Bad Medicine (song)

"Bad Medicine"
Single by Bon Jovi
from the album New Jersey
B-side"99 in the Shade"
ReleasedSeptember 12, 1988 (1988-09-12)
GenreGlam metal[1][2][3]
Length
  • 5:16 (album version)
  • 3:54 (single version)
LabelMercury
Songwriter(s)
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, as the lead single from the band's fourth album, New Jersey (1988). The song 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.

  1. ^ "The Ultimate Hair Metal Party Playlist". Kerrang!. 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.