Jon Bon Jovi On Getting His Voice Back for New Album, "Forever” (June 2024)

Summary

Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist: Jon Bon Jovi on Regaining His Voice and the New Album "Forever"

Episode Details:

• Title: Jon Bon Jovi On Getting His Voice Back for New Album, "Forever”
• Host: Willie Geist
• Release Date: April 6, 2025

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Introduction

Willie Geist opens the episode by expressing his excitement to host Jon Bon Jovi, a legendary rock icon from New Jersey. He highlights Jon's deep roots in the Garden State, mentioning the honor of having a rest stop named after him on the Garden State Parkway, which Jon acknowledges as a significant accolade.

Notable Quote:

• Willie Geist (01:05): “Jon Bon Jovi now has a rest stop named for him on the Garden State Parkway. In our land. That is the highest compliment you can receive.”

Setting the Scene

Willie describes the relaxed environment of Jon's "man cave," a space adorned with memorabilia from Jon's music and film career. They enjoy Hampton Water, a wine brand started by Jon's son, setting a convivial tone for their in-depth conversation.

Notable Quote:

• Jon Bon Jovi (04:02): “Which is the luckiest thing, right?”
• Jon Bon Jovi (04:34): “It is, in fact a wine brand that my son started some eight years ago and has become very successful.”

Journey to "Forever"

Jon delves into the making of his 16th studio album, "Forever," discussing the challenges he faced in regaining his voice after vocal surgery two years prior. He shares his rigorous daily regimen of singing exercises aimed at fully recovering his vocal strength.

Notable Quotes:

• Jon Bon Jovi (05:30): “I was well on that road to recovery. I wouldn't say that I'm a hundred percent there, but I'm at the goal line at this point.”
• Jon Bon Jovi (06:12): “The patience you can have in the studio making a record is not the same as the voice that has to be on the record road. So that's not enhanced. That's me.”

Overcoming Challenges

The conversation touches on the Hulu docu-series, "The Bon Jovi Story," which chronicles the band's 40-year history. Jon reflects on moments when he considered retiring but emphasizes his commitment to preserving the band's legacy.

Notable Quotes:

• Jon Bon Jovi (07:17): “I refuse to tear down the legacy and I refuse to take 40 years of hard work.”
• Jon Bon Jovi (07:25): “There was a moment in time... Now we can talk about surgery.”

Meaning Behind "Forever"

Jon explains that the album's title signifies the enduring nature of music and its ability to transcend time. He emphasizes themes of gratitude and joy, marking "Forever" as a departure from the more intense themes of previous albums.

Notable Quotes:

• Jon Bon Jovi (08:35): “The magic of music is that it can live forever.”
• Jon Bon Jovi (10:58): “This record is the first time I have felt joy in a long time.”

Songwriting Process

The duo discusses Jon's songwriting approach, particularly focusing on the song "Hollow Man." Jon describes how personal emotions and experiences inspire his lyrics, allowing him to convey authenticity and depth in his music.

Notable Quote:

• Jon Bon Jovi (14:06): “When you sit to write a record, you're thinking thematically and not just a collection of songs.”

Personal Reflections and Family

Jon shares heartfelt anecdotes about his daughter and the emotional process of writing "Kiss the Bride," a song dedicated to her upcoming marriage. He highlights the profound personal connections that influence his music.

Notable Quotes:

• Jon Bon Jovi (17:23): “'Kiss the Bride' was about your daughter Stephanie... Was that a difficult song to write?”
• Jon Bon Jovi (19:01): “I was crying in the studio singing it, and she is the last person on earth to have heard it.”

The Recording Studio Tour

Willie and Jon tour the home studio, a cornerstone for Bon Jovi's creative process. Jon showcases his first electric guitar, sharing the sentimental story of how it returned to him after decades.

Notable Quotes:

• Jon Bon Jovi (40:30): “That is my first electric guitar.”
• Jon Bon Jovi (41:09): “That's so. I'm so happy you got that back. What are the odds, right?”

Sustaining Success Over Decades

Jon attributes the band's longevity to forward-thinking strategies, self-management, and a cohesive support system. He contrasts Bon Jovi's resilience with other 80s bands that didn't sustain their success through changing musical landscapes.

Notable Quotes:

• Jon Bon Jovi (30:22): “Self management is the way to go. That was unheard of when, after I'd written that soundtrack for Young Guns.”
• Jon Bon Jovi (32:12): “We kept the faith... we're not trying to be something we're not.”

Future Endeavors

Looking ahead, Jon expresses a desire to continue making music and potentially touring in a more controlled manner, acknowledging the physical demands of past extensive tours. He remains optimistic about creating more music and cherishes the memories made along the way.

