''New Jersey'' is the fourth studio album by American rock band

Bon Jovi Bon Jovi is an American rock band formed in 1983 in Sayreville, New Jersey. It consists of singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, guitarist Phil X, and bassist Hugh McDonald. Original bassist Alec John such qu ...

, released on September 19, 1988, by

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it ...

. The album was produced by

Bruce Fairbairn Bruce Earl Fairbairn (December 30, 1949 – May 17, 1999) was a Canadian record producer. He was active as a producer from 1976 to 1999, and is considered one of the best of his era. His most successful productions are ''Slippery When Wet'' an ...

and recorded at

Little Mountain Sound Studios Little Mountain Sound Studios is a music recording facility in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. During the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, it was the most successful recording studio in Western Canada and the home for many years to producers Bruce F ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...

, Canada. The album was the follow-up to the band's third album, ''

Slippery When Wet ''Slippery When Wet'' is the third studio album by American rock band Bon Jovi. It was released on August 18, 1986, by Mercury Records in North America and Vertigo Records internationally. It was produced by Bruce Fairbairn, with recording sess ...

'', and reached number one on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart in its second week of release after debuting at number eight. It remained at the top for four consecutive weeks and was Bon Jovi's last album to do so until '' Lost Highway'' (2007). It produced five ''Billboard'' Hot 100 top ten hits, the most top ten hits to date for any glam metal album, including " Bad Medicine" and " I'll Be There for You", which both reached number one. The album was certified 7× platinum by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

(RIAA). The album also debuted at number one in the UK and was the band's first UK No. 1 album. ''New Jersey'' was released by the Soviet state-owned record label

Melodiya Melodiya ( rus, links=no, Мелодия, t=Melody) is a Russian (formerly Soviet) record label. It was the state-owned major record company of the Soviet Union. History Melodiya was established in 1964 as the "All-Union Gramophone Record Firm ...

, being the first American album to be officially released in the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nati ...

. To celebrate the band's 30th anniversary in 2014, the album was repackaged with bonus tracks.

Background

The album was recorded very shortly after the

Slippery When Wet Tour Slipperiness is when a surface has a low coefficient of friction, allowing objects to glide across the surface. People walking on slippery surfaces are likely to slip or fall. A surface can for example be slippery due to it being wet, or due to ...

, because the band wanted to prove that they were not just going to be a one hit wonder. The album was initially planned to be a double album; however, this idea was rejected by the record label because they were skeptical about the higher price point and decided they would only release a single album. One working title for the album was ''Sons of Beaches'', which alluded to the title of ''Slippery When Wet''.

Recording and production

The album was produced by

like its predecessor and recorded at

, Canada. It marked the final collaboration between Bon Jovi and producer Bruce Fairbairn. When the

ended in October 1987, the band were inactive for about three to four weeks. Then Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora began making demos for 17 songs which would make up the first batch of songs written for the album. However, they began to feel a high level of pressure because they did not feel as though they had "the amazing song". Jon Bon Jovi said that "I really wanted to do it again, not for monetary reasons—I have plenty of money—but it was such an amazing feeling to have done what we've done. There was a real fear of not being able to write You Give Love A Bad Name again." Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora sat together and wrote the song "Love Is War" but Jon Bon Jovi wanted to write a song that would prove to be just as successful as "You Give Love a Bad Name" so desperately that it came out with exactly the same chord progression. They later started on the second batch of songs and they wrote "Bad Medicine" and "Born to Be My Baby" with

Desmond Child John Charles Barrett (born October 28, 1953), known professionally as Desmond Child, is an American songwriter and producer. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2008. His hits as a songwriter include Kiss's " I Was Made for Lo ...

