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Wanted Dead or Alive (Bon Jovi song)

1987 single by Bon Jovi

Summary

1987 single by Bon Jovi

Field	Value
name	Wanted Dead or Alive
cover	Bon Jovi Wanted US Pro.jpg
type	single
artist	Bon Jovi
album	Slippery When Wet
B-side	"Never Say Goodbye"/"I'd Die For You"
released	March 2, 1987
recorded	1986
studio	Little Mountain (Vancouver, Canada)
genre
length	5:09 (album version)
4:09 (single and video version)
5:32 (acoustic version)
label	Mercury
writer
producer	Bruce Fairbairn
prev_title	Livin' on a Prayer
prev_year	1986
next_title	Never Say Goodbye
next_year	1987
misc
header	Alternative cover
type	single
cover	WantedDeadOrAliveJapan.jpg
caption	European/Japanese Cover

| B-side = "Never Say Goodbye"/"I'd Die For You" 4:09 (single and video version) 5:32 (acoustic version)

"Wanted Dead or Alive" is a power ballad by American band Bon Jovi. It is from their 1986 album Slippery When Wet. The song was written by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora and was released in 1987, as the album's third single. During a February 20, 2008 encore performance in Detroit, Jon Bon Jovi told the crowd about running into Bob Seger at a Pistons game. As he introduced his song "Wanted Dead or Alive", he said it was inspired by Seger's "Turn the Page" hit and called the song the band's anthem. The song peaked at number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 13 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, making it the third single from the album to reach the Top 10 of the Hot 100. As a result, Slippery When Wet was the first glam metal album to have 3 top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100.

In the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards, Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora performed acoustic versions of this song and "Livin' on a Prayer". While MTV Unplugged was already in development by the time of this event, its showrunners have credited the pair's performance with influencing the show to go from initially being meant only for "young, up-and-coming artists" into being a simplified showcase for the "big, stadium, electric-arena-type acts".

In 2001 a live version from the album One Wild Night Live 1985–2001 was released as a single featuring a promotional music video. In 2003 a new version was released on the album This Left Feels Right and this version was also released as a single with a promotional video.

Considered to be one of the band's signature songs, it is the theme song for Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch TV show. It was also featured in the movies Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man, Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, and Wild Hogs. The song has been used in episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Supernatural, The Sopranos, Miami Vice, The Vampire Diaries and The Big Bang Theory.

The song was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2015.

Background

The song's title pays homage to Jon's admiration for Old West heroes, and how he identifies with them as being hated and loved at the same time ("wanted dead or alive", so to speak). During an interview on Inside the Actors Studio, Jon said he got the inspiration for the song early one morning when he could not sleep while riding in a tour bus. The "lifestyle of every rock band" was similar to that of outlaws in that each was, "a young band of thieves, riding into town, stealing the money, the girls, and the booze before the sun came up."

Jon said during a concert in Detroit, Michigan, on February 20, 2008, that the song "absolutely positively was influenced by [Bob] Seger's 'Turn the Page'." Bon Jovi performed "Turn the Page" during a concert in Toronto, Ontario on July 21, 2010. Afterward, Jon told the audience he remembered listening to this song in 1985 while traveling on a tour bus in the midwest and telling Richie Sambora, "We got to write a song like this." The following year the duo composed "Wanted Dead or Alive".

Cash Box praised Bon Jovi's "convincing gravel-throated" vocal.

Music video

The music video was directed by Wayne Isham and features footage from the band's Slippery When Wet Tour, including shots from Rochester, New York's War Memorial Auditorium; Chicago's UIC Pavilion; Rochester, Minnesota's Mayo Civic Center; Denver's McNichols Sports Arena; Pittsburgh's Fort Pitt Tunnel and skyline; Huntington, West Virginia's Huntington Civic Center; I64E View of Charleston, West Virginia Skyline crossing the Kanawha River; Oklahoma City and other venues. The video captures the life-on-the-road feeling, with several shots of the exhausted band members. The audio for the video uses the short (edited) version of the song.

In Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet Special Edition, Jon and Richie perform the acoustic version of "Wanted Dead or Alive" live, and before singing they mention they wrote the song in Richie's mother's basement a year ago (1985 or 1986) and Richie says "Mom, this is for you" and Jon thanks her by saying "Thanks for Richie's mom for not doing the laundry the day we wrote this song, it's called 'Wanted Dead or Alive'". In this version, Richie and Jon take turns singing during the second and the last verse. The guitar solo is performed on one of Sambora's trademark multi-neck 12-string Ovation guitars, rather than switching to an electric guitar for the solo and last verse of the song.

Track listings

Charts

Original version

Chart (1987)	Peak
position	Australia (Kent Music Report)	Canada (RPM)	Ireland (IRMA)	US Album Rock Tracks
13
17
6
13

Chart (2007)	Peak
position

2000 live version

Chart (2000–01)	Peak
position	Germany (Media Control AG)	Netherlands (Mega Single Top 100)
45
26

Year-end charts

Chart (1987)	Position	Australia (Kent Music Report)	US Billboard Hot 100
82
74

Certifications

Accolades

Publication	Country	Accolade	Rank
The New York Times	US	last=Edwards	first=Gavin	date=2020-05-05	title=15 Essential Hair-Metal Videos	language=en-US	work=The New York Times	url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/05/arts/music/hair-metal-videos.html	access-date=2021-03-15	issn=0362-4331}}	5

References

(2012-05-02). "Tom Cruise to sing Guns N' Roses, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi on 'Rock Of Ages' soundtrack".
"Why are Bon Jovi suddenly musical saints?".
Spanos, Brittany. (2016-11-11). "Readers' Poll: 10 Best Bon Jovi Songs".
(November 8, 2012). "Tate Stevens Rocks Bon Jovi's 'Wanted Dead or Alive' on 'X Factor'".
"Tipping Cows in Fields Elysian - The Singles Jukebox - Stylus Magazine".
(April 27, 2012). "Tom Cruise to Sing Def Leppard, Guns N' Roses Songs on 'Rock of Ages' Soundtrack Album".
(May 18, 2011). "Road Songs: Top 10 Touring Tunes".
Graham, Adam. "Bon Jovi keeps fist pumping at Palace." ''Detroit News''. n.p. 21 Feb. 2008. Web. 9 July 2012.
(7 September 2017). "Nirvana, Lauryn Hill, and Faxes from Don Henley: Behind the Scenes at the Original 'MTV Unplugged'".
"The ‘Deadliest Catch’ theme song and why it changed, explained". WGTC.
{{YouTube. 00reYkCXNWo. Inside The Actors Studio, October 2009, Part 3 of 5.
{{YouTube. ioZ7h2qFbNU. Jon Bon Jovi talks with Richie Sambora and the audience about Bob Seger
(April 11, 1987). "Single Releases".
(16 June 2009). "Bon Jovi – Wanted Dead Or Alive". youtube.com.
"BON JOVI - WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE (SONG)". australian-charts.com.
"BON JOVI - WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE (LIVE) (SONG)". australian-charts.com.
Kent, David. (1993). "Australian Chart Book 1970–1992". Australian Chart Book.
"Top Singles - Volume 46, No. 9, June 06 1987". Collectionscanada.gc.ca.
"The Irish Charts". irishcharts.ie.
"Bon Jovi - Mainstrean Rock".
"Bon Jovi - Wanted Dead Or Alive (live)". Charts.de. [[Media Control]].
"Bon Jovi - Wanted Dead Or Alive (live)". Dutchcharts.nl. Hung Medien.
"Australian Music Report No 701 – 28 December 1987 > National Top 100 Singles for 1987". [[Kent Music Report]], via Imgur.com.
"Top 100 Hits for 1987". The Longbored Surfer.
Edwards, Gavin. (2020-05-05). "15 Essential Hair-Metal Videos". The New York Times.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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