Regarded as Bon Jovi'ssignature song, "Livin' on a Prayer" has topped fan-voted lists and re-charted around the world decades after its release. In 2013, the song was certified triple platinum for over 3 million digital downloads and has since sold over 13 million worldwide, making it one of thebest selling singles of all time. Bon Jovi released an alternative version, "Prayer 94", on the 1994 greatest-hits albumCross Road.
Jon Bon Jovi did not like the original recording of this song, which is present as ahidden track on100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong. Lead guitarist Richie Sambora, however, convinced him the song was good, and they reworked it with a new bassline (recorded byHugh McDonald uncredited[6][7][8]), different drum fills and the use of atalk box to include it onSlippery When Wet. The song spent two weeks at number one on theMainstream Rock Tracks chart, from January 31 to February 14, 1987, and four weeks at number one on theBillboard Hot 100, from February 14 to March 14. It also hit number four on theUK Singles Chart.
The album version, timed around 4:10, fades out at the end. However, the music video gameGuitar Hero World Tour features the song's original studio ending, where the band revisit the intro riff and end with a talk box solo; this version ends at 4:53. The original ending is also playable on the similar video gameRock Band 2, though edited in this case (thereby eliminating the talk box solo at the end). The version included on the 2005DualDisc edition ofSlippery When Wet has an extended version of the original ending, with a different talk box solo playing over the riff (possibly taken from an outtake of the song); this version, which fades out at the end like the standard version of the song, ends at 5:06.
Bon Jovi recorded an alternative version, "Prayer 94", for the 1994 greatest-hits albumCross Road.Rolling Stone named it one of "seven pop music remakes that never should have happened", criticizing its alteration of the song's "greatest strength", its chorus melody, and speculating that it was "a play for respectability" after the rise ofgrunge.[9]
After theSeptember 11, 2001 attacks – in which New Jersey was the second-hardest hit state after New York, suffering hundreds of casualties among bothWTC workers andfirst responders – the band performed an acoustic version of this song for New York. Bon Jovi performed a similar version as part of the specialAmerica: A Tribute to Heroes.
In 2022,Mike Reno, vocalist of the bandLoverboy, said he was certain the backing vocals he recorded for this song are used.[10]
Billboard said that "metal muscle meets gritty reality in a tough, clanging rocker."[11]Cash Box said that "Solid chorus and ringing guitar highlight Jon Bon Jovi’s gutsy singing."[12]
In 2006, online voters rated "Livin' on a Prayer" No. 1 onVH1's list of The 100 Greatest Songs of the '80s. More recently, in New Zealand, "Livin' on a Prayer" was No. 1 on theC4 music channel's showU Choose 40, on the 80's Icons list. It was also No. 1 on the "Sing-a-long Classics List". After Bon Jovi performed in New Zealand on January 28, 2008, while on theirLost Highway Tour, the song re-entered the official New ZealandRIANZ singles chart at number 24, over twenty years after the initial release.[13]
Australian music TV channelMAX placed the song at No. 18 on their 2008 countdown "Rock Songs: Top 100". In 2009, the song returned to the charts in the UK, notably hitting the number-one spot on theUK Rock Chart.
In 2010, it was chosen in an online vote on the Grammy.com website over the group's more recent hits "Always" and "It's My Life" to be played live by the band on the52nd Grammy Awards telecast.[14][15]
In theBillboard Hot 100 50th Anniversary list, "Livin' on a Prayer" was named the 46th greatest rock song of all time.[16] After the song was released for download, the song has sold 3.4 million digital copies in the US as of November 2014.[17]Louder Sound andBillboard ranked the song number four and number two, respectively, on their lists of the 10 greatest Bon Jovi songs.[18][19]
The song, including its original ending, is also playable on the music video gamesGuitar Hero World Tour andRock Band 2. The song was re-worked and madeavailable to download on November 9, 2010, for use in theRock Band 3 music gaming platform to take advantage of PRO mode which allows use of a real guitar / bass guitar, and standard MIDI-compatible electronic drum kits / keyboards in addition to up to three-part harmony or backup vocals.[20][21]
In November 2013, the song made its return to theBillboard Hot 100 at number 25, due to aviral video.
In 2017,ShortList's Dave Fawbert listed the song as containing "one of the greatestkey changes in music history".[22] In 2015, "Sleazegrinder" ofLouder included the song in his list of "The 20 Greatest Hair Metal Anthems Of All Time", placing it at number 12.[23]
The song describes two characters, Tommy and Gina, a working-class couple who struggle to make ends meet. Tommy loses his job as a dockworker due to a strike while Gina works as a diner waitress. Its storyline was loosely based on real-life events that Richie Sambora, Jon Bon Jovi and songwriter Desmond Child witnessed and experienced in the 1970s. The 1977 Dockworkers' Strike was the inspiration for Tommy's plight, wherein the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) engaged in a seven-week work stoppage, demanding a 77% pay raise over six years. In another case, before becoming successful artists and songwriters, Desmond Child and his then-girlfriend, singer-songwriterMaria Vidal, lived together and had already begun their music careers, while still working day jobs; Child was a taxi driver in New York while Vidal was employed as a waitress in a diner named "Once Upon A Stove", similar to Gina in the song. The owner, manager, and other employees of the diner nicknamed Vidal "Gina" due to her slight physical resemblance to Italian actress and photographerGina Lollobrigida.
"It deals with the way that two kids – Tommy and Gina – face life's struggles," noted Bon Jovi, "and how their love and ambitions get them through the hard times. It's working class and it's real… I wanted to incorporate the movie element, and tell a story about people I knew. So instead of doing what I did on 'Runaway', where the girl didn't have a name, I gave them names, which gave them an identity... Tommy and Gina aren't two specific people; they represent a lifestyle."[25] Tommy and Gina are also referred to in Bon Jovi's 1988 song "99 in the Shade" and their 2000 single "It's My Life".
In a 2002 interview, Bon Jovi said that he wrote the song as a response to theReagan Era, adding, "trickle-down economics are really inspirational to writing songs".[26]
The music video was filmed on September 17, 1986, at theGrand Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles, California and was directed byWayne Isham.[27] It starts with a silhouette of the band walking down a hall, followed by shots of the band rehearsing, filmed in black and white, then playing in front of a crowd, in color. Near the beginning of the song, Jon puts on a harness that is being attached to wires by professional stunt coordinators and stunt spotters, and during the final chorus, he soars over the crowd.
The video reached 1 billion views on YouTube (the band's second song to do so) on February 1, 2023.[28]
In the1989 MTV Video Music Awards, Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora performed acoustic versions of this song and "Wanted Dead or Alive". WhileMTV Unplugged was already in development by the time of this event, itsshowrunners 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".[29]
A re-recorded and slower version of the song, "Prayer '94," also appeared on U.S. versions of the band'sCross Road hits collection.[30]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
^Jon, Bon Jovi; Richie, Sambora; Desmond, Child; Jovi, Bon (June 25, 2007)."Livin' on a Prayer".www.musicnotes.com.Archived from the original on May 11, 2024. RetrievedMay 11, 2024.
^Pennanen, Timo (2006).Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi.ISBN978-951-1-21053-5.
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