Jon Bon Jovi recently opened up about the making of Bon Jovi’s iconic “Slippery When Wet” album cover, revealing the story behind its creation.
The singer explained how a last-minute crisis over the album’s original artwork forced him to come up with a quick alternative just as the record was about to be released.
“We’re 3,000 miles away in Vancouver. The record company takes this picture of a girl’s bosom, from her lips down to her belly button, and across her chest [they] write ‘Slippery When Wet,'” Jon Bon Jovi said. “And they send me this album cover, and I’m appalled by the cropping of the picture. It’s career suicide if you put this album cover out. And they said, ‘Well, we’ve printed up half a million of them; you’re f*cked!'”
He went on to describe the pressure of the situation, given that the album’s lead single was already gaining traction on the radio.
“The issue arose late in the pre-release stage, with lead single ‘Bad Name’ already in heavy radio rotation,” he continued. “And I said, ‘We’re in trouble!’ [I] went into the photo studio with the photographer, squirted a black hefty bag, wrote ‘Slippery When Wet’ with my fingers. And I said, ‘If it worked for AC/DC – Back in Black – it’s good enough for me. There’s your album cover!'”
The now-famous cover went on to become one of the most recognizable images in rock history, released 40 years ago this month.
The chaos behind that photo shoot runs even deeper than the singer’s account suggests. Photographer Mark Weiss, who was behind the camera that day, remembers Jon Bon Jovi walking into the studio with a single instruction already in mind: have a black plastic bag ready. Weiss propped up the bag and sprayed it with an oil and water mixture to create the slick, wet effect. Jon then wrote “Slippery When Wet” across it with his finger and walked out without even waiting to see the Polaroid.
“That’s it. That’s their cover,” Jon Bon Jovi said as he left the studio, showing just how little hesitation he had once the idea clicked.
The cover that caused all the trouble in the first place was even more provocative than the cropped image Jon Bon Jovi described. The original concept featured a model in a soaked yellow T-shirt with the album’s title stretched across her chest. Record executives ultimately scrapped the image over fears that major retailers would refuse to stock it. This was a real concern in the mid-1980s, as the PMRC pushed for stricter controls on album content.
Even the album’s title has an origin story rooted in the band’s time in Vancouver. Guitarist Richie Sambora has said the phrase came from a road sign the band spotted while driving back from a strip club they frequented during the recording sessions. The image of a performer using an onstage shower as part of her act, combined with that sign, sparked the concept that would eventually define the record’s entire visual identity.
“Slippery When Wet” was released on August 18, 1986. It went on to become one of the best-selling rock albums of its era, proving that Jon Bon Jovi’s improvised, hefty-bag solution was far more than a last-minute fix.
