Bon Jovi

When Bon Jovi's debut album was released in 1984, British rock critics rushed to acclaim the band as America's brightest new contenders. They were right. Kicking off with 'Runaway', a full-blooded rocker that's still a favourite in the Bon Jovi live set, the album made the New Jersey boys cult heroes in the UK and Europe. There's an energy about 'Bon Jovi' that made the band impossible to ignore. And the songs were irresistable; sleek hard rock shot through with the kind of melodrama that made legends out of Jersey's other great rock'n'rollers: Springsteen, Little Steven, Southside Johny. Really, how could Bon Jovi fail with songs as good as 'Runaway', 'Roulette' and 'She Don't Know Me' ? The band toured their butts off, supporting boyhood heroes like Kiss and demonstrating a work ethic that was to turn Bon Jovi into the biggest rock act in the world. 'Bon Jovi' is the rock on which that incredible success was built. - Paul Elliott (Kerrang!)