#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.
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#23 Social Disease | life lessons in Bon Jovi songs
The untold story! Social Disease is the least appreciated track of breakthrough album Slippery When Wet (1986).
But if you know its legendary roots? This might just change your mind!
In this video:
1. Welcome to another episode 00:00 Of Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs. A series we do in chronological order. We’re at their third album. Which at the time, for many people was their Only Album!
2. 4th song of side A! 01:17 Cassette (and vinyl!) listeners have a completely different context, where the closer from side A and the first song from side B, hold a special place.
4. Praise for Tony Kuzminski 06:03 Who has earned his right to say certain things.
5. Social Disease Live 1990 06:40 And why it was paired up with the Bob Dylan cover 7 Days!
6. It’s THE horn section song of the album 08:15 The signature trademark of producer Bruce Fairbairn! He would become legendary for always adding one horn-song to all rock records he produced.
7. The Early Death of Bruce Fairbairn 10:18 Of unknown causes in 1999. And with countless accolades to his name, all in the field of rock and heavy metal.
8. How Bruce Fairbairn was a key success factor for this record 10:40 Credited for really amalgamating the band.
9. Bruce Fairbairn played the trumpet himself 14:50 And played together with one other musician, for these horn recordings.
10. How this story will leave its mark 15:34 We will never listen to it again, without appreciating this story behind it.
11. the meaning of the song 15:55 And the confusion around of the lyrics.
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#22 Livin’ on a Prayer | life lessons in Bon Jovi songs
Livin’ on a Prayer, was the second single of their breakthrough album Slippery When Wet (1986).
And part of an effective two puncher!
Before the year was over, You Give Love a Bad Name and Livin’ on a Prayer had not just put Bon Jovi on the map;
It had given them superstar status.
In this video:
1. Welcome to the Song of Songs! 00:00 Setting myself up for failure, obviously.
2. about Slippery When Wet album 01:11 And the core role for Livin’ on a Prayer
3. The secret behind the success of Slippery 01:31 Enter: songwriter Desmond Child
4. The Rock Star Maker 02:15 What Desmond Child did really really well, at that time.
5. Bon Jovi’s lukewarm approach 03:20 The boys did not plan on just letting Desmond write them a few world hits!
6. “Look what I am carrying in my Backpocket!” 04:25 Unknowing of their standoffish involvement, Desmond Child won them over in 5 minutes.
7. The Assignment: Write a working class song! 06:15 And who Tommy and Gina really are. And that there are multiple songs which feature them.
8. The body of work from Desmond Child 09:30 4000 songs written; 1200 songs recorded; 80 Top 40 hits; 10 Top 10 hits. Source: This 13 minute interview Desmond Child https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHtf69yUM-4&t=127s
9. The moral of this story 10:15 “You have to write 4000 songs to get 10 really good ones!”
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#21 You Give Love a Bad Name | life lessons in Bon Jovi songs
You Give Love A Bad Name, was the first and flagship single of their breakthrough album Slippery When Wet (1986). A big album, for a big decade.
In this video:
1. Welcome to Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs 00:00 The slowest moving series on YouTube! 😉 And my Big Decision, to unstuck this channel and get it rollin’. Link to my Dutch yoga channel, which will continue yoga: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCA81I4RdVvgtGK99T3Io3Ew
2. Slippery When Wet album 02:22 And the well-known story behind the album cover.
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video: One of the last performances of Let it Rock. The song would disappear from the setlist after the New Jersey Syndicate Tour.
I create
“Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs” videos for YouTube. This blogpost is the pre-work.
“Let It Rock” is the first song on Bon Jovi’s sales-through-the-roof, mega-successful album Slippery When Wet.
The song was played live both on the Slippery When Wet Tour (1986-1987) as well as its successor the New Jersey Syndicate Tour (1988-1990).
Bar a few collector-worthy vinyls that showed up on the Google search, it was never a single and the song wasn’t played anymore after these tours either, with the exception of an occasional appearance the 2010 Circle Tour.
Probably fueled by its rarity, the song has become a fan-favorite, and I would say it is the unexpected gem, the secret weapon, that solidified the album. “Let it Rock”, although never revealed to the broader public, was the proverbial icing on the rock n’ roll cake, that made the album Slippery When Wet work, in particular because of its intro: An originally unnamed instrumental composition on keyboard (it’s not even in the official sheet music book!) that became known in the internet era as “Pink Flamingos”.