Notable Quotes:

• Jon Bon Jovi (33:55): “If I could just continue to make music the way I do, I'd be quite content.”
• Jon Bon Jovi (34:36): “I enjoyed it immensely.”

Conclusion

Willie wraps up the conversation by thanking Jon for his openness and sharing valuable insights into his life and career. He encourages listeners to check out Jon's latest album, "Forever," and the accompanying Hulu docu-series, "The Bon Jovi Story."

Notable Quote:

• Willie Geist (44:42): “One of my favorite dudes. You can check out his latest album, Forever, wherever you stream your music.”

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Key Takeaways:

• Resilience and Recovery: Jon Bon Jovi's journey to regaining his voice underscores his dedication to his craft and his refusal to let personal setbacks hinder his musical legacy.

• Legacy and Longevity: The album "Forever" symbolizes the timeless nature of Bon Jovi's music, aiming to create songs that endure beyond their lifetimes.

• Personal Connections: Jon's deep ties to his family and friends significantly influence his songwriting, adding layers of authenticity and emotion to his work.

• Sustaining Success: Strategic self-management and a strong support system have been pivotal in Bon Jovi's ability to navigate the evolving music industry and maintain relevance over decades.

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Listen to the full conversation on the Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist podcast and explore Jon Bon Jovi's new album "Forever" on your preferred streaming platform.

Transcript

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[Willie Geist]

Hey guys, Willie Geist here with another episode of the Sunday Sit down podcast. My thanks as always for clicking and listening along. Very, very excited to bring you my conversation today with an honest to goodness rock and roll icon, Mr. Jon Bon Jovi. I should disclose up front I am from New Jersey. Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen are in my blood. It's part of the charter of our state, for God's sakes. Jon Bon Jovi now has a rest stop named for him on the Garden State Parkway. In our land. That is the highest compliment you can receive.

[Jon Bon Jovi]

It actually is a really big deal.

[Willie Geist]

So John and I got together ahead of the release of the band's new album. It's called Forever. It's Bon Jovi 16th studio album. We got together at home. He invited a us down to his place in New Jersey. A beautiful spread, as you can imagine. And just so you can kind of picture where we are, we're in a building on his property that's called a man cave. It's a bar lounge really. So we're seated at the bar. You got your pool table, you got your hangout area. Sort of memorabilia from his film career in there. The, the music stuff, which I'll tell you about a little bit later, is in a studio where they record their albums. So we're chilling at the bar. We popped a bottle of Hampton water, a rose put out by his son, a very successful brand that John is also behind. So you might hear us clinking glasses there, drinking a little of that, and sat down and talked about his career around the release of this album Forever. And also the recent Hulu docu series. Thank you, good night. The Bon Jovi Story, which tells the 40 year history of the band. So a great conversation about the music, starting with a kid growing up in New Jersey with this guitar that he sold off in 1979 and recently got back from the guy he sold it to. You hear more about that in a bit. But his rise and the grind and, you know, the success he got with slippery when wet, 12 times platinum, living on a Prayer, Bad Medicine, all that, but also surviving all that and all these sort of reincarnations and navigating this career. A lot of those bands of the 80s that were so big didn't come out so well the other side. But he's still here doing his thing. And I just have to say, on a personal level, just one of the all time great dudes, he's everything you hope he would be. So I invite you to sit back, relax now, maybe you pour a little something yourself as John and I toast and talk at his place about the new album Forever and the history of Bon Jovi right now on the Sunday Sit down podcast.

[Jon Bon Jovi]

Jon, good to see you, man.

You too.

Thanks for having me over.

I'm happy you're here.

We're like in the inner sanctum here. All the the artifacts of your career on the wall. So cool.

Just the movie side of things in this, the pub called the Shoe Inn.

The shoe in which means the horseshoe.

Which is the luckiest thing, right?

Yeah.

And if you see the depiction of the horse where the horseshoe is placed, that's me, the luckiest man in New Jersey.

[Willie Geist]

You've done all right for yourself.

[Jon Bon Jovi]

It's called the Shoe Inn.

Well, if we're gonna hang out at the Shoe Inn, the water's nice, but it feels like we should have a drink of some kind, no? Oh, look at you. You had one ready.

Boom. I got a glass.

There you go.

Now we can have a conversation.

What are we drinking here?

Hampton water, the world's finest.

That's right.

It is, in fact a wine brand that my son started some eight years ago and has become very successful.

And you're involved a little bit, right?

I call myself Santa Claus in this equation.

Cheers, man.

Great to see you.

Good to see you.

I'm the guy that comes around for the photo op. You know, when. When the client needs, you know, the photo op, I come in at the end.

Oh, yeah.

But Jesse started this some eight years ago and it's become hugely successful.

