METAL Q & A FRESHENING THE AIR WITH BON JOVI

METAL Q & A FRESHENING THE AIR WITH BON JOVI

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John Neilson

I've got to hand it to Jon Bon Jovi. When I found out I'd be talking with him, I im-mediately planned on asking him about one of the band's video for "Runaway," which I found to be even more offensive than most.

Surprisingly. I had barely begun the interview when BJ himself began to lash into the video for me... When we do meet, it's at a swank In-dian restaurant, in the company of his publicist, Sherry Ring.

JON BON JOVI: Did you see ‘Runaway’? The fire in the girl’s eyeslike Firestarter? We saw it. We sat in my manager’s bedroom, threw it in his VCR, and it was over, and there was silence in the room. Not even “Oh, my God” or nothing. There was just silence, ’cause it had nothing to do with what the song was.

You know, everything I did last year from Day One was for the first time. I’d never made a record before. I’d made 50,000 demos. Now that the tape reel’d say “PolyGram Records” on it, I’d go into the studio like, “This is like The Big Shot.” And then you make a video, and there’s this guy who’s paid approximately six digits proudly to make videos, and works at PolyGram Records, and that’s his gig. I mean I sat with these guys telling me I should be singing on the White Cliffs of Dover, and these other guys telling me I should be a swashbuckler, and riding horseback...this isn’t what we’re

I swear to God, when I heard those things...(shakes head)...and then I saw the storyboard, like this real likeness of me on a horse, my hair flying in the wind and my big pirate ruffle shirt on...And then he said, “Hey, how about the White Cliffs of Dover!” I wanted to lunge across this desk and kill him.

So what does “Runaway” mean to you, then?

It’s about 11th Avenue. New York City. The Greyhound Bus Station. When I used to live here in town I’d go by there, and I’d see all the little hookers, or whatever, and knowing they were from Small Town, U.S.A.—they came to New York looking for something that ended up not being here. When you get here you realize that life’s not television. You’ve got to go out and earn some money. It’s about the Street. It’s not about Firestarter.

Then the second one, we were on the road, we did it on a day off. Shot for about

16 hours. The producer wasn’t happy with it, we had to fly to Canada the next day from San Francisco. We flew up, played the show, and flew right back after the show to film another 16 hours straight. I had nothing to do with the story line, nothing to do with the casting. I just showed up and this was it. And I said, next year...

So, now that you Ve got some hits under your belt and some bargaining clout, how will future videos be different?

Remember the ugly girls in the first two videos? There will never, ever, as long as I live, be another ugly girl in my videos...unhh, don’t say anything about the ugly girls, ’cause they probably read the magazine...

☆ ☆ ☆

So, you're originally from Jersey, aren't you?

Uh-huh.

What part?

Exit 11. (laughs) The northern tip of the Jersey shore. Real industrial: Dupont factories, that kinda thing.

So what about your family—are they factory people?

My dad’s a hairdresser. A tired hairdresser.

What does he think of your hair?

He does it.

When I was young, if you did something wrong, you got your hair cut, like real short. Sometimes I see these pictures of me playing in club bands that have really short hair. I say “Wow, I must have been really bad that week!” I’m waiting for one of those pictures to haunt me in a magazine—CREEM would have a ball with those.

We’d put it on the cover.

SHERRY RING: The cover? For that I’d consider it. I’ll have to talk to his mother.

BON JOVI: Oh, man! She’s got a picture of me in my knickers she’ll sell you. (to Sherry) The guys that read CREEM magazine don’t eat Indian food.

SHERRY: Oh, yes they do.

BON JOVI: No they don’t—they eat at McDonald’s. They eat at Ray’s Pizza.

SHERRY: Indian food is the cheapest food there is.

Maybe in India...

BON JOVI: That was one thing we’re very proud of—we ate at McDonald’s everywhere around the world. We were in Paris the last day of the tour, and all of the arches they have, the Arc de Triomphe and the Arc de le St. John’s—we’re riding in this limousine and he’s pointing out all these arches, and I go “There’s the Golden Arches—pull over!”.

“There will never, ever, as long as I live, be another ugly girl in my videos. ”

You’re related to producer Tony Bongiovi? (Thinks a minute) He’s my father’s cousin. So how did Bongiovi become Bon Jovi?

People couldn’t pronounce it! So I changed it last year. I had this guy do it— it was like “50 bucks, I’ll get you a name, get you a divorce, whatever.” It was just easier to pronounce. Actually, I’ve heard that some of the relatives, like way back when, changed it from the “J” to the “gi” for some reason.

So, was Tony helpful in getting into the business?

No—what happened was I was in a band in Jersey called the Rest. It was like five years ago now. I was just graduating high school, and this band was supposedly on the verge of a deal. Billy Squier was producing the act, and it was when his first album was coming out, and Southside Johnny had us opening for him all the time...So he was at this show, Billy was at this show we knew a lot of people from playing down in Jersey.

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So it was at a point when my family was going “I guess this kid’s addicted to this.” And my father knew his cousin was in the business, so he called him and he said, “Why don’t you go and check the kid out and tell him if he’s wasting his time.” So I met him, and he liked it, and he told me to get in touch with him if he could help out. What happened was then the band broke up, and I hadda get out of Asbury Park. So I went to the city...and started sweeping floors!

How did your band come together?

I put it together after “Runaway” was written and already on the radio in New York, and then it was time I could put a band together and afford to keep them. Nobody was making any money, and they had to cover their payments, you know. They didn’t play on the single?

They were on the first album, but they weren’t on “Runaway” or those demo tapes. I put the band together about two months before I had a deal, when “Runaway” was on the radio and breaking nationally. The band in the video is my band, but it’s not the band that recorded the song. It’s just something I had already done, but it wasn’t the same as having a band. I hadda put together something I felt was a band, instead of a “solo artist” thing.

So where is Bon Jovi the biggest? Do you have any strongholds?

New Jersey, I guess. (laughs) Overseas. In Japan, the whole tour sold out, and they keep adding dates, and they’re selling out. And then I guess Europe and the States are probably equal. What our manager did was get us around the world, and we built a base everywhere, which was smart. Just playing we got a chance to travel, and Kerrang came about, and we got voted No.1 band. In Sounds, we were No.2, but behind Deep Purple, which was pretty hip. No.2 “New Band,” which was pretty funny.

So England is looking real good, and the rest of Europe falls behing England and Kerrang, it seems, and then Japan...it’s just gonna be a great year. So do you feel like a “star” yet?

“What’s a star feel like?”

You obviously have a lot that you didn't have a year ago.

I don’t have anything now. My manager has it, the lawyers have it, everybody else got it but me. I didn’t buy anything big or anything. When I got signed I bought a great car. Now it’s for sale—you wanna buy a Z?—I got a 280-Z for sale.

Did you ever have the time to drive it?

No, that’s why.