All language subtitles for Bon Jovi - In Performance

[waves crashing]

[crowd cheering]

♪ Shot through the heart
and you're to blame ♪

[crowd] ♪ Darling, you give
love a bad name ♪

[rock music]

I think Bon Jovi started
out as a rock band

and they became a pop band

and they retained the
rock and roll feel.

They liked that, did they?

A bit uncool.

[no audio]

Their music was so hot,
it would melt rock.

There is quite a bit of snobbery
about Bon Jovi, I suppose,

among certain rock bands that
think they're a bit above

humming along with
the damn good tune.

They always have the last
laugh, it doesn't matter,

it doesn't touch them,
it doesn't affect them.

I mean you don't join a rock
band because you want to

be part of the Christian
Union or Salvation Army.

You don't generally join a rock
and roll band in New Jersey

because you're a
glass of white wine

with a meal and an early
night kind of a dude.

With the fame comes money,

with the money and
the fame come chicks,

with the chicks
come drug dealers,

with the drug dealers
come one long party

that can literally last
months and months and months

and years and years and years.

The name of Bon Jovi is really
synonymous with New Jersey,

I've read that as much as
Bruce Springsteen's name,

from the very earliest days.

It was very important to
them that they expressed

their background as
a New Jersey band

and it was very
much a part of

how they presented
themselves to the public.

I think you could tell Bon
Jovi came from New Jersey

in the early days particularly.

There's something extremely
loud and obnoxious

about New Yorkers which

you have to be another
New Yorker to really love,

but the boys from New Jersey
they tended to dress down,

look slightly more
like Bruce Springsteen

and less like Joey Ramone.

Certainly there is something
extremely identifiable

about Bon Jovi's
roots in New Jersey

because you can't
really talk about

that state without talking
about New York itself

because the Garden
State, as it's called,

is really looked at as the
dumping ground of New York

which is the place where the
bright lights in the big city
are.

Whereas New Jersey is
working class, is slower,

it's suburban and no one really
important comes from there.

It's a terrible stereotype but
it's something that I'm sure

Bon Jovi have reacted against
from their earliest days.

That's what really
defines them as a band,

is the fact that they've
overcome the kind of mundane
identity

that is associated with
people from New Jersey

and become bigger than anyone
from New York ever could.

Bon Jovi came out of
this New Jersey scene

which certainly had
an influence on them,

particularly Bruce
Springsteen and Southside
Johnny.

In fact, Jon Bon Jovi would
mention Southside Johnny

before he'd talk about Bruce
Springsteen back in those days,

which might be
rather surprising.

But there was that huge
scene on the Jersey Shore.

Well Jon Bon Jovi was born
and brought up in New Jersey,

as was David Bryan.

They're both the same age,
they were both born in 1962.

Jon had several
groups growing up.

Probably the most famous was
Atlantic City Expressway.

Tico, sort of nine
years older than Jon,

he had a big background
in session work

and touring bands and
he was signed to RCA

with a group called
Franke and the Knockouts.

Alec John Such was ten
years older than Jon

when the group started out.

In fact, well, he's probably
still ten years older than Jon.

And he had a background
in session work too

and he played in lots of
covers bands around New Jersey.

And Richie Sambora, also
New Jersey born and bred,

three years older than Jon.

He had a group called Mercy,

which was at one time signed to
Led Zeppelin's Swansong label,

which was very apt because he
was a massive Jimmy Page fan.

And he had another
few bands as well.

And when he first saw Bon Jovi,

who at that time had
Dave Sabo, called Snake,

who later went on
to form Skid Row.

He was the first
Bon Jovi guitarist.

Richie Sambora turned up in
Chicago to see them play

and went up and told Jon that he
had the wrong guitars

and that he, Richie,
should take the job.

And that's why he joined so.

They all came
together like that.

♪ On the street
where you live ♪

♪ Girls talk about
their social lives ♪

♪ They're made of
lipstick, plastic and paint

♪ A touch of sable
in their eyes ♪

♪ All your life
all you've asked ♪

♪ When's your Daddy
gonna talk to you? ♪

♪ But you were living
in another world ♪

♪ Trying to get your
message through ♪

In the very early days Jon
received a lot of support from
his family,

his uncle Tony Bongiovi,

who was one of the owners of the
Power Station Studios in New
York.

Jon got like a summer
job there as a gopher,

go make the coffee, sweep
the floors, as a kid.

So he got to see a lot of top
musicians working close up.

He also later on got to
demo songs during downtime,

those hours when regular artists

weren't using the
studio, usually literally

in the middle of the night.

So he built up a little stack
of demos of his own music

and when Tony
Bongiovi heard Runaway

he realised that
that was, you know,

for the first time this
was a really great song,

really great composition, and
got a team of studio musicians

together to record it with Jon,

and the demo was sent
out all over the place

and really with very
little reaction.

♪ Left there to
look at you ♪

♪ You know she likes the
lights at night on the neon
Broadway sign ♪

Like I was saying, it's very
difficult to get a record deal

and most A&R guys
are afraid to sign

or take a chance
on a young band.

