Bon Jovi Still “livin’ on a Prayer”
Few rock bands have dominated the era of pop-metal like Bon Jovi has. By merging Def Leppard’s loud but tuneful metal with Bruce Springsteen’s working-class sensibilities, the New Jersey-based quintet has developed an ingratiatingly melodic and professional variation of hard rock; one that appeals as much to teenagers as to housewives.
Bon Jovi skillfully employed professional songwriters to give their songs, especially their power ballads, an appropriately commercial sheen, inaugurating a trend that dominated mainstream hard rock and metal for the next decade.
Jon Bongiovi spent most of his adolescence ditching school to play rock & roll, usually in local bands with his friend David Rashbaum. Bongiovi’s cousin Tony owned the famous New York recording studio the Power Station, which was where Jon hung out. He was hired as a janitor, and soon he was recording demos at the Power Station with several famous musicians, including members of the E Street Band and Aldo Nova. One of these demos, “Runaway,” became a hit on local New Jersey radio, and Bongiovi formed Bon Jovi to support the song, recruiting not only Rashbaum, but also guitarist Dave Sabo, bassist Alec John Such, and drummer Tico Torres.
Bon Jovi replicated the Slippery When Wet formula for 1988′s New Jersey, which shot to number one upon its release. New Jersey was only slightly less successful than its predecessor, selling five million copies and generating two number one singles, “Bad Medicine” and “I’ll Be There for You,” as well as the Top Ten hits “Born to Be My Baby,” “Lay Your Hands on Me,” and “Living in Sin.”
The soundtrack for the move Young Guns II, written by Jon Bon Jovi, produced two hit singles in the number one title track and the number 12 “Miracle,” as well as earning Grammy and Oscar nominations. The following year, Bon Jovi reunited to record their fifth album, Keep the Faith, which was released in the fall of 1992. While the album didn’t match the blockbuster status of its predecessors, largely because musical tastes had shifted in the four years between New Jersey and Keep the Faith, it was nevertheless a big hit, and it’s more straightforward sound produced the hit single “Bed of Roses.”
A Bon Jovi hits collection, Cross Road, followed in 1994, and in the fall of 1995, they released These Days, which proved to be a bigger success in Europe than America. After appearing in the 1996 film Moonlight and Valentino, Jon Bon Jovi released his first official solo album in the summer of 1997. Three years later, Bon Jovi regrouped and released Crush.
“It’s My Life” and “Thank You for Loving Me” were a chart hits and Bon Jovi’s star power soared beyond their wildest dreams. Crush eventually went double platinum in the U.S. and sold eight million copies worldwide. Within a year they returned with an eighth studio effort, Bounce, which appeared in fall 2002. In 2003 Bon Jovi re-recorded many of their most well-known songs for the release of This Left Feels Right and followed it in 2004 with a DVD companion of the same title.
Cameron Morrison
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