Bon Jovi responds to criticism and celebrates 40 years as a band with new series: ‘Aging doesn’t scare me’ | Pop & Art

Bon Jovi releases documentary celebrating the band’s 40th anniversary

Jon Bon Jovi affirms and reaffirms that he is not afraid of getting old and appears not to care about criticism, at least in the first moment of the conversation he had with the g1.

At 62 years old, a rock sex symbol in the 1980s and 1990s, he has gray hair and wrinkles on his face. He still deals with problems with his vocal cords, which prevent him from reaching higher notes like he did in his youth.

“I age honestly and openly. It’s all 40 years of my career, you know? I don’t have surgeries, I don’t have…”, he says in a video interview with g1. “I have gray hair, so I’m not afraid to tell the truth. And that’s okay with me.”

This current moment of him and the band, and all the behind-the-scenes of their success, can be seen in the four-episode documentary series “Thank You, Goodnight: The Story of Bon Jovi”. The premiere is this Friday (26), on the Star+ platform.

The group is also preparing to release the album “Forever”, the 16th of their career. The album, which already includes the single “Legendary”, should reach fans on June 7th.

Directed by Gotham Chopra, the documentary chronicles the four-decade journey of the group formed in New Jersey, USA, by Jon, Richie Sambora, Alec Such, Tico Torres and David Bryan, in 1984, in a scenario where hard rock and heavy metal dominated the music charts.

They emerged with the track “Runaway”, from their first album “Bon Jovi”, with which they achieved a certain space in the music scene. From then on, they recorded music videos (later disowned by the band) and went on tours, as dictated by the script of a rising musical group.

At that time, criticism and jokes weighed on them for being attractive young men with good looks and attitudes. They flirted with melodic rock with a metal feel, but were not considered hard rock or pop. They were also proud of staying away from deeper, more difficult or political lyrics and subjects – another reason for the comments of the most critical.

At a time when they depended heavily on the good will of record companies, the band needed to exceed expectations with songs at the top of the charts. The frustration of being on the ropes and the pressure for great success in the 1980s are themes that, in the series, they address, discuss and evaluate over time.

Finally, the quintet managed to take advantage of the musical limbo. The first place on the charts came with the 1986 album “Slippery when wet”, which contains the songs “Wanted dead or alive”, “You give love a bad name” and “Livin’ on a prayer”.

“We wanted to give people something positive,” Sambora once said in an interview with “Rolling Stone” magazine in 1987. “We don’t want to get heavy. We don’t want to talk to people about politics, things like that.”

The lack of commitment to the most serious themes and debates continued to be one of the band’s characteristics throughout the four decades. In one of the episodes of the documentary, they show behind the scenes of one of the most memorable shows in the band’s history, at the Moscow Music Peace festival in 1989, held in the capital of Russia.

The show, one of the first to take place with permission from the Russian government, in the Cold War, featured bands such as Bon Jovi, Mötley Crüe, Ozzy Osbourne and Scorpions, an audience of more than 100 thousand people and broadcast to almost 60 countries, including the USA.

And then, unlike the beginning of the conversation with the g1, it can be seen that the artist and the band are indeed afraid of what can be said about them: when asked in this interview if the band would return to Russia nowadays, Jon replied no. However, the question displeased the singer and his team. The excerpt was excluded from the conversation recorded on video.

Check out the interview below with the question cut by the singer’s production:

g1 – Watching the documentary, I remembered an old interview of yours in which you talked about Bon Jovi’s first music videos. I’ll quote what you said: “If you ever want to punish me, tie me up and make me watch them.” You watched the documentary and saw precisely this phase. What was it like revisiting those moments?

Jon Bon Jovi – Watching the documentary is a whole… I believe that all of us, as a band, are very proud. It was a very emotional reunion when we saw the rough cuts of several episodes many months ago, because you’re looking back at what you’ve accomplished and you’re engaged in the present, thinking about the future. It was rewarding to look back to mark this moment of the band’s 40th anniversary.

“Making videos is not easy. It’s not always a pleasant experience.”

g1 – One of the episodes shows the problems he has been dealing with with his voice. As a rockstar and a sex symbol, how do you approach getting older and older on the road?

Jon Bon Jovi – Getting older doesn’t scare me. I age honestly and openly. It’s all 40 years of my career, you know? I don’t have surgeries [plásticas, ele fez uma cirurgia nas cordas vocais em 2022], I don’t have… I have gray hair, so, I’m not afraid to tell the truth. And everything is fine with me.

g1 – When the band was formed, you were not characterized as hard rock or pop, and you received a lot of criticism for that. How do you see these criticisms today?

Jon Bon Jovi – All I can say, you know, we made music and then, what happens next is out of our control from the moment you want to share it in a public environment. So, it’s neither one nor the other.

g1 – [pergunta ao diretor Gotham Chopra] And how did you see the band?

Gotham Chopra – One of the coolest parts of this story is that the band has been very well documented over the years. They collected a lot of material. When the band arrived on the scene and exploded between the 1980s and 1990s it was very well documented by MTV and VH1.

“But, your point from the criticism and the comments that they weren’t hard rock, they weren’t pop, they weren’t other trends either, and grunge appeared. The point is this: the band is still here.”

Many of these hard rock and grunge bands have come and gone and here is this band that releases hit singles, new albums, etc. I think this is the story. It’s not just about the music, but also about the people and the unwillingness to be distracted by the critics or the haters, as they call them, and just keep moving forward, because they are real artists.

What comes from the beginning is the love for art and composition. The rockstar lifestyle is cool, and it’s great that it’s documented, but it’s never been about that. I’m not speaking for Jon, but one of the things he talks about is that it’s the composition first, then the music, the fun and the performance. And that’s what comes across.

“They were never distracted. If it was anything, let’s say, it was just a weight on their shoulders, ‘OK, we’ll prove them wrong.’ ‘They think we’re not the biggest hard rock band? Understood, we can make a country album .’ And that was fun to follow.”

g1 – Part of the documentary shows a festival in Moscow, Russia, in 1989. Ozzy Osbourne was there, Scorpions, Motley Crew… Do you think this festival would happen today? Would Bon Jovi play?

Jon Bon Jovi – It definitely could. We can play with everyone. One thing this band did was, we could tour with Scorpions, Kiss or Judas Priest and in the same year with 38 Special [grupo de blues rock].

And then go to Nashville and record three albums. We had Metallica opening for us or Van Halen opening for us. And we had Matchbox 20 and Goo Goo Dolls opening for us. So, I’ll tell you a secret: the goal is to be Bon Jovi. It’s not about being the Rolling Stones or Metallica. It’s being exclusively us. So when you describe the song the only description is “sounds like Bon Jovi”.

g1 – But I wanted to say if you would play in Moscow, Russia… Would you play there today?

Jon Bon Jovi – Did I play there… well, not today, not today, in 2024. I wouldn’t go anywhere near Russia. Not today. But I went there about five years ago, I was at Lenin Stadium without any of those bands, that was just me.