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#24 Wanted Dead or Alive
| life lessons in Bon Jovi songs

Known to Bon Jovi fans as THE ANTHEM!
But we’ll just go with;
Everybody’s Favorite Song 🙂

With the exception of the few rebels who choose differently out of principle.
But even they (including me) would agree Wanted Dead or Alive is Bon Jovi’s most cinematic composition.

Wanted Dead or Alive is the fifth song of the album Slippery When Wet (1986) and the closer to side A, for vinyl and cassette.

video recorded on 4 November 2024

In this video:

1. Welcome to another episode 00:00
Of Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs.
A series we do in chronological order and we’re at their third album.
And Everybody’s Favorite Song.

2. The Brilliant Website 00:51
That is making creating this series so much easier for me!
The website is called Two Story Town.
This is today’s page:
https://twostorytown.com/wanted-dead-or-alive
With “Everything Anyone In Bon Jovi Has Ever Said About Wanted Dead or Alive”.

3. How this Cowboy-inspired song came into being 01:45
Tapping straight into the lonely depths of their ’84 and ’85 tours, this song did not just have a personal meaning for them;
It also had a specific musical inspiration.
They knew what they wanted! So to speak.

4. David Bryan the Keyboard Prayer 😉 05:08
Bon Jovi’s low-key instrumentalist, brings it once again.

5. Richie’s Basement 07:52
The bare bones of this song were created at a magical place: The basement at Richie Sambora’s.
It was his parent’s basement and he had dreamed and envisioned his life as a rock star before he could even play.

I forgot to outline a real lesson to this song, in the video.
But I’d say the lesson is to have a place where you can dream.
Just like Richie Sambora did.

6. The Afternoon It ALL Happened 10:10
And they even had time to write a second song.

7. Recording this song at the Studio 11:09
And Bruce Fairbairn giving the missing link to bring this song to life!

8. Bring. Back. Acoustic. 12:04
And double neck and even triple neck guitar.

9. Going against the grain 14:10
Although I agree Wanted Dead or Alive is hands down the strongest song in Bon Jovi history;
I’m gonna go with an entirely different song, as being my favorite!
And I just realized I managed to pick the one that is its diametrical opposite!
😉
Can you guess?
It was a song created for a single purpose, and with no intrinsic meaning to pretty much anyone. Yet played at pretty much every Bon Jovi concert.

Wanted Dead or Alive, the strongest song Bon Jovi ever made, was a testament.
It was the loneliness they had been unable to articulate at the time;
Coming out, guns blazing.

Next stop:
Raise Your Hands!

~Suzanne Beenackers
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