Delicious. Thank you. Cheers. Lot to celebrate, lot to toast new music. Most of all, New music? Yeah. Forever is the new album. And if anybody has seen the Hulu docu series, they know what a road it has been to forever. I was listening to it the whole way down the parkway in the car. You sound amazing. It feels to me like the voice is back. Does it feel that way to you?

Knock on wood. What folks saw in the documentary was shot one and two years ago, so I'm well on that road to recovery. I wouldn't say that I'm a hundred percent there, but it's, you know, I'm at the goal line at this point. Just before our interview this morning, while you were working, I was working. I was doing two hours just across the way in the studio. Every day I sing for two hours. And the idea is, can you do two and a half hours a night, four nights a week? Then I'll say I'm ready.

So what was the standard for you to cut this album? Like, how did you need yourself to sound? How did you need to feel to say, I'm okay doing an album here?

The patience you can have in the studio making a record is not the same as the voice that has to be on the record road. So that's not enhanced. That's me. You know, it's. It's just I'll probably have sung each song ten times, you know, not three. And. And just wanted to get the best take of each of the songs. And I could do one, take a whole day off, you know, come in and do one on Wednesday, take a day off, come in on Friday, because there was so much, you know, that encompasses making a record. But I felt that we had the songs, and that's when it's time to go, you know, when. When do we have the songs? Got the songs, let's go. And then there. There was to where it wasn't difficult by the time I went in to make the record, but I would have made it even better today, you know, because I was eight months ago when I did the vocals.

So that. That road to get here. And again, if people have seen the Hulu docu series, which is incredible, if you haven't seen it, go do that. There had to be moments where you thought, this might be it, I might not be singing again. It might be time to hang it up. I mean, you have some of those moments.

Yeah.

In the series, were there moments, John, where you said, all right, I'm done. This thing I've done my entire life is over.

Between the shot from Nashville on the 2022 short tour that I did to try to push it into shape. And the operation, the moment absolutely of clarity was it's been great. But I refuse to tear down the legacy and I refuse to take 40 years of hard work. And for a dollar, I don't need the dollar. And I don't want that audience to ever think that I didn't give them the best show they could pay for. So there was a moment in time. But when I went to see the doctor and I said, look, I can give you 100% of 80%, he said, well, that's good enough. And I said, no, no, I. That means I'm retired. And he said, now we can talk about surgery. Which really made me love Dr. Saviloff because he wasn't a cut happy doctor. Sometimes doctors want to cut you. They want to be the healer. And he wasn't. He was very, very, very patient with me.

So the album is titled Forever. What is that mean to you? What is that title about?

You know, one thing that I can look back on on the many things of this 40 year career is that there are a lot of songs in our catalog that'll live long after we're gone. Those songs are part of the patchwork of American pop culture and they played on the radio somewhere in this world every day. And so the magic of music is that it can live forever. And the idea that we had committed our lives to this project and whether or not it went on to a stage ever again is to be seen. But the music will now outlive us.

So that's sort of the umbrella description of what the album is. And within it, within it you get at themes of what the last 40 years have been like for you and this family, which is your band and your family living in the house as well. Yeah. You know, songs like Living Proof and Legendary to Me are about the people who got you there.

You betcha.

Is that right?

Yeah. Everyone's contribution members, past and present, whether I collaborated with a writer over the years who I may no longer collaborate with, every contribution is what got me here to be able to talk to you today. So I, I appreciate and, and applaud everyone who was a part of it, whether or not they got off the ride at any, you know, stop along the way. But yes, in, in this record, really the theme has been joy, because you and I have known each other a long time. And for instance, when your show started and we were making this House Is not for Sale, that was a statement record. Yeah, I wouldn't say it was a lot of Joy in the record. It was. We got something to say. Let's get it off, you know, and. And then with 2020, we were all living through covet. All of us watching television and here in this room were living through COVID lockdown. Not a joyous occasion to write a record. I was the narrator. I was. I loved the songwriting on the record. It came out great, this one. In light of everything that I've been through, you know, vocally and challenges and we collectively have Covid, this record is the first time I have felt joy in a long time.

That's amazing because I think people watch you move through the world and you seem like a joyful guy who's hopeful about things. And this, this voice thing that frankly, most of the world didn't know was going on in your life before they saw the doc was you carried that every day. Right. And it was preventing you from finding the joy.

Yeah. I have never not been grateful. And this isn't a life or death situation. I mean, I'm blessed with good health. If my career was going to be sidetracked, oh, well, I've had a great 40 year run at the top. But there was nothing but gratitude. Gratitude compounded by joy. Get me back out on that stage, you know, it'd be awesome.

So was it fun then to sit down knowing you were back, not full strength, maybe with the voice, but to have that joy, to be excited and to sit down and start thinking about this album in a way that you probably hadn't thought about the last couple of albums?