And especially with
our representation

or history behind you,

I went to a radio station
because I thought who sits in a
room

by himself with a microphone,
does what he loves to do,

which is spin records
and talk into this mic?

- The DJ?
- Well, it was a DJ

and I went in and I said,

"look, if it stinks
just tell me,

"but I'm really
frustrated at this point,

"listen to this song, Runaway."

And he did and he
liked it enough

and begged me to put it
on this homegrown album

that the radio station
was putting on.

There were a brand new
station out of New York

that's now defunct called WAPP

and a DJ named
Chip Hobart there.

[interviewer] I remember that
station when I lived there

20 years ago.

It was there for a
short period of time.

It's now a country station.

It was 103.5 on
the dial out there.

But by my saying, OK, why not?

You know, it wasn't what you
ever aspired to do when you're a
kid.

You see, I'm going
to get a record deal.

Well, you think album,
you don't think single,

you don't think one
cut on a local record.

OK, we'll see what happens.

The fluke was, A,
it was New York City

and I was getting in an airplane
to New York City without a
record deal

or a manager or even
a band at that point.

And then the station
was owned by a chain

and that chain
picked up the song.

And now it was
causing a bit of a--

Sure, because now you're in a
number of cities across the
country.

- And going national now.
- And the competition is saying

where that song came from?
Who is that? How is that?

And record companies then turned
around and paid attention.

In 1983, fortunately,
I got a record deal.

Yeah.

♪ Oh, she's a
little runaway ♪

♪ Daddy's girl
learned fast ♪

♪ All those things
she couldn't say ♪

♪ Ooh, she's a
little runaway ♪

The fact is, which
they've never hidden,

or felt any shame about,

is that Bon Jovi himself, Jon,
he was signed to the record
company.

The band were not.

The band were Jon's
employees from the start.

So they were a band of guys
who Jon pulled together

to back him, so that
was always the truth.

And they didn't have any gripes
about that as far as I'm aware.

Once he'd got his record deal
and put the Bon Jovi band
together,

his whole career then
moved on to another level.

He had a manager called
Doc McGhee, who came in,

a very experienced New
York smart operator,

had a history in the music
business, knew what he was
doing.

Nevertheless it was a
very, very long struggle.

The first Bon Jovi album,

they were really a perfectly
proficient rock band,

maybe verging a little towards
A&R in some parts

and towards rock and
roll in other parts,

but some of the material
was really quite ordinary,

they were still
finding their feet,

they were still looking
for the wow factor.

Well, I mean, I think everything
else that's on the debut,

it's just like a much more
straight ahead kind of rock
album,

but Runaway is obviously
a different songwriter,

I mean you definitely get a
strong sense that Bon Jovi were,

you know, in a studio and
just figuring out what works,

you know, just like what
they can do as a band,

whereas Runaway
obviously had composition

that took place elsewhere.

I think the first Bon
Jovi album really,

the standout track is
always going to be Runaway,

it was the first
single, the first video,

it was what made them big in
Japan before they got big
everywhere else.

It was the one that the girls
really liked as well

and in a strange way that kind
of embarrassed them somewhat

because the success of Runaway

threatened to turn
them into a pop group

and at that stage Jon in
particular was very keen

that they should be taken
seriously as a rock group.

♪ This time girl
I've had enough ♪

♪ You're too hot to
handle with kid gloves ♪

I think it was a good
predictor of the cliches

that were going
to be ever present

throughout all of Bon
Jovi's discography,

of course there's an extremely
heavy emphasis on melody,

writing the killer hook,

writing something that's
going to be kind of lapped up

by the radio listening
public and so on,

but it wasn't quite there yet,

it wasn't refined because
they weren't really secure

in their identity
as a commercial band,

which is what they would
certainly become much later.

They were much more
derivative of other things

that were happening at
the time and certainly

there weren't the sort of
foreigner influences that you
hear

in some of the later albums.

♪ You held my
heart for ransom ♪

♪ Baby, set it free ♪

Well with this album,

Runaway was a top
40 hit in America

which was brilliant
for a debut single.

The album itself, it settled
just outside the top 40 in
America,

got to number 71
in this country.

So that was very very
encouraging indeed for the band

and for the record company
so there were great hopes

for the next album.

In terms of touring Bon Jovi
did a lot of support tours

and they kept on
doing support tours

right up to the point of
Slippery When Wet coming out.

When that came out they were
actually on another support
tour.

They toured with the Scorpions.

The one place where
they did break through

really really big with the
debut album was Japan

and as a result of
their reception in Japan

they opened their 7,800 Degrees
Fahrenheit world tour there.

Oh it's just genius, it's so
stupid, it's absolute genius.

The second album was
rather hilariously

called 7,800 degrees Fahrenheit
which is a hell of a mouthful

for any kid looking for
it at a record store.

The whole idea is that that's
the temperature at which rock
melts,

the idea being that you
know their music was so hot

it would melt rock.

You have to wonder because
this is the days before Google,

is before Wikipedia,

how did anyone associated with
the band or in the band know

that the temperature
which you can melt stone

is 7,800 degrees Fahrenheit?

It's completely bizarre, so
someone must have had a geology
book

laying around which
just boggles the mind

to know that so of course the
implication of that is that

"oh it's hot rock, isn't it?"

