Paul Stanley Recalls First Impression of Bon Jovi, Reveals His Role in Band’s Best-Selling Album

“I remember we were on tour in Europe, and we had a new band called Bon Jovi opening for us.”

Paul Stanley commented on his first impressions of Jon Bon Jovi and his bandmates, and recalled how he indirectly contributed to the New Jersey band’s third studio LP “Slippery When Wet”‘s production value.

One part of Kiss’s history that people tend to forget is that both Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley always stood up for up-and-coming bands and were always open to helping them make it in the otherwise very unforgiving music industry. And while Gene Simmons famously took Van Halen under his patronage, Paul Stanley’s connections played a large part in making “Slippery When Wet” the mega success it ended up being.

In fact, The Starchild originally wanted to produce the diamond-certified album – “I was a big ego,” notes Stanley while answering fans’ questions during one of the events at this year’s “Kiss Kruise” – but better judgment made him recommend working with the hit songwriter Desmond Child instead. Stanley recalled (transcription via Rock Celebrities):

“I remember we were on tour in Europe, and we had a new band called Bon Jovi opening for us. They were good, they needed some work, but they were good. Their managers said I would be interested in working with them, and I was a big ego. I said, ‘Well, I’ll only work with them if I can produce them.’

“Thank God, I didn’t produce them because I said, ‘If that doesn’t work, here is Desmond’s number.’ I gave him Desmond Child’s number, and they did ‘Slippery When Wet,’ something I couldn’t have done in my wildest dreams. So, it worked out really great, and that was a big start with this. He is a great guy, a super talent.”

Desmond Child helped write some of the album’s most popular songs, including “You Give Love a Bad Name”, and “Livin’ On a Prayer”, which marked the beginning of a long and fruitful collaboration between the band and the songwriter.