The Best Bon Jovi Songs: 5 of the Arena Rock Band’s Biggest Hits

Seamlessly transitioning between true 80s rock and romantic power ballads, Bon Jovi are icons in the music industry. With many top hits throughout their 40-year career, we have listed five of the best Bon Jovi songs of all time.

Bon Jovi has been credited with “bridging the gap between heavy metal and pop with style and ease” over the course of their 40-year career.

Indeed, the arena rock band has a deep catalogue of music that branches out into multiple genres. While they are predominantly a rock group, with their most known songs perfect for jamming too, they also have a number of slower power ballads in every album.

With that in mind, we thought we’d take a listen to a lot of what the band has to offer and bring you our picks for the five best Bon Jovi songs of all time.

Livin’ On A Prayer

Undoubtedly the greatest song Bon Jovi ever came out with, “Livin’ On A Prayer” is a multi-generational anthem and a symbol of the entire decade of the 1980s.

Part of the band's most successful album, “Slippery When Wet”, the song is a timeless classic that is known the world over. You could put the tune on in any pub, club or party and everyone would be bellowing the chorus.

The song has an aura to it that can get anyone worked up in the right ways, is perfect for raising energy levels in any room, and works very well in a gym playlist!

It’s My Life

Entering into the new millennium, Bon Jovi kicked off the 2000s with a new album titled “Crush”, with the lead single named “It’s My Life”.

The song features some very characteristic features, such as a line in the second verse that refers to Tommy and Gina, who were introduced as fictional characters in “Livin’ On A Prayer”.

Rock music at the time was very popular, with grunge music dominating the scene. As such, “It’s My Life” seems to be more on track with the newer style of rock, slightly differing from what the band had played before.

They made it work, keeping to what made Bon Jovi so immensely popular before while bringing in the new-age fans and kick-starting the new millennium the right way.

You Give Love A Bad Name

The second hit from “Slippery When Wet”, “You Give Love A Bad Name” is similar to “Livin’ On A Prayer” in the sense that everyone knows it, everyone loves it, and everyone will feel invigorated no matter what the mood is.

Another one to add to the gym playlist, “You Give Love A Bad Name” was repackaged for Bon Jovi, after the original song, written by Desmond Childs, was “If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man)” by Bonnie Tyler, which didn’t do as well.

Childs re-wrote the song with Bon Jovi, and it was put into their 1986 globally successful album, and ultimately went to Number One in many countries’ charts and aided in the band's mainstream dominance of the decade.

Bed Of Roses

After recording “Slippery When Wet” and “New Jersey'' back-to-back, then conducting 16 months of concerts, Bon Jovi had a semi-break-up. The members went their separate ways for some time and had no plans for a new album.

That was until 1991 when Jon Bon Jovi himself changed the musical direction of the band. They resolved their differences and discussed plans for the future, and in 1992, the “Keep The Faith” album was released, with “Bed Of Roses” proving to be a big hit.

This is one of the examples of the band stretching their abilities - the song’s power ballad style made it a global hit and demonstrated the new direction and more mature sound the band now adopted.

Wanted Dead Or Alive

Once more off the “Slippery When Wet” album, “Wanted Dead Or Alive” shouldn’t have worked, but it really did.

Mixing the Old West themes with hair/glam metal doesn’t seem like it should mix well, but Bon Jovi made it work like it was standard practice.

It's a hit that comes with an ounce of swagger, bringing the perfect amount of rock to the country-themed lyrics. It was another example of exactly what made Bon Jovi so popular and why they were one of the main players in the scene at the time.

Bon Jovi tour in 2023?

Bon Jovi were set to tour in 2020, after bringing out their latest album “2020”. However, due to the pandemic, they were forced to cancel the whole tour.

They did, however, tour in 2022, with 15 shows across the US that lasted just the month of April.

With 2023 being the 40-year anniversary of the band's formation, there could be a chance that they announce a brand new tour to commemorate this milestone. And if so, it would likely be a world tour, with fans across the globe eager to see the legends possibly for the last time.

Be sure to register your interest in Bon Jovi VIP tickets and hospitality packages so you can be informed if/ when the band does announce any shows in the UK.

If you’re interested in American rock tunes, you will be delighted to know we have premium tickets available for Bruce Springsteen at his shows in 2023.