But I don't think the fans
would necessarily get that

and really the story
isn't that interesting

if that is what
the explanation is.

It's the only one that I
think anyone's come up with.

Jon who was, and is, but
particularly in those days,

an extremely pretty young man

really really wanted to
downplay the whole thing,

really really wanted to
emphasize that Bon Jovi

was a proper rock band, it was
five guys, this big gang
together,

they weren't gonna
trade on his looks.

They were gonna prove that
they could go out and kick ass

and so that whole
album, you know,

there would be no Runaway,
no big cutesy ballads,

it would be all about
ballsy kick-ass rock,

and that's pretty
much what it was.

And the only trouble
was it failed miserably.

I think it's certainly a low
point for the band, you know,

just both in terms of the
songwriting the material

that wasn't there.

And I think that they were
trying to get a bit deep.

I mean, we're talking
about with 7800

Bon Jovi before they were
really Bon Jovi, you know.

We're still talking about
the seeds of the band

that would later become
the global icons,

the kind of housewives
dream kind of band

that they later became.

So you don't really see
the refined Bon Jovi,

the kind of self-aware Bon Jovi
that knows what they're doing

and has the confidence
to write an album

like New Jersey or
Slippery Slippery When Wet

I mean, that was yet to come.

Simply they had promise, but
they weren't really there.

♪ In a place in a
world they forgot ♪

♪ Lives the
heart of me ♪

♪ A part that
just won't die ♪

A couple of reasons Bon
Jovi were big in Japan

before everywhere else...

Runaway was the first reason.

Jon's looks were
the second reason.

Japanese girls love
cute Western pop stars

and they don't come much cuter
than Jon Bon Jovi back in 1983
or '84.

Something that I wonder
about their success in Japan

is just exactly how
to make sense of it.

I mean, you don't get the sense
that rock fans are the same

in Japan as they are elsewhere.

There's almost a weird kind of
fetishization of rock stars,

an idolization that doesn't
necessarily occur elsewhere

and, I mean, you
look at the audiences

and so on these people do
not look like rock fans,

they're not part
of the same team.

♪ Take me back
to Tokyo road ♪

♪ Back to Tokyo road ♪

♪ Take me back
to Tokyo road ♪

♪ Take me back
to Tokyo road ♪

I think Tokyo Road and the
lyrics are a little bit
ambiguous actually

but it I think it
was probably inspired

by their experiences
touring in Japan,

probably the heart of the
song is the red light passage,

which is where this sort of
thunderous rock sound disappears

to be replaced with all
sorts of atmospheric noises.

And then of course the band
burst back into gallop on to the
last post

but it's an interesting song,

probably works better live than
it does on the record, really.

It's a very good live song
and it survived into the set

for quite a long time.

I think Tokyo Road
is a brilliant song.

It's instantly recognizable

and obviously the
bridge goes on forever,

which is ideal for a band
that really kind of, you know,

their cash cow is
the live stage.

That's what Bon Jovi were,

they were brilliant
sellout headliners.

And that's the kind
of song you can extend

for 30 minutes if you want to,

because it's written in a way
where it doesn't even go into
psychedelia,

it's just repetition.

And if you listen
to that bassline,

you're talking about like almost
zen-like stamina, you know,

just hitting the same string
over and over and over and over
again.

So you have to wonder how many
times you have to rehearse that,

probably once.

♪ Take me back
to Tokyo road ♪

♪ Back to Tokyo road ♪

I think when you look
at the second album

pretty much you
have to bear in mind

at every turn here is
a group desperately

trying to be taken seriously.

You don't get taken
seriously by singing

"la, la, la, I love you, you
love me, oh how happy we will
be."

You get taken seriously
trying to be Bruce Springsteen

doing Darkness on
the Edge of Town.

And that's kind of what
they were trying to do,

tackle the big issues,
prove they were serious,

have something serious to
say about this bad old world

and this tough old life

and how they feel
it deep down inside,

and I know I sound sarcastic
but you know a 23 year old boy

is trying to write
seriously about life,

that's what you're going to get.

They didn't really grab
the bull by the horns

until Slippery When Wet

when they did have professional
songwriters come in

and kind of slap them
into shape and say

"guys, this is very tedious,

"we've got to get some big
choruses together here,

"get some serious songs going

"or people are just not going to

"buy this album either
and your career is over."

I'm quite sure there was
an element of desperation

in the way they
approached that album.

On the whole, a
productive desperation,

that you can hear in the
craving to make this work,

to get across to people,

to succeed whether
most artists would say,

and I really do believe
them on the whole,

most artists would say they're
not motivated by money,

the riches side of
what might be achieved,

but they are motivated by
wanting to get their music
across

and reach those people,

and the money is a very
pleasant side of it.

♪ Will find you ♪

♪ Only lonely,
oh, oh-oh ♪

♪ I can't stop ♪

I remember one record company
executive telling me at the
time,

as always certain record
company executives will,

claiming that he'd saved
their recording career

by sending a memo out to the
chiefs at their record company

explaining that so far they'd
got it entirely wrong with Bon
Jovi,

they were treating them
like a heavy metal band.

