Reagan Gavin Rasquinha, TNN, Dec 13, 2010, 12.00am IST
To a fan of rock and popular music, wherever in the world you may be, mention of Jon Bon Jovi brings forth memories and reactions aplenty:
Excited shrieks, if you're a girl who had (or still has) his posters up on your bedroom wall, the 80s and 'hairspray metal', memories of a concert in Mumbai in the early 90s, the song 'Livin' On A Prayer', the wane during the Nirvana years (as Jon says, "..they come and go..."), the guitar twang in 'Blaze Of Glory', 'Always', 'Someday I'll Be Saturday Night', stadium rock and power ballads. Although I was never a fan of the band back in the early 90s, the booming drum sound of the 80s is long gone, the band's last album was The Circle (2009) and the music now enjoys a far wider appeal than it once did, spanning as it does, rock, pop and country and western. Over to Jon Bon Jovi...
Whats your relationship been like, with the fans, the public over the years, from when you'll first started out, and now?
Earlier in our career, there was a saying that the band had a best kept secret in rock n roll; it probably pertained to the recording of our first two albums. People often said that we have to record them live, it was the recording of the third record that we started to capture that live essence on vinyl. There's a reason why 34 million people have come to see the band over the years. We are known for our live shows. People come because they know our songs, generations sing our songs.
Jon Bon Jovi, the actor. Jon Bon Jovi, the singer. When did you first decide that you would try acting as well?
I made the music of the film Young Guns 2 and the song 'Blaze of Glory' became the golden-globe winning hit. My real life pal, Emilio thought it would be fun if I appeared in the film as well. My first role lasted for about two seconds in the movie Young Guns 2, starring Kiefer Sutherland and Emilio Estevez. It was fun and I decided to take acting lessons after that. My first major role was in Moonlight & Valentino where I starred opposite Gwyneth Paltrow, Kathleen Turner, Elizabeth Perkins and Whoopi Goldberg.
Live Rock n roll is a kind of theater. Please comment.
Every live show is a kind of theater in itself. We are pretty good at it.
How did the new album come about?
When we subsequently decided to release The Circle, because we were so pleased with it we went on the road, and while we were out here on the road, the record company asked us if we could consider the greatest hits and I said sure this is an opportunity. Time to give out the greatest hits 'cause we were going to extend the tour. It was sort of a commitment. And, in fact, we also wanted to make sure that the fans got value added for what we would have hoped to, what material we already had, for which we wrote new songs. Because a whole new generation have found Bon Jovi music since then. It was a good introduction package for me to say to those kids that have just found the band in the last decade, 'here's a tutorial' and for the fans who had all the albums for all of the years, 'here are the brand new songs'. So there are new tracks included in the collection and here we are today!
What's your evaluation of the Grunge Era, from a present-day perspective.
From today's perspective, I have seen it all, they all come and go. You should stay true to who you are and develop your own sound. That was a totally different era.
What is Bon Jovi the band's identity? Good old-fashioned rock n' roll or something more?
The songs on the Greatest Hits reflect who we are and what we did and that we are back. I look at the greatest hits as a celebration and as there was a party that each of these song titles were invited to and we wanted to have other songs that fit in the room at that party. We felt that we could do better so we wrote 'No Apologies', 'The More Things Change'... with the Greatest Hits in mind. They are uplifting, optimistic Bon Jovi anthems.
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