But in the 80s it was simply the first minute of side A of the album. The first unforgettable, 57 seconds, your first impression of the album. And we ALL know, how important those are!
Let It Rock was also the song which on the Slippery Tour had the questionable honor of having its hallmark intro clipped, and being shamelessly pasted in front of the performance of the B-side opener of the album, Raise Your Hands!
And not just 57 seconds because Pink Flamingos was turned into keyboard player and composer David Bryan’s time to shine on the stage, as he took the familiar opening tunes of the Slippery album to a whole new level for the live audience.
An audience which, I can only imagine, must have been slightly disappointed when it was then treated to Raise Your Hands, and not Let It Rock! Usually (I am not that big of a connaisseur to have numbers or percentages) Let It Rock would get played, later in those shows. But without its characteristic intro.
So it is those first 57 seconds of the album, the part that would later be known as “Pink Flamingos” that actually make the song, and therefor the album, work. I would go as far as to say that although the album sales were obviously driven by their hit singles, You Give Love a Bad Name, Livin’ On A Prayer and Wanted Dead or Alive; It was in fact the David Bryan’s composition that made the album itself, stand out. That made it more than a collection of hits and that push it right out of the gateway, from good to provocative. Unforgettable. Epic.
After 57 seconds, the song breaks into what is obviously the “real” intro; A series of whoo hoo hooos, moving up, and then another moving down the ladder, effectively supported by a heavy, slow pulsing push, of guitar-driven rock!
And then? “Aaahhh” (01:17)
In a moment of silence we hear an erotic, close to grunting, sigh!
Jon Bon Jovi’s first individual contribution to the Slippery When Wet album was, in my opinion, a faux orgasm.
A feature that, perhaps understandably, would never be repeated live.
Now as we have all been professionally warmed up, the actual, actual, Let It Rock begins. And with every beat, it manages to hammer you deeper into your desires, your power, your darkness, your strength! Its pace slightly slower than you would like, or would expect, keeping you on the edge, yearning for more.
My own experience with Let It Rock is a very personal one, as I credit this song for my early sexual awakening. I mean I was, sexually awakened from as long as I can remember. Details which I will omit here, because they’re probably too much information. Yet my early teens had been a time when I was recalibrating.
I had had my first idol, a Dutch teen idol only a very few years older than me, so it was nothing radical or out of the ordinary. But although I was still collecting his articles and pictures, the intensity of idolization had lessened, and I was on the lookout for something else. Or to be more exact; Someone else.
So when You Give Love A Bad Name, and Livin’ on a Prayer dropped, in the final five months of 1986, I was open for business. But I definitely took my time, before I made my choice.
The most likely time of me getting the cassette of Slippery When Wet would have been summer 1987, for my 15th birthday. It was then, that I heard Let it Rock.
And although it would still take almost a year at that point, before I would get my first boyfriend, Bon Jovi, their music, and the idol Jon Bon Jovi, had already started keeping me company. Their three singles, You Give Love a Bad Name, Livin’ On A Prayer and the 1987 single Wanted Dead or Alive, had opened the door, they had me engaged for sure. But it wasn’t until I had that album, the actual immersion in their music, that gave me the full, exciting, and satisfying thrill of being a Bon Jovi fan.
And although my first boyfriend and me were a difficult match, and our circumstances challenging, I was sexually curious and not afraid of this totally new physical experience of being with a tall and by all standards impressive, 17, 18 year old young man.
And when early 1988 I got my second boyfriend, I actually got a sex life that was so absolutely wonderful, I would still sign up both for a man like that, as well as for a sex life like that, although in all probability, the two went hand in hand 😉
And it wasn’t until years, decades later even, that I understood how all that had happened. How, in a world where so many girls and in particular sexually adventurous girls have all these bad experiences, a sex life I would still die for, was bestowed upon me.
It was because in the solitude of my bedroom in the attic, I had exposed myself day after day, night after night, to the cassette of Slippery When Wet. It had taught me pure, uncensored, and unapologetic, sex.
The accompanying Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs video on the topic of Let it Rock will be recorded and will be published on my YouTubearound the 15th of April 2024.
The next article in this series will appear around 20 April 2024 about: You Give Love A Bad Name Subscribe to this blog to receive it in your Inbox
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That was it!
Thank you for reading my Rock Star Writer blog! Subscribe to the blog, to get them in your mailbox. You can find the subscription button on this page, probably on the top right.
