‘Wanted Dead or Alive’ Was ‘Written in a Day,’ Says Jon Bon Jovi

Bon Jovi has been making hit music for nearly 40 years. Over the course of 15 years, frontman Jon Bon Jovi and his bandmates have released 15 albums. However, although the band’s fan base continues to grow, Bon Jovi’s biggest success came early on. And as it turns out, one of the band’s signature hits, “Wanted Dead or Alive,” only took a single day to write, according to Bon Jovi himself.

‘Slippery When Wet’ is Bon Jovi’s biggest album 

Bon Jovi released a self-titled debut album in 1984. But it would take a couple more years and albums for the band to reach the apex of its fame. In 1986, Bon Jovi released its third album, Slippery When Wet, and the album eventually went Diamond, selling more than 10 million copies in the United States. The album is home to arguably the band’s three most iconic hits.

“You Give Love a Bad Name” and “Livin’ on a Prayer” both hit number one in the United States. And while “Wanted Dead or Alive” didn’t quite reach that height, the track has aged just as well as its two sister tracks. Certainly, “Wanted Dead or Alive” is as memorable and as much of a crowd-pleaser as the two songs that seemingly outperformed it.

The album’s biggest hit took only a day to write

In the end, “Wanted Dead or Alive” reportedly even outsold the other two Slippery When Wet singles. But remarkably, the track was among the easiest for Bon Jovi and bandmate Richie Sambora to write for the album, Bon Jovi told American Songwriter.

“On [Slippery When Wet], I’d go to [Richie’s] mother’s which was where he was living at the time, and we’d lock ourselves in a room for about six or eight hours a day at least five days a week, maybe more and write. And we’d come out of there with a good part of a song a day, sometimes two songs a day. “Wanted Dead or Alive” and another song were written in a day.”

Other songs, such as “Livin’ on a Prayer,” Bon Jovi admits he and Sambora struggled more. In the end, the results speak for themselves. Even decades later, Slippery When Wet remains the most well-known album Bon Jovi has ever released.

What is Bon Jovi planning for the band’s future?

Sambora, of course, left the band in 2013. But Bon Jovi has soldiered on without him. In fact, the band has so far released three albums since Sambora’s departure, including 2020. But it seems longtime fans of Bon Jovi might have a reason to hope for the longtime guitarist’s return.

“We’re talking about [me coming back. I don’t think there’s any reason not to at this point,” Sambora told Absolute Radio in 2023. “I mean, [Jon and I] we did something… there’s not a lot of bands that did what we did. […] We have to get out there and do it for the fans really.”