How do you follow an album as huge as Slippery When Wet?

Bon Jovi decided the best approach would be to do more of the same, and the result is New Jersey; a collection of songs which uses a very similar bombastic 80s hair metal template to that of it’s predecessor, even though the material isn’t quite as strong this time out.

That’s not to say this album is bad, of course.

It features some top tier guitar work from axeman Richie Sambora, and there’s no less than three timeless classic tracks on this disc. It’s also mighty impressive that now (some 35 years later) it remains the last rock record to have FIVE singles reach the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.

So, if anything, the fact that it still disappoints only goes to show how impossibly high the bar had been set.

For the highlights, you need look no further than the singles.

Three of them (the gospel-infused Lay Your Hands On Me, party rock anthem Bad Medicine, and stupendously good ballad I’ll Be There For You) have become mainstays of their live setlist, and helped the band arrive on the world stage by cracking the Top 20 in several countries.

Each of these tracks does a tremendous job of bottling the essence of the 80’s rock scene, and cements Bon Jovi’s place as a nicer, more acceptable version of Motley Crue, one who you could happily introduce to your family without worrying whether they’d snort cocaine off your Grandma’s favourite china.

The problems begin for New Jersey when we get beyond those hit singles.

You see, a number of tracks seem to stutter and trip over themselves as a result of the band’s stubborn insistence in trying to pair verses and choruses which, as catchy as some of them are, simply don’t belong together. This is most notable in the awkward key changes of Wild Is The Wind and Love Is War, where it really disrupts the flow of what are otherwise great songs.

Also, I think we can all agree that the stellar chorus of Living In Sin deserved a vastly superior musical arrangement.

It’s also apparent that frontman Jon Bon Jovi now identifies as a fucking cowboy, with no less than five tracks taking on this theme. There are times when this works very nicely (e.g. the huge Stick To Your Guns and the anthemic Blood On Blood), but it mostly falls flat on its face (e.g. the lacklustre Homebound Train, throwaway Ride Cowboy Ride, and the cringe-inducing barroom chatter of Love For Sale).

Even the most effective of these “cowboy-isms” cannot compete with Wanted: Dead Or Alive, and that pretty much sums up New Jersey as a whole, as it struggles to escape the shadow of it’s mighty source material.

So why did this happen?

Sadly, it’s the band’s own fault.

You see, Bon Jovi had previously suffered “burnout” after attempting to follow-up their debut LP with a rushed second album whilst mid-way through a gruelling 4-year tour. This caused them to take some much-needed rest, and it helped them to make the best album of their career so far(Slippery When Wet). However, when the success of that album catapulted them to worldwide stardom they made the exact same mistake all over again, bowing to pressure form their record company to “strike while the iron is hot” in an attempt to continue their upward trajectory when they weren’t really in a position to do so.

In some ways, New Jersey could be seen as a “last hoorah” for the 80s hair metal scene.

Indeed, by the time Bon Jovi’s next LP arrived (1992’s Keep The Faith), rock had been reset to it’s gritty roots by Guns N’ Roses’ vicious debut album Appetite For Destruction, and then Nirvana’s arrival seemed to stamp out any remaining aspects of the hair metal genre for good.

New Jersey may never escape the shadow of it’s predecessor, but its a solid record, and to it’s credit it does a good job of showing us why Jon Bon Jovi and co. were among the few bands to survive such a radical shift in musical tastes towards the tail-end of the 1980s and the dawn of the 1990s.

It features a handful of songs which most of their 80s rock rivals would’ve considered career highlights, but in the case of Bon Jovi they were merely the latest additions to a very long line of hit singles, which would eventually comprise one of the best “Greatest Hits” albums ever made.

In summary:

New Jersey sounds fantastic when all of the pieces click into gear, but it doesn’t happen often enough.

New Jersey receives 8/11.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★