Wanted Dead or Alive

Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora wrote it, and it was released in 1987 as the third single from Slippery When Wet. It reached number seven on the Hot 100 and number 13 on the Mainstream Rock chart, which made Slippery When Wet the first glam metal album with three Top 10 hits on the Hot 100. The title pays homage to Jon's admiration for Old West heroes, who were hated and loved at once. Jon said the idea came on a tour bus early one morning when he could not sleep, with the life of a rock band resembling that of outlaws, in his words "a young band of thieves".

Jon told audiences in Detroit in 2008 and in Toronto in 2010 that it was influenced by Bob Seger's Turn the Page. He remembered hearing that song on a tour bus in 1985 and telling Sambora they had to write a song like it. They wrote Wanted Dead or Alive the following year.

Wayne Isham's video used footage from the Slippery When Wet Tour. Drummer Tico Torres told Classic Rock there was nothing contrived about it, and that Isham had keys to all the rooms and would walk into your room and start shooting. A live version from One Wild Night Live 1985-2001 was released as a single in 2001, and a new version on This Left Feels Right in 2003. The song is the theme of the Discovery Channel show Deadliest Catch, and the RIAA certified it four times platinum in 2015.