Original subtitles

[audience cheering]

What do you say?

[audience cheering]

Alright, one more time!

[audience cheering]

You know, it's been two and a half years

since we were able to tour.

And we wanted to do some dates this year just to see if, uh,

well, if we still could.

[audience cheering]

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[Jon Bon Jovi] When I left the stage in Nashville,

I was feeling alright.

When I went into the dressing room in Nashville,

I was given another reality by someone I trust.

-[audience cheering] -[♪ soft music playing]

I had a conversation with my wife in that room,

where she had said, "It wasn't great.

And I've seen you be great."

Of course, then I heard, "It's time to retire."

It hurt my heart.

[♪ melancholic music playing]

So when I went back to the doctor,

I said, "I've done everything I can.

And I can give you 100% of 80%."

And he said, um, "Is that good enough for you?"

And I said, "No, you know, I think it's time to retire."

And he says, "I see.

Now, we can talk about surgery."

[♪ music fades]

[static crackles]

[announcer] Live from Los Angeles,

the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards.

Performing: Paula Abdul,

Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora.

[audience cheering]

-[Richie Sambora] Hi, everyone! -[Jon] Hello!

[♪ "Wanted Dead or Alive" plays]

[audience cheering]

♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh ♪

♪ I walk the streets ♪

♪ I carry my guitar on my back ♪

♪ I play and sing for keeps ♪

♪ 'Cause I might not make it back ♪

♪ Lord, I've been everywhere, oh, yeah, yeah ♪

♪ And I'm standing tall ♪

♪ But, baby, I've seen a million faces ♪

♪ And I've rocked them all ♪

-♪ And I ride ♪ -♪ When I ride ♪

♪ Dead or alive ♪

♪ Yeah, I try ♪

♪ I still try ♪

♪ Dead or alive ♪

♪ Dead or alive ♪

♪ Dead or alive ♪

♪ Dead or alive ♪

♪ Dead or alive ♪

[audience cheering]

[Richie] Thank you.

[Jon] Thank you, God bless, bye-bye.

[♪ rock music plays]

[Jon] Buenos Noches, Guadalajara.

Muchos gracias.

[♪ rock music continues]

[crowd cheering]

[airplane whooshing]

-[passengers laugh] -[Howard Stern] And it is true that by,

on your last tour,

your last tour together,

you guys were not even talking to each other.

-No, no, no. -[Howard] You had, right,

you were mad at each other.

It says it in your bio.

No, no, no, no. No, it doesn't.

[Howard] Yes, it does. I just read it in their bio.

No, you know, you have a bio...

There was never a fight within the band.

The press created the whole thing.

It started in the English newspapers.

I got it on the, by the wonder of fax.

And I'm going, "I haven't talked to the guys in about six weeks.

I wonder if the band's over."

-[interviewer chuckles] -[Jon] You know?

And I hadn't talked to anyone to find out for sure.

So one thing led to another, and it started to get ugly.

-[interviewer] Yeah. -You know, and it was because

we were all reading the press.

I don't think that there was ever a day where I'd said

at that point, I don't like these guys.

I don't want to be in a band with 'em. I...

that was not the case.

At least from my perspective.

The burnout was real.

The confusion was on 10.

I, I just didn't know what any of it meant

or why this was even worth it anymore.

[David Bryan] There wasn't, you know, cursing

and, you know, middle fingers to each other.

It just was not...

I think we were just all burned out

from the last, uh, six years.

-[Howard] You were tired. -Yeah.

-You wanted... -We never hated each other.

We were just dead. We were down in Mexico dying.

[interviewer 1] Wait, it says, "Looking back,

there was a lot of bad 'S' that went down."

-[David] Yeah. -[interviewer 2] Really?

[Howard] Yeah.

We were sick of each other.

There's no way you can't be.

[David] I always said, like, when you get off the tour,

it's like going in a train that's going 300 miles an hour

and then you jump off and you kind of roll

for a couple of fucking months,

you know, and you're rolling and rolling

and you finally clear the dust off yourself

and you stand up, you go, "Phew.

Okay, what just happened?"

[Tico Torres] Well, I lived in a little country house

in the middle of nowhere,

and, uh, I had solitude.

I needed to go and be a mechanic on my cars

or paint or do something that's just me.

Uh, I think we all rushed to do that,

to do as much as of our own, find out who we are.

And there wasn't really a certainty of what we were doing,

'cause we all kind of just went home.

It was definitely a pensive time.

[♪ somber music playing]

[Kurt Loder] The biggest, or at least the most

mysterious news of the week,

was the secret wedding of Jon Bon Jovi

and his longtime Jersey girlfriend

Dorothea Hurley,

which apparently happened at midnight

last Friday night

at a quickie hitching factory in Las Vegas

called The Graceland Wedding Chapel.

[camera clicks]

[Jon] Taking a step back, you know, 1980,

I started dating Dorothea.

I was smitten.

He was cute. I always say I'm shallow.

He was cute, he had beautiful blue eyes.

And, and I, you know, kind of was attracted to him.

You know, when you're young like that,

you're trying to figure out who you are.

We were dating, we were definitely a couple.

We were together and like anybody else,

you're trying to figure your stuff out.

And so you break up, you get back together,

you break up, you get back together.

But I knew that he was going to be something, you know?

You could just see the potential and the drive that he had.

[Jon] It is April 28th, 1989.

We had just played three nights at the Forum.

I had the number-one album, number-one single,

[Dorothea Bongiovi] And there was a big billboard

out in front of the hotel of the band.

And he said, "Let's go to Vegas."

I finally needed a higher high.

And then I, I said, "Let's, let's elope tonight.

Right now, right-right now."

And so we went to Vegas and eloped,

and then everything changed.

It was holy hell from the minute we started telling anybody.

My parents, Doc, the band.

You'd think people would be happy for us. [laughs]

[David] Well, we were more concerned about, you know,

like, "Oh, my God, if you tell everybody,

then it's gonna turn away all the chicks."

You know, they're not gonna like you anymore 'cause you're married.

So it was like, it's gonna hurt the career.

[reporter] Okay, we got one more question here.

What would you like to ask?

Okay, um, is he still seeing Dorothea Hurley?

Is he still seeing...

And if he is, forget about her, 'cause I'm, I'll take her place.

[fans laugh]

[Dorothea] Oh, there was so much drama and backlash.

People were not happy.

Everybody was very worried about what did this mean?

And I didn't wanna be the reason why, you know,

Jon was not able to continue in, in what he wanted to do.

[Jon] You know, we had to make a decision that it was us,

not them, that were gonna make the decision.

There was a lot of broken-hearted young girls

in, in, in the world.

I'm a hopeless romantic, you know, I, uh...