This Rock Star Writer blog is an element of “Rock Star” [phase 3]
Title: “Rock Star”
or “Rock Star yoga/ business/ writer”
artists: Suzanne Beenackers, little bear Puux art form: writing + YouTube videos
leg 1: earliest expressions, mixed work, July 2019 – March 2022
leg 2: The Void April 2022 – January 2023
leg 3: Storytelling 17 January 2023 –
You can find my books The Little Mistress Who Turned Into A Baby Koala A Boyfriend Like Jon Bongiovi and White Tigress Yoga Workbook
at the bottom of this page: https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/rockstarwriter
If you live in The Netherlands, Belgium or Germany, you can also order these books from me – just go to the bottom of this page: https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/rockstarwriter to check out which ones you want, and write me an email at s_beenackers@hotmail.com.
Payment is via PayPal or bank transfer.
video: a May 2023 (!) fan-made lyrics video of Secret Dreams (1985). That’s 38 years after its release.
“Secret Dreams” is the 10th and final song on Bon Jovi’s 1985 album “7800° Fahrenheit”, and one of the three songs of the album that was never played live.
Since the 2015 album Burning Bridges, Bon Jovi hardly plays the songs live that are on their new albums, but we’re talking 1985 here! This was only their second album, and it was a make or break one!
Or so they and everybody else in their fatalistic mind thought. Because in retrospect Fahrenheit neither broke them, nor made them. That honor would go to their third album, Slippery When Wet (1986).
Which in its attempt to reach for the stars, also became the (or one of the) most-sold hardrock album of the 80s, depending on the country.
Europe and Japan have traditionally loved Bon Jovi more intensely, than the USA did.
So Secret Dreams was one of the three songs of the Fahrenheit album, that was never played live. The other ones never seeing the limelight of the stage are (I don’t want to fall) To the Fire and Price of Love. This last one despite being a single in Japan, the country that has a long status of getting exclusive editions, the best performances, and also the rarest played songs;
In particular of the Fahrenheit album!
Because this was an album that was inspired by Bon Jovi’s first tour in Japan in 1984.
This is most obvious in the album’s song Tokyo Road, but also visible in their video In and Out of Love which depicts the story of being a band traveling the world and being chased around by fans. This video, and its footage, was predominantly inspired (or their confidence was!) by their success in Japan, where they now had two tours under their belt. Even there, in Japan, where fans were hungry for every snippet Bon Jovi and at a time when they could only choose from two albums – their debut album simply called “Bon Jovi” (1984) or 1985’s successor Fahrenheit- even there, these three songs were never played.
But if we dig a little deeper than the album’s production process, a drama-filled rush job with unsatisfactory results, we can find something these three songs, unexpectedly, have in common.
And about the second song (I don’t want to fall) To the Fire Kuzminski says:
“one-of-a-kind song that works as a prayer to an unknown power”
And about the third never-played song Price of Love:
“A manic and unrelenting drum roll opens this spiritual sequel to Love Lies“
Three clearly deeply felt songs with Jon Bon Jovi transmuting all his pent up emotions, both from a career perspective where the band was hitting its hardest year from their entire career;
As well as on a personal level.
In the month of the release of the Fahrenheit album, Jon Bon Jovi turned only 23, but he had been as serious about his relationship to Dorothea, as he had been about music.
But the uncertainty of being a beginning band;
The unavailability of being in a touring band;
And the temptation of being the best looking frontman the 80s would bring forth, were too much for the two of them, to make it in one streak.
Ultimately Jon would marry Dorothea in 1989.
1985 would become the only year he and his future wife-to-be Dorothea were so far apart and officially split up, that we even know who he dated that year;
The actress Diane Lane.
Click this Google search for the only photoshoot the two ever gave. disclaimer: Probably will make whatever you have going on in your love life, look pale in comparison! 😅
In 2017, Diane Lane commemorated: “every girl should have such a wonderful experience when she’s that young.”
Diane was 20, but more than her age being 3 years under Jon, it was his personality and the way he had been claiming and using every inch of opportunity coming his way -and even managed to confiscate some originally given to others- that made him the adult in this relationship.
Diane Lane was a Hollywood actress, a job that did not require and probably would never have even allowed for the strong willed, power driven, blind ambition that had been Jon Bon Jovi since he had been 16.
Even though Jon Bon Jovi was at the beginning of his career, his parents had encouraged his rock star path from his teens, allowing him to play at New Jersey’s Stone Pony, on weekdays.
