I’d Die For You is the 8th song of the album Slippery When Wet (1986), but its core identity is actually being second!
For years this song was absolutely GLUED, to the spot of being played second at Bon Jovi concerts. And for good reason; With the magic of Jon Bon Jovi also playing electric guitar on this one, joining Ritchie Sambora, the song doubled down on being a rock song for the ages.
In this video:
1. Welcome to another episode 00:00 Of Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs. The first video of 2025 and I’m happy to report I’ve made video-making the heart of my planning.
Because over the past years, it just didn’t get done! So it promises to become a productive year.
2. Slippery When Wet Album 01:36 We’re still at the album that was their absolute biggie. The book behind me, Let it Rock, is also about the creation of this record.
3. I’d Die For You 02:30 A fan favorite to die for that had its own designated place on every setlist for absolute years! It came second, every night from 1987 to 1989
4. “Hey operator” 04:07 The first two on the playlist are demos which have entirely different lyrics. Recognizable by the verses starting with “Hey operator”. This is the version before Desmond Child came in. And I was ON THE VERGE- of telling you this version had won me over. Until I heard the official one (song 3 and up on the playlist)
Unbeatable! To die for! 😉
5. Always in second place 06:32 For the longest time, I’d Die For You was glued to the second spot in their setlists! Giving us the first life lesson: There’s no shame in being second!
6. Less is more 08:26 The second life lesson this song brings us, is less is more. The new lyrics are more intimate because they have less characters (the operator was no longer in the story). In particular because the music is already so rich, it pays off to have less “exposition” or complexity, in the lyrics.
🐈⬛🐈⬛ The little cat peeking into the frame every now and then is Zaza. The pluche toys on the couch are little bear Puux, Fleurtje the Monchhichi and Master Grogu. And it’s winter so they’re all snuggled up in their blanket. (Zaza and Flip’s baby blanket, but they’re okay with them using it)
7. Saved the best for last!! 11.22 This song live has Jon Bon Jovi on electric guitar!! Double electric guitar really makes this song kick in. But in recent years, something happened that broke this ancient custom.
8. The future of Bon Jovi live 14:02 Will we ever hear I’d Die For You, in its former glory?
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Welcome back, Jovi friends! Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs continues with the least recognized song of the album, Without Love. It has the questionable honor of being the only song on this album that was never performed live.
Without Love is the 7th song of the album Slippery When Wet (1986).
In this video:
1. Welcome to another episode 00:00 Of Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs. This sure feels like ages ago!
(in reality it was one packed December month ago)
But this song has the perfect line for it: 🎵🎶 “I’ve been through some changes But some things always stay the same” 🎵🎶 There’s nothing “without love”, and I do love making these videos! So of course, I am back.
2. One of 4 Siblings 01:20 Desmond Child co-wrote several songs for Bon Jovi’s album Slippery When Wet. Without Love is one of the two lesser known songs.
The fourth Desmond Child song is I’d Die For You, which is up next; And about which I already have a lot of emotions! 🥶😬
As opposed to the usual suspects on this album, competing for Best Song, it appears to be the upcoming I’d Die For You that seems to be presenting the biggest challenge so far in this series!
Okay! So we’ve definitely had lessons that were more tightly knit to the song itself. But my friend, rarely will you get a “deeper cut” of insiders-only yoga knowledge! Colored in, by yours truly. So this theory was passed down to me, in an era long gone. But I expanded on it, and developed it into my own thing.
I’m not even going to say what it’s about. Because YouTube has probably got me shadow banned enough based on verbal analysis alone. But it’s good 😉
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#25 Raise Your Hands | life lessons in Bon Jovi songs
The unlikely candidate to become a classic;
But hear me out!
Raise Your Hands is the sixth song of the album Slippery When Wet (1986) and the opener of side B, for vinyl and cassette.
This episode was recorded on 24th November 2024, and posted on the 28th.
In this video:
1. Welcome to another episode 00:00 Of Life lessons in Bon Jovi songs. This sure feels like ages ago! (in reality it was 3 weeks ) With Raise Your hands we have flipped the Slippery When Wet cassette or vinyl to the second side, where this songs opens.
2. The Tale of Two Opening Songs 00:55 A story about Raise Your Hands (opener of side B), Let it Rock (album opener), as well as an initially unnamed instrumental sibling, which would successfully be teamed up to either one.
Plus a fast forward to the classic opener for their next album (the New Jersey album, 1988) and tour. They were definitely overdelivering on their openers!
“Raise Your Hands is my way of saying good morning class.” Jon Bon Jovi, 1986
3. Going all in on being a live band 06:30 Raise Your Hands was the signature song for the Slippery When Wet Tour specifically. The song would disappear from the setlist afterwards.
But Raise Your Hands was also symbolic of them coming of age as a live band. And understanding Bon Jovi could handle stadiums.
4. We, The band 09:15 And my 2 cents on when we noticed there is an I, in Bon Jovi.
5. A Star Is Born 10:31 Director Wayne Isham literally set the stage for the new Bon Jovi era. He set up a faux stage at a boxing arena, brought in a live audience, and shot the videos for the album’s first two videos; You Give Love A Bad Name and Livin’ On A Prayer. Turning them into superstars.
6. Director Wayne Isham 14:40 Would stay on for years, creating many more Live-inspired videos. At first it seems there’s little story telling here, but Richie Sambora pointed out that those videos were actually a form of documentary. A style that had never before been used for music videos.
Having a live video would become the default for the band.
7. Play your strengths 15:51 The live videos, as well as Jon’s realization around 1986, that they could handle big stadiums, are both examples of having a keen sense of what you’re good at. And rolling with that.
8. Raise Your Hands equals movie Spaceballs 17:05 For many people, these two always go hand in hand! As the comment section of Raise Your Hands on the official Bon Jovi YouTube, proves. Spaceballs was an 80s Star Wars spoof, and it has cemented Raise Your Hands into 80s pop culture.
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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.
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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…
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Rock Star Writer 