-[Dorothea] Oh. -[Dorothea and Jon laugh]

[Jon] And-and she's my best friend.

[Dorothea] We might've been the same,

but everyone else's perception

of who Jon was, what it was, was... had changed dramatically.

And so I went home and I-I-I shifted gears.

I just shifted gears. I-I was still on overdrive.

I was still on the, "I'll prove it to you,"

which was...

But my strength and biggest flaw is that "I'll show you,

I'll show you, I'll show you."

So I went home and I wrote the Young Guns album.

[♪ "Blaze of Glory" playing]

You know, I wasn't gonna let anyone say

that, "Oh, he had to co-write the songs."

I was like, "Fuck you, I'll write the whole album,

and they'll be number-one songs."

-[gun fires] -[actor screams]

[gun clicks]

Hold still, now.

[Jon] I met Emilio Estevez, and he actually wanted

to use Wanted Dead or Alive in Young Guns.

And I said, "Well, that's nice, but I can write you

something specific to the movie."

So I wrote Blaze of Glory to be in the vein

of Wanted the way they wanted Wanted to work,

you know, in that slot

but with lyrics that fit their movie.

♪ I wake up in the morning ♪

♪ And I raise my weary head ♪

With this, I didn't have to dig down personally

and realize, "Who am I?" again.

I just had to open up to page 110

and say, "Geez, Keifer's character needs a song."

♪ I don't know where I'm goin' ♪

♪ Only God knows where I've been ♪

No matter what he says, it could be about a movie,

but it was very cathartic for him.

He needed to get those songs out.

-[director] Action! -[gun fires]

[indistinct]

[Jon] I took a nice shot to the chest,

and yeah, Jon is dead.

[crew member] Save to the board.

[Doc McGhee] We did Blaze of Glory.

I saw it start to fall apart a little bit

because I think Jonny wanted

to go a different direction completely.

Jon went to do a solo record,

then Richie did his solo record.

I was now recording Stranger in This Town.

I was having... [kisses]

this is what that was paying for,

me to have my artistic freedom.

[audience cheering]

Uh, this man has sold

over 30 million records

as the lead guitarist for Bon Jovi.

And now he has his own solo album.

It's entitled Stranger In This Town.

Performing One Light Burning, this is Richie Sambora.

[audience cheering]

[♪ "One Light Burning" playing]

[Richie] It's something that I always wanted to do

since I was a boy, you know?

So it's like, uh, it seems like 30 years

of work to get to this point,

to be able to actually have the privilege

to do my own record.

[♪ "One Light Burning" continues]

See, in Bon Jovi, even when I write with Jon,

[Ritchie] I write for Jon to be able to sing

what he needs to be able to sing

so he can get the point across.

-[Arsenio Hall] Yeah. -You know?

So when I'm doing my stuff, it's for me.

It's in his best interest, um, to do it by himself

so that people don't think I did it for him.

There was always tension between Jonny and Richie,

not because they didn't like each other,

but it was the competition between the two.

Just as being competitive people.

♪ See my life going by... ♪

[Doc] Everybody wants to do their own thing,

to prove that their worth is more

than the other person's worth.

You started putting business

in this brotherhood family unit,

and you know that never works.

What's the status of Bon Jovi?

Yeah, I mean, we, you know, we went through some problems.

Every family has their problems.

You know, everybody fights a bit here and there.

We're from Jersey, so, you know,

we usually clear out hotel rooms and duke it out.

-[Arsenio] Yeah. -[audience cheering]

Yeah!

It was really a rough time.

It was really a rough time. It was rough for everybody.

You know, 'cause you go, what's gonna happen here?

Nobody knew what was gonna happen.

♪ One light burning ♪

[audience cheers, applauds]

Jon wanted something different.

He wanted... he's looking for something

that nobody could find.

[engine revving]

[Dorothea] Sometime in that time, we took a motorcycle trip.

It was just a lot of fun. We were like a gang.

And, and the rule was we could only stay in motels

that were no more than $30 a night.

Hello.

[Dorothea] So we stayed at, like,

just local roadside places and, uh, just had fun.

[cameraman] Jon, are you enjoying the petrified forest?

Yeah, I'm being petrified.

You know me.

[cameraman] Mr. Excitement.

Mr. Excitement.

[♪ somber music playing]

[David] You know, and we didn't know if we...

I know it was a break. We didn't know if it was a breakup,

so we didn't know what was going on.

We didn't know if we was gonna come back.

We didn't know.

[Jon] Ahh...

[doctor] Stop, do it again.

Ahh.

[Jon] There's a, a surgery that can be done,

that I feel good about.

I guess you'd consider it like a facelift for the vocal cords.

It's a way to get them to close again.

[Dr. Robert T. Sataloff] These things represent your vocal folds.

[clears throat] I make a little hole here

and put in essentially a shim

on, probably on both sides.

I'm very optimistic about it, and I have nothing to lose.

[♪ cheerful music playing]

5:40 in the morning,

on the day.

Philadelphia never looked so good.

[♪ cheerful music continues]

And I'm rarin' to go.

So let's get this on.

[door squeaks]

[laughter]

[nurse] I'm gonna close the door for some privacy.

-[monitor beeps] -[audience cheering]

[♪ cheerful music continues]

[pyrotechnics explode]

[audience cheering]

[monitor beeps]

[♪ music fades]

[Jon] The next day, I go to see that doctor.

You know, he says, you know, "How do you feel?"

They check the pain levels and stuff,

and he says, "You can't sing a note...

Nothing, three months."

My next breakout star is a performer

who already has broken through

in one other entertainment arena,

rock music.

It's Jon Bon Jovi,

who has been a bestselling performer

since the mid 1980s,

but now has emerged as a film actor.

I think you chose a great color.

I'm flattered that you like my ass,

and if it's okay, I'm gonna come back first thing

tomorrow morning, get this going, alright?

Jon Bon Jovi provides both a fresh face

and a fresh sensibility in the movies today.

[♪ pensive music playing]

[Jon] So my initial foray,

truthfully was, "This is intriguing."

It's a way to continue in the arts,

but I was so green that I went to the set

and take one, take two, take three,

and I went over to the director,

and I said, "I'm sorry that it's taken three takes.

Uh, I'll be happy to pay for the film."

And he looked at me like I was crazy.

And he said, "It's how you make movies,

you know, you do more than one take."

But I didn't know.

[Barbara Walters] There are not many rock stars

who make the transition from music to films.

-And, and you don't sing in these films? -No.

Do you have any role models?

[Jon] Frank Sinatra.

[Doc] He wanted to be an actor

because he saw this, and I never got it.

Hi, I'm Seth.

Oh, h-hi.

I didn't believe in his acting career at all.

I told him it a million times, [laughs]

which probably was a, a non-starter for him.

[Jon] We had had a falling out.

