Editing New Jersey (album) (section)

==Recording and production==
The album was produced by [[Bruce Fairbairn]] like its predecessor and recorded at [[Little Mountain Sound Studios]] in [[Vancouver]], [[British Columbia]], Canada.<ref name="ucr31"/> It marked the final collaboration between Bon Jovi and producer Bruce Fairbairn.

When the [[Slippery When Wet Tour]] ended in October 1987, the band were inactive for about three to four weeks.<ref name="ucr31"/><ref name="loudersound"/> Then Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora began making demos for 17 songs which would make up the first batch of songs written for the album. However, they began to feel a high level of pressure because they did not feel as though they had "the amazing song".<ref name="ucr31"/><ref name="loudersound"/> Jon Bon Jovi said that "I really wanted to do it again, not for monetary reasons—I have plenty of money—but it was such an amazing feeling to have done what we've done.<ref name="loudersound"/> There was a real fear of not being able to write 'You Give Love a Bad Name' again." Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora sat together and wrote the song "Love Is War" but Jon Bon Jovi wanted to write a song that would prove to be just as successful as "You Give Love a Bad Name" so desperately that it came out with exactly the same chord progression. They later started on the second batch of songs and they wrote "Bad Medicine" and "Born to Be My Baby" with [[Desmond Child]]. "Born to Be My Baby" was originally recorded acoustically, however the producer Bruce Fairbairn persuaded them to re-record it with electric instruments in a much more metal style. Jon Bon Jovi has since said that he believed the song would have made number one on the charts if it had been released in its original form. This song has a similar theme to "Livin' on a Prayer", as it is about a young working class couple struggling to make ends meet.{{CN|date=November 2021}}

Although the glossy production and anthems from ''Slippery When Wet'' remained, the band wished to show a level of diversity on the album. The album is much more experimental with a long, atmosphere-building intro on "Lay Your Hands on Me", harmonica and organ duels on "Homebound Train" and a flamenco guitar intro on "Wild Is the Wind". "Ride Cowboy Ride" is a short song functioning as an introduction to "Stick to Your Guns" and was recorded in mono. The song is credited to "Captain Kidd and King of Swing", the nicknames of Bon Jovi and Sambora.{{CN|date=November 2021}}

"Love for Sale" was recorded and engineered by John P. Allen and Chris Cavallaro at Chalet Sound in Allenwood, New Jersey. All pre-production songs were recorded and engineered at Chalet Sound by Allen additional engineering by Cavallaro and Nejat Bekan.{{CN|date=November 2021}}