I couldn't. You know, like I said, this House is Not for Sale was a statement record. There were some, you know, finger pointing in that record. You know, we're not going anywhere. And then you're writing about COVID and you're writing about guns and you're writing about items out there that are not happy topics was really satisfying as a writer. Now by the time we got to the studio, it was so easy to record the record and to go to the studio every day and work until you fell down because you were excited to be there. Yeah, it was joyful.

How different is the experience now for you, obviously, than it was 40 years ago, but you still got a bunch of your core guys who've been with you as long as you can remember.

Yeah.

How different is the experience of making a record today than it's been in the past with those guys?

Well, it's like a maturity when you go in the studio. I mean, everyone's just such a better player, obviously. Than we were when we were kids. Not that we were ever bad. We always knew our way around the studio. But there is definitely a maturity in the record making process. Now we have an identifiable sound. Everybody's more than capable of contributing in major ways. Everybody, you know, and that to me, again, makes the process that much easier. And every day I just looked forward to. And it wasn't a labor. You know, you go in and Dave's already got it figured out on the keyboard part. You're like, okay, you know, so you're not. You're not too concerned with, oh, man, I got to think of what synth, what do we do and what part. No, no, no. This is a Tony Award winning guy who's made 16 albums. He knows how to do this, you know, Tico is crazy, ridiculous drummer, you know, and same with Huey on the bass. It's a great band. And John Shanks and I know how to make this record. We've done it together for 20 years now.

You said the first song you recorded or maybe the first one you wrote was. First one I wrote first when you wrote was Hollow, man, which is a beautiful song. And also, man, it hits. What, what were you thinking? What were you feeling when that song came through you?

When you sit to write a record, you're thinking thematically and not just a collection of songs. That would be one way to go about it. But at this time in this point, I was thinking, okay, where am I? What am I feeling? I'm going through a lot. And as I'm strumming my guitar and just sitting on the couch, you're almost asking God to take this vessel and fill it. I'm hollow. Fill me with information. Fill me with, you know, what it is that my voice needs to say. And on a day. This is a songwriting trick I have. When you don't know what to say, write that down. You know, just literally set up the scene. So 30 years ago when I write better roses Sitting here wasted and wounded at this old piano Trying hard to remember but this morning I don't know that's all I had but now it starts me on this journey so hollow, man. I'm sitting here and I don't know what I'm about to say what do you sing when your song's been sung? And I was like, yeah. And that. That's it. Now I'm off to the races who do you fight when the war is won? That again. What better moment in time for me in my career, you know? What do you write when your book is done. And that then I was off to the races.

When you say something like that, the book is gun. When you're when it's the book is what was done. When the book is done or the gun isn't loaded. Is that the way you were feeling about like, I don't know if I have anything left.

Sure.

In the tank.

At this point on day one of record 18, I don't know where I'm going. Yeah, I know. I'm not interested in a pop song for a pop song sake. I have no interest in that. I knew coming out of 2020 that I enjoyed the narrative. It was in real time and that was a moment in time. So I knew that's where I wanted to be. It was all in the first person. And so hollow man took me there.

[Willie Geist]

Hey guys, thanks for listening to the Sunday Sit down podcast. Stick around to hear more from Jon Bon Jovi right after the break.

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[Willie Geist]

Welcome back. Now more my conversation with Jon Bon Jovi.

[Jon Bon Jovi]

There's another song that just as a father of a daughter that just blew a hole through my chest, which is Kiss the Bride. Obviously that's about your daughter Stephanie and what's coming for her down the road. Was that a difficult song to write? It's a beautiful song and we're gonna hear it at weddings for the next 50 years.

Amen to that.

Right?

[Willie Geist]

Okay.

[Jon Bon Jovi]

But man, when it's your daughter, you're not writing about some theoretical situation.

My baby, you know, I have three kids that are engaged to be married. Wow, that's a lot to put on. Turkey and I. But the beautiful Thing about it is I only have one daughter and she's my baby. Right. She's the eldest and 25 years ago I wrote a song called I Got the Girl. The queen of hearts will always be a five year old princess to me. You know, I got the girl. Now she's 30, she's engaged to be married. So again it's, it's been my life's journey, these records and this time, you know, you're saying, I wish that this walk down the aisle was a thousand miles. And because now I have to put this into perspective, she's going out to buy a wedding dress and she's, you know, I'm not going to be number one anymore. And you know, you hold on a little tighter. So I co wrote that song with my dear friend Billy Falcon and I was crying when we were writing it and I was crying in the studio singing it and she is the last person on earth to have heard it.

And we still don't quite know how she is dealing with that song yet.

In honestly God truth, we have not discussed it after. I know that she's now heard it. I played it for any and everyone that you know in these listening opportunities and she heard me talking about it on television. She's like, dad, what do you think? Do I have to wait till the album comes out here, babe. So it's, I, I know what it means to both of us.

