The following year, 7800 Fahrenheit was released and went gold. Following its success, Tony Bongiovi sued the band, claiming he developed their successful sound the group settled out of court. Before the group entered the studio, Bon Jovi replaced Sabo with Richie Sambora.īon Jovi's eponymous debut album was released in 1984, and 'Runaway' became a Top 40 hit. Upon signing, Jon changed his last name to Bon Jovi in order to de-emphasize his ethnic background, and Rashbaum adopted his middle name Bryan as his last name. Soon, Bon Jovi was the subject of a major-label bidding war, and the group - or, according to some reports, just Bongiovi - signed to Polygram/Mercury in 1983. One of these demos, 'Runaway,' became a hit on local New Jersey radio, and Bongiovi formed Bon Jovi to support the song, recruiting not only Rashbaum, but also guitarist Dave Sabo, bassist Alec John Such, and drummer Tico Torres. He was hired as a janitor, and soon he was recording demos at the Power Station with several famous musicians, including members of the E Street Band and Aldo Nova. Bongiovi's cousin Tony owned the famous New York recording studio the Power Station, which was where Jon hung out. Jon Bongiovi spent most of his adolescence ditching school to play rock & roll, usually in local bands with his friend David Rashbaum. The shift in style worked, and Bon Jovi were the only American pop-metal band of the '80s to retain a sizable audience in the '90s. Both records were criticized for being more pop than metal, as well as being targeted toward teenyboppers, yet the group managed to subtly change its image in the early '90s, moving away from metal and concentrating on straightforward arena rock and big ballads. They also made simple performance videos that emphasized lead singer Jon Bon Jovi's photogenic good looks, and these clips helped propel 1986's Slippery When Wet and 1988's New Jersey into multi-platinum status around the world. Bon Jovi skillfully employed professional songwriters to give their songs, especially their power ballads, an appropriately commercial sheen, inaugurating a trend that dominated mainstream hard rock and metal for the next decade. By merging Def Leppard's loud but tuneful metal with Bruce Springsteen's working-class sensibilities, the New Jersey-based quintet developed an ingratiatingly melodic and professional variation of hard rock - one that appealed as much to teenagers as to housewives.

Few bands embodied the era of pop-metal like Bon Jovi.

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