Bad Medicine (song)

"Bad Medicine"
Single by Bon Jovi
from the album New Jersey
B-side	"99 in the Shade"
Released	September 12, 1988 (1988-09-12)
Genre	Glam metal [1] [2] [3]
Length	5:16 (album version) 3:54 (single version)
Label	Mercury
Songwriter(s)	Jon Bon Jovi Richie Sambora Desmond Child
Producer(s)	Bruce Fairbairn
Bon Jovi singles chronology
"Never Say Goodbye" (1987) "Bad Medicine" (1988) "Born to Be My Baby" (1988)
Music video
"Bad Medicine" on YouTube

"Bad Medicine" is a song by American rock band Bon Jovi. It was written by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, and Desmond Child, and was released on September 12, 1988 by Mercury Records, as the lead single from the band's fourth album, New Jersey (1988). The song, produced by Bruce Fairbairn, reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, Bon Jovi's third single to do so, and became a top-10 hit in Australia, Canada, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. Two different music videos were released to accompany the song.

Critical reception

Cash Box magazine said that "producer Bruce Fairbairn and Jon Bon Jovi fashion gang harmonies around a typically monumental guitar sound." ^[4] Jonh Wilde from Melody Maker described the song as "hard rocking stuff". He added, "Most of you are more concerned with the singer's crotch I'm sure. It grinds like hard rocking records have grinded since way back". ^[5]

Music video

There are two videos for the song, one with the band live in concert, and a more well-known live video which begins with a crowd of young people waiting in line to get into the video shoot. Before they are let in, one of the security guards asks if there are any questions, and Sam Kinison asks if the video will "be the same of video slop that we get from these glam rock pretty boys". When he answers "yes", Kinison rallies the crowd to hijack the cameras and "make a better Bon Jovi video than these guys can." The members of the crowd are given hand-held cameras and invited onstage to help shoot the video. In an alternate cut of this video, Kinison has photos of various celebrities with their mouths cut for him to impersonate them while promoting the band. ^[6]

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (1988–1989) Peak position Australia (ARIA) [7] 4 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders) [8] 31 Canada Top Singles ( RPM ) [9] 5 Europe (Eurochart Hot 100) [10] 50 Finland (Suomen virallinen lista) [11] 7 Ireland (IRMA) [12] 10 Netherlands (Dutch Top 40) [13] 10 Netherlands (Single Top 100) [14] 10 New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) [15] 2 South Africa (Springbok Radio) [16] 23 Sweden (Sverigetopplistan) [17] 20 Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade) [18] 14 UK Singles (OCC) [19] 17 US Billboard Hot 100 [20] 1 US Mainstream Rock ( Billboard ) [21] 3 US Cash Box Top 100 [22] 1 West Germany (GfK) [23] 54

Year-end charts Chart (1988) Position Canada Top Singles (RPM) [24] 67 New Zealand (RIANZ) [25] 35 US Billboard Hot 100 [26] 41

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA) [27]	Platinum	70,000‡
New Zealand (RMNZ) [28]	Gold	15,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI) [29]	Silver	200,000‡
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Region	Date	Format(s)	Label(s)	Ref.
United Kingdom	September 12, 1988	7-inch vinyl 12-inch vinyl CD	Vertigo	[30]
United States	September 14, 1988	7-inch vinyl mini-CD cassette	Mercury	[31]
Japan	October 10, 1988	Mini-CD		[32]
	February 25, 1989	Mini-album		[33]

See also

• 1980s portal
• Rock music portal

• Bon Jovi discography
• List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 1988
• List of glam metal albums and songs

References

1. "The Ultimate Hair Metal Party Playlist". Kerrang!. April 5, 2018. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
2. Smith, Troy L. (April 4, 2018). "Bon Jovi's 25 greatest songs". Cleveland.com. Retrieved March 4, 2021. If there was a song that showcased just how larger than life Bon Jovi had become by the time "New Jersey" dropped, it was "Bad Medicine." To be clear, the single was in line with the glam metal every rock band was doing in the late 1980s. Bon Jovi was just doing it better.
3. "The Number Ones: Bon Jovi's "Bad Medicine"". Stereogum. June 9, 2021. Retrieved July 2, 2021. Bon Jovi did something similar when they used New Jersey as the title for their first album after their insanely popular 1986 album Slippery When Wet. With that title, Bon Jovi put their roots front and center, making the implicit point that they weren't one of those Sunset Strip glam metal bands. But for the first single from that album, Bon Jovi dropped maybe the most straight-up Sunset Strip glam metal song of their career.
4. "Single Releases" (PDF). Cash Box . September 24, 1988. p. 12. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
5. Wilde, Jonh (September 17, 1988). "Singles". Melody Maker . p. 35. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
6. Bon Jovi (June 17, 2009). Bon Jovi - Bad Medicine (Alternate Version). YouTube . Retrieved December 4, 2024.
7. "Bon Jovi – Bad Medicine". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
8. "Bon Jovi – Bad Medicine" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
9. "RPM 100 Singles" (PDF). RPM . Vol. 49, no. 8. December 10, 1988. p. 6. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
10. "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media . Vol. 5, no. 43. October 22, 1988. p. 24. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
11. Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin - levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi. ISBN   978-951-1-21053-5.
12. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Bad Medicine". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
13. "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 44, 1988" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
14. "Bon Jovi – Bad Medicine" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
15. "Bon Jovi – Bad Medicine". Top 40 Singles.
16. "SA Charts 1965 – 1989 Songs A–B". South African Rock Lists. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
17. "Bon Jovi – Bad Medicine". Singles Top 100.
18. "Bon Jovi – Bad Medicine". Swiss Singles Chart.
19. "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
20. "Bon Jovi Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
21. "Bon Jovi Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard.
22. Whitburn, Joel (2014). Cash Box Pop Hits 1952-1996 . Sheridan Books, Inc. ISBN   978-0-89820-209-0.
23. "Offiziellecharts.de – Bon Jovi – Bad Medicine" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts.
24. "Top 100 Singles of '88" (PDF). RPM . Vol. 49, no. 10. December 24, 1988. p. 9. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
25. "End Of Year Charts 1988". Recorded Music NZ . Retrieved October 11, 2019.
26. "Billboard Top 100 – 1988". Billboardtop100of.com. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
27. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2023 Singles" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association.
28. "New Zealand single certifications – Bon Jovi – Bad Medicine". Radioscope. Retrieved December 17, 2024.Type Bad Medicine in the "Search:" field.
29. "British single certifications – Bon Jovi – Bad Medicine". British Phonographic Industry . Retrieved October 4, 2022.
30. "New Singles". Music Week . September 10, 1988. p. 31.
31. Gett, Steve (August 20, 1988). "Bon Jovi Bows 'N.J.' Album". Billboard . Vol. 100, no. 34. p. 76. PolyGram is to release 'Bad Medicine' as the album's leadoff single Sept. 14.
32. "バッド・メディシン | ボン・ジョヴィ" [Bad Medicine | Bon Jovi] (in Japanese). Oricon . Retrieved January 18, 2024.
33. "バッド・メディシンWith Live | ボン・ジョヴィ" [Bad Medicine with Live | Bon Jovi] (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved January 18, 2024.