Yeah, it's a beautiful song.

Thank you.

I think by halfway through that, my third listen, I had to bail out.

It was too much.

I was like, oh my gosh. And I'm, you know, I'm a decade away from it. But yeah, you feel it all coming, you know, and it's these milestones, isn't it in your life where like you said, she was your little five year old girl. You can't believe you blinked and it's been 25 years. Yeah, it's wild. You are in the Songwriters hall of Fame, considered one of the greatest living songwriters.

Not true, but I'm in the songwriters.

Well, there's a reason you're in there, man. It's not an accident. I'm just curious. And people, whenever we have these conversations, love hearing how the great ones do it. How do you start writing a song? Do you sit there with a guitar? Do you. Is it words? Is it music? How do you go about it?

The process is different for different people. You know, some people in technology come and they go in the studio and create a loop and then they'll come with their melody. And lyrics are last. That's typically not me. I oftentimes sit on a couch with a guitar or secondarily at a piano. And I'm. I'm not a good player. I'm good at banging out the chords, figuring out what I want to do and what they don't, what it is that I want to say. And then, you know, certain titles give you the mood and, you know, Kiss the Bride wasn't going to be a big rock song. It's just, it's not, you know, hollow man. When you're starting emotionally, it could go either way. For me, I had to tell a story, you know, but I knew legendary was me being happy, me being upbeat, me stating the obvious. But for those who don't know, the simplicity of that chorus means more to me than something complicated. I got what I want because I got what I need. You know, this is all pixie dust at the end. What do I got? I've got a wife and family that love me. I got a band that believe in me. I've had a good life. Got what I want because I got what I need. That's legendary.

That's what it means to be a legend to you. Means something else than the outside.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not fame and fortune has nothing to do with it. What matters is, you know, seeing the family and the friends and, and the people that believed in me, they went on that journey, you know, they put their lives on the line to say, okay, we'll go. We had nothing. And you know, guys that believed in me for 40 years or 30 years or whatever time anyone was with me, it's appreciated.

And that the docu series goes back even farther than that. It's so fun to see those early days of you 16 years old, Atlantic City Expressway, 17 years old, playing in the bars in Asbury Park. It seems to me, and I think you said this in the docu series, there was never anything else. There was no plan B for you. Right. So you were going to be a professional musician. Maybe not selling out Giant Stadium, but you were going to be playing music somewhere.

No one on my radar was selling out Giant Stadium, you know, the Asbury Jukes, you know, a big part of my influences as a kid, a 3,000 seat condo theater. The E Street Band went, you know, at the time when I was going down there for the first time, we're playing 3,000 seat theaters. They graduated to arenas, you know, in 1980. So that was the big time.

Yeah.

And every step along the way at that Time you thought was the big time, whether you're playing in a bar for your first time at 16 and 17 and 18, you thought you had made it. So I never had a plan B. But I also had naivete. I was very young, the drinking age in New Jersey, being 18 was integral to the story. Not because of the joke of all you can get drink. No, it was that you could go to a club at 16, back in the day when licenses were made of paper and you could use a little bit of white out.

[Willie Geist]

I'm laughing because we did it in New Jersey.

[Jon Bon Jovi]

We probably have the same license, you.

Know, and you just mush your hand across a little bit and hold that paper license up. And it was up to the bouncer, you know, and. And, you know, I mean, I remember getting busted playing in a bar and the owner would lose his mind on you. You son of a. You could get. I could lose my license, you know, being reprimanded and told to sit at a table at the door on our breaks, and don't you move, and you can't even have water, you know. But for the most part, I was able to go in and play, which again, is integral because my folks support was there because they said, well, at least we know where you are.

Yeah, and.

And I took it so damn seriously that I quit my own cover band at 18, just barely 18, to join someone else's band as a singer. Because I thought, if you don't learn to write, you're going to be playing, you know, other people's music. And then by the time I was 20, you know, I had runaway. So then the rest was written for me.

The point you make, which I think is so relatable, is Led Zeppelin. The Stones lived on a different planet.

Sure.

Never forget. That's just too big, too, too big. But the Jukes, E Street Band, even Bruce there, he's up there, right? And you go, okay, I can be that.

Not that I could be that, but you could see that, right? You know, they were our heroes, the Jukes and the E Street band. That means 17 men that you would see in and about the clubs. So at any time you were seeing one of, you know, snow whites, dwarfs, or Santa's elves, however you want to look at it, you know, you were seeing One of the 17, as far as we were concerned, greats. And so Southside produced the rest. Bruce jumps up on stage with me when I'm still in high school. Those are pretty good words of encouragement. When Labomba, the trombone players coming to teach the expressway, the right way to play the horn parts, you know, Kevin Kavanaugh coming and jumping on stage was a big deal. The actual eighth notes on Runaway on the record is not David Bryan. It's Roy Bitton.

