"Wanted Dead or Alive" | ||||||||||||||
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Single by Bon Jovi | ||||||||||||||
from the album Slippery When Wet | ||||||||||||||
B-side | "Never Say Goodbye"/"I'd Die For You" | |||||||||||||
Released | March 3, 1987 | |||||||||||||
Format | CD single | |||||||||||||
Recorded | 1986 | |||||||||||||
Genre | Glam metal | |||||||||||||
Length | 5:09 | |||||||||||||
Label | Mercury | |||||||||||||
Writer(s) | Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora | |||||||||||||
Producer(s) | Bruce Fairbairn | |||||||||||||
Bon Jovi singles chronology | ||||||||||||||
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"Wanted Dead or Alive" is a single by American rock band Bon Jovi. It is from their 1986 album Slippery When Wet. The song was written by Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora and was released in 1987 as the album's third single. During a February 20, 2008 encore performance in Detroit Michigan Jon Bon Jovi told the crowd about running into Bob Seger at a Pistons game. As he introduced his song "Wanted Dead or Alive", he said it was inspired by Seger's "Turn the Page" hit and called the song the band's anthem. The song peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #13 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, making it the third single from the album to reach the Top 10 of the Hot 100. As a result, Slippery When Wet became the first hard rock album to have 3 top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100.
In 2001 a live version from the album One Wild Night Live 1985–2001 was released as a single featuring a promotional music video. In 2003 a new version was released on the album This Left Feels Right and this version was also released as a single with a promotional video.
Considered to be one of the band's signature songs, it has become known to younger audiences as the theme song for Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch TV show.
The song was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in 2015.
The song's title pays homage to Jon's admiration for Old West heroes, and how he identifies with them as being hated (wanted dead or alive). During an interview on Inside the Actors Studio, Jon said he got the inspiration for the song early one morning when he could not sleep while riding in a tour bus. The "lifestyle of every rock band" was similar to that of outlaws in that each was, "a young band of thieves, riding into town, stealing the money, the girls, and the booze before the sun came up."