They weren't a heavy metal band,

and the crucial point
was they were a pop group

dressed as a heavy metal band,

and if they could get their
heads around that idea,

start promoting the idea that
they've got this amazingly

good looking guy at
the front of the group

and give them some songs
that people could remember

longer than five minutes,

they might have a hit.

I think they basically...

When the kind of hammer
was put down on Bon Jovi,

certainly they were kind
of at a fork in the road

and they had to ask
themselves, you know,

what are we going to do?

Are we going to stick to
what we really love doing

or are we just going to try
and keep the band together

and become successful?

You've got to consider Bon
Jovi himself, Jon Bon Jovi,

sang on a Christmas themed
record based on Star Wars

and dedicated it to R2-D2.

You're not talking about
someone who's, you know,

kind of really out
to defy the world

with his artistic statements
or anything like that.

So I imagine that conversation

probably lasted about
two minutes, if that.

I think Bon Jovi were
probably under pressure

from the record company to
increase their record sales

with their third album
and certainly get a couple

of hit singles if they could.

They went to Vancouver to record
this album and they brought in

a producer called
Bruce Fairbairn

who had done Blue Oyster
Cult and people like that,

but he wasn't yet the big
name he later would be.

And they also brought in a
songwriter called Desmond Child

and he collaborated on three
songs with Jon and Richie,

two of them were singles,

You Give Love a Bad Name
and Livin' on a Prayer,

and the third was Without Love.

And both of these
people actually saw

the potential of the group

for absolutely fantastic
melodic rock music,

the commercial
possibilities of it

and probably lightened things
up a bit, I would imagine.

I think certainly 7800's
lukewarm reception was something
that

really kind of spawned
their later success

or would have led to their
complete failure because,

yeah, this was the 80s and the
music industry was changing at
that time.

You know, studios were changing
and they were not willing to
invest in

artists and, of course,
it's absolutely heinous

when you compare that to
what's going on in the 70s,

but it's even worse now
where you just basically

have to score a hit
with your first one.

So I think Bon Jovi's
experience with 7800

was certainly something
that, you know, was...

It's just kind of a... There's
something prophetic about that,

that they were already
getting that pressure

on their second album,
because realistically,

they shouldn't have been
writing their best songs

by that time anyway, that they
should still had them in them,

but that's not what
people were after.

There's a saying in the music
business, "art for art's sake,

"hit singles for fuck's sake."

[rock music]

As to how Slippery
When Wet got its title,

I understand that there are
some rude stories out there,

but I don't know them.

I mean, it sounds
sexy, doesn't it?

And yet, all I've ever heard is
about this road sign in
Vancouver,

where they recorded the album.

And there was a sign on
the corner of the road

saying Slippery When Wet, and
they thought, "that's a good
phrase,

"we'll call our album that."

I'm sure that's true.

And anything else is a figment
of very bad people's
imaginations.

But I'm prepared to hear the
stories if you want to tell me.

[laughing]

Well, it's an interesting thing
about Slippery When Wet, you
know,

because there's something so
deeply misogynistic

about the entire album.

I mean, of course, 80s America
was extremely sensitive.

I mean, this is
the era of Reagan.

It's the era of very
strong republicanism.

And the rebirth of conservative
values after the 70s.

And Bon Jovi, in a way,

kind of summed up a lot of
what that was all about,

which is basically we're
not talking about, you know,

feminism or whatever.

But the PMRC was extremely
active at that time as well,

and weren't happy at all
about the gigantic breasts

that were going to make
the cover of that album.

And so the band relented,

because they are not
the dead Kennedys.

You know, they didn't exactly
go up against Tip or Gore

and the conservative
American government.

They said, "OK, we'll just
have a trash bag that's wedded

"and just kind of like
write the title into it,"

which is not really the
bold artistic statement

that they might have made.

But I don't think
anyone was expecting it.

♪ Shot through the
heart and you're to blame ♪

[crowd] ♪ Darling, you
give love a bad name ♪

♪ An angel's smile
is what you sell ♪

♪ You promised me heaven,
then put me through hell ♪

You Give Love a Bad Name,
obviously the first single, in
fact,

not Livin' On a Prayer.

So that's what they
hit people with

and I suppose it's
a grittier song,

it's a harder rocking song
and it's really aggressive.

But I think it's a
very natural song,

it's not anti-women,
it's not sexist,

it's a proper hate-love song,
love-hate song, hate-love,

because they bust up and it
takes its revenge very nicely
I'd say,

as in nastily,

just because it's so strong and
here he is insulting this woman,

whether it's a
real person or not.

Obviously it becomes
generic in the song,

it just becomes what
everybody's familiar with,

of course, it's from
the male point of view,

but I think women can relate to
it too, as in all that pitch.

She treated him wrong.

♪ Shot through the heart
and you're to blame ♪

♪ You give love
a bad name ♪

♪ I play my part and
you play your game ♪

♪ You give love
a bad name ♪

♪ Yeah, you give
love a bad name ♪

Quite a lot of people have said
that particularly Desmond Child
was

almost single-handedly
responsible

for the success of
Slippery When Wet,

but I think that's
overstating the case a bit,

and he only co-wrote
three tracks.

