There’s not much about the actual making of Slippery When Wet here: fewer than 10 pages of this 136-page book. That’s because the band have never really said much about it. If they had, then Neil Daniels, who has also written a BJ encyclopaedia, would certainly have found it.
There has to be a story to tell about what was probably a do-or-die record for the band after two pretty moderate albums. Producer Bruce Fairbairn is sadly gone, leaving no account of the two weeks he spent recording it in his Vancouver studio, and nobody else offers much insight.
There’s a bit about the talk-box Richie Sambora used on Living On A Prayer, and how Jon Bon Jovi didn’t initially rate the song, but that’s about it. The rest of the book is taken up with a track-by-track analysis, the back story, the follow-up story and dozens of people saying what a great album it is.