I did not know that Roy Bitton.

Played the actual keyboard part on Runaway.

Wow.

Yeah. So those guys were all like, that kid.

Yeah.

It's not about that kid.

Yeah, well, you obviously. I mean, you got talent. You've got all the things you need to have to be a star. But it seems to me there's another very important, maybe more important element to it, which is force of will drive whatever that is. You were not going to be denied, whether it was running around Power Station, getting studio time on the weekends or late at night, or finding. What was it wapp right to get run away. Like you at a young age, you knew how to navigate and get what you wanted. Is that right?

To get the job done? Not necessarily to get what you wanted. I guess the end result is I got what I wanted, but I was never the best singer. I was never the best guitar players, never the best writer, but I outworked everybody.

Yeah.

You know, I don't think anybody can ever deny that. You know, there'll definitely be guys in my, you know, past, they'll say, you weren't even good. I was like, I know, but you were home and I was out there doing it.

Right.

You know, and I was the crazy kid that thought a dj, you know, that's. That's my crazy way of thinking.

Yeah.

You know, no one else I know ever thought of that. You know, so that was the magic, is that it was just relentless desire to do that.

And it feels like even when you were blew up with slipper when wet and everything, that continued because there is this mythology around rock stars. You're out all night, you're doing this and that when the truth we learned in the docu series, you had your fun, of course, but you were the guy up early the next morning making sure that the train kept rolling.

And as the singer, you tried to take care of yourself, you know, that your job was to do it the next day. So it wasn't as if I didn't have as much or more fun than anybody else, but I had the responsibility of waking up and doing it again. And then I had the mindset that we have to do it again.

Yeah.

And again, you know, it was on my, you know, primarily on my shoulders to get everybody else to believe in it.

Right. But I'm not sure everyone else in that era, the famous front men that people knew also subscribed to that.

[Willie Geist]

Right.

[Jon Bon Jovi]

They had the fun and maybe burned out because of it.

Right. I don't know. You know, teach their own, right?

Yeah.

From where we came and the stories that you get out of Johnny or Bruce or those kind of guys, they'll say, yeah, all I did was work. So that's all part of it. I don't know. For me, that was, that was. And it was fun. It wasn't like I was crying in my room because I was, you know, miserable that the kids were out playing in the, you know, in the rain. I was like enjoying my work. But I drove myself and others too hard, you know, several times throughout my career. And the burnout comes right?

[Willie Geist]

Stick around for more of my conversation with Jon Bon Jovi, right after a quick break.

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[Willie Geist]

Welcome back now to the rest of my conversation with Jon Bon Jovi.

[Jon Bon Jovi]

I'm curious, too, as I watch the series, what you think it is about you and Bon Jovi, the band that made you survive that era of the 80s where a lot of bands didn't, they did not. And not only survive, but thrive and find new ways, whether it's Young Guns too, going out and doing that. And then just how did you do that? I mean, because the, the 80s are, you know, nostalgia littered with the, you know, the bodies of old, of old bands that just didn't continue again.

It was that forward thinking, to be honest. In, in, in, in retrospect, I thought differently. I, I, I was nuts enough to say self management is the way to go. That was unheard of when, after I'd written that soundtrack for Young Guns and that was really emotionally rewarding, I wanted to do more things like it. My first manager didn't believe in it, and so we had a falling out over it. And, you know, self management began when the grunge movement necessarily came to be. We didn't chase that. We didn't suddenly, you know, go and pull out our flannel shirts and pretend to be from Seattle. But we didn't try to be who we were yesterday. For me, I had turned 30, I had gotten married, the, the Berlin Wall came down, the Rodney King beatings happened. In la, you're maturing while you're witnessing history. You're seeing, you know, what's going on in the music business. You write differently, we get in a room, we write, keep the faith, you know, we, I cut my hair simply because I was like, need a haircut. I'm 30 years old now, I'm married. I got a different viewpoint. And I'm not interested in trying to be something I'm not.

Right.

You know, so all of those things worked in our favor. And then Keep the Faith and Better Roses and those songs were big hits.

A lot of people didn't make it to the other side of grunge, as you say. Right? That was supposed to squash the 80s.

As they should. As they should. Because in truth, record companies find Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Guns N Roses, and then they sign 15 other things to make it sound and look like that.

Right.

You know, and the ones that, you know, we've forgotten the names of are gone. And same thing with Nirvana, Pearl Jam, you know, the big ones Live Forever and then the ones that they pretended to be like that to take capitalize, don't. And it's every boy band or pop star. It, that's what record companies do.

You mentioned Dorothea a couple of times. That's another big reason, is it not, that you're the man sitting here today that you did survive everything that comes being a rock star.