I was at one of these award shows,

and I'm in the back of a limousine

with him and his wife and me and mine.

And some words were said, and I said, you know, "I want to do movies

and I wanna write more soundtracks, and this is easy."

And Doc, he was adamant about,

"You're in a rock band, go do that."

And something was said to the effect of,

you know, "If you want to go do it, you should go do it."

I said, "Okay, I will."

[♪ somber music playing]

[Doc] It was a combination of things that didn't happen.

Just at the time, wasn't, wasn't gelling.

Whether I, I didn't care enough

or he-he was too pompous

and, and what he... where he was going.

I don't know, I think it was a combination of all those things.

Whatever it was was not good.

This is a rock and roll show, isn't it?

[crew member] [on radio] Yeah.

Okay, well, I just thought, you know,

"Hey, fuck me, I just wanna know when we're gonna go on."

[Jon] There was a lot of unexplained animus,

you know, there was like, "Well, why do you hate me?

And why do I hate you?"

There... and no one knew why.

And, um, I let him go.

Jon, early on,

I think saw

things in a much bigger picture than anybody else did.

-[audience cheering] -[♪ somber music playing]

He knew he wanted to achieve X, Y, and Z.

[Desmond Child] When you have a manager that's that strong,

you're always a child,

because you leave it up to, "Oh, talk to my manager."

"Oh, he can make the decision," or she,

and then, eventually, you lose control of your life.

[Doc] I should have been able to rectify that.

And maybe I wasn't feeling like I wanted to at the time,

which is one of those learning life lessons.

[Jon] It was those things that I realized

I gotta have somebody

that's playing for, for me.

This is the end...

Let me just get my own Christmas tree then.

...of the beginning.

-[device beeps] -[clapboard clacks]

I said, "What if we just do it ourselves?

You know, what if I start Bon Jovi management?"

At the Argentinean?

[Jon] And so we, we started BJM,

with Paul Korzilius running it on a day-to-day basis

and didn't need a manager.

But one of the main tenets of Bon Jovi management

was that this is not about the commission.

It's not about getting as much money out of this as possible.

It's about protecting us as people first.

[Jon] Paul Korzilius is the glue.

He's a walking encyclopedia of everything Bon Jovi.

In the immortal words of Paul Korzilius,

our road manager,

"We made it to the dance."

We were A and R people in ourselves.

And Jon was a, a good businessman.

So was I, at the time, you know?

We were always involved in business decisions,

merchandising design, everything,

you name it.

Also, it was a big percentage

of money we didn't have to pay out,

which was advantageous to everybody in the band.

[Jon] So I'm probably 28, 29 years old,

thrust into this situation where I'm-I'm now, you know,

th-the boss of this big business.

-[audience cheering] -[♪ upbeat music playing]

I had just gotten rid of management

and agents and lawyers and them,

so everything that I'd known as becoming,

you know, in my life, um, was now gone, and...

I realized change has gotta come.

And that's when, you know, the band had to sit down

in a room and talk

and get on the same page again.

'Cause that was no way to go forward.

Th-that would've been the be... that would have been the end.

[projector clicking]

-[indistinct singing] -[waves crash]

♪ Sometimes it's not for days ♪

♪ The people I meet ♪

♪ Always go their separate ways ♪

We were as a band down, uh, in St. Thomas last October.

We went down there, just the five of us

after a lot of the changes have gone on

an-and the redefining of our goals...

Jon, and where he got this idea is beyond me,

um, to enlist a, a psychotherapist,

uh, uh, uh, somebody who does corporate therapy.

Lou. [chuckles]

I thought that Lou was great.

I had no problem because...

I'm one of those guys that raised their hand in group.

[Jon] But I love the idea of an intermediate

to sit in the room with us, with nothing to gain.

[Tico] And that was a forum for all of us to be able

to talk from the gut,

be honest with each other in a safe place.

I think that there was a little bit

of getting over the hump

of everybody being the smartest guy in the room,

to us collectively saying,

"We are the only way that this is gonna work out."

It's going to take "we."

I think that you can't have success

without that type of conversation.

I think Jon knew that.

[Alec John Such] Richie and Johnny are so full of,

uh, songs

and stuff that are just jumping out of them,

that I'm not worried at all

about what our new album will be like.

[Jon] Step by step, I got their trust,

and we started to write songs

for what became Keep the Faith.

Well, we like the solo stuff,

but we like 'em together with the band.

I think they make a good, they make a good team.

Let's hear some new music from them.

I'm ready for it. I think we're all ready for it.

[♪ "I Believe" playing]

♪ Yeah ♪

[reporter] The songwriting reunion of Jon Bon Jovi

and his partner Richie Sambora has produced Keep the Faith,

the first Bon Jovi album in four years.

I think that if anything, this album was a, a, a bit

of a soul cleansing for me.

[David] That record cover, I think says it all.

And it brought us back

to where we needed to be

as, as people and friends.

[Jon] We come together as a unit.

It is the beginning of Bon Jovi Management.

It is turning 30.

It's the second chapter in the life of the band.

[♪ "I Believe" continues]

♪ I got a heart ♪

♪ And courage built ♪

♪ And I won't let go ♪

♪ What we need right now is soul ♪

I haven't asked the all-important question yet,

of course, have I?

About the hair.

Let's talk about your hair.

-Oh. -Oh, okay.

[Jon] Just naturally thought, you know, I was gonna cut my hair.

I had no idea it was gonna be all over the television news

and CNN and, you know, like it was some kind of big deal.

These are important questions, aren't they?

-Important questions, oh, yeah. -Watching the presidential election,

and then, "Did Jon Bon Jovi have a haircut or not?"

-[chuckles] -Very important question.

[Tico] Keep the Faith was something that's brand new.

It's a, it's a fresh start.

[Obie O'Brien] That band evolved as they went along.

They saw the world, and they wrote about what they saw.

It was stuff that mattered to them.

[Jon] What this one offered me, in having more time off,

was the idea that I got to live life,

therefore, there was more to draw from.

It's definitely Bon Jovi, you know, and it's, uh...

But we've just pushed the envelope a little further, you know?

[Jon] Thus far, Keep the Faith in Europe

has been our biggest record ever.

Every day you wake up and you,

you sort of look in the mirror

and you go, "Is this really happening?" [chuckles]

No, it actually feels really great, man.

We haven't been together for a while, man.

And we're out there playing clubs and, uh, jamming.

It's actually a really nice thing.

The early '80s was the glitter,

and then Keep the Faith was the beginning of the grit.

[♪ rock music plays]

[audience cheering]

We appreciate you coming down, for keeping the faith.

Adios, my friends. Be careful driving home.

Good night to you.

[audience cheering]

[Tico] He also came to grips with being Jon Bon Jovi.

