BON JOVI SWIMS AGAINST THE OLDIE TIDE

Pop quiz time. Bon Jovi is:

a. A new fragrance from Revlon.

b. An Italian pole vaulter.

c. The name of the No. 1 band on the Billboard charts this week.

The correct answer, as any hard-rock fan could tell you, is (c). After only seven weeks on the charts, Bon Jovi’s “Slippery When Wet” album has sold nearly 2 million copies, and is still going strong. Still, Bon Jovi, who is led by New Jersey-bred guitarist Jon Bon Jovi, has to be one of the least celebrated young rock bands to top the charts in recent memory.

The group has received little mainstream media coverage, the critics can’t stand them (a recent Calendar review called the band’s current album “laughable and ludicrous”), and even the band’s record label, PolyGram Records, seems a bit surprised by this album’s meteoric rise to the top. What’s even more amazing is that PolyGram has an even more obscure gang of head-bangers, Cinderella, hovering in Billboard’s Top 15 this week.

With rock radio playing mostly oldies these days, how did PolyGram do it?

One key reason is MTV’s renewed interest in hard-edged rockers. The 24-hour video channel, which abandoned many heavy-metal bands several years ago, has quietly returned to its hard-rock roots, perhaps as a way of bolstering its flagging ratings. According to PolyGram marketing chief Harry Anger, Bon Jovi’s current video, “You Give Love a Bad Name,” has received “tremendous exposure” on MTV, as have the past pair of videos from Cinderella.

In fact, when Cinderella’s debut album, “Night Songs,” came out several months ago, the label released a video without an accompanying single, preferring to establish the band’s visual image before trying to persuade conservative radio programmers to play the record. “The theory was that we were building a lot of interest, through video exposure, touring and word-of-mouth without the single, so why do something that might cost us some of that momentum,” said Anger. “We’ve found that kids are just watching Cinderella on MTV and going out to get the album anyway.”

The label has also fine-tuned its MTV strategy with Bon Jovi. Convinced that the band’s strength is performance, the label has geared its videos away from concept pieces and more toward concert-style clips. “We found that with the videos we originally did with Bon Jovi, that Jon came out more like Billy Joel than a hard rocker,” explained Len Epand, PolyGram’s senior v.p. of music video. “We didn’t want him to seem like a singer-songwriter. So with the band’s new videos, we’ve accentuated the band’s performance strengths, which has captured a lot more of its stage personality.”

But what may have really put Bon Jovi and Cinderella over the top is the oldest trick in the book--constant touring. According to PolyGram A&R; exec Derek Shulman, who signed both bands, all the radio and video exposure in the world can’t build fan loyalty.

“There’s a huge hard-rock underground out there that I think is totally underestimated by most record companies,” Shulman said. “And their word-of-mouth is unbelievably important. Bon Jovi has been on the road nearly 10 months out of the year, doing in-store appearances and radio call-in shows, anything to reach the kids. And that’s what endears groups to fans.

“We can’t rely on album-rock radio anymore. It’s history--it’s not a real radio format anymore, with everyone playing so much old music. And I think these bands have shown that you can sell tons of records without always relying on the traditional sales tools. If you go out on the road and show the kids you’re for real, the kids will be loyal to the band, regardless of the strengths of a particular record. That’s what gives you staying power. The fan’s loyalty, not the whim of some radio programmer.”