And his cousin had given him a job as a gopher in a recordstudio that hosted world class stars.
The story goes it was Jon who did the actual breaking up, but that she forced his hand because she was a party girl, meaning non-committed in the relationship. There are even accusations of her hooking up with Richie Sambora, causing the split with Jon.
But whether or not that is true, I think the deeper lying inequality came from Jon having been given free rein to pursue his biggest dreams, while she had been groomed into Hollywoods age-old solution to quiet women;
Parties, drinking and drugs.
Which acted as a double-edged sword. First there is the fun and the substances to distract you from how you really feel about having no power and are dependent on Hollywood moguls to throw you an audition or other bone, hopefully avoiding the sexual predators; And then what you do in those moments of oblivion and taking off the sharpest edges of your reality, become events that can harm your career and apparently even come back to haunt you 30 years after.
Just saying that I’ve never seen a couple, any couple, in the history of Hollywood, New Jersey or The Netherlands, looking more radiant and more meant for each other, than Diane Lane and Jon Bon Jovi did in 1985. If you don’t believe me, you obviously forgot to click: Google search for the only photoshoot the two ever gave
“The Netherlands? What does this have to do with the Netherlands?”
Well, first of all, that is where I live, but secondly because The Netherlands, was one of the countries Bon Jovi visited on their very ever first headlining tour in 1985!
The Fahrenheit tour, named after their second album.
The screenshot of the concert that I used for the picture to this blogpost, is the thumbnail from the hAnD90 upload of that concert.
The tour had two legs:
Japan and Europe, both eager to welcome the beginning band, and this time as headliners.
They played The Netherlands on Saturday May 18, 1985, at Noorderligt in Tilburg. The Netherlands is famous for its graphic designers, something which, in my opinion, shines through in what appears to be a Piet Mondriaan-inspired concert ticket.
The concert was recorded in audio as well as video, and in 2020 YouTube channel hAnD90uploaded a remastered version. “A must-see show for every fan of the first two records!” he writes about this beautiful recording.
From a decade few recordings were made and even less survived.
But even without watching it, you now know which three songs from these first two records will not have been played, at Tilburg, 1985: Fahrenheit’s Secret Dreams, (I don’t want to fall) To the Fire and Price of Love.
“Not good enough,” some may say, including Jon Bon Jovi. But judging by their studio versions, I say these three songs were never played because they were so powerful, they ripped the beating heart right out of Jon Bon Jovi’s chest.
By 1986 Bon Jovi released their third album, Slippery When Wet. Their first single was You Give Love A Bad Name about a woman whose cruel breakup had shot Jon right through the heart.
And although the anthem was often introduced by a story of a girl he had met on the road, or a stripper he had met in Vancouver recording the album, I think we can all agree there is only one woman who we have photographic proof of, she had Jon’s heart in her palm. Only one woman, about whom we can logically assume, the biggest and certainly most important Bon Jovi song ever written, is about.
The relationship with Diane Lane did not survive in the form of a marriage, but it was the way she twisted Jon’s heart, after a five month “honeymoon period” so sweet, it still cracks the enamel of your teeth 39 years later; That got him to write the song that brought him the fame and success he had been working for since those school nights spent on stage in the Stone Pony in New Jersey.
“You Give Love A Bad Name”.
The anthem of a broken heart overcome, would not just be played at every concert from 1986 and up, in the history of Bon Jovi;
It was the song that shot them to world fame.
Diane Lane had given Jon Bon Jovi, what he had always wanted.
The accompanying Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs video on the topic of Secret Dreams has been recorded will be published on my YouTubearound the 7th of April 2024.
The next article in this series will appear around 9 April 2024 about: Let it Rock Subscribe to this blog to receive it in your Inbox
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That was it!
Thank you for reading my Rock Star Writer blog! Subscribe to the blog, to get them in your mailbox. You can find the subscription button on this page, probably on the top right.
They will be included in this series Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs
Bon Jovi 1984/85-1995 Deep cuts and cover songs (live):
This Rock Star Writer blog is an element of “Rock Star” [phase 3]
Title: “Rock Star”
or “Rock Star yoga/ business/ writer”
artists: Suzanne Beenackers, little bear Puux art form: writing + YouTube videos
leg 1: earliest expressions, mixed work, July 2019 – March 2022
leg 2: The Void April 2022 – January 2023
leg 3: Storytelling 17 January 2023 –
You can find my books The Little Mistress Who Turned Into A Baby Koala A Boyfriend Like Jon Bongiovi and White Tigress Yoga Workbook
at the bottom of this page: https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/rockstarwriter
If you live in The Netherlands, Belgium or Germany, you can also order these books from me – just go to the bottom of this page: https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/rockstarwriter to check out which ones you want, and write me an email at s_beenackers@hotmail.com.