. "Born to Be My Baby" was originally recorded acoustically, however the producer Bruce Fairbairn persuaded them to re-record it with electric instruments in a much more metal style. Jon Bon Jovi has since said that he believed the song would have made number one on the charts if it had been released in its original form. This song has a similar theme to "Livin' on a Prayer", as it is about a young working class couple struggling to make ends meet. Although the glossy production and anthems from ''Slippery When Wet'' remained, the band wished to show a level of diversity on the album. The album is much more experimental with a long, atmosphere-building intro on "Lay Your Hands on Me", harmonica and organ duels on "Homebound Train" and a flamenco guitar intro on "Wild Is the Wind". "Ride Cowboy Ride" is a short song functioning as an introduction to "Stick to Your Guns" and was recorded in mono. The song is credited to "Captain Kidd and King of Swing", the nicknames of Bon Jovi and Sambora. "Love for Sale" was recorded and engineered by John P. Allen and Chris Cavallaro at Chalet Sound in Allenwood, New Jersey. All pre-production songs were recorded and engineered at Chalet Sound by Allen additional engineering by Cavallaro and Nejat Bekan.

Release and reception

''New Jersey'' debuted at No. 8 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart, but climbed to No. 1 the following week and spent four weeks at the top spot. It eventually sold 7 million copies in the United States. The album debuted at No. 1 in Canada, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Sweden, New Zealand and Australia. " Bad Medicine" and the ballad " I'll Be There for You" both hit No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. "

Born to Be My Baby "Born to Be My Baby" is a song by American rock band Bon Jovi. It was written by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, and Desmond Child. It was released on November 24, 1988 as the second single from their fourth studio album ''New Jersey''. It peaked ...

", "

Lay Your Hands on Me "Lay Your Hands on Me" is a song by American rock band Bon Jovi. It was released on August 1, 1989 as the fourth single from the band's 1988 album ''New Jersey''. It peaked at #7 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming the band's fourth single ...

", and " Living in Sin" reached the Top 10. ''New Jersey'' was released on July 1, 2014, as a 2CD "Deluxe Edition", which included the original album remastered along with b-sides and previously unreleased demos from the ''New Jersey/Sons of Beaches'' sessions. The "Super Deluxe Edition" includes both discs plus a DVD containing the documentary '' Access All Areas: A Rock & Roll Odyssey'' and '' New Jersey: The Videos''. Both titles were previously available on VHS.

Track listing

2014 deluxe edition

Personnel

Bon Jovi *

Jon Bon Jovi John Francis Bongiovi Jr. (born March 2, 1962), known professionally as Jon Bon Jovi, is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actor. He is best known as the founder and frontman of the rock band Bon Jovi, which was formed in 1983. He ...

– lead & backing vocals, harmonica, acoustic guitar *

Richie Sambora Richard Stephen Sambora (born July 11, 1959) is an American rock guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer, best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Bon Jovi from 1983 to 2013. He and lead singer Jon Bon Jovi formed the main songwri ...

– electric & acoustic guitars, mandolin, backing vocals, co-lead vocals on "I'll Be There for You" *

Alec John Such Alec John Such (November 14, 1951 – June 5, 2022) was an American musician. He was best known as a founding member of the rock band Bon Jovi. As their bass player from 1983 to 1994, he played on their first five albums. Such started his ...

– bass, backing vocals * Tico "The Hit Man" Torres – drums, percussion, backing vocals on "Born to Be My Baby", "Love for Sale" *

David Bryan David Bryan Rashbaum (born February 7, 1962) is an American musician and songwriter, best known as the keyboard player for the rock band Bon Jovi, with which he also co-wrote songs and performed backing vocals. In 2018, Bryan was inducted int ...

– keyboards, backing vocals Additional musicians *Scott Fairbairn – cello *Audrey Nordwell – cello *

– additional percussion, horn Additional credits *Bruce Fairbairn – production *John Allen –

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

*Peter Berring –

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orche ...

, additional vocals, vocal arrangement *Chris Cavallaro – engineering *

Bob Rock Robert Jens Rock (born April 19, 1954) is a Canadian record producer, sound engineer and musician, best known for producing rock bands and music artists such as Metallica, Mötley Crüe, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, The Tragically Hip, the Cult, ...

– engineering, mixing * George Marino – mastering *Isabella Lento, Carmela Lento – photography, unknown association * Hugh Syme – artwork, design *Chris Taylor – engineering assistance *Jim Williams – engineering assistance *Tim White – photography *Cameron Wong – cover photography

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:New Jersey (Album) 1988 albums Bon Jovi albums Mercury Records albums Vertigo Records albums Albums produced by Bruce Fairbairn Albums recorded at Little Mountain Sound Studios