♪ Your very first kiss was
your first kiss goodbye ♪

♪ Woah, you're
a loaded gun ♪

He didn't have a massive
reputation by then,

but he was a sort
of a song doctor.

There was a whole cluster of
song doctors came up in the 80s,

people whose function
was to work with people,

with songwriters who already
had something on the go,

but couldn't quite hit the
spot for massive popularity.

And so they went to see him,

just for three
tracks on this album,

so it's not like he's
a dominant influence

and he's only a co-writer of the
three tracks, but there he is.

He co-wrote the
first two hit singles.

[rock music]

The band had a very good idea
by now of where they were going,

They'd established what
their strengths were,

hopefully they'd established
what their weaknesses were,

and they went on
without Desmond Child

to write some fantastic
songs and fantastic albums

that are still selling
in their millions.

♪ Shot through the heart
and you're to blame ♪

♪ You give love
a bad name ♪

♪ I play my part and
you play your game ♪

♪ You give love
a bad name ♪

In terms of how Slippery When
Wet made the breakthrough,

what you see if
you read back into

the publications of the
time, magazines around about
that time,

is that it is seen as an album
that was propelled by video.

The relationship with MTV
really, really took off

with Slippery When Wet
because they had those massive
singles,

You Give Love a Bad Name
and Livin' on a Prayer,

and they had a marvelous
relationship with MTV.

Obviously they were
a very visual group

and so they were perfect
broadcasting too.

Desmond and I grew up in
New Jersey, you know.

Had a couple brothers of
mine that used to think that we
were gonna rule the universe.

Well, there's something about
Bon Jovi during Livin' On a
Prayer

acoustically that completely
changes the dynamic of that
song.

When you listen to
the original version,

it's brimming with
the kind of optimism

that you're sure that
prayer is going to get answered.

There's something about
the acoustic version

that's kind of got us sort
of sitting in a die bar

at five in the morning knocking
back your 20th whiskey.

Pretty sure the prayer
isn't going to get answered.

It kind of changes the mood into
a kind of glasses half empty

sort of song and that's not the
way it was originally written,

but it says something about
the musicianship of the band

that they could transform
that song so totally

by conveying it in
an acoustic way,

just where it's just
a little slowed down,

a little subtler, and it became
something almost political.

♪ Tommy used to work on the
docks, union's been on strike

♪ He's down on his luck,
it's tough, so tough ♪

♪ Gina works the diner all
day, she's working for her man

♪ She brings home her pay,
for love, mmm, for love ♪

Doing Livin' On a Prayer
acoustically I think did two
things.

Number one, it proved
that old adage, you know,

that the best songs are the
ones that always come over

when you just strip them down to
their absolute basic elements.

It's like Travis doing
Hit Me Baby One More Time.

You can play that on
an acoustic guitar.

It still sounds great.

It doesn't have to be
Britney and the big production

to make it sound great.

Livin' On a Prayer, same thing.

It's just a great song.

It could have been
a Beatles song.

It's just a great catchy
song, whoever does it,

and however you do it.

I think the other thing
it did for Bon Jovi

was in that kind of
pre-unplugged age it
demonstrated

a bit like the Dominion gig had
demonstrated five years before

that they actually didn't
need all the razzmatazz.

You could take all that away

and these two guys
actually can deliver.

If they were in this room right
now with an acoustic guitar

they would be able to sing just
as well as you hear on record,

play just as well, and
the stuff would come over

and you'd have to
applaud at the end of it

because they are the real deal.

♪ Whoa, we're
half way there ♪

♪ Whoa oh, livin'
on a prayer ♪

♪ Take my hand and
we'll make it, I swear ♪

♪ Whoa oh, livin'
on a prayer ♪

♪ Whoa, we're
half way there ♪

♪ Whoa oh, livin'
on a prayer ♪

♪ Take my hand and
we'll make it, I swear ♪

♪ Whoa oh, livin'
on a prayer ♪

Livin' On a Prayer has
that strong structure,

great chorus, loads of power
behind it of course,

and there's a couple of
things that happen in there

that are interesting.

One of which I think is
absolutely grotesque,

that intro where that strange
voice, that fuzz-boxed voice,

comes in whatever the hell it is
making those weird noises,

what were they thinking
of when they put that in?

What an atrocity that is.

How did that song survive that
production feature and become a
hit?

I mean, it's just so weird,

it sounds like it's gonna
be a comic song, isn't it?

What are they doing?
Does anybody like that?

Why haven't they
stripped it out?

Why didn't they strip it out
before they released it, you
know?

So there's a weirdness about it.

The song opens with
a very peculiar noise

and still people
carry on listening.

♪ She says, "We've gotta
hold on to what we've got ♪

♪ It doesn't make a
difference if we make it or not

♪ We've got each other and
that's a lot for love ♪

♪ We'll give it a shot" ♪

♪ Whoa, we're
half way there ♪

♪ Whoa oh, livin'
on a prayer ♪

♪ Take my hand, we'll
make it, I swear ♪

♪ Whoa oh, livin'
on a prayer ♪

But then in terms
of the writing,

and here again you don't know
if this is old Desmond at work,

Desmond Child, or whether
it's Bon Jovi realizing,

"hey, this is how we do it."