Payment is via PayPal or bank transfer.
The Bon Jovi album These Days (1995) starts with a pounding heavy guitar driven intro that cuts open your ribs, exposes your heart, and then drops its message right where it frickin hurts;
Hey God,
I’m just a little man, I got a wife and family I almost lost my house, I bought into the dream We’re barely holding on when I’m in way too deep We’re two paychecks away from living out on the streets
With two more verses and a bridge, “Hey God” delivers three more stories.
These Days is a socially conscious, powerfully honest record that makes its point right from the first song.
Not only should “Hey God” have been These Days’ flag ship single; It is also the entire These Days album, crushed into one song!
“Hey God” is a song from American rock band Bon Jovi’s sixth studio album, These Days (1995), released as the album’s fifth and final single on June 24, 1996.
Although it did not chart in the United States, it became a moderate hit in Canada, Finland, Iceland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
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And after this first paragraph, on a page that will rank high in the category Ultra Short Wiki Pages About Amazing Rock Songs, the author could be explaining WHY this page is so short;
“As with most of the songs on These Days, “Hey God” is one of Bon Jovi’s darker songs.”
“Bon Jovi’s darker songs” Is it me or can you also almost hear the sigh in that? Like a “Who needs that?”.
Worth the extra mile! 2 disc version, Main album has 2 songs extra (14 total) + really great bonus disc
Or maybe the author was a bit bogged down by the lukewarm reception of the album, and he or she had forgotten they had actually liked that album,
and – mind you!- that in Europe we have entire clans of people, and when I say people I mean Real Serious Music Lovers, who would never have gotten on the Bon Jovi wagon if it were not for the 1995 album These Days;
Maybe they had forgotten what the album had accomplished.
And in all fairness, these people who suddenly recognized the quality of Bon Jovi after listening to These Days, did drop off the wagon pretty quickly. And yet!
As far as I know them, all have expressed Bon Jovi has earned that place in their heart and extensive vinyl collection, just from that album.
The “darker songs” on These Days did what no other Bon Jovi album had ever done; It won the critics’ hearts.
Now that I think of it, this might explain why I myself have been unfairly harsh to this album. In a 2019 song-by-song Bon Jovi video series for my YouTube, which I am still committed to restore, I even boldly claimed that, in all honesty? These Days may be my least favorite Bon Jovi album.
*mike drop*
Which was not just a very unpopular opinion but being a fan of heavy music, being a Bon Jovi fan, and I am also a proud citizen of The Netherlands one of the few countries where the album was well received and probably doubled Bon Jovi’s fan base; Then WHY was I so harsh towards this strong album?
I never investigated that question too much, also because I was kind of attached to my own antagonistic standpoint here.
But I think now that I m typing this blogpost I inadvertently answered my own question; It was BECAUSE the serious critics suddenly got on the Bon Jovi wagon.
And mid 90s? I mean give me a break!
press kit/ promotional photo for These Days album
SURE! Maybe, mid 80s, out of spite for Bon Jovi clearing out your country of female attention, you refuse to admit the Slippery songs are among the best songs in rock n roll history. I get it, it was the 80s, and it all went really fast when within 6 months you received a three puncher of three hits that was so tough to take in, you just couldn’t. I get it.
But the album New Jersey, 18 months after you got your Slippery-hits-ass whooping completed (on a strong strike, I admit) with Wanted Dead Or Alive? Jon’s award winning record in 1990?
Richie’s blues album in 1991? Keep The Faith in 1992?
Are you honestly gonna tell me you needed to wait until These Days 1995 before you heard that Bon Jovi was amazing?
I m just not buying it.
I will admit that me still leaning towards claiming These Days is my least favorite Bon Jovi album, is not backed up by facts.
But in hindsight I can see why I just refused to agree with people who were NOT there, in the years when Bon Jovi was being talked down upon as being just another hair metal band.
I can see why I owed it to my teenage heart who had recognized good music when she heard it, to ignore all the serious music critics when mid-90s they wanted a piece of very tasty pies.
