Bon Jovi - New Jersey

The follow-up to one of the best-selling albums in rock history, and proof that Bon Jovi were no fluke. Released on September 19, 1988 on Mercury Records and recorded at Little Mountain Sound Studios in Vancouver with producer Bruce Fairbairn, New Jersey topped the Billboard 200 for four weeks and went on to achieve seven-times platinum certification in the United States, cementing the band's place among the defining rock acts of their generation.

The numbers behind this album are staggering even by the standards of an era defined by blockbuster rock records. New Jersey became the first rock album ever to produce five top ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100, a feat that had never been accomplished before and has rarely been matched since. "Bad Medicine" and "I'll Be There for You" both reached number one, with "Born to Be My Baby," "Lay Your Hands on Me," and the tender "Living in Sin" rounding out one of the most relentless singles campaigns in the history of the format. Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, David Bryan, Tico Torres, and Alec John Such delivered an album that moved effortlessly between arena-rattling hard rock and the kind of anthemic, emotionally direct songwriting that connected with millions of listeners on a deeply personal level.

Named for the band's home state and arriving on the heels of the blockbuster Slippery When Wet, New Jersey could have been a victory lap. Instead it was a genuine leap forward, an album that expanded the band's sound and ambition in every direction while never losing sight of what made them so beloved in the first place. One of the defining hard rock albums of the late 1980s, as essential today as the day it was released.