medicine", just to launch the album's magic for good with "Born to be my baby" and "Living in sin" - all of these Billboard Top-ten singles. The second part is, in my view, arguably even better. Truly heavy, hard (almost heavy-metal) "Homebound train"; the ultimate number one ballad all across the world, "I'll be there for there for you" and "Stick to your guns" are beyond doubt everything what the Bon Jovi-phenomenon from the 80's was all about; while "Wild is the wind" is one of the best songs in the music history that have ever been recorded (it's a pity it wasn't a single). Simply, the entire album clearly depicts the band's success, containing widely-appealing, competent pop-rock-metal material that is so much fun and so much entertaining. Please, do not get me wrong: I am very open-minded and have no doubt this was a commercial band, and there is no use in comparing it to Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin. But in what they did, they were the best.
This is a must-have.

Please read my other BJ reviews.


The BEST Bon Jovi Album   February 18, 1999
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

Bon Jovi is a great band and New Jersey is their all-time best album to me. It's solid on every track from the great rock song, "Bad Medicine" and "Stick to Your Guns" to the ballad, "I'll Be There for You." Bon Jovi continues to make great music, but it'll be hard to top this one. FUN music- now there's a new concept.