| "You Give Love a Bad Name" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Bon Jovi | ||||
| from the album Slippery When Wet | ||||
| B-side | "Raise Your Hands"/"Let It Rock" | |||
| Released | July 23, 1986 | |||
| Format | CD single, 7" | |||
| Recorded | 1986 | |||
| Genre | Glam metal, heavy metal | |||
| Length | 3:42 | |||
| Label | Mercury | |||
| Writer(s) | Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora and Desmond Child | |||
| Producer | Bruce Fairbairn | |||
| Bon Jovi singles chronology | ||||
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"You Give Love a Bad Name" is a song written by Jon Bon Jovi, Desmond Child, and Richie Sambora about a woman who has jilted her lover. The track was released as the first single from the album Slippery When Wet and hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on November 29, 1986, Bon Jovi's first number one hit.[1] The song reentered the charts at #29 after Blake Lewis performed it on American Idol. In 2009 it was named the 20th-greatest hard rock song of all time by VH1.[2]
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The song was written with several catchy repeated lines and associated hooks to appeal to mainstream audiences including the chorus as well as several bridges.
Some critics say that the song has the same chorus structure as "If You Were A Woman And I Was A Man" by Bonnie Tyler.[3] The Tyler song was also cowritten by Desmond Child. Desmond Child has stated that the song is effectively a reuse of the musical structure of the earlier song.
The album version of the song ends with the title being repeated until it fades.
Some say the song has to do with Diane Lane's break up with Jon Bon Jovi.
It is believed to be a reuse of the subject matter or even a tribute to "Shot Through the Heart" on their 1984 debut album.[4] Many instances exist where the songs titles are confused.
The music video for the song used all-color concert footage (the only all-color video song from Slippery When Wet) and photogenic shots primarily of Jon Bon Jovi as well as other band members in concert. This video was filmed at the Olympic auditorium in Los Angeles, California.
In 2005, Polish singer Mandaryna released her dance version of "You Give Love a Bad Name" as the second single from her number one album mandaryna.com2me. The song reached #1 on the Polish Singles/Airplay Chart, #11 on German Singles Chart and #5 on Austrian Airplay Charts.
In 1989 Bananarama did a live version of this song during their World Tour.
The song was also covered by the metalcore band Atreyu and is available on the Japanese Version of their 2004 album The Curse. It was covered on the Kerrang! CD, High Voltage. It is frequently played during their shows even though it was voted one of the year's biggest rock atrocities in Total Guitar.
Ranked Number 20 in VH1's "100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs".[2]
The song was made playable in the music video game, GuitarFreaks 6th Mix/Drummania 5th Mix, as well as Lego Rock Band, Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades, and Guitar Hero 5. The Guitar Hero version retains the original studio ending with no fade out, with a song length of 4:07. The song was released as downloadable content for Rock Band 3 on November 9, 2010.
Dwight Schrute plays this song in The Office on a recorder.
In the How I Met Your Mother episode "The Limo", Barney Stinson plays this song as part of his Get Psyched Mix and can also be seen on his blog.
The song was used as background music in the Fall/Winter 2006 Christian Dior goth-metal-rock-themed ready-to-wear fashion show.
In an issue of Thunderbolts, Deadpool starts singing the song after literally being "shot through the heart" by Black Widow.
The song was featured in the "Youth in Revolt" trailer.
KickBend evokes the "angel's smile" lyric in their song "Gone'" from the album faith.hope.love (2009).
Cultural icon Scooter Livingston maintains that the song was written about his ex-girlfriend Pam Hardy. "It fits her perfectly," he says.
| Chart (1986) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Polish Singles Chart | 1 |
| Billboard Hot 100 | 1 |
| German Singles Chart | 11 |
| Austrian Airplay Charts | 5 |
| Preceded by "Human" by The Human League |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single (Bon Jovi version) November 29, 1986 - December, 6 1986 (1 Week) |
Succeeded by "The Next Time I Fall" by Peter Cetera and Amy Grant |
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