Does that key change
towards the end?

Now what ought to be
happening to that song

is it ought to be going
into what they always say

on the lyric sheets on
albums, repeat to fade.

And repeat to fade is not a
very inspiring thought, is it?

Can be, can work very well.

However, what you get
at that point is that

after what might have been the
last chorus, or the repeat to
fade,

you get that key
change and you go up

and you're soaring into the
finish instead of fading into
the finish.

And, you know, that
was another thing.

It's not an entirely
original device by any means,

but for sure it works there.

It does exactly what that
song is primarily about,

which is being uplifting
in the most literal sense,

it goes up and it takes you
with it and you're there,

hollering in the shower or
in the crowd, watching them,

you know, you're just singing
along and it's wonderful,

nobody can object to that,

everybody can enjoy that
I think, more or less.

♪ Oh, we've gotta hold
on, ready or not ♪

♪ You live for the fight when
that's all that you've got ♪

♪ Whoa, we're
half way there ♪

♪ Whoa oh, livin'
on a prayer ♪

♪ Take my hand and
we'll make it, I swear ♪

♪ Whoa oh, livin'
on a prayer ♪

I think it's really difficult to
say whether Jon Bon Jovi can
write

really deep lyrics.

Or he just doesn't want to,
I mean, you kinda think about

just like how it works
with the music and so on.

You know, Wanted Dead
or Alive, for instance,

it's a great example of
narrative and lyrics

and so on, where you do get this
really strong sense of character

and the story, and
things taking place.

So he's really
talented in that sense,

but you wouldn't strip the
lyrics away from the music

and probably want to recite them
as it might with other artists.

I think Jon takes huge
inspiration from people like
Bruce Springsteen

but I think trying to be
the new Bruce Springsteen is

like having Bruce Springsteen
trying to be the new Bob Dylan.

You just have to be who you are

I think Jon Bon Jovi

he reconciled himself to
that a long long time ago.

I think the fact of the matter
is that he's always been a good
writer,

your average rock lyricist,

he does know how
to tell a story,

clearly he doesn't
rely on all the cliches.

Jon really does hark back to
more of the rock style of Elton
John

kind of era,

and I think he
does hit that level

consistently enough
to be taken seriously.

Richie brings loads to Bon Jovi,

he co-writes a lot of the
best songs with Jon obviously.

He's a wonderful character,

he was very much involved with
the group to begin with,

but a very under-estimated
guitar player I think.

His guitar playing is fantastic,

if you listen to the first Bon
Jovi album there's a lot of

Richie going wild
on guitar on that.

He plays acoustic, electric,
6 string, 12 string,

guitar synths, riffs,
solos, power chords,

whatever you want
Richie plays it,

but at heart he's actually
a blues guitar player

and so when it came to
doing his solo albums

I think quite a lot of what
Richie was brought up with

is evident on those.

Well it's interesting
about Richie Sambora

because Eddie Van Halen gets a
huge amount of credit in the
80s.

Obviously he defined his
style of guitar playing.

But a lot of things that
Richie Sambora were doing

were just a little more subtle,
a little less showboating,

but extremely effective.

I think that that's the
trademark of a good musician as
opposed

to a really good performer.

And that's one of the things
about him that I think

kind of defines what he does,

and especially even
with his solo albums.

You know, I think he is the sort
of guy who likes to sit in the
studio

and, you know, fiddle with knobs
and kind of get the right sound

as opposed to just sort of
be the man in the spotlight.

Wanted Dead or Alive is one of
the most amazingly written songs
ever.

It's properly composed, and that
is all down to Richie Sambora's

style of guitar playing where
you've got to consider his
career.

I mean, he was signed
to Led Zeppelin's label

Swan Song in the 70s.

I mean, the guy knew
what he was doing

if he caught the
attention of Jimmy Page.

So if he wanted to add a
spaghetti western kind of
atmosphere

to a song he was the sort
of person who could do that

and that kind of tinkling guitar
in the beginning is
unforgettable.

It's riveting and it conveys
this kind of cinematic feel

that makes you feel as though
you are almost watching a movie.

You can see the cowboy,

you know what's
going on with him

and it just kind of
conveys the story in a way

that the lyrics
don't necessarily.

♪ It's all the same ♪

♪ Only the names
will change ♪

♪ Everyday it seems
we're wasting away ♪

I think Wanted Dead or Alive
works really well, first of all,

because it's a very good song.

It's extremely
memorable, very catchy,

you don't have to be
a rock fan to like it,

but if you are a rock fan

of course it does have
these extra layers you know,

"on a steel horse I
ride," the motorbike.

The whole allusions to touring.

The whole thing about, you know,
that cowboy thing of rock and
roll

where you turn up in town and
kiss all the women and fight all
the men.

By the morning you're
gone on your steel horse.

It works on a number of levels

and they do it
extremely at face value.

They're a very very
straight-faced,

there's no joke
or irony in there.

♪ I'm a cowboy ♪

♪ On a steel
horse I ride ♪

♪ I'm wanted
dead or alive ♪

I think Wanted Dead or Alive is
almost like their mini anthem

because they did
write it together.