My support system was sound from day one. And a lot of that had to do with us growing together. You know, we went to high school together. So like you and Christina, you've known each other since school, and that's a big deal because no matter what twist and turn, you lived it together. And for me, that was a very big deal.

She was. I'm sure it wasn't always easy, right?

No rock star. But in my defense, we're the same age doing the same stupid stuff.

Yeah.

We just did it together.

Right, right. So when you look now, John ahead, encourage, you have to be by this new album, by the. Your ability to continue to make music. Yeah, you got your voice back. From what I can hear, it sounds amazing. The songwriting is great. What else is out there for you? What do you want to keep doing?

I mean, to keep doing, I think would be the. The gift. There have been things in my life that I've tried and some succeeded and some didn't, but there isn't anything on the horizon. They go, now I want to be the best gardener. No, I'm not very good in the garden. I've come to that conclusion. So for me, I think I've. I've attempted some things that have failed or. Or won, but nonetheless, if I could just continue to make music the way I do, I. I'd be quite content.

Would you like to get back out on the road?

Yeah, in a controlled manner. Regardless of, you know, how great I can sing or not. I don't think there's ever going to be a 240 show tour again. But, you know, when I look to the stones and U2 and Bruce and, you know, that kind of thing, I could do that. Yeah, that would be all right.

Get you in the sphere for a couple of months maybe.

I don't know about the sphere, but that was pleasurable. I enjoyed it immensely.

Yeah. I mean, you look back and think about those tours you were on where you go 240 nights, come home and rest for a couple of months, and then they ran you right back out there.

Write a record, record a record beyond the road within a year.

When you think back to that, I mean, it's been a while, but can you believe your body did that?

The exuberance of youth. And it was three nights in a row night off. Two to three nights in a row night off. You know, it was. That's being a kid.

Yeah. You don't need that anymore.

I don't really. Yeah. I Don't think I'd want to do that anymore.

No, you. You've got your band together, and I was talking to you before we started that. Richie pops up in the. In the Hulu series, which was.

[Willie Geist]

Felt like.

[Jon Bon Jovi]

Had to be a part of it.

Sure.

Tell his part of the story. Is he somebody you'd like to see back with the band going forward?

You know, why would I say no, Right? He left us 11 years ago, so, you know, it was a very difficult time for all of us because there was no falling out. It was just issues, you know, and that he had had and substance abuse. And he's a single parent, and he, you know, wanted to bring his daughter up. So we were very dismayed by the whole thing. But for the first three chapters of the band's history, he was there and, you know, beloved member. But he'd have to, you know, figure out how to. How does this work now? You know, how does it work now that Phil X and John Shanks and myself and, you know, we've gone on so he'd always be welcome.

One other cool thing he did was American Idol just a couple of nights ago. The finale. How much fun was that?

Daunting. You know, talk about the kid with his chip on his shoulder again. You know, I mean, like, you're gonna sing, but it's on the biggest show on TV tonight. And go. But I. I was ready for the. For the challenge, you know, and the voices far enough along that I knew I could hold my own. So, yeah, it was. It was. That was good. It was good. It's a good confidence builder.

Do you still get those little butterflies before you?

Well, not. Not prior to my injury.

Right.

You know, I would. I always would welcome something like that. I was never afraid of butterflies and performing or anything like that. You'd get excited about a performance, but I was never afraid. Then it was a question of, you know, does this work or not? And you're on a show that features singers, right? They're all good singers.

Yeah.

Right. You know, so it was pleasurable.

The reaction's been very good.

Oh, good.

Very good. People want you on the show, and they want the whole thing. One of the songs on the album is about your first guitar. I think we're actually going to go take a look at it because you have it back in your possession. So we'll go check that out.

[Willie Geist]

So after our conversation at the bar, we hopped up and kind of walked across the yard to the studio, which is a monument, really, to Bon Jovi, where they've recorded a whole bunch of their albums. The walls have posters from all their concert tours going way back into the 80s. They have. You know, it's got the sound room, it's got the control room. It's got everything where you can record an album. And it's the place where John now is, get his voice back after that vocal surgery two years ago. And he does exercises almost every day for a couple of hours with a therapist to recover the voice that is so famous. So now inside the studio at home with Jon Bon Jovi.

[Jon Bon Jovi]

So this is the recording studio. This is where we made every record from. Wrote It's My Life in here, recorded it in here. The Crush act album, Bounce, have a Nice Day, Lost highway, the Circle, and what about Now? All done here. And now this is where we rehearse. So those would be like, the boards would have the song titles from varying albums and you know, the. What you're doing when you're recording them. And so some of that history is. Is in here as well.

Deciding set lists and stuff like that.