As if the Bon Jovi bakery had recently finally gotten the recipe right.
Girls years younger than the serious music critics had heard it from the get go,
but you were too busy looking down on it!
(and listening to Pink Floyd I imagine)
Okay that was a bit ranty.
But you get the idea.
In a way These Days is for the Bon Jovi catalog what The Last Jedi is for Star Wars fandom;
A work of art that managed to double the fan base, but with two halves that hardly talk to each other.
Unlike all the Bon Jovi albums that had come before it, and I would argue pretty much all the Bon Jovi albums that came after;
These Days did not come to us, in the spirit of union.
It cut us open with the first riffs and in song seven we’re still bleeding on the floor.
I can’t write a love song the way I feel today And I can’t sing no song of hope, I got nothing to say
I can’t fight the feelings that are buried in my veins I send this song to you, wherever you are As my guitar lies bleeding in my arms
My Guitar Lies Bleeding In My Arms (song 7)
These Days was a raw and honest “WTF God?!” message, that never pretended to be anything it wasn’t. Least of all a regular Bon Jovi record.
And regardless of how long we’d been in fandom, regardless how old we were at the time that record was released, or regardless if we’d already been born;
We all felt that.
And to this day, 2021, painfully slowly clawing our way out of the pandemic; We still do.
Hey God,
there’s nights you know I want to scream These days you’re even harder to believe I know how busy you must be, but Hey God…
This morning, when I gave myself YouTube time in bed before I got up to start this first day after my birthday, I watched a video of the restoration of an army lighter, found on the beaches of Normandy.
And watching the video made me so happy! I had already had an amazing birthday, but to see how even this lighter which was in the poorest of shapes, could be brought back to a shiny, fully functioning lighter, with love, time, and skill? That made my day.
It really was the icing on the cake, a reminder that even when things look really bad? And with certainty beyond saving, beyond repair, beyond giving it any place in our living, breathing daily life because whatever this is or used to be? It’s definitely useless now.
That even that one particular thing, that you were about to Marie Kondo out of your home, has just a good a chance of becoming the eye catcher of your collection, your turning point from when things went up, or the platform from where your life took off, as any other more shiny, more obvious object.
But I already knew that. Knowing that you should not be too quick in your verdict, had been the main reason why my birthday had started off on such a high, and why I knew I had nothing to be ashamed off.
That despite that gnawing feeling that haunted me since the start of the pandemic, there were actually no real signs my 2020-2021 had indeed been one big failure. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Because over the course of the last few weeks everything with regard to my Bon Jovi related blogs, YouTube channel, yoga plans, are coming back to life and are coming together as well! I even feel inspired to pick up my Dutch yoga channel, and other projects or ideas that I started in 2020, but that I couldn’t bring into fruition or I dropped out of.
All ideas are coming back as shiny and new as that second world war lighter.
But the biggest shift in perspective has been when I started organizing my writing under an alterego, dusting off old diaries I stop-started, and articles I published when I thought I was having the worst year of my life. When I felt so alone, so disconnected and angry with the rest of humanity who in my eyes were an untrustworthy bunch of motherfuckers who were not taking responsibility for every motherfucking thing they had created before Covid; And now they were all just a little too keen to throw it all on the virus.
While Jon Bon Jovi was washing dishes for his charity organization, when the first chords of Do What You Can were written, and the band pulled back their 2020 March release of the album 2020, to review it, write more songs, and root it even deeper into being the topical, social conscious record it was already intended to be but that got to a whole new level now, obviously; When all that constructive work was done by the band I admired, I was contemplating if it was possible to break up with humanity.
If I would become a bitcoin trader, would that mean I would never have to see anybody for my survival, on a day to day basis, ever again? Was there a way I could stop contributing, stop creating?
And I never had to suppress the desire to destroy all my work as often as I have the past 16 months.
There is an African proverb: “A child that is not embraced by the village, will burn it down to feel its warmth” I didn’t need to burn the village, I could burn my own work and the only thing that kept me from it was knowing I would regret it in the future.
That ultimately, regardless of how my life would go, I would need a pen, a blog, a typewriter, SOMETHING! To let go, to express, and if it would all end up oxidized on a deserted beach I was as fine with that as anything. I didn’t care.
But I did know not to burn the pen, the paper, the typewriter, and also not the old diaries and my old work which I ve learned are of value just for being there, or for being here in my filing cabinet. They give off a reassuring, comforting glow.