It really does sum
up how they felt

about the whole rock and roll
experience at that point.

And they still do
it live to this day.

It's a big, big
moment in the show.

And for some reason, whether you
find the lyrics corny or not,

it does send that
tingle down the spine.

It's got something.

Wanted Dead or Alive is probably
Bon Jovi's signature song.

It's not my personal
favourite, I must admit,

but people love it and they
play it wherever they go.

It's just immediately
identifiable, Bon Jovi.

It's the whole saga
of life on the road.

And despite the fact that
it's such a popular song,

it's actually quite
a despairing song.

If you listen to the lyrics,

it's by no means the heroic
cowboy riding into town on his
steel horse.

It's actually a very searching,
very depressed song in many
ways.

But the way that it's
presented is kind of akin

to like a Sergio Leone film.

It's got that kind
of Wild West feel

about Richie's guitar playing,
which is very intricate,

very fitting to the song,
him and Jon, the dynamic duo.

And at the end, then Richie gets
the chance to do some full
blooded

guitar work too, so it's a
really good collaboration.

♪ And I walk
these streets ♪

♪ A loaded six
string on my back ♪

♪ I play for keeps ♪

♪ 'Cause I might
not make it back ♪

♪ I've been everywhere
(oh, yeah) ♪

♪ Still, I'm
standing tall ♪

♪ I've seen a
million faces ♪

♪ And I've
rocked them all ♪

♪ 'Cause I'm a cowboy ♪

♪ On a steel
horse I ride ♪

♪ I'm wanted (wanted)
dead or alive ♪

Wanted Dead or Alive, I
think is an example of

how their writing could
have a degree of range.

Their writing wasn't all
going in one direction.

And yet their performance was,

because although that
was a hit single,

not a great hit, but
it was a hit single.

To me, that's really
quite a poor track.

And it's because they don't
bring out what that song may
have.

And perhaps the song
is really crass.

You can easily feel
that it is crass

and of course I'm a cowboy
and a steel horse I ride,

I'm wanted, dead or alive.

Actually when you come, the
more you think about it,

any time I come
back to that chorus

it does seem pretty naff to me.

The bad end of this
kind of rock music

is when it starts to get
self aggrandizing.

When the lyrics and the
arrangement and the whole thing

starts to puff up the artist

and it just becomes an
exercise in chest beating.

And I do think that
that's probably a track

where that did happen. I mean
maybe that song was rescuable.

Maybe, he probably had to
rewrite the chorus though,

I don't think that
chorus is salvageable.

But the idea of the
itinerant musician,

the troubadour as the
gun-slinging cowboy.

You can see where it comes
from and it's not illogical,

it's just crap, that's the
problem, you know, it is self
aggrandizing.

He is a guy with a guitar on his
back as one of the verses says,

he isn't a guy with a
six-gun on his waist.

He's not going around
to kill people,

he's going around the
world to entertain people

and those are rather
different functions,

so essentially this song
is rather ill-conceived

and though the verses
I think are quite good

and a better chorus
might have been written,

it is one of those songs on
Slippery When Wet where the band

crushes the song underfoot

and they lose themselves,
really, they do lose themselves.

The poodle haircuts,
the hair rock music,

well, that had been
something that was evolving

quite naturally really, so
it's easy to look back now

and laugh at all
that but in the 80s

that was a very cool way to look
in certain rock circles, you
see.

And probably it may have started
with bands like the New York
Dolls.

Kind of crossed over to Europe
via groups like Hanoi Rocks

and then it was kind of
paralleled from Hanoi Rocks

and taken back to America
where it kind of materialized

in groups like Motley Crue,
Poison, Guns and Roses.

I don't think Bon Jovi exactly
have the biggest hairdos,

certainly the most preened,

I mean, you definitely
get a sense that Bon Jovi

is a man who might
look in the mirror

more than once before
he leaves the house,

but the the whole
idea of hair metal

is obviously a
bit of a misnomer.

It repeats none of the
ethos of metal itself.

I mean in a way it is metal for
people who don't like metal,

who want to feel as though they
are going to metal concerts,

listening to metal records
because it's completely
non-threatening

and stripped of any of the
kind of working class origins

that really defined
those kinds of bands.

I think that that look, the
poodle look, was kind of
restricted

to the stars up to a point,

because those hairdos and the
dye jobs they had and all that
caper,

like him both of them here...

I remember the issue
they're having it here.

They were pretty elaborate and
rather expensive and time
consuming

and then rude British lads would
probably call you a puff,

which was a bad thing to be
called back in those days.

And so I think that there
was a degree of crossover

but when I see pictures
of Bon Jovi fans,

at least Bon Jovi's British
fans back in those days,

they looked like what heavy
metal fans have been looking for

up to 20 years.

I think because they are
obsessed themselves, you know
Jon,

I think the curse of being the
amazingly good looking young man

is that you want to
be taken seriously.

And there's a lot of
snobbery in rock music,

particularly 20 years ago
where Lemmy from Motorhead,

well, he's clearly serious
because the man's as ugly as a
hog.

