Incidentally, this is not the order in which the songs will run on the album.

This Ain’t A Love Song

”It’s just us doing R’n’B. There’s no deep lyrical meaning other that a ‘broken hearts song’. A great, great singer with a voice better than mine could have a blast here! Otis Redding for example. It’s us flexing a little more of our influences.“



Hearts Breaking Even




”The funny story here is that Desmond Child and I wrote this one when Richie was away. He said, ‘Look, I got this date with Heather Locklear - I gotta catch a plane’. So I said, ‘Have a nice time!‘ And, when he got back, here was this love song, ‘Hearts Breaking Even’!“









These Days




”It’s fun! Now that I think about it, so much of the album is throwbacks. The first two have the R’n’B things which go back to me wanting to taste those influences and wanting to be an Asbury Duke.




’These days’ brings back those characters: the kinda characters that Van Morrison or Bob Dylan or Bruce (Springsteen) would use, the ones we used in ‘Livin’ On a Prayer’.




There’s a line ‘Jimmy Shoes busted both his legs.‘ That’s Jimmy Iovine (president of Interscope Records). That’s his old nickname so I made him the guy in the song - and I knew I had to do something fun with him - like break his legs!




There’s another line ‘the stars ain’t out of reach but these days there ain’t no ladder on the streets’, in essence, it’s telling everybody that it’s there to be had but it ain’t easy. Nobody’s gonna help you do anything man so forget all the excuses like, ‘There’s no ozone layer, there’s no future, I can’t get a job.....‘




Of course it ain’t right, but deal with it! I wanted to say in this song that there’s nothing left but us these days. We don’t have any white picket fences, we don’t have any cheap excuses. Okay, fine! All we got is us, so let’s go!“









Something For The Pain




”The hardest song on the album. We rewrote it 10 times! John Kalodner (the Columbia Records industry mogul who put Aerosmith back on the map) told us to rewrite it again last week! He’s one of the smartest guys I’ve ever met.




Kalodner is an old-style record producer-type A&R guy and Columbia let him give advice to artists outside the label. I’ll tell ya this: if John Kalodner needs a favour for Columbia records, I’ll write him a song. That’s just the way it is. He’s been a friend of mine for nine years.




John said, ‘Let’s put an accordion on the song and a 12-string Rickenbacker!‘ This song was meant to sound like T-Rex and it turns into something so incredibly unique that we can’t even decide where it came from!




A week ago we finally finished the song after 6 months of toil! I came in with a new title, new lyrics, re-recorded the vocals. It was called ‘I’ve Been Loving You Too Long To Turn Back Now’ and Kolodner said, ‘I don’t like it’. And it was his persistence that made the song great!“









What It Takes




”We always knew it had great verses, great chord progressions, but we didn’t have a great chorus. We kept trying to get those emotions through a 12-bar chorus, and just 10 days ago, I came up with those lines, the important ones.“









Hey God




”An observation. I don’t understand how I can walk down 57th Street in Manhattan and step over a guy who is sleeping in the street. It makes no sense to me. Why does America have to have this? You get the guilties. ‘Why not me?‘ And other such stuff.“









Letting You Go




”I wrote it for the movie I’ll be in - ‘Moonlight and Valentino’. It’ll surprise a few people! Dave Bryan’s not playing on it. Hugh’s not playing on it. It’s just me, Richie, machines and a guy called Robbie Buchanan, a programmer. I was playing keyboards and singing it live: there’s no vocal overdubs.




I wrote the song as a gift. The only copy I had was on cassette and I wrote it for one of the movie’s producers. It was a ‘thank you’ for having me.




I didn’t even want it in the movie but they really wanted it in so, slowly it got there. I’m very happy with how it turned out.“









Guitar Lies Bleeding




”Basically the concept I learnt on ‘Bed of Roses’ was, if y’can’t come up with something, don’t just put down the instrument.




And in ‘Guitar Lies Bleeding’ I had these visions of the scene in ‘Tommy’ where he walks in and there’s posters of him all over the wall. I had visions of me walking into a nightmare like that, posters of me, staring at me going, ‘Well, well, go on then, write a record!‘




That’s the shit I’m dealing with in ‘Guitar Lies Bleeding’. And it’s cool to write that frustration down and admit the fear.




It’s a constant fear throughout the writing of every record. Every song on every record is like that. Will I ever write another song? Can I? Will I? You question yourself all the time.“









All I Want Is Everything




”This is an observation of the Generation X theory that you can’t have everything. I’m saying you can! I’m not saying everyone can get a big house and a big car, more that you don’t wanna be told that you can’t have this, can’t have that job and so on.




I loved the character in this song saying, ‘I’ve had enough of having nothing’. I love the underdog attitude. That’s what we were and I want my kids to have that!




I want people to just think, ‘F**k telling me what I cannot have!‘ And if I could leave just one message, without sounding too deep, then that is it.“









Something To Believe In




”The first song I wrote for the album. It’s a very introspective look at where I was at the end of the last tour. I needed something to believe in. I was satisfied, but I had to consider where I was going.“









Damned




”I can’t wait to play it live. I used the Asbury Duke horn section. I wanna be a Duke! My most prized possession is a blue satin Juke jacket from ‘77!“









Lie To Me




”We wrote it here and not only would it be a great hit but it’ll be so cool to play live. It’s Tommy and Gina growing up, saying, ‘I can’t make ends meet but don’t walk out on me cos I’m in deep shit. So, if you can’t tell me you love me, lie to me!‘ This didn’t come from fiction!“









Bitter Wine




”It’s a kinda Stonesy-type, ‘Wild Horses’ ballad. It’s a bonus track on the album.“














And that’s it, the biggest Rock record of 1995 revealed! And you read it here first in the Big K!




It’s now 9.30pm at A&M. Tico and Dave Bryan are off to catch the red-eye back to Jersey. Heather Locklear’s arrived to meet up with husband Richie Sambora. And Jon Bon Jovi wanders the control room looking strangely guilty. Guilty because there isn’t something else to do.




Jon Bon Jovi may well be back at the top, but don’t forget that he burns the candle at both ends. Not that he’s unhappy, no. But you sense that he always feels that there’s more to be done.




I ask him: Jon Bon Jovi, tired but satisfied?




”Yes. But, y’know, I heard a phrase recently that everything in life has a price. And I’m just wondering what mine will be..........“




(Kerrang! 15.4.95)