But yes, it was an incredibly tough year, and my work under that alterego and here too, was a mess. I didn’t expect anything of use to come of it. And then this week, with a big sigh, I dived in and started going through that work and I found a piece I had written two weeks into the pandemic, late March 2020. And it blew me away….
Like a series of bombs, a sequence of hardcore raw, emotional, truth calling posts exploded in my head and I saw what I thought had been my absolute worst year, the 16 months of pandemic, which would soon include a whole year between birthdays, and a time in my life where for the very first time ever, I had absolutely nothing positive to say about it, from an artistic perspective; That this work had a high chance of being the best I ever created.
And it could only have been written in that lonely, cut-offness from the world.
My agenda is filling up with dates again. Summer 2021, and the new year of my life, is the moment when my life is returning to the way it was and added on top of that are new ways of communicating, new websites, new projects, new ways of artistic communication with the world. All social nourishment which will mean the months ahead will not have the same energy as 2020-2021. I will not be able to recreate what I did then.
And that’s what I mean when I titled this post Too soon to tell. I don’t mean that if you went through personal tragedy and hardship, it is too soon to tell that you had a horrible time.
You are allowed to grieve and give yourself time to process, recover and regroup.
But if you, like I did, have a bad feeling about 2020-2021 professionally? Artistically?
In the sense of what you have accomplished? Or you have a bad feeling about it, psychologically? Because you don’t feel like the pandemic has made you more resilient, nor agile, nor that you acquired or learned anything you will fall back on in the future?
Then trust me: It is too soon to tell.
Maybe “tell” is not the right word. It is too soon to SEE. Because I can tell you right now; 2020-2021 is not what you think it is, or was.
It might look like a green oxidized chunk of metal.
But after cleaning, polishing, and restoring it,
2020 can light a fire so bright, it will warm you for the rest of your life.
Little bear Puux arranges our bullet cd collection
This blogpost was one where I thought: “I can’t do this.” Too flat, weird, off-topic. And besides, I m sure people know how to date Bon Jovi albums! They may not all have stickers on the cases with the release date, but I m sure they’ll manage.
But you see, here is the thing; Maybe you haven’t thought about it. About how your Bon Jovi collection, whether a physical one like mine or playlists on your music account, is such a great and inspiring way to plan your time.
One cd blocks the time you spend on the activity.
The number of albums dictates the number of times you do it.
And the historic order gives it a rhythm and overall structure.
For example: Every month you do fifteen sessions of an activity, listening to every record once.
The activity can be either something fun, like one yoga session per album, which is how I use them.
Or something you value but don’t get around to.
Like work on a project for a minimum duration of one Bon Jovi cd. Which is how I perhaps should be using them! 😅
But I am on God’s planning, since a couple of weeks. No more planning for me. For projects without an external deadline I found out the hard way (three years of having a surplus of notebooks yet time slipping through my fingers!) that the more I plan the less I get done. And that my biggest achievements were done with zero planning.
They were done, however, at the expense of cleaning my house, exercise, seeing daylight, cooking proper meals, showers, and so on. But if there had been a planning? These big achievements would never have gotten done at all.
Bullet collection: band albums only, no best ofs, solo albums, rareties and so on.
So I only use planning for things I sometimes don’t allow myself to do or have. Like daylight, and yoga, and cleaning my house and having proper meals. Planning is not to make myself be productive, but to make myself a good life. And then God is in charge of productivity, because who else would you put in charge of that, right?
I heard a guru say that since we would question if something came from God or not, the next best thing to faith, was commitment.
😝
Which I now don’t have to have because I have chosen faith that the right thing will come through!
Such as the urge to write this blogpost, where I was like: “Are you sure this is the topic?” when the idea came through. But I quickly restored myself, because I knew the alternative to doing as I was nudged from inside, or above, was taking responsibility for my own work.
And before you know it you have a content calendar, and every Monday is when you write rambly posts, and on Tuesdays we do the Box Set, on Wednesday we make a YouTube video and so on!
The horror of a planned project! No…. then I d rather just write what comes through.
Today that is: How to use your Bon Jovi cd’s as cool planning tools.
So back to that!
HOW to use your Bon Jovi collection as a time-blocking tool for your projects or your fun things?
If you like the idea of a fixed sequence of the albums then you can choose between earliest album first, most recent album last.
Or you do time machine!
Time machine is part of a Bon Jovi show, when they play Runaway.
Runaway was a song Jon Bon Jovi recorded and he plugged it with a local radio station.
Other radio stations picked it up from there, the band was formed and Bon Jovi was born.
Time machine is the live on stage intro to that song, Runaway.
Jon counts down from the year it is (they have done this on the 2019 tour as well) all the way to 1982.
Then he tells the story of his pitch at the radio station and how he promised the dj that he was a rock n roll star.
If you listen or use the albums in time machine fashion, you start with the most recent one, and then go back in time.
Since the latest album 2020, there are 15 studio albums. A very tempting way I think, to start using them, is dividing them over the days of the week.
Then you listen to the entire collection every week, and the week gets this lovely predictable rhythm to it.
I put them all in time machine order, and then here is your schedule;
Monday 2020 Bon Jovi – 2020 48:08 2016 This House Is Not For Sale (International Deluxe Version) 70:28 2015 Burning Bridges 40:22
Just pick one; 2020 when you re in a mood for current events. This House Is Not For Sale, when you need to be reminded you’re not backing down and are going to crush it this week
And Burning Bridges for highest density of underappreciated brilliant songs.
The album was a contractual obligation and was barely promoted by the band.
Tuesday 2012 What About Now 51:36
2008 The Circle 52:49
Anthems and ballads to get you through your Tuesday on a high.
Wednesday 2007 Lost Highway 49:57
2005 Have A Nice Day 49:40
Country inspired Lost Highway? Or more classical Bon Jovi?
Two vastly different albums to pick from every Wednesday.
Thursday 2002 Bounce 49:10 2000 Crush 57:52
Fans of heavy guitars will throw Bounce on repeat.
And those longing for that nostalgic: “They’re back! They made it!” feel when Bon Jovi returned with It’s My Life, are going to go for Crush.
Friday 1995 These Days 63:55 1992 Keep The Faith 66:10
Two absolute killer albums!
I don’t care how busy you are Friday, but your activity will get done!
Saturday 1988 New Jersey 56:32 1986 Slippery When Wet 43:49
Is this is a musical Do Not Disturb sign or what?
Nothing will stop you from listening to these.
The ninth song on the box set 100.000.000 Bon Jovi fans can’t be wrong (2004).
You are in the premier league of Bon Jovi Fans if you immediately know which era Someday Just Might Be Tonight is from, upon hearing. And on which album it would have been, if it had been used for an album. Instead of not being released until the box set (2004), which has previously unreleased songs on it, from nearly two decades.
And within the premier league, you are at the top if you know which song is the musical twin from Someday Just Might Be Tonight?
I however, do not belong to that category. The era?
Destination Anyway era (solo album Jon Bon Jovi 1997)
Got that one.
The twin song?
Fortunately the answer was given to me, because I couldn’t guess.
But now I m standing by it;
It’s Ugly.
Ugly is the twin song from Someday Just Might Be Tonight
Although there are multiple technical similarities, the biggest “Aha! Found it!” came from how they make me feel. They’re both melancholic songs, but in a weird way. They’re…. I don’t know, “Anthems in Minor”, is what I would call them. With my dangerously limited knowledge of music.
You could imagine both Ugly as well Someday Just Might Be Tonight, having an entirely different feel if played with a heavy guitar, drums, and Jon throwing in some Woah!!!!s.
Like many Bon Jovi songs, Someday Just Might Be Tonight, is filled with messages of hope, and to never give up. But I would have welcomed them to be a little more full-on, because they’re not even making a scratch in the depressed state I am finding myself in. Day after day.
The only thing that keeps me going is absolutely refusing to think about it, going in full denial, and make firm resolutions to really go rock my life after Covid, and never be online again.
I think I m going to make a plan how I can live my life after Covid without ever having to spend one more minute behind my computer! Maybe if I publish all my books (both English and Dutch, and all my accounts); Curate all my videos, and refrain from creating any new online content from the moment Covid is over until death do me pass? So that I have no choice but to ONLY live in the REAL world?!
“We’re having an online meeting.” “I don’t own a computer.”
It would be an art project, of living offline.
Yes… And Woah!
That sounds like an amazing plan.
In 2004 Bon Jovi created a 4-cd (1 dvd) box set with unreleased work,
called “100.000.000 Bon Jovi fans can’t be wrong”. In this series, The Box Set, I am discussing all of the 50 songs
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