He's obviously not just
pandering to the girls, he's the
real deal.

He's a biker, you know.

He's not by the way,
he just looks like one.

You know, Ozzy Osbourne,

I mean, this is not someone
who's going to be in a boy band.

This is particularly in
Black Sabbath days

these guys weren't
designed to be

pinned up on some 13
year old girl's wall.

Jon Bon Jovi on the other hand,

is Robbie Williams
20 years before.

He could easily have been in
Take That with the right
haircut.

He could easily have been in the
Bay City Rollers before that.

He could easily be in Pop Idol
right now and do real well.

And for him that's an issue.

I think less so these days,

but in the early days when he
was still out there building
empires

and proving he had talent,
the message was implicit.

Yeah, I'm really good looking
and yes, girls love me

and I probably don't
have to try very hard.

But in fact, I do try hard.

I can really sing, I
can really write songs,

I can play guitar
and here's the proof.

There's more to me
than meets the eye.

♪ Joey comes from a
sacred part of town ♪

I suppose Slippery When Wet
is a classic rock album as in

there's a whole generation of
people who will remember it very
fondly.

That's one way of being
a classic rock album.

However, what that
does say, I think,

is that when that generation
of people dies, I suppose,

or that when their fondness
for the music of their youth

fades away, if it
ever does, that's it.

That's the last memorial
to Bon Jovi, I think.

I don't believe that,
unlike, say, Dylan,

who was one of his
original inspirations,

or I would imagine
Bruce Springsteen.

I don't think that Bon
Jovi's music will carry on

capturing new
generations of fans,

much as it has some very,
very strong qualities.

It does lack substance, really.

No, no, no, I think Slippery
When Wet is the defining moment
of Bon Jovi.

I mean, it is them
hitting their peak,

which they might have been able
to sustain somewhat with New
Jersey,

which certainly had its hits,

and Platinum albums are
nothing to sniff at.

But Slippery When Wet just
kind of hit the struck

when the iron was hot, you know.

The radio stations were ready to
play that kind of album to
death.

People were ready to
listen to it to death,

and it's really easy to see why,

because it is the sound
of a band fully realized.

I think to their credit, unlike
so many groups of the 80s,

from Duran Duran onwards really,

here's a group that made
it enormously successful

in the mid to late 80s, and yet,
you know, 15-20 years later,

they're just as big
as they ever were.

In fact, when we
think of Bon Jovi,

we tend not to think
of those days anymore,

we tend to think of the
group as we see it now,

the group that plays
Wembley Stadium,

the group that plays
Dodger Stadium in America.

The group that is literally
huge all over the world.

♪ I play my part and
you play your game ♪

[crowd] ♪ You give
love a bad name ♪

♪ Shot through the
heart and you're to blame ♪

♪ You give love
a bad name ♪

Slippery When Wet was maybe
not the peak of their career,

but definitely the golden era,

because that was when the huge
sudden impact of Bon Jovi
spread,

it spread smiles
around the world.

Everybody looks
back on that period,

and those singles are
indelibly remembered.

They're not just looking
back on the music,

they're looking
back on a whole era,

a whole lifestyle when that
music was kind of the backdrop
to it.

Bon Jovi actually went on

to sell millions and millions
and millions more records.

New Jersey was a huge album,

they're still making
albums to this day

that are selling in
their millions and millions.

I would say in terms
of career peaks,

there was a pretty
big one in 2004

when they celebrated
100 million album sales,

and they've probably put on a
few more million since then,

they're just unstoppable.

They have not been tainted
by changing fashions.

They've kept the audiences they
had, they keep adding more.

They're one of those bands
that don't go out of fashion

because they just keep
on doing what they do.

People trust them in a funny way

and they just remain
at the very very top.

Bon Jovi certainly were uncool
to a very high degree back in
the 80s

and it's not something that
their music is going to acquire

in retrospect.

So no I think they
never were cool,

they never will be cool,

but there again, that's such a
nebulous thing to say, isn't it?

It disrespects all those
hundreds of thousands of people

who enormously liked them

and it really is
only that thing about

some people being
perceived as tastemakers

and if what they say
is uncool, is uncool.

But it's no harm
in that, I'd say.

They're uncool and who
the hell cares about that?

They don't care.
Bon Jovi sure don't care.

They know where they stand.

They know they will be in the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

when they've done
their 25 years.

They know they've had
a very strong career.

I don't know where
they write their music

in relation to the great
artists who they've admired.

I suppose they probably
know they're more like KISS

than they are like
Bruce Springsteen.

Bon Jovi probably do know that.

And I guess that's why, exactly,
they would never be cool.

And they would never
be great either,

but they certainly
have been entertaining.

♪ You live for the
fight when that's all that
you've got ♪

♪ Whoa, we're
half way there ♪

♪ Whoa oh, livin'
on a prayer ♪

♪ Take my hand and
we'll make it, I swear ♪

♪ Whoa oh, livin'
on a prayer ♪

♪ Whoa, we're
half way there ♪

♪ Whoa oh, livin'
on a prayer ♪

♪ Take my hand and
we'll make it, I swear ♪

♪ Whoa oh, livin'
on a prayer ♪

[music fades]