I was more focusing on him saying he'll never play it again. I remember reading the disdain they have for the first few albums but they've never said they'd never play the bigger hit from it again. It's just another example of him quitting the band without quitting it.

It seems Australia is the only place he'll do interviews that say he's quit the band and everywhere else he says he never quit. If you truly haven't quit you'd be correcting people you'd think.

He can't stand playing Runaway but is quite happy playing garbage like Who Says?

Christ sake Richie, you may be sick of it through over-playing but god knows why the hate for the song. The first 2 albums as a whole maybe, but singling out the best song of the bunch is just stupid.

Seeing tweets from people responding with shit like "Great Richie, so glad he quit BJ, he shouldn't go back" really riles me up still too.

This bothers me as well. His actions make it clear he wants to be done with the band, he just
needs to make it more clear and not just drop hints in interviews.

I wasn't following in '96, but I would think that another difference then would have been that the band seemed to be getting along, so there was no "feud" rumours that had ppl picking apart every statement looking for jabs or hidden messages, either.

Like the statement Richie made about Mick not touring without Keith but Jon seeing things differently. They've both alluded to the fact that they don't always look at things the same way others in the industry do. So yes, it could have been a jab; but it could also have been a simple statement about why Jon continued the tour.

There still seems to be some inconsistency about when ppl want to believe negatively perceived statements from either Jon or Richie when they appear in print as opposed to only giving credence to those where you actully watch the interviews on YT and can hear the entire context and make reasonable judgments about body language and tone.

My first reaction was that I bet every hit on a radio station it gets, and it still does he gladly signs that ASCAP check - but your right - that's probably Jon's check.

And George Karak's, who I think did most of the writing on that song.

Did any of the band play on Runaway? I thought I saw something recently that listed completely different guys who backed Jon on that.

Yeah. It's just Jon and some session players (that included Hugh).

Runaway
 

Here it is:

http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.n...2568700029076D

By the time he was 16, Jon was playing clubs. It was not long before he hooked up with keyboardist David Bryan (real name: David Brian Rashbaum), who played with him in a ten-piece rhythm and blues band called Atlantic City Expressway. Jon also performed with bands called The Rest, The Lechers and John Bongiovi and the Wild Ones.

Meanwhile, Richie Sambora was also performing locally with a funk and fusion outfit called Extremes, before hooking up with Alec John Such in the band The Message. After The Message broke up, Alec played with Tico Torres in Phantom's Opera.

The members of Bon Jovi hade crossed paths in these early days, but the current lineup didn't come together until March of 1983 after th first Bon Jovi single, "Runaway," had become a minor hit.

In one of those right place/right time/right person scenarios, Jon managed to get a job sweeping floors at a recording studio through a relative. His second cousin, Tony Bongiovi, was a co-owner of the power station in New York City. Jon had written "Runaway," and in 1980, he recorded a demo of the song at his cousin's studio, with back-up by studio musicians whom Tony had hired, including Frankie La Roca, Tim Pierce, Hugh McDonald and Roy Bittan.

A local radio station included "Runaway" on a compilation tape, and the song started getting some serious airplay. The success of "Runaway" got Jon noticed, and he realized that he'd need more than session players if he wanted to capitalize on his success by touring the New York clubs to support the single.

Jon gave Dave a call, who in turn tapped Alec and Tico. A succession of guitarists (including Dave "The Snake" Sabo, who went on to form Skid Row) followed, until finally Richie signed on, and the band came together as a whole. They began gigging around New York in earnest.

At one show, where they opened for Scandal, the band caught the attention of record exec Derek Shulman, who signed them to PolyGram. "With Jon, I felt he had an unbelievable desire to be a star", recalls Shulman. "he had a burning desire to be huge".

PolyGram toyed with the name, throwing out monikers like "Victor" then "Johnny Lightening", before Shulman anglicized John Bongiovi's name to Bon Jovi.

Their self-titled debut came out January 21, 1984. Filled with the group's now-signature power ballads and hooked-filled tunes underscored by soaring guitar riffs and well-crafted melodies, the album went gold (sales of over 500,000).

This has no basis in reality but despite Jon swearing he has no political aspirations, it's possible he's letting a little more gray show to get some political "cred." Just a theory - don't shoot me :)