1986 Bon Jovi Classic Is Among the Best Rock Songs Ever - But Jon Bon Jovi Wanted to Scrap It
When you think of the 1980s and music, it's impossible not to think of heavy metal, and that conversation has to include Bon Jovi. And when you think of Bon Jovi, the monster 1986 class hit Livin' on a Prayer is one of the first songs that come to mind.
It's come to define the band. However, it was almost scrapped because Jon Bon Jovi wasn't initially a fan when Richie Sambora and songwriter Desmond Child came up with it in a New Jersey basement. "One of the best rock melodies ever," PBS News Hour described the song.
"It evolved," Bon Jovi told PBS News Hour. The song ended up one of three monster hits on the band's iconic Slippery When Wet album.
Jon Bon Jovi Now Admits That He Was 'Wrong' About the Song
Bon Jovi opened up about the song in an interview with People. "It wasn't that I didn't want to record it, but I wasn't all that impressed on the day that we wrote it," he said.
However, according to Bon Jovi, the band worked on the initial version. "It was the simple chord progression, the melodies and the lyrics" at first, he told People. "But the bass line came to life in the demo studio, when we took it back to the band and worked it up. That's how it became what it is."
"We knew what we wanted, we just didn't have it, and so I was like, 'Yeah, it's good. Good day. Good day at the office,' and I was wrong," says Bon Jovi. "It's one of the biggest songs in our catalog."
The Hulu documentaryThank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story reveals that Sambora and Child "got on their knees and begged Bon Jovi to record the song," People noted.
"I remember walking out of the room with Richie and I said, ‘Eh, it's okay. Maybe we should just put it on a movie soundtrack,'" Bon Jovi told The Irish Times in 2021. "Richie looked at me and said, ‘You're an idiot. It's really good.' I said, ‘I just don't know where it's going.' But it didn't have that boom-boom-boom bassline yet, so it sounded more like The Clash."
According to uDiscover Music, the song was a "motivational anthem for the working class," and it "captured the economic hardship of the era. It focused on fictional couple Tommy and Gina who try to hold on to their faith as they struggle to make ends meet."
Jon Bon Jovi Said Livin' on a Prayer Was 'So Different'
PBS News Hour reported that the band initially thought the song might be best for a movie soundtrack, not a hit single on the radio.
"it was a very simple chord structure" initially, Bon Jovi said, but it later "came to life." He said it was recorded with an acoustic guitar and a stand-up piano. He realized it was "good," but even so, "It wasn't the first thing on the album."
"Prayer was so different, and it was the second single," Bon Jovi added, nothing that there have now been billions of streams. "Who knew," he said.
This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Jul 4, 2026, where it first appeared in the Entertainment section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
2026 The Arena Group Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.
This story was originally published July 4, 2026 at 12:02 PM.