Your interpretation of success/failure is clearly based on the US market. I think Destination Anywhere sold 1 Million copies in Germany alone and got Jon Bon an Echo for best male (German equivalent of the Grammy) which the band had never got prior to that. The album wasn't quite as big in the UK but still, pretty massive.

While my first exposure to the band was the raw performance of I Believe in the music video, the first time I really got hooked onto the band was Someday I'll Be Saturday night…and by the time These Days came out, I was already a massive fan. Still…when Destination Anywhere came out, JBJ was everywhere. Music channels, non-music channels, documentaries about him…I have never before or never after experienced such a media frenzy about Jon Bon Jovi or any of the band. Had It's My Life failed in the US, I don't think the band would have ended. I think all they would have done would have been focussing on Europe and Asia. And hell, if Jon wanted to, he could have done that on the back of Destination Anywhere, certainly in Europe. Unlikely they would have become the global touring machine that they are now, but I bet that they'd be making much better music.

Choices.