Considered a transitional yet decisive step, Bon Jovi's second album perfectly exemplifies their energetic heavy rock past and their future of melodic and infectious hard rock. Still exhibiting some creative inconsistency, this second release successfully blends catchy pop harmonies with powerful rock. Despite this evident lack of compositional maturity, it features notable tracks that would soon become favorites at their acclaimed concerts. The galloping "Tokyo Road" and the vibrant "In and Out of Love" already showcase the band's brilliance. Other songs like "The Hardest Part Is the Night" and "Only Lonely" acquire the appealing tone that would soon be seen on albums like "Slippery When Wet" a year later, while the powerful "The Price of Love" and "King of the Mountain" are a clear nod to the heavy metal style of their debut album.
For many it was the best hard rock album of the 80s, especially because of the popularity that this album would generate, a statement perhaps exaggerated when checking the endless list of great albums that came out in that decade, but even so, this is undoubtedly the best work by one of the bands that best knew how to combine addictive songs with contagious refrains and great melodies, all with a plus of pop sound that made them tremendously popular.
"Slippery When Wet" is full of compositions with a spectacular commercial vein, highlighting above all of them "Livin'On A Prayer" and "You Give Love A Bad Name", two huge songs that were the creative pinnacle of Bon Jovi.
The rest maintained a very high level like the epic "Wanted Dead Or Alive", or the rock "Raise Your Hands" and "Wild In The Streets" where he showed the influence of his mentor Bruce Springsteen.