No, no, no, that's the recording. The recording. Now this is basically where I do my therapy every day.

By the way, I saw this in the doc and immediately recognized it.

Oh, you did?

The guy you introduced me to?

Yeah, yeah. Quite the character, that one. This is 122222. So you know, you.

So you go through your exercises?

Well, you put on a rock show. Really? So it's just. Yeah, I plug in my guitar and it's like my part in the show, sing and play.

And how did it feel this morning? Great.

[Willie Geist]

Good.

[Jon Bon Jovi]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. There'd be a list of what I do on a daily basis.

And that's every day.

Well, at least four times a week, you know. So these are the lists of those days. That's what I do here.

I don't think people who listen to music like yours or any music appreciate what goes into it. When you come into a place like.

This, you think Tom Brady just throws touchdowns. I wish. So does Tom Brady. But that's not quite the way it goes.

There's a lot of work before you walk out at MetLife Stadium.

Yeah.

Now, is that the guitar? The original guitar?

Yeah.

Your first guitar?

That is my first. First guitar.

And there's a story about you giving it away or selling it. Selling it and getting it back.

Yeah. So about 1979 is. I'm going to guess I'm aspiring to get a Fender guitar. And so I have this Univox Stratocaster kind of a knockout knockoff. And if you look really close, you can see there's three lines here and the letter E from expressway that was written like in sparkles.

Wow.

So this cardboard case. And I sold it to a guy in the neighborhood. And there was a volunteer at the Soul Kitchen. Her name was Denise. She made a point of making me remember her name so I could say it. Said I know the guy and he still has it. And I don't think he's touched it in these 45 years and he'd be willing to get it back to you. And he said that it's where it belonged. So, you know, I gave him another guitar sign that I met his kids and. And he sold me this back. But I swear that these spots are the originals only because he never played it right. And there's only five strings on it. Which again, I'm gonna just expound upon the story and say that that's how I sold it to him. And so then I wrote the title of the song that I picked this up and wrote a song on.

That's incredible that that would come back.

Around and the shape it's in and everything. Yeah, it's probably like, can't even. But it's. It's cool. And. And yes. It was my first electric guitar.

You remember what you got for it? Back in 70.

100 bucks.

[Willie Geist]

100 bucks?

[Jon Bon Jovi]

Yeah.

That's pretty good. Number 79.

Come on.

[Willie Geist]

And that got you the Fender or Got you close.

[Jon Bon Jovi]

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. It was that in shows and asking my parents and everything else. But that is the. The cardboard case. As the lyric says. Car is cardboard case, center Starburst finish. One power cord, and I'm right back in it.

[Multicare Representative]

Wow.

[Jon Bon Jovi]

Playing old KISS records in my folks backyard. I'm 17 years old in a rock and roll style.

And the guitar is shocked to see where you come since then.

Yeah. It woke up and there it was.

Look at you, man.

I know. I was so pleased and it was in such good shape that you could just tell that the guy, you know, didn't play it or anything.

That's so. I'm so happy you got that back. What are the odds, right?

Yeah.

I thought you'd see that again.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was cute.

That's awesome. Cool, man. That's great.

Good. So this is that and this is it. Tomorrow, another day.

Do you. So will you record in there or is that so?

Yeah, what this is. This would have been the control room.

Right.

But like I said, the gear had Gotten antiquated. And after that album, we stopped recording here. So I gave the gear to our engineer so he could work at home.

Right.

The board would be here. So now it's a quiet booth for Tico to play. So when we're out there and he's in here and we're on headphones, we can all hear well without.

Right.

You know, going cuckoo. And so it's a drum room, but this would have been the control room. This is where we. You see it all over the documentary. Yeah, this is the control room. So now it's just a rehearsal space, but a lot of history here that just left the way it was, you know? Just the way it was.

Yeah.

And some of the, you know, different albums and the places you've been, man.

With this music, you know?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Moscow, the Guadalajara.

Yeah. Wow. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We've. We've lived a couple lives and then some over the years. Pretty fun stuff. Good memories in this room.

And more to come. More to come.

Absolutely. More to come. Yeah.

Awesome, man. Thank you, dude.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Willie Geist]

My big thanks to John for opening his home to us and for just a great conversation. One of my favorite dudes. You can check out his latest album, Forever, wherever you stream your music. And if you haven't yet seen the Hulu Docu series, thank you. Good night. The Bon Jovi Story.

[Jon Bon Jovi]

It is excellent.

[Willie Geist]

And of course, my thanks to all of you for listening again this week. If you want to hear more of these conversations with our guests every week, be sure to click follow so you never miss an episode. And don't forget to tune in to Sunday Today every weekend on NBC. I'm Willie Geist. We'll see you right back here next.

[Jon Bon Jovi]

Week on the Sunday Sit down podcast.

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