He had a lot of trouble being him, and for good reason.

You know, it's... they don't write that in the manual

on how to become, uh, how to deal

with success and fame and,

and the trappings and everything like that,

uh, go with it.

You know, coming to terms with

celebrity,

coming to terms with having turned 30,

coming to terms with being married,

coming to terms with having had hits

and saying, "Did I deserve those?

"Did I really write number-one songs?

Did they matter?"

When Keep The Faith came out,

we went to the next level outside of America.

[audience cheering]

[Paul Korzilius] You could sell CDs

in almost any country in the world.

You could tour almost any country in the world,

which is why Keep the Faith

turned into probably one of the biggest tours

the band's ever done.

[audience cheering]

[♪ triumphant music playing]

[Jon] When we toured that record as hard as we did

and, and it did as well as we did,

there was a real feeling of accomplishment

having entered the '90s in such a great way.

You know, when, when a lot

of our peers unfortunately weren't doing as well.

Next, ladies and gentlemen,

we have three fine young men from Seattle.

[David] That moment in time for us,

so after all this, you know, you came down,

you dusted off your body going, oof,

then all of a sudden grunge.

Here, they are, Nirvana.

[audience cheering]

[♪ "In Bloom" by Nirvana plays]

Finally tonight, are you up on the latest hot trend in music?

Are you into "The Grunge"?

It is a raw, gritty sound born in Seattle.

It's become so popular that Seattle has suddenly become

the country's new hot breeding ground for rock stars.

It's true that there really is a big Seattle scene

happening right now.

[David] America was tough for us at that point,

because we were popular,

they're alternative.

They hated everything popular.

Most people think that a band like Bon Jovi

is over with at that point in time.

A lot has changed in the music world

since the band's last concert tour four years ago.

The charts are now filled with

country and Seattle grunge,

alternative rock like Dinosaur Jr.

But Bon Jovi remains confident of a strong comeback.

One thing I, I don't want to ever do

is be influenced by current fads or fashions.

[♪ rock music plays]

[dial-up modem beeping]

[crowd screams]

[wind whooshes]

[♪ peaceful piano music playing]

So we are two weeks today,

uh, since I've had the operation.

[audience cheering]

I did everything I could holistically.

I did everything I possibly could

to get back to health.

Lasers, acupuncture, vitamins, collagen, exercise.

I did it all.

I sound worse than I feel, than I am.

It's two weeks. It's gonna take some time.

[♪ piano music continues]

This is good compared to what it was a week ago.

It was taxing to speak, but I wasn't distraught.

I do nothing. I have coffee.

I, I walk on the treadmill.

I listen to cassettes for three, four hours a day.

The guys have all been checking in on me.

And interestingly enough, you know,

going through their own physical ailments.

So it's interesting, like, mortality has entered

the, the, the frame for the first time.

[water sloshes]

Did you see the Elvis movie?

I saw the Elvis movie.

I loved the Elvis movie.

I realized how many things that I'd forgotten,

but it was very conscious of in my career

that I had lifted from Elvis.

And how many things in that movie

touched my life directly.

[audience cheering]

Lisa Marie came to see me recording Young Guns.

She was a kid.

Priscilla had called me to do something after he had passed,

which I didn't do.

We met the Colonel.

The Colonel said to Doc McGee,

"How do you make any money

on five of them there Bon Jovis?"

[interviewer laughs]

Which I think is one of the great quotes ever.

And then you forgot how great he was.

But he was young.

-[♪ somber music playing] -[indistinct singing]

He was 42 when he died,

and yet he could sing right till the end.

Never lost his voice.

Lost everything else but his voice.

[Elvis sings]

[♪ vocalizing]

I'd rather be me putting the pieces back together

than have been him and burning out

at 40 and being done.

I've done a lot of living between 40 and 60,

and it's all been phenomenal.

[audience cheering]

Alright, wanna go see the basement?

I wanna find, uh...

[sighs]

Those are Slippery When Wet outtakes.

I have to be honest with you, I've been archiving for a year and a half,

and I haven't given it an hour.

I've left it to everybody else to do.

Having nothing else to do,

I'm down with what's left of the archiving,

which is, in my case, the cassettes.

Here's a song that was lost,

and it's called Cadillac Man.

And Richie and I wrote this for a movie.

It was a Robin Williams movie.

It's a good song. It should have, could have made a record.

We... this has been lost forever.

[tape player clicks]

[♪ rock music plays]

There it is.

[♪ guitar strums]

Let's take it from the top.

Take it from the top, maybe this is it then.

[on tape] Not only... that's in the tag,

only in the tag is there's access.

-It's not in the intro. -[Richie] No, no.

[Jon] Take it from the top.

[Tico] It shouldn't, should do the same thing twice.

[drumsticks tap]

[♪ "Cadillac Man" by Bon Jovi playing]

♪ I'm the king of the road ♪

♪ Ain't got no castle or no place to call home ♪

♪ See the world from behind this old wheel ♪

♪ Chopping away from the feelings I feel ♪

♪ Desire cuts like a knife ♪

♪ I'll leave you bleeding ♪

♪ But I'll make you feel alright ♪

♪ I love you but don't hold me too tight ♪

♪ Don't put up a fight ♪

♪ When these wheels gotta roll ♪

-♪ Ain't nobody ♪ -♪ Ain't nobody ♪

♪ There ain't no savior gonna save my soul ♪

♪ And I've been searching ♪

♪ For a rainbow and a pot of gold ♪

♪ That's mine to hold ♪

♪ That can't be bought ♪

♪ Or can't be sold ♪

♪ I'm a liar, I'm a lover ♪

♪ I'm a lawyer's tongue ♪

♪ I'm a trick, but I ain't nobody's son ♪

♪ 'Fore you get too close, you'd best understand ♪

♪ I'm a Cadillac Man ♪

[♪ rock music playing]

-[tape clicks] -[♪ song stops]

You know, for a song that was unreleased,

it's pretty good.

It's complete...

and a hell of a find for the archives.

I think that that's gonna make people very happy.

[interviewer] Do you think that musicians, songwriters,

do you think you have any responsibility to kids today to,

to tell them like, uh, you know,

to participate in anti-drug messages or that kind of thing?

Do you think that's a real responsibility?

Or do you think it's an individual choice?

You know, I personally don't believe in,

you know, drugs.

So I was asked, I said no, you know.

I'd had a couple of minor bad experiences

as a younger, younger, younger kid.

So I really was turned off to drugs.

Drinking, sure.

Um, but I really didn't do any drugs.

And I was the singer,

so it would affect the singing.

Uh, and in the meantime, others were excessively doing drugs

and, and alcohol to, to the point

where they had to get it together.

[Tico] I was definitely drinking too much.

