Bon Jovi are an American rock band from Sayreville, New Jersey, currently consisting of vocalist and rhythm guitarist Jon Bon Jovi, lead guitarist Richie Sambora, bassist Hugh McDonald (previously Alec John Such), keyboardist David Bryan and drummer Tico Torres.

Jon Bon Jovi (born John Bongiovi) began playing the piano and guitar at thirteen and set up a number of rock groups in his mid to late-teens, including Jon Bongiovi and the Wild Ones. This went through several incarnations and slowly evolved into Bon Jovi. They caught the eye of record executive Derek Shulman, who signed them to the major label Mercury Records, releasing their debut self-titled album in 1983. Although it was not a huge commercial success, it produced the Hot 100 Top 40 single Runaway and eventually went on to sell over two million copies in the US alone. This was followed by 1985’s 7800° Fahrenheit, which produced the Hot 100 singles Only Lonely and In and Out of Love.

However, the group’s mainstream breakthrough was their 1986 album Slippery When Wet. It shot to number one on the Billboard 200 and produced the smash hit number one singles Livin’ on a Prayer and You Give Love a Bad Name, as well as the Top 10 hit Wanted Dead or Alive. It sold over 28 million copies worldwide – with 12 million shipped in the US alone – making it one of the bestselling albums of all time. This was followed by their final release of the 1980s, New Jersey, which also shot to number one in the US charts and produced five Hot 100 Top 10 singles (the most ever for a hard rock album): Bad Medicine, Born to Be My Baby, I’ll Be There For You, Lay Your Hands On Me and Living In Sin.

During the 1990s and 2000s Bon Jovi released a further seven Top 10 studio albums, scoring hits with singles like Keep the Faith, Bed of Roses, Always, Someday I’ll Be Saturday Night, This Ain’t a Love Song, It’s My Life, One Wild Night 2001, Everyday, Have a Nice Day and (You Want To) Make a Memory. Their latest release, November 2009’s The Circle, has produced the single We Weren’t Born to Follow to date.

Pearl Jam is an American alternative rock band , currently consisting of Eddie Vedder on lead vocals and guitar, Mike McCready on lead guitar, Stone Gossard on rhythm guitar, Jeff Ament on bass guitar and Matt Cameron on drums and percussion.

The group was formed in Seattle, Washington in 1990 by ex-Mother Love Bone members Gossard and Ament. They were soon joined by McCready and recorded a five-track demo to find the remainder of the band members – plumping for Vedder on vocals and Dave Krusen on drums. They initially choose the band name Mookie Blaylock (after the popular basketball player) but were forced to change it due to trademark concerns upon signing for Epic Records. The eventually settled on the name Pearl Jam, allegedly after Vedder’s great-grandmother Pearl’s famous peyote-laced jam.

The group released their debut album Ten in August 1991. Although a slow burner, the album had reached number two in the charts by late 1992 and went on to sell over ten million copies in the US alone. It also spawned four hit singles, including the UK Top 20 singles Alive and Jeremy – which was nominated for Best Rock Song and Best Hard Rock Performance at the 1993 Grammy Awards – as well as the US Mainstream Rock Tracks chart number three hit Even Flow. The album earned the group two American Music Awards for Best New Artist (in both the Pop/Rock and Heavy Metal/Hard Rock sub-categories).

Since then, Pearl Jam have released a further eight studio albums – Vs., Vitalogy, No Code, Yield, Binaural, Riot Act, Pearl Jam and Backspacer – and scored Hot 100 hits with the singles Daughter, Spin the Black Circle, Who You Are, Given to Fly, Wishlist, Last Kiss (which reached number two in the US charts), Nothing as It Seems/Grievance, I Am Mine, World Wide Suicide, The Fixer and Just Breathe.