Topping the list was an 80s band. In fact the top 4 spots were all held by 80s artists, though they all have turned out to be much more than just 80s acts. Bon Jovi's Lost Highway tour was top-grossing from November 2007 to November 2008. The tour grossed over $210 million and drew 2,157,675 fans during that time.

The next three spots were held respectively by Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band ($204.5 million), Madonna ($162 million and still underway) and The Police ($150 million on the second leg of their reunion tour). Those four tours combined to gross about ¾ of a billion dollars this year!

I have not done a top 10 list for Bruce Springsteen yet, but I have published my Top 10 Madonna Songs from the 80s and my Top 10 Police Songs from the 80s. You should check both of those out if you have not seen them before. Guess what I am going to give you this issue? Yep, I am going to give a top 10 for Bon Jovi during the 80s. As usual, the list will include links to the videos for most of the songs.

Bon Jovi started out as an 80s hair band, but ended up being a lot more than that. Over the past 25+ years, they have released 10 studio albums and have sold over 125 million albums worldwide. Bon Jovi gets its name from lead singer Jon Bon Jovi. They really broke on the scene in the mid-80s with the release of their third album, Slippery When Wet (1986) which went 12x Platinum. Then they followed that up with New Jersey (1988) which went 7x Platinum. Those two albums combined to sell 19 million copies in the US alone and charted eight top 10 hits (including four #1's)!

That makes Bon Jovi one of the most successful bands of the 80s and they are still going strong today. So here is OLD SCHOOL'S TOP 10 BON JOVI SONGS FROM THE 80's (1980-89):

10. "Living in Sin" (1988) from New Jersey [link to video]

9.(tie) "Let It Rock" and "Raise Your Hands" (1986) both from Slippery When Wet - Bon Jovi happened to be one of the first arena concerts that I ever attended and I remember both of these songs from that experience [link to video of live performance of "Raise Your Hands"]

8. "Never Say Goodbye" (1986) from Slippery When Wet [link to video]

7. "Lay Your Hands on Me" (1988) from New Jersey [link to video of an unplugged version of this song]

6. "Bad Medicine" (1988) from New Jersey [link to video which features Sam Kinison in it] - Hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November of 1988

5. "Born to Be My Baby" (1988) from New Jersey [link to video]

4. "I'll Be There For You" (1988) from New Jersey [link to video] - This power ballad stayed at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in May of 1989

3. "You Give Love a Bad Name" (1986) from Slippery When Wet [link to video] - Although originally written for Loverboy, this was the first single released from this album and thus became their first #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1986. I am a big fan of the Blake Lewis version from American Idol in 2007 which actually caused the original song to briefly re-enter the charts at #29 in May of that year. Here is a link to the video for the Blake Lewis version from AI, too.

2. "Wanted Dead or Alive" (1986) from Slippery When Wet - The original video for this song was listed as an honorable mention on my very popular Top 80s Music Videos list, so click on that link if you want to watch that. Here is a link to the acoustic performance of this song during the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards which I am a big fan of. The reaction to that performance actually lead to the creation of the MTV Unplugged series which became very popular.

1. "Livin' on a Prayer" (1986) from Slippery When Wet [link to video] - This song is considered the bands signature song and held the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for almost an entire month in February-March 1987. It was rated #1 on VH1's list of "The 100 Greatest Songs of the 80s" and will likely be ranked highly on my Top 200 when I publish that list soon. Back in 2001, after the September 11^th attacks, Bon Jovi performed an outstanding acoustic version of this song on the America: A Tribute to Heroes special which I like very much. Here is a link to the video of that performance as well.

There's my list. Remember, I was only including songs from the 80s. Feel free to leave your reactions in the comments section below. Bon Jovi must have had a little more substance because unlike Mötley Crüe or Poison or the countless other hair bands of the 80s which flamed out, Bon Jovi are destined to end up in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the hugely successful body of work they have put together. They were snubbed this year (in their first year of eligibility), but they deserve to get there and I have no doubt they will in the coming years.

That will do it for this issue of Kickin' it Old School. Thanks as always for reading. If you are interested in reading more of my 80's related issues, please click there for a summary. If you are interested in reading more of my Top 10 lists, please click there for a summary of those. You can also click on the Archives in the upper left hand column or use the Google Search Box at the top of the right hand column to find any other issues you may have missed. If you are a fan of Kickin' it, please pass the word and let others know to give it a try (and of course come back often!). Peace and much love.

Check this out: By now you must have seen the crazy events of the Bush press conference in Iraq where a journalist gets up and throws his shoes at the US president. Here is a link to the video of this surreal moment from back on December 14^th. When asked about it right after it happened, Bush responded, "So what?" There is now a series of internet games related to this shoe throwing incident. The best of which is probably Sock and Awe which you can check out by clicking on that link and playing the game yourself. It is easy to play. No matter your political beliefs, the game is just some harmless fun.

Quote of the day: "Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does." -William James