Published: August 18, 2026 · 3:41 AM EDT
The 15-times Platinum breakthrough celebrates four decades as In The Studio With Redbeard revisits classic interviews and Richie Sambora recalls questioning whether Bon Jovi would survive long enough to find its sound
Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet turns 40 years old on August 18, 2026, marking four decades since the album that transformed the New Jersey band into an international rock phenomenon.
The original U.S. vinyl release is officially dated August 18, 1986 in Bon Jovi’s own archive. The band describes Slippery When Wet as the record that propelled Bon Jovi to global stardom through songs including “You Give Love a Bad Name,” “Livin’ on a Prayer” and “Wanted Dead or Alive.”
The anniversary is also being marked by In The Studio With Redbeard, which has returned to its conversations with Jon Bon Jovi and original guitarist and co-writer Richie Sambora for a 40th-anniversary edition centered on the making and impact of the album.
One of the most revealing parts of the retrospective comes from Sambora looking back at the period after Bon Jovi’s first two albums, Bon Jovi and 7800° Fahrenheit.
“I wasn’t even sure that the band was going to survive,” Sambora recalled.
He explained that, from his perspective, the group did not fully find its musical identity until Slippery When Wet. Redbeard has previously featured the same recollection in his classic interview with Sambora and Jon Bon Jovi, and the material is being revisited for the album’s 40th anniversary.
Bon Jovi’s own archive tells a similar story from the period. Sambora has described the third album as a “do or die” moment in determining whether the band would continue.
Work on the record accelerated in early 1986, when Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora began writing songs at the Sambora family home. The band later rehearsed at Century Studios in Sayreville before recording at Little Mountain Sound Studios in Vancouver with producer Bruce Fairbairn and engineer Bob Rock.
The result became Bon Jovi’s first album to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200, where it spent eight weeks at the top.
Its singles included:
“You Give Love a Bad Name”
“Livin’ on a Prayer”
“Wanted Dead or Alive”
“Never Say Goodbye”
Bon Jovi’s official archive identifies all four as singles from the album.
Forty years later, the commercial scale of Slippery When Wet remains substantial.
The Recording Industry Association of America currently certifies the album at 15-times Platinum in the United States. Its most recent certification was issued on July 23, 2024 through Mercury.
Bon Jovi’s official archive also places worldwide sales at an estimated 28 million copies.
The album’s impact extended beyond record sales. As its popularity grew, Bon Jovi went from opening shows to headlining internationally, with the official band archive documenting more than 220 headline performances across the U.S., Canada, Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand between August 1986 and October 1987.
SLIPPERY WHEN WET TRACKLIST
SIDE A
1. Let It Rock
2. You Give Love A Bad Name
3. Livin’ On A Prayer
4. Social Disease
5. Wanted Dead Or Alive
SIDE B
1. Raise Your Hands
2. Without Love
3. I’d Die For You
4. Never Say Goodbye
5. Wild In The Streets
The current In The Studio With Redbeard anniversary program places Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora’s recollections around songs including “You Give Love a Bad Name,” “Livin’ on a Prayer” and “Wanted Dead or Alive.”
The interviews should be understood as part of Redbeard’s established archive rather than as a newly conducted 2026 joint conversation. An earlier version of the program featuring Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora was published by In The Studio in 2021, while the new presentation specifically marks the album’s 40th anniversary.
Slippery When Wet did more than give Bon Jovi its commercial breakthrough.
It moved the band from an uncertain period following its first two albums to the top of the American album market, produced songs that remain central to the Bon Jovi catalog and built the foundation for the international touring success that followed.
Four decades later, its 15-times Platinum U.S. certification, eight-week Billboard 200 reign and continued presence in Bon Jovi’s live and catalog history make the album a clear example of how a single release can permanently change the commercial trajectory of a band.
Forty years after its August 18, 1986 release, Slippery When Wet remains the album that changed the scale of Bon Jovi’s career. What Richie Sambora remembers as a period when the band’s future was uncertain instead became an eight-week Billboard 200 No. 1, a 15-times Platinum U.S. album and the source of some of the most recognizable songs in the band’s catalog.
Written by Gino Alache – Music Journalist
SOURCE: In The Studio With Redbeard / Bon Jovi Official Archive / RIAA / Billboard
IMAGE CREDIT: Photo fournie par Disney
Watch Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer” below:
