Bon Jovi’s self-titled debut album is an energetic affair from start to finish.

The majority of the material here is indicative of a band who hadn’t quite discovered their true identity yet, but breakout hit single Runaway hinted at their massive potential.

Jon Bon Jovi is said to have created this song while pulling nightshift as an engineer’s assistant at The Power Station recording studios,where he was paid for his time with free access to the studio after hours.

In a display of the blue collar work ethic and “never give up” attitude they would eventually become known for, the singer spent six weeks visiting every radio station within a 100-mile radius in order to personally ask them to play his song (!), eventually getting some airtime during the early hours of the morning on local station WAPP.

His one man viral marketing campaign helped catapult Runaway to #39 on the Billboard Hot 100 (which is quite the achievement considering he had no record deal and no manager!) and his promotional efforts impressed the head honchos at Mercury Records, who handed him a one album deal and assembled the musicians we now know as the classic Bon Jovi line-up.

Producer Lance Quinn was drafted in to give each of the songs to provide each track with a professional 1980s “sheen”, and he does the job quite well.

However, it’s noticeable that many of the songs Bon Jovi wrote for the album do not follow the typical hair metal subject matter of drugs and debauchery, instead leaning towards the blue collar rock of fellow New Jersey export Bruce Springsteen, so at times Quinn’s “pretty” production feels a little unnecessary.

Standout tracks like Roulette and Shot Through The Heart scratch the surface of their undoubted rock potential, meanwhile the anthemic duo of Burning For Love and Get Ready sound like they could’ve been ripped straight out of the “Tech Noir” scene in The Terminator, which was released in the same year.

Bon Jovi would finally master the art of framing their songs with appropriate production values on their later work (particularly in the 1990s), but we can hear that the foundations of what they would eventually become were there from the very beginning.

In summary:

Sure, it’s cheesy, but Bon Jovi’s self-titled debut album has enough about it to hint at the juggernaut they would eventually become.

Bon Jovi receives 6/11.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★