And the band just said, "Tic, you gotta...

Look, you might kill yourself."

So I checked myself into a place.

'Cause I intend to drink myself all the way to Osaka.

[Jon] Al was the greatest character.

He was a laugh riot and a great guy.

Just a wonderful, warm human being.

[Tico] Unfortunately, Alec, you know,

the particular drugs he was doing,

kind of burns out your mind a little bit.

[♪ vocalizes]

[Richie] He caught a lot of shit from Jon,

because he was, he was indulging a bit.

I remember, like, having to go over and, you know, "Oh!"

Accidentally, I just kicked that glass of whiskey over on stage.

[David] That was the first foray into, like, addiction

where, you know, Alec went into rehab,

because he was drinking and snorting speed.

[Jon] By the early '90s,

Al wasn't in a physical condition

to, to continue on.

[David] I mean, here's the guy that put the band together

with the other guys.

And here he was, like, he would have to write down, like,

the, the chords, like A, A, D, A.

You're like, "Really?"

[Jon] You know, he wasn't able to, to keep up.

So we, you know, we had to let him go,

and it wasn't an easy conversation.

And that's when it's a bitch to be the boss.

[♪ upbeat music playing]

Hi, I'm Kurt Loder with MTV News.

Up in New Jersey meanwhile, Bon Jovi has just suffered

the first personnel loss in the band's 12-year career

with the departure, a friendly one he says,

of bassist Alec John Such.

He's being replaced at least temporarily by one Hugh McDonald

as the group continues work on a new album

in Bearsville, New York.

That should be done by spring.

Hugh McDonald was in the band before there was a band.

And I said, "Look, Hugh is the guy, he's been with us,

"and Hugh and I are like bread and butter.

"We work together, and, uh, he should be the guy

that takes Alec's place."

[cameraman] Wake up, this is your life.

Ahh!

[cameraman laughs]

[indistinct chatter]

In the studio, I existed.

Outside of the studio, I did not exist.

[Jon] Alec played to the best of his ability,

but in truth, the man behind the curtain was Hugh.

The reason we became, you know,

such a better band by the third album

was because Hugh was the one playing the bass.

That famous bass line on,

on Living On A Prayer was developed at his fingertips.

The work that was coming out was stuff that I was proud of.

That was hard because I couldn't

really say, "Yeah, that's me."

I was never treated any less by anybody in the band.

It was strictly as far as the public persona...

I was a side man.

[audience cheering]

[♪ rock music plays]

[audience cheering]

[Jon] In '95, '96, we were playing

all the biggest stadiums in the world, multiple nights.

Uh, you know, I think it was

three nights at Wembley Stadium,

things like that around the globe.

[Hugh McDonald] When he first asked me to do it,

I remember asking him, "Am I doing the tour?"

Then he said, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

You're... Yeah, you're doing the tour, yeah." [chuckles]

Are you able to rock and roll?

[audience cheering]

[Jon] We became like a really good band by '94,

and, uh, by '95 when

Huey toured with us, you know, we were,

we were a kick-ass live band.

On that note, help me out, Huey.

[♪ strums bass]

[audience cheering]

[♪ "Keep The Faith" playing]

♪ Mother, mother, tell your children ♪

[Hugh] When we did, uh, Wembley, I see that now,

and it's, it amazes me.

'Cause I couldn't take it all in at the time.

It was like, "Don't fuck up," you know?

To sell out three nights at Wembley at London,

the last three shows ever to be performed there,

was absolutely monumental.

♪ I am broken like an arrow ♪

♪ Forgive me ♪

♪ Forgive your wayward son ♪

♪ Everybody needs somebody to love ♪

♪ Mother, mother ♪

♪ Everybody needs somebody to love ♪

♪ Please, believe me ♪

[David] When you look out at 80,000 people,

it's a fuckin' lot.

And then the energy of everybody singing

and then they're there for you.

And it was, uh, it's awesome.

♪ You gotta keep the faith ♪

♪ Faith ♪

[David] And I remember, like, Jon had a song, Always,

and that was the big hit.

It was a huge hit.

Always to me was like, "This was gonna kill our career."

And I was wrong.

[chuckles]

We went to all stadiums.

We were playing like giant stadium every night.

It's like 70,000, 80,000, 70... around the world.

[♪ "Always" plays]

[Obie] You realize that

all these other people have faded away.

For them, they're connecting with the performer

and the lyric of that song.

♪ This Romeo is bleeding ♪

♪ But you can't see his blood ♪

[Obie] And it's a one-to-one thing.

You can't fake that, you can't make it happen.

It's an organic thing.

♪ It's been raining since you left me ♪

♪ Well, I'm drowning in the flood ♪

[Desmond] There's a difference between playing an instrument

and your body and voice being the instrument,

that is not only singing melodies,

but putting out words

and also acting out the songs with your body

so that the last person in the last row

of the stadium feels like you're singing to them.

♪ Yeah, I will love you ♪

♪ Baby ♪

♪ Always ♪

[Obie] Lead singers make a commitment to the narrative.

They'll tell you that story.

How are they gonna tell you so it's undeniable for the listener?

That's really hard.

You're out there, you're naked,

on the tight wire,

and you, you better fuckin' have it together.

♪ Are memories of a different life ♪

♪ Some that made us laugh ♪

♪ Some that made us cry ♪

♪ One that made you have to say goodbye ♪

♪ What I'd give to run my fingers, baby ♪

♪ Through your hair ♪

[news reporter] No matter how big Bon Jovi have become,

they still believe in the thrill of playing live.

Let's join the band as their world tour hits Europe.

Probably just a thrill of the, of the chase.

You know, just, just the idea of can you do it again?

Can you do it better than you did it last time?

We took 11 months to write the record,

and that's a long time by our standards.

We wanted it to be a, a real cross-section of ideas.

There's, there's an amazing amount of stuff

that goes into songwriting when you're a team.

I was the man that Jon talked to.

I spent more time with him than his wife.

[Jon] Richie is, is the perfect foil for me

because we think alike.

He knows when I can't express myself, what I'm thinking.

There was not a lot of people in his life,

and probably still isn't,

that would be an honest mirror.

Like I would tell him, I'd go, [laughs]

"You're gonna sing that, really?

People are gonna throw shit at you."

And I think that was one of the, uh, parts

that made us a good partnership.

You know, people widely know me

as just the hired gun guitar player,

but no, I write lyrics, melodies,

come up with concepts for songs.

Half of my job was to not say that, which was fine.

Whatever was gonna work for the,

for the good of the organization.

You have two totally different kinds of singers

in Jon and Richie.

[audience cheering]

Richie was able to bridge,

you know, not just being a really good lead singer,

but being this amazing singer with Jon.

[Tico] The spontaneity between him and Richie on stage

is first class, first class.

