I remember hearing the single on the radio before the album came out and I heard the edited version first. My friend Julie and I practically lived at each other's houses during the summer. I turned 15 that summer so I got my driver's license. I made a tape with Blaze back to back. It took exactly 2 listens to get from my house to Julie's. We'd stay up all night and listen to the radio and we always called the nighttime DJ on the radio station and would talk to him for a long time. He loved it because it was 2:00 AM and he nobody to talk to but us anyway. He knew how crazy we were for Bon Jovi. I didn't have cable TV so I didn't get to see the video or hear the whole song for a while. Eventually I heard the whole song. Well, I called the radio station one night and I said, "Well, I finally heard all of Blaze of Glory!" and the DJ said, "Is this a momentous occasion for you?" I said, "You KNOW it is!" He said, "I do?" I said, "Is this *** ***?" and he said "No, this is *** ***" I was so embarrassed! I explained to him that I talked to the other guy every night and he knew exactly what hearing Blaze of Glory would have meant to me.

Also, I had no idea WHEN the album was going to be released. I just fretted that Jon had an album out and I didn't have it yet. (We lived nowhere near a store that sold records.) It came time to go back to school shopping, so Julie's mom took us to Jackson to the mall. As soon as we got close to the record store, I rushed in and asked if they had Blaze of Glory. They had a HUGE display of it right at the front of the store because it had come out THAT DAY!! I bought it and spent the rest of the day reading lyrics in the dressing room while Julie tried on clothes. I bought a few things, but I didn't care too much about new clothes. I was more of a Wal-Mart shopper anyway.

When we got in the car to leave, we put the cassette in. When it started with "Yoo-hoo, I'll make you famous," Julie's mother nearly wrecked the car because it startled her so badly! LOL

Anyway, I listed to that cassette over and over and over and over and over. I listed to it every morning before school and I listed to it on repeat every afternoon. I would go walking for hours and just listen to it over and over again. Those were the days. I don't think the music has ever been better or life has ever been better. I called Julie this afternoon and reminded her about our shopping trip that day. She immediately remembered her mother getting startled by the "Yoo hoo." She denied how much she was spending on jeans back then!