Bon Jovi

• Genre: Hard Rock
• Hometown: Sayreville
• Bon Jovi Website

About

Eternally topping the A-list of Jersey-bred pop-metal lady-killers, Bon Jovi dominated American life in the mid-'80s. Their third album, 1986's Slippery When Wet (original, tragically banned cover art = awesome), made them megastars, but they had already won over more than 50,000 pop Hessians with 1984's "Runaway," a melodramatic story-song made unforgettable by a killer chorus and Jon Bon Jovi's absolutely perfect hair in the video. A string of hits between 1986 and 1988 -- "You Give Love a Bad Name," "Livin' on a Prayer" and "Wanted Dead or Alive," followed up by "Bad Medicine" and "Lay Your Hands on Me," from New Jersey -- defined the power ballad and resulted in a virtual Bon Jovi sleeper hold on the mainstream psyche. While the grunge explosion rendered them instantly obsolete, Bon Jovi continued to put out records amid side projects for both Jon and guitarist Richie Sambora. In 2000 they returned with Crush, an updated look (no hairspray) and a single that stands today as one of the best on their roster, the soaring "It's My Life." A creative resurgence has since resulted in steady releases, the most recent of which, Lost Highway, appeared in 2007.

- Mike McGuirk