-[♪ pensive music playing] -[audience cheering]

Taiwan, Taipei, postcards from the road.

[speaker] One, two, three.

In the elevator on the way to the press conference.

Singapore.

-[crowd cheering] -[fan] Bon Jovi!

How y'all doing? Happy to be here

at the start of our world tour.

[David] Here we are, Bangkok.

Ladies and gentlemen at home, police escorts everywhere we go.

[crowd cheering]

[Jon] I remember the band coming together

during the course of the tour,

and we were in agreement that this is right,

and, and the decision that was made is right,

and the record is right and the touring is right.

And the way we're going about it,

and the ownership of it with

self-management, it was good.

And egos started to dissipate.

We're very excited about the tour, the new album.

And, uh...

[indistinct chatter]

Aww, look, look, look.

Oh. Ohh.

[Jon] Steph was born. She was the first baby in the band.

She'd be on the road with us.

Dorothea would be out on the road.

[Dorothea] When, uh, Stephanie was first born,

she was three weeks old and she had a passport.

But when she... he was touring America, we made a decision

that, you know, we wanted the family to be together.

And that I took her on the road.

I think that he liked having the kids there.

I know that it made him happy to have his family with him.

[♪ peaceful music playing]

[David] My kids saw, like, 50 countries

by the time they were two.

You know, 'cause you just brought 'em,

once we could tour, you know, we all had our family

and brought these little babies around,

and, uh, until they went to school.

[child shrieks and laughs]

[♪ playful music playing]

[Richie] Well, we grew up.

Everybody had kids, got married, things went down.

[David] Uh, it definitely was different than the '80s.

-Daddy, can I see? -[Jon] Yeah.

[David] It was the polar opposite of the '80s,

but it was like just a different phase.

[Jon] Do you see you upside down?

-[indistinct] -Uh-huh.

[Jon laughs]

[audience cheering]

[announcer] The ball is beginning to move.

They can feel it.

In 47 seconds,

it will be 2000.

In 10, nine, eight, seven,

six, five, four,

three, two, one,

happy 2000!

[♪ "It's My Life" plays]

A rebirth happens again.

Bon Jovi hasn't released a studio album in five years,

but the boys from Jersey are back.

It feels great to be contemporary again, you know?

I mean, we really never went away actually.

-[interviewer] No. -You know?

Just making good music, that's it.

The look, the sound.

I mean, the music business has changed dramatically.

And then 2000 happened, and, you know,

It's My Life is... we're the biggest thing on the planet again.

And everybody's like, "They're back!"

and we're like, "We never went away."

[♪ "It's My Life" playing]

♪ This ain't a song for the broken-hearted ♪

Oh, we are up and running on the World Wide Web.

Hello, everybody.

[reporter] Last night, Bon Jovi

webcast a live performance

to celebrate their upcoming CD, Crush.

What I think this record says quite simply

is A, we're having fun,

but B, we're comfortable in our shoes.

♪ Shout it out loud ♪

♪ It's my life ♪

♪ It's now or never ♪

♪ I ain't gonna live forever ♪

But it's a song called It's My Life

that once again changes the landscape for the band.

[David] We're on the top of the charts

filling up stadiums,

and we were at that next level.

Jon and I were 38 years old, you know,

we were just about looking at 40,

which you're like, at that time is an old man.

You know, you're like, "Oh, my God, 40."

[Hugh] That is, like, another Bon Jovi anthem.

And it's positive.

It's My Life didn't sound like anything that came before it.

And it, and it gives life to a band

that is different from the pack.

♪ This is for ones who stood their ground ♪

It's My Life led a whole new generation of,

of fans into the, into the band.

People that thought that Crush was the first record.

[Richie] We have a whole new generation of fans

that didn't know anything exists,

existed before It's My Life.

We just wanted to, you know, get out there again

and be who we were in a,

in a contemporary kind of a way.

♪ It's my life ♪

[audience cheering]

[♪ somber music playing]

[Jon] We were writing songs for what became Bounce.

Um, it was meant to be, uh...

an extension of Crush, but it became something more.

Um, Richie was at my house in New Jersey.

I remember I was in the gym that morning.

It was a beautiful Tuesday.

Everybody that was here knows the sky was so blue

and crystal clear, and it was a gorgeous September day.

And, you know, it was that morning

and I was intending to, to just get together with Richie,

wake him up in a couple hours, write.

I took the kids to school.

-Crash. -[♪ dramatic musical score]

[reporter] This just in, you were looking at,

obviously a very disturbing live shot there.

That is the World Trade Center...

[Jon] Growing up here, you, you saw

the smoke rising from the towers.

You knew people, like I'd said,

these, these were your neighbors.

These were my people.

[♪ somber music playing]

So we came together in those early days when you...

the telethon was coming together and I was asked,

and we didn't hesitate.

[audience cheering]

Thank you so much.

Everybody watching on TV,

call that telethon number.

We'll see you, enjoy the rest of the night.

-God bless you all. -[audience cheering]

[Katie Couric] Obviously, both of you being from New Jersey,

you were incredibly affected by, by September 11th.

And I know that some of the songs

on this new album, Bounce,

which comes out next month...

-[Jon] Right. -...October 8th I believe, is that right?

Um, actually deal with the events of September 11th.

Sure, as writers, I think we'd be remiss not to write

about what happened in our own backyard.

Bounce, of course, not an easy record to write.

You know, we were gonna bounce back as a,

as a country, as a people.

The first songs that we sat down to write

with regards to 9/11 were, um, very, very sad.

You know, songs that, that weren't even ever demoed

that probably will never get out of the notebook.

And, uh, and that's why the songs that did make it

regarding 9/11 are those of optimism

and hope in the face of adversity.

-[♪ somber music playing] -[distant siren wailing]

[Jon hums]

-[trees rustling] -[humming]

[clears throat]

[Jon] A real career has its ups and downs.

I get all that.

You come back from injury,

and you-you-you persevere or you don't, right?

So...

the end of our story won't be that I didn't try.

[humming]

And I'm-I'm-I'm optimistic, but I'm scared.

[♪ somber music playing]

[♪ vocalizes]

You know, I haven't sung a song in five months.

You can't play the Super Bowl

when it's the first day of practice.

But... I'm happy I did the surgery.

I'm really, uh, you know, I'm good with it.

I'm-I'm totally good with it.

Happy I did it.

[breathes deeply]

I can tell you with certainty

that I'm feeling good these days,

which is, which is great.

I might not be feeling as good physically,

but mentally, um, I'm good.

I never want to go back in that dark cave again.

You know, the-the-the fear and the anxiety

and the pain and everything.

I never want to go back into that cave again.

Never.

[♪ rock music plays]

One, two.

