"Born to Be My Baby" by Bon Jovi

Top 10 Alert!

Song#:  3732

Date:  11/26/1988

Debut:  78

Peak:  3

Weeks:  20

Genre:  Hard Rock, Glam Metal

Pop Bits:  Bon Jovi's New Jersey album, their follow-up to their multi-platinum Slippery When Wet, got kicked off in a big way with the #1 hit "Bad Medicine." It was a promising start, but the band needed to keep the ball rollin' in order to keep pace with sales of Slippery When Wet. For a follow-up single, the label chose this rocker. It would do well at Pop reaching #3 to become the band's fifth Top 10 hit. It would also crack the Rock Top 10 at #7. The hit would help spur more album sales and by January of '89 it would reach the 4x platinum level.

ReduxReview:  When it comes down to it, this is basically "Livin' on a Prayer, Pt. 2." The theme of the lyrics and even some of the production were basically riffs from their previous #1 hit. The track played well at the time, but it seems to rarely get played today. Probably because it is totally overshadowed by "Livin' on a Prayer." It was nicely done, but in the long run I kind feel like - been there, heard that.

ReduxRating:  5/10

Trivia:  When first recorded, this song was done in an acoustic style and it was the band's intention to keep it as such. However, producer Bruce Fairbairn convinced them to record it as a big hard rock track. The band gave it a go and ended up with a #3 Pop hit with the glam'd up version. An acoustic version of the song was later released on the 2014 deluxe edition of New Jersey.

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