November 24, 2002

Jon Bon Jovi finds his voice

These days, there's more to this popular rocker than his party-band past suggests.

By Melanie D. G. Kaplan

On a cool September evening, in the middle of Times Square, Jon Bon Jovi belts out the last lines of his 1987 megahit "Wanted Dead or Alive", then pauses momentarily before his next song. But the crowd of several hundred thousand, packed along Broadway and Seventh Avenue, won't let him rest. "BON-JO-VI! BON-JO-VI!" chant his adoring fans.

"Hey, Tico. Give me the beat, baby!" Bon Jovi yells back to his drummer, then tears across the stage to the music, thrusting the microphone stand around like a gear shift. In two hours, the band will fly by helicopter across the Hudson River to Giants Stadium, where halfway through the first game of the NFL season, they will take their place on a makeshift stage in the east endzone to perform again.

"They still are, in so many ways, really young kids," says Lyor Cohen, chairman of Island Def Jam Music Group, the parent company of Bon Jovi's label, Island Records. He says the band always has been known for its dynamic performances, and there's no sign of them putting on the brakes. "Their backstage and their parties are still tremendously wild," Cohen says. "That hasn't changed much. Thank God."

But the band has grown up since its '80s heyday: Its members, all in their 40s, wear wedding rings and have families; their songs today clearly are not the stuff of boys just out of high school cruising for chicks. Still, the group has consistently written songs that radio programmers want to play and fans want to buy. Last month, Bon Jovi's eighth studio album, "Bounce", debuted at No. 2, behind Elvis Presley's compilation of No. 1 hits. The album sold 255,000 copies (their most successful release yet), and they will begin a world tour in January.

"These are truly the top-of-the-world years," Bon Jovi says. It is a week before the Times Square concert and the band's 40-year-old leader, who has just finished taping promotional clips for MTV International -- ("Hello to all my Colombian friends!") -- leans back in his chair and looks at the gray New York Harbor outside his hotel window. "We've been through the ups and downs and ups again," he says.

In the '80s, millions of fans related to the soft metal band, with their long hair and bracelets halfway up their forearms. They were loud and expressive, and they built their reputation by doing so many live shows that Bon Jovi regularly referred to the band's manic schedule as "the machine" that pushed them to exhaustion. From 1983 to 1991, the years of overwhelming success when Bon Jovi could be found most often swinging down to the stage from a wire or running across catwalks at concerts, the band seemingly didn't come up for air.

Then came the infighting. After the release of "These Days" in 1995, the band took a four-year break that probably saved it from crashing and burning, like acts such as Mötley Crüe and Poison did after the peak of their careers. During that time, each band member began to nurture outside talents that they continue to pursue today. Bon Jovi starred in several movies ("Moonlight and Valentino", "U-571"); guitarist Richie Sambora put out a solo album; keyboardist David Bryan started working in musical theater; and drummer Tico Torres has rolled out Rock Star Baby, a line of infant clothes.

The reinvigorated Bon Jovi emerged in 2000 with "Crush", and, much to the industry's surprise, it appealed to a new generation of fans. "They've continually brought new people in," says Larry Flick, senior talent editor at Billboard. "Most bands, when they age, fans stay with them or fade away."

Sambora says all their life experiences have made them better songwriters. In the same vein as Crush, the songs on "Bounce" are more thoughtful and socially conscious than those on earlier albums, like "Slippery When Wet" (1986). The first single, "Everyday", is an anthem for living each day to its fullest, and another, "Undivided", is an inspirational song about people putting aside their differences. "Jon and I sit down with acoustic guitars, and we have a conversation about how we're feeling," Sambora says, explaining how he and Bon Jovi volley back and forth to write lyrics. "A song is really a conversation with the public, but it has to start with the songwriters."

It's at concerts that their songs often first reach the public. According to Island, Bon Jovi has performed at more than 2,000 shows in 47 countries, with some tours almost 250 concerts long. This one will be different, Bon Jovi insists, running his hands through his thick hair, anxious to get home for his son's Pop Warner football practice. He says the "Bounce" tour will be 60 to 70 shows. "It's about having fun," he says, "not being physically drained."

Melanie D. G. Kaplan last wrote about Frederick Douglass IV for USA WEEKEND. 
Photo source: BMG Independents