[♪ "Let It Rain" plays]

♪ Ever since there was thunder ♪

♪ There's been shelter from the storm ♪

♪ A place you'd run for cover ♪

♪ 'Til the rainclouds had moved on ♪

♪ When I get that feeling ♪

♪ Before the first drop hits the ground ♪

♪ I'm asking who's gonna stop the rain ♪

♪ From falling down ♪

I think that there's progress, which, you know,

I'm optimistic about.

There is progress.

I have the utmost confidence in, in the doctor

and his vocal therapists.

I wish that it was a light switch.

I wish that yo'u'd flick the switch

and because I was a good boy

and I did the surgery that I'm healed.

Ta-da!

♪ Wherever there is hurtin' ♪

♪ There is healing on the way ♪

♪ Like sunshine breaking through ♪

♪ A cloudy day ♪

There's moments where you go, "Whoa, there's the kid,"

you know, there's the 20-years-ago voice.

It's in there.

So, and then it gets very tired,

during the course of the day or at night.

Um, but the process is good.

I think the prognosis is good.

No matter how it turns out,

I'll be satisfied in my heart

that, uh, the decision I made was right.

And if God forbid it, it-it doesn't work out,

I'll know that I did everything.

That didn't suck.

And had good people around me to, to try to make it work.

Okay.

[slurps]

[mug clatters]

Phew, that's enough of that.

[static crackles]

[♪ somber music playing]

[David] We're five kids from Jersey.

[Tico] We're not really, uh, quote-unquote

"The Untouchable Rock Stars."

[Jon] We just didn't play anyone else's game.

[Richie] There's a very, very rebellious attitude on this record.

[Jon] There is an optimism that runs through it

because I'd like to see the brighter side of things.

[David] This record is the next step.

[Tico] Everybody says it's our best record we've ever done.

It could possibly be.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

2004, the introduction to, to Shanks

as a producer, collaborator.

[crew member] John Shanks interview.

-Take one, marker. -[clapboard clacks]

[Jon] And I just felt like, "Okay,

time to move on yet again with producers."

[John Shanks] When Jon first called me

and he was like, "You wanna produce the record

and write with us?"

I knew what I was walking into.

John Shanks brought technology,

a ridiculous amount of musical knowledge.

It seems like he could play everything.

[David] He listens to every record that ever was

and knows, like, all the recording techniques.

[Jon] He had recently been named

Producer of the Year at the Grammys.

There's an art in what Richie does,

and did, the two of them.

Now what's amazing is when

now you cut to the studio

and you're recording those guys,

you can see sound waves.

So they go, you know, [sings] ♪ Yeah ♪

And their vibrato.

Now their vibratos would literally go... [♪ vocalizes]

So these are two guys that have obviously sung together

for many, many, many, many years.

There is definitely a magic there.

He's a great guy. But it was a-a-a different kind of a style,

producer, a guitar player, um, a gadget guy, you know?

So him and Richie, um,

were able to complement each other.

As the new guy, you know, do I say what I think?

Do I say what I feel?

Which is, you know,

"Maybe let's try something different."

And at some point, I just was, I took the risk,

and I said, "You know, can we write a,

can we write a Bon Jovi song?"

And I just kind of started playing

the intro to Have a Nice Day.

-[♪ guitar strums] -[audience cheering]

[♪ "Have A Nice Day" plays]

And he's like, "Wow, w-what's that?"

I said, "That's me being you."

♪ Why you wanna tell me how to live my life ♪

I'd like to think that it was, you know,

this natural progression of who and what we were

without trying to be what we used to be.

Are we guilty of ever having tried

to replicate successes?

Sure.

But in truth, there always had to be

an evolution on my mind.

We needed to say more and push the envelope,

but just a little more.

Anytime you're a band for, like, 25 years,

when the door to evolution actually opens,

you have to step through it.

♪ Oh, if there's one thing I hang on to ♪

♪ That gets me through the night ♪

♪ I ain't gonna do what I don't want to ♪

Amy, you know what?

The future, it rocks.

In the future, is Bon Jovi still around?

Yes, Amy, Bon Jovi is still around.

[audience laughs]

♪ When the world gets in my face ♪

♪ I say have a nice day ♪

[audience cheering]

What came outta that one

was yet another number-one single,

Who Says You Can't Go Home?

And that's something that Richie and I wrote

that was a number-one song, Grammy Award winner.

[♪ "Who Says You Can't Go Home?" plays]

When Have a Nice Day, you know, Who Said You Can't Go Home?

became the first number-one song by a rock and roll band

in history on the country charts for two weeks,

so that's when, that was the advent of the Nashville record.

Lost Highway is in stores now,

and it's a phenomenal success.

Lost Highway, because it was so different,

because it was country-ish,

that was a lot of fun actually.

[Jon] And we went from the success of that

into the success of The Circle.

So now we've come back with a rock record.

♪ I been there, done that ♪

♪ I ain't looking back ♪

[Jon] "Born to follow" was a hit, tours are selling.

The band, I think are getting along swimmingly.

I think everything is, is going quite well.

We're still here, we're at the top of the game.

We're writing songs that have been a part

of the patchwork of American culture

for nearly three decades.

There's more Grammy nominations,

more tickets sold, more hit singles on the radio.

♪ Who says you can't go home ♪

I was enjoying it,

and I thought everybody else was enjoying it.

[chuckles]

Wrong.

[♪ somber music playing]

[Obie] I think that's when Richie's challenges

were starting to challenge him.

I had broken my arm, and then the pain pills started

and boozing and all that.

You know, I mean, I just was kind of,

I was kind of gone, you know, I was kind of gone.

I mean, he was struggling.

He was struggling.

I never saw you as a guy who drank a lot and stuff.

So you probably drank in private, right?

You know what, after a while, what happened was, yeah,

I was definitely a, a kind of a guy

that always drank in my house, never drank out.

I-I didn't even drink in restaurants anymore.

-[Howard] Wow. -Or I didn't drink around the band,

or anywhere near a performance.

That's when you know you have a problem

when you're drinking by yourself, right?

-When it's not a social thing? -I guess so.

[David] Richie's journey was, you know,

10 years of, uh, three times in rehab.

You know, it was, it's tough.

Him going in and then coming out

and hugging and crying and "We're there for you."

And then going back in and then hugging and crying

and, and then going back in.

[Tico] To me, it was more important as I...

"How do I help him?"

How do I get through to him so he, you know,

he doesn't kill himself and, or anything like that?

You know, God forbid.

You know, you just want to try to help somebody

who's, who's, who has an addiction problem.

It was affecting the band.

We were going through a lot of stuff together.

That's hard because it's one of your brothers.

We always worked and that was always a...

[sighs] a Band-Aid.

And it's a good one sometimes,

but it disguises the real meat and potatoes.

