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#55 Love is War
| life lessons in Bon Jovi songs

Welcome back, Jovi friends!
Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs continues with Love is War

Love is War is our second outtake from the album New Jersey.

An outtake is a song that was written and recorded for a specific album, but that was ultimately not included.
Love is War was not included on New Jersey (1988).

New Jersey was the album that was released after their biggie, Slippery When Wet. Bon Jovi were now the biggest rock stars on the planet, and the band had to deliver. And their fourth album, by all standards, did just that.

Unfamiliar with the song?
🎶🎧 listen here to Love is War

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context: DOUBLE NEW JERSEY
New Jersey would (and definitely “should”!) have been a double album, if it had been up to the band.
The record company blocked it, on grounds that they didn’t think fans would be able to pay for the higher price.
You can listen to all unreleased Bon Jovi outtakes here:
Rolling List of Hidden Bon Jovi Gems 1985 – current day
The extra songs from New Jersey start at “Rosie” all the way to Bon Jovi’s secret gem “Let’s Make It Baby”.
—
video recorded Sunday 6 September 2026

Photobook behind me: The Decade That Rocked – Mark Weiss

In this video:

1. Welcome to another episode 00:00
Of Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs
We’re at the second outtake!
An outtake is a song that was written for a specific album, but that was never included on the album.
In this case, Love is War was not included on the album New Jersey (1988)

Love is War was included on the Japanese version of the 2004 box set called “100.000.000 Bon Jovi fans can’t be wrong”
This Japanese edition had a fifth audio disk, where the normal version of the box has 4 cd’s.

Love is War was a B-side to the single Livin’ In Sin, released as the last of the singles of this album, in the final months of 1989.

NB:
I forgot to mention Love is War was actually included on a special edition of the album New Jersey (2014)

2. A second You Give Love A Bad Name? 02:19
Writing for this album started October 1987 in Hawaii, where the band was decompressing after finishing their Slippery When Wet tour.
Love is War was written as one of the first songs for this album.
Which meant the process still had its hiccups.

In the case of Love is War, the big thing was that the song had the same chord progression as You Give Love A Bad Name.

They had been so hellbent on writing, figuratively speaking, “another Bad Name”, that they had wrote one, literally.
This is a literal quote from Jon, because I am musically illiterate.

3. Visual: Jamaica February 1987 07:00
The photo of the band in front of their plane, and Jon (in infamously short pants) on a beach, are from February that same year.
Unfortunately I keep saying they’re taken in “Hawaii”, something I correct in the final words, but just to be clear:
The photo of Jon on a beach was taken in Jamaica February 1987, not in October 1987 in Hawaii.

A content creator who is musically literate, is JoviVids
Link to a recent video of her:
Bon Jovi Songs That Aren’t In 4/4

4. The life lesson in this Bon Jovi song 07:52
With the title being Love is War, you could see the life lesson as a broader concept of whether or not you are wired to work with conflict in your life.
Some people have a blueprint where they need external pressure and friction in order to work through things, and progress.
Where others process internally, and for those having friction in a love relationship is only very stressful.

My take is that people who process through conflict and friction, are more at risk at ending in a war like situation in their love life.

Next stop, another outtake:
Full Moon High!

~Suzanne Beenackers

🇳🇱 Tikkie
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THIS SERIES
All videos, of Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs (playlist):
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiGoDE3C06SeCKg4jvR2EoVHBOfXzHm_R

SOURCES for this series:

1. OUTTAKES
Handmade list with rare Bon Jovi songs
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiGoDE3C06SfkAr0Ll4wz-GlGnZJNZDYh
Rolling List of Hidden Bon Jovi Gems 1985 – current day

2. RANKED
My favorite Bon Jovi article and indispensable for this series:
https://ultimateclassicrock.com/bon-jovi-songs-ranked/
By Tony Kuzminski.
List also covers any outtakes from the 2004 box set.

3. QUOTES
https://twostorytown.com/new-jersey-quotes
full page of quotes EVERYTHING anybody ever said about the 4th Bon Jovi album
https://twostorytown.com/singles

4. BJ TOURS
https://bjtours.jimdofree.com/the-albums/1988-new-jersey/

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