About The Song
“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.
Cash Box said that “producer Bruce Fairbairn and Jon Bon Jovi fashion gang harmonies around a typically monumental guitar sound.”
There are two videos for the song, one with the band live in concert, and a more well-known live video which begins with a crowd of young people waiting in line to get into the video shoot. Before being let in, one of the security guards asks if there are any questions, and Sam Kinison asks if the video will “be the same of video slop that we get from these glam rock pretty boys”. When he answers “yes”, Kinison rallies the crowd to hijack the cameras and “make a better Bon Jovi video than these guys can.” The members of the crowd are given hand-held cameras and invited onstage to help shoot the video.
Video
Lyrics
Your love is like bad medicine
Bad medicine is what I need
Oh, oh, oh, shake it up, just like bad medicine
There ain’t no doctor that can cure my disease
I ain’t got a fever, I got a permanent disease
It’ll take more than a doctor to prescribe a remedy
I got lots of money, but it isn’t what I need
Gonna take more than a shot to get this poison out of me
And I got all the symptoms, count ’em one, two, three
First you need (That’s what you get for falling in love)
Then you bleed (You get a little and it’s never enough)
And then you’re on your knees
(That’s what you get for falling in love)
Now this boy’s addicted ’cause your kiss is the drug
Oh, oh, oh, your love is like bad medicine
Bad medicine is what I need
Oh, oh, oh, shake it up, just like bad medicine
There ain’t no doctor that can cure my disease
Bad, bad medicine
I don’t need no needle to be giving me a thrill
And I don’t need no anesthesia or a nurse to bring a pill
I got a dirty down addiction that doesn’t leave a track
I got a jones for your affection like a monkey on my back
There ain’t no paramedic gonna save this heart attack
When you need
(That’s what you get for falling in love)
Then you bleed
(You get a little and it’s never enough)
And then you’re on your knees
(That’s what you get for falling in love)
Now this boy’s addicted ’cause your kiss is the drug
Oh, oh, oh, your love is like bad medicine
Bad medicine is what I need
Oh, oh, oh, shake it up, just like bad medicine
So let’s play doctor, baby, cure my disease
Bad, bad medicine
Is what I want
Bad, bad medicine
Is what I need
I need a respirator ’cause I’m running out of breath
For you’re an all night generator wrapped in stockings and a dress
When you find your medicine, you take what you can get
‘Cause if there’s something better, baby
Well, they haven’t found it yet
Oh, oh, oh, your love is like bad medicine
Bad medicine is what I need
Oh, oh, oh, shake it up, just like bad medicine
There ain’t no doctor that can cure my disease
Your love, bad medicine
Bad medicine is what I need
Oh, oh, oh, shake it up, just like bad medicine
Your love’s the potion that can cure my disease
Bad, bad medicine
Is what I want
Bad, bad medicine
Oh, baby, oh, baby
I gotta do, I gotta
I gotta do, I gotta
I gotta, I gotta
I gotta do it again
Wait a minute, wait a minute, hold on
I’m not done, one more time, with feel
Come on, one for that, help me up, now
Your love is like bad medicine
Bad medicine is what I need
Oh, oh, oh, shake it up, just like bad medicine
You got the potion that can cure my disease
Your love, bad medicine
Your kiss is what I need
Your love, bad medicine