If you grew up during the 1980s, you know that metal was pretty much divided into two camps: the good time, party metal that dominated MTV with bands like Motley Crue, Dokken, Scorpions, and Van Halen, and the no-frills, extreme artists that were pushing the boundaries of what “heavy” meant like Metallica, Slayer, Venom, Sepultura, and Bathory.

While I generally considered myself to be of the latter camp, I also liked girls and girls liked Bon Jovi, who fell squarely in the first camp. And so it was that I found myself at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis on the night of July 19th, 1985. I was just shy of 15 and my girlfriend’s mom drove us the 60 miles from our hometown to see Bon Jovi opening for Ratt. In the interest of full disclosure, I was a pretty big Ratt fan and actively hated Bon Jovi (in part, no doubt, due to the fact that my girlfriend was obsessed with singer Jon Bon Jovi).