The third crucial commercial element of the record was ‘You Give Love A Bad Name’, the second song written with Desmond Child. Elton John was a big influence when I was a kid, because of Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy.’ Elvis Costello was another, and storytellers like Paul Simon. ‘As a songwriter, I’ve been hugely influenced by someone like Tom Waits, thanks to his cinematic approach. Tommy and Gina aren’t two specific people – they represent a lifestyle.’ I wanted to tell their stories, because they could’ve been me, if I hadn’t learned to play guitar. Some joined the service, and now were working somewhere. Some got married right out of high school. I wanted to relate those stories to people I’d gone to high school with. So, instead of doing what I did on Runaway, where the girl didn’t have a name, I gave them names, which gave them identity.
JOHN BON JOVI ALBUM MOVIE
‘I wanted to incorporate the movie element and tell a story about people I knew. That’s what most of our fans can relate to, not the limos and groupies.
It deals with the way that two kids – Tommy and Gina – face life’s struggles, and how their love and ambitions get them through the bad times. ‘I am really proud of that one, because it goes back to the storytelling roots that I was talking about. “Livin’ On A Prayer”, meanwhile, is locked into the working class ethic around which Jon grew up. I talked to Richie about the concept, he worked up the riff almost on the spot, and we knocked it out in two or three hours.’ We were thinking of songs like “Turn The Page” by Bob Seger, and how those songs were storytellers doing their best storytelling. You’re living in truck stops, sleeping on the bus, showering at a gig. ‘I was on the tour bus and couldn’t sleep, and was staring out of the window, thinking: ‘This is great, but it’s an odd existence.’ You don’t know where you are. The story that fired the seminal Wanted Dead Or Alive went back to the band’s exhaustive tour in support of the 7800° Fahrenheit album. And we were going to have stories to tell.’ We knew it was going to be a different producer who would capture that live element. We’d write until six in the evening, when his folks came home. I would drive over there with some pizza, bang on the door, and wake him up at one in the afternoon. Richie was playing the bars on the cover circuit, trying to make ends meet – you see, we’d barely made any money at that point. His parents both worked, so the house was empty during the day. Jon Bon Jovi: ‘We wrote it in Richie ’s mother’s basement. What’s wrong with collaborating with people like him, who can help to give us the extra 10 percent out of a song? Actually, he’s involved with only three tracks on here – Livin’ On A Prayer, You Give Love A Bad Name and Without Love – and, in each case, he hasn’t tried to change what we are, but to refine it slightly, to suggest extra ways that we could wring a bit more out of what we had.’īon Jovi were far removed from rock star grandeur when they began the process of putting together their third album. ‘We’re growing as songwriters, learning things. But that got changed, and our A&R guy came up with Desmond’s name. ‘I liked what Bryan Adams had done with Tina Turner (they duetted on Adams’ It’s Only Love), so I suggested we do something similar – I write a song for someone like her, and then we do the song together. ‘To some extent it was our choice’, said Bon Jovi. Bon Jovi and songwriting partner guitarist Richie Sambora collaborated on the album with Desmond Child, songwriter of choice for Alice Cooper and others.
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