Give It A Spin

That's Entertainment : Bon Jovi

The other night I was watching Rambo First Blood on the box (after having watched most of Reign of Fire) and during the ads, I channel surfed. Over a few stations was U-571 (one of the WORST movies of all time, full of historical inaccuracies - a tissue of lies, purported to be 'real' American WWII deeds, but actually a British deed done wayyyyyy before the Yanks even entered WWII. As a side note, the real U-571 was sunk by Aussies! A link from Reign of Fire to U-571 is Matthew McConaughey - make of that what you will).

In my stupor, two things hit me.

1. TV is s#ite.

2. Jon Bon Jovi acts!! Apparently he's been doing it for years. [ U-571 was released in 2000 ]

Then this week, I read an article about an Aussie who got walked down the aisle in Las Vegas by none other than Jon Bon Jovi.

And today, changing radio channels, on comes Blaze of Glory. Yep. Shot dowwnnnnnnnnn...in a bla-zzzzzzze of glo-rryyyyyyyyyy!

It had to be a sign.

So I whipped on the I-tunes and had myself a little party.

I first got in to Bon Jovi when Slippery When Wet and New Jersey were monstering the world. Chock full of hair-metal rockers, passionate ballads with a hint of blues. I remember them being BIG. And I mean B I G. They were the first American band to ever have an album released in the USSR, on the Melodyia label,and first USSR sanctioned American band to perform in Moscow at the Moscow Music Peace Festival in August 1989. Just remember, this was before the end of Communism, giving them a foot in to a massive market and a chance to expand their fan base. The festival, despite the egos, etc...is a pinnacle of the glam/hair metal era.

After Blaze of Glory topped charts in late 1990, Bon Jovi went quiet, grunge arrived and hair metal slowly slipped off the radio formats. I remember Hot Metal mag saying they'd split up. Then when they hadn't, there was 'that' haircut heard around the world when Jon Bon Jovi had his long locks shorn down. That's when hair-metal died.

In late 1992, my folks live in Laos, and they had Star Channel satellite TV and we got MTV. Half the time the promos were in English, the other half in Chinese. But what was pants wettingly exciting for the VJs was Bon Jovi were releasing their new album Keep The Faith and they were doing this promo for a meet n greet, first hearing session in the US and lucky winners could go and blah blah blah. I actually liked the single Keep The Faith and as if to say a big up yours to hair metal detractors, they breezed out and hits the top of many global charts with a slew of hits that went through for a good 2 years. Another couple of years of work as the faces of Coke OR Pepsi (smart guys - signed to both and depending on what territory they toured) and they went quiet until 2000, with Matchbox 20 temporarily filing the void.

Returning in the new millennium with Crush, Bon Jovi returned after the 5 year year absence and garnered themselves a whole new younger audience that augmented their existing fan base. They have survived changes of taste and cultural fads and fashion. They've explored a few different sounds but remained true. Their fans adore them and their global audiences gathered during the early-mid 1990's keep the registers ticking over. Professional, smart and good businessmen, they also seem like decent blokes too. They rock, they roll, they tug your heartstrings and give you exactly what their fans want. It might be sacrilegious, but like another New Jersey boy, Bruce Springsteen, they remain workmanlike when they're millionaire superstars. In fact, you could imagine yourself have a beer with Jon Bon Jovi - or have him walk you down the aisle.

Bon Jovi are smart. Eschewing the drug problems most rock bands have, they stayed fairly clean, toured the world and filled that massive niche - appealing to teen boys and the blokes with the rockers, appealing to the teen girls and ladies with the ballads. Good looking, entertaining. Good time, clean rock n roll fun. Stadia filled with the masses. More albums, singles, videos, tours, boxsets and #1s than you can poke a stick at.

Now in 2013, with a new album, another event tour and almost thirty years experience and back catalog in the vault, Bon Jovi have become my generations Rolling Stones, which is in no means an insult.

I always loved the shouty rawk of You Give Love A Bad Name.

I always loved the regal Lay Your Hands On Me with it's elongated intro and hair-band squeal of guitars.

I always loved the hair-metal bombast of Bad Medicine.

I always loved the syrup of In These Arms (single edit)

And I always loved the much forgotten, Beatles-esque Say It Isn't So.

I'm sure you've got your Bon Jovi moments too. We all do. Keep the faith Bon Jovi fans. :-)