[Jon] The Circle goes right into

What About Now?

And much like Slippery went right into

New Jersey.

How many more times you wanna sing?

♪ Bad medicine ♪

[indistinct chatter]

[Jon] I should have learned from the mistakes

of our past that we should have maybe taken more time.

[Richie] I feel better than I ever did,

but it gets harder to keep yourself together.

You know, I'm guilty of going through it with blinders on

and just, "Okay, we gotta work? Go."

[♪ dramatic musical score]

And it's exhausting,

and it-it's exhausting to a lot of other people

who couldn't see it the way I did.

[Richie] But that's what happens in relationships

after all the years,

and all stuff and this and that, you know what I mean?

It was an amalgamation of things.

I was also having some deep family problems.

I-I-I was just talking to my daughter on the phone,

and, uh, I miss my wife and my daughter

very badly actually.

I spent so much time being on the road.

I mean, at that time, unfortunately,

my ex-wife was having some mental health issues.

And my daughter coming to an age

where she could understand.

-Hi, I'm Ava. -This is my daughter.

She needed me, and I needed her.

Truthfully, we didn't have enough time.

And every night, you got 65,000 people leaning on you

to go "Gimme the best you got."

Every once in a while, things gang up on you.

And I was dealing with that,

and as well as being part

of one of the biggest bands in the world.

[David] Then when we went to record it,

there was that tension in there

where Richie wanted to do stuff,

but he really couldn't do stuff

and then Shanks was doing it.

The band was stale at that point.

And my job was to say that.

[chuckles]

[inhales deeply]

[sighs]

[Jon] You can't point fingers

and say, you know, things about

the rest of the collective

that just, they're not true.

Shit, I don't know. I'm just telling it the way I see it.

Look, he's a great producer for some,

and I've worked with him where it's worked wonderfully,

but at the end of the day, it got sour.

You know, Richie would come to the studio,

and it was like everything was done.

[Richie] Jon wanted it done good.

He got in a strange mood

-about time. -[snaps fingers]

John and I end up writing What About Now?

Richie doesn't show up.

Um, no big deal.

I'm just pushing to keep going.

And Richie was really upset

that on a song that I had written called The Fighter,

he didn't play this one part on an acoustic guitar.

[♪ guitar strums]

And that caused a problem.

[♪ somber guitar music playing]

And Shanks being a studio musician

was very capable of going in

and being done with the parts so that we,

Richie, myself, and John could move on.

After all those records,

uh, people know how I play,

and, uh, I went, "Have at it."

I didn't know.

And no words were spoken, that Richie was crushed

that he was replaced.

[John] I'm caught between the two of them.

So you have to tread lightly. [chuckles]

♪ Write you a song just to use them ♪

[Jon] Richie, he had some issues falling off the wagon

during the course of pre-production.

And you know, for whatever reason,

I can't even say, "Oh, it's, it's substance abuse."

Okay, that was a part of it.

It's not like this was the first time.

♪ Someday you may wanna know who I am ♪

John Shanks and Jon had 30 songs,

and they said they felt like they had the record

and I said, "Let me hear it."

I go, "Don't sound like Bon Jovi."

[audience cheering]

It just didn't sound like us because I wasn't there.

There was a lot of distance between Richie and Jon.

There was a lot of rubbing.

You know, it goes both ways.

It's like if you don't show up for a session, then you don't play.

Then you show up and your stuff is done.

What do you do with that?

[Richie] He had the whole thing kind of planned out,

which basically was telling me,

"Hmm, I can do it without you."

And, uh, I was getting treated kind of like

I didn't write and do all that stuff.

And I wasn't the guy they talked to anymore.

[Jon] The internal issues that we had culminated in 2013.

We put the record out and we were on the road

and we were 20 shows in.

There had been a break.

And I remember being on the phone to Richie,

and he says, "Can I stay home another day

and fly a private the next day?"

And I said, "Of course."

And, and I could tell that something was the matter.

[Richie] There was a lot of tension, not only with me,

but, uh, the guys in the band.

I really thought to myself,

they'd be better off without me.

[Jon] And at three o'clock on that afternoon,

on that Tuesday,

my phone rang, and it was Paul Korzilius.

And Paul never calls my room.

And I was like, "Oh, no, what?"

And he said, "We got a problem."

There was an airplane on the runway,

a car in the driveway, suitcase in the trunk.

And he never makes it.

[David] Richard wouldn't leave his own house

to show up for the show.

That hurt. You know, that was like the first time you're like,

"Oh, I don't know if there's gonna be a happy ending."

Oh, I was sadder than I was pissed off.

"Everybody's here.

Wait a minute, we're missing somebody."

[Tico] It was clear and evident proof

that shit has hit the fan, you know?

And, uh, he's not coming.

[♪ somber music playing]

[♪ somber music playing]

[Jon] I'm not sticking to any timelines

that I'm just singing by myself right now,

but the idea would be to ramp up

and to get to a place by February or March

where I could say, "Why don't we get together in a room?"

and build upon that.

But eventually I'm gonna have to pull a trigger somewhere,

you know, to say we're going or we're not going.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

I never had the thought that Jon would ever stop.

[John] As long as he's happy

and he's healthy, we all keep going.

[Hugh] I don't want to do it again if he's not having fun.

And I won't do it again if he's not having fun.

'Cause he won't do it again.

[Obie] I told him one time, I said,

"As long as you want to do this, I'll be there."

I mean, I'll drop everything.

[David] I think we will ride on.

I think the journey has to keep going.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[♪ "What About Now?" playing]

♪ You wanna start a fire ♪

♪ It only takes a spark ♪

♪ You gotta get behind the wheel ♪

♪ If you're ever gonna drive that car ♪

♪ If you want to take a bite ♪

♪ You better have the teeth ♪

♪ If you wanna take that step ♪

♪ Then get up off of your knees ♪

♪ 'Cause tonight ♪

♪ We're alive ♪

♪ Who'll stand for the restless ♪

♪ And the lonely ♪

♪ For the desperate and the hungry ♪

♪ Down for the count ♪

♪ I'm hearing you now ♪

♪ For the faithful, the believer ♪

♪ For the faceless and the teachers ♪

♪ Stand up and be proud ♪

♪ What about now? ♪

♪ You wanna start a fight ♪

♪ You gotta take a swing ♪

♪ You gotta get your hands in the dirt ♪

♪ To see what the harvest will bring ♪

♪ You wanna raise your voice ♪

♪ Don't be scared to breathe ♪

♪ Don't be afraid to hurt ♪

♪ Don't be ashamed fixed need ♪

♪ 'Cause tonight ♪

♪ We're alive ♪

♪ Who'll stand for the restless ♪

♪ And the lonely ♪

♪ For the desperate... ♪