It was a good vintage year for pop music. Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" ruled FM radio, with The Police's "Every Breath You Take" and Irene Cara's "Flashdance... What A Feeling" right behind the King of Pop for singles of the year. Men at Work were going "Down Under," the Eurythmics were telling us what "Sweet Dreams" are made of and Lionel Richie was keeping the party going "All Night Long."

And somewhere in New Jersey, 21-year-old John Francis Bongiovi Jr. was in the process of becoming Jon Bon Jovi. By the time his debut single, "Runaway" started getting regional radio play and the band Bon Jovi took form, young Jon had become semi-competent on a guitar, very profiicent as a lead singer and an absolute wizard with a hair dryer and a teasing comb. His electrified hair was streaked with highlights and stood straight up as if her were some kind of rock n' roll Medusa.

But it takes more than magnificent hair, good looks and a lucky first single to sustain a 28-year career, doesn't it? Apparently not, as the now iconic Bon Jovi's much anticipated performance at the Toyota Center Tuesday night confirms.

I studied a list of bands that formed in 1983 along with Bon Jovi. There were a few, like Run D.M.C and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, that seemed like a big deal from day one and sure bets to become superstars. There were a few others — My Bloody Valentine, Art of Noise and Guided By Voices — that seemed destined for greatness but have long since dissolved. No one, however, could have predicted that the wannabe heavy metal kids with the super prissy hair would go one to sell 130 million albums worldwide and evolve into one of the most wholesome nights of family rock n' roll in existence.

After mild success with early hits "Runaway" and "She Don't Know Me," (Fun Fact #1 "She Don't Know Me" has been disavowed by Bon Jovi and is the only one of its 51 singles that it refuses to play live), it took a couple more years for the band to find its niche. It eventually moved away from hair metal and toward big guitar arena rock and found the winning formula on 1986's Slippery When Wet. That album spent eight weeks at the top of the charts and sold 28 million albums on the strength of No. 1 hits "You Give Love A Bad Name" and "Livin' On A Prayer."

(Fun Fact #2: This was supposed to the cover of Slippery When Wet. I wonder if the album still would have become an American rock classic if this very '80s beach babe— and 34DDs — wouldn't have been switched out in the eleventh hour for the timeless and now instantly recognizable slick garbage bag logo?)

Bon Jovi never again matched the pop culture synchronicity captured with Slippery When Wet. They have continued to dole out a steady stream of mainstream sing-alongs and standing-in-the-rain ballads — 'I'll Be There For You," "It's My Life" and "We Weren't Born To Follow." Truth be told, the group's latest studio album, "The Circle" is its worst-selling album in neary a quarter century and its hottest single, "We Weren't Born To Follow," got an icy reception compared to past chart-toppers (although it did go to No. 3 in Hungary. I checked).

Bon Jovi, Tuesday 7:30 p.m. at Toyota Center

Tickets: $19.50-$129.50