Happy birthday, Destination Anywhere: 20 years
 

June 17, 1997. Has it really been 20 years? Albums always came out on Tuesday then and it was the day after my birthday. I was in love with this album from the start and still listen to it. Jon was all over VH-1 that summer. I recorded it daily to save the clips.

Stellar album.

20 years? Sheesh.

Happy birthday, Destination Anywhere: 20 years
 

Didn't think I'd like it because I really didn't like (and still don't) lead single Midnight in Chelsea.

Good album in places. Love title track, August 7th and it's just me. Rest I'm not overly fussed about

Great album. Wasn't into Bon Jovi (or any music really) back in 1997 so I wasn't "there" to appreciate it. Didn't hear the album until 2002 but when I did I was obsessed with that whole era and for some reason was really desperate to see the Film, which I eventually found on VHS in 2003. Probably the last truly great, honest music from any member of the band (I'm not all that fussed on Richie's Undiscovered Soul. It's mad to think that the year 1997 is 20 years ago now.

Heard the album for the first time about 10 years ago and was instantly hooked. I absolutely love to put it on if I have long night drives ahead of me (especially It's Just Me and Little City) or in the fall. Just fits that mood so well.

This is an album I learned to appreciate more later on... I was hoping to hear Blaze Of Glory Part 2 and was a little taken back by the first few listens... All those added effects and lower vocals were not something I was used to hearing by JBJ. I think the album was ahead of it's time and might have had greater U.S. success a few years later.

The live performances helped a lot too... They became more rock songs and less pop-ish. Jon also performed a lot of those songs acoustically too which also gave them another life...

Every Word was the song I gravitated more towards because it was the most Bon Jovi esq song on the album. I hope we get a Special Edition one day with some unreleased tracks from the era.

Its just me is the best song

I was the same,. hated Midnight In Chelsea and still do, but I love the album as a whole, I would probably also agree about It's Just Me.

I think this was the last album of really great consistent song writing from Jon. Not afraid to experiment a little, and was still writing great lyrics, something that I feel was particularly missing for many years following this.

Great album but will never get why Midnight In Chelsea was the lead single. Not that I hate it but in my book there are so many better tracks with much more hit potential.

My favorite album.

I get why a lot of people hate it and I respect this reason, still, what everybody seems to agree it's that it is very different from Jon's past Works. In my oppinion it's very creative sound wise and the lyrics are very good written with some deep shit on it (like Little City and It's Just Me).

I think Ugly was the latest single released and even not getting propper promotion it had the best performance in the US if I'm not wrong.

People in América just enjoy happy stuff from (Jon) Bon Jovi. That was a very big miscalculation.

Yeah, Ugly would have been a good choice. Janie or Every Word Was a Piece of My Heart would be the best picks in my world. Catchy upbeat choruses. I don't think any of them would have been any huge hits, but htey would have done better as the lead single than Midnight In Chelsea.

To me, there is not a bad song on it. The only weakness IMO was naming a song "Janie, Don't Take Your Love to Town" because Kenny Rogers has the same song title only with Ruby and it was a massively popular song. The title and chorus did a disservice to the fabulous lyrics in the verses. The verses really say something. The chorus needs help.

Great album. I got into them around the TD era so this was the first album related to the band where I was a fully fledged fan. I was also 17, just finished school and going through growing pains so in a way, I could really relate to the sort of change Jon was going for with this.

To be honest Midnight in Chelsea completely underwhelmed me at the time although I grew to love it. Some of lyrics are very clever and Jon saying he'd rather paint "No ones asking me for favours, no ones looking for a saviour, they're too busy saving me" on his chest than take it back really made me believe in everything he was saying. It's a shame he's shat all over that statement for the last 17 years.

For me there is no weak song. The lyrics are also some of the best he's written. My personal favourite is Staring at your Window...". That song is really underrated and despite a slightly weak chorus, the lyrics in the verses are phenomenal. But I love the album. "Queen of New Orleans", "Janie", "Every Word", "Its Just Me" and the title track are my other favourites but the whole album is some of Jon's best and most innovative work. It's a shame it bombed commercially in the US.

And 20 years?!? Unbelievable.

Some of my very favourite performances from that era:


Those screams are insane!

I remember the first time I heard Destination Anywhere. It was the day after school let out for the summer, just a few years ago, and I had YT up while I was cleaning and organizing in the classroom before leaving for summer break. I don't remember which song it was that came up on the playlist; maybe "Learning How to Fall". But I clearly recall thinking "Where the hell did that come from??"

It was the first that I knew of the DA album. I think I had heard about the movie; but maybe I thought that was all it was, idk. I don't think it had registered with me, at that time, that Jon had done a solo album besides Blaze.

I spent the rest of that day and most of that week listening to the album - and asking myself, "How did I not know about this?" So I credit DA with motivating me to look for other gems I might have missed along the way. It was a good summer for me and Bon Jovi. :)

As far as the album itself goes, I'm not crazy about Ugly; and I have no use at all for I Talk To Jesus. I know opinions here vary about whether or not Jon had anyone specific in mind when he wrote it; but it sounds to me like he's venting some frustrations, yet doing it in a way that could be blown off if someone wanted to call him on it. It just has this passive-aggressive feel to it that doesn't sit well with me. Perhaps he didn't intend for it to come across that way, or maybe it was an inside joke. But either way, it's just a little too specific, IMO; and that kinda ruins it for me.

I like all of the other songs, though; especially DA, Staring at Your Window, Every Word, and Janie. (Although I agree with Becky about that title. Every time I see it, I keep expecting to hear Kenny Rogers singing, "Oh, Rooh-ooh-bee...") :)

It's a good album... Every Word, Staring at Your Suitcase, and Midnight in Chelsea are probably my faves.

I really love this record. There are only two songs that aren´t really my cup of tea: Ugly and the title track.
Fave Songs are Little City, It´s just me, Queen of New Orleans and Midnight in Chelsea.

Looking back on it I feel that this was the last project where Jon wasn´t afraid to be creative and try something new. The sound of the record, the idea with the movie and also his new style.

Still to this day I am yet to listen to this album in full. It doesn't appeal to me at all.

I guess it's just an album similar to These Days in terms of feeling or not feeling it. Didn't listen to These Days the first two years I had gotten it and then it hit me with full force when I wasn't in a particularly good place. Same happened with DA.
Other here praise how good Undiscovered Soul is, yet I am the one who hasn't listened to it from start to finish since I can't connect to it at all.

Thanks to this thread, I stuck the CD in my car this morning. Have only listened to a few tracks but I instantly remembered why I used to love it.

Love that album. The title track remains my favourite. In fact, it's up there with these days amongst my favourite tracks


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By far my favorite of all Bon Jovi and solo releases! The song that should have made the record was Cold Hard Heart! The starkness of Jon's vocal on that song gets me every time!!


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Well, it did, in Europe, which as we all know is the continent that counts in the Bon Jovi world. And I love that song too!

In the USA, Cold Hard Heart and I Talk to Jesus came with a little bonus CD you got if you bought the CD the week it was released at some national chain of stores. Maybe Camelot? It's been so long since record stores were prominent, I've forgotten most of their names.

And to think I held off buying it until early in 1998 as I didn't think I'd like it lol!!


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Even if the drum beats are a bit dull, the album has some very cool ambience and I find most songs very pleasant.

Naked is boring, August 7 lacks something and those both have lame lyrics, the latter considering the way Jon decided to make this sort of tragedy into this sort of song with these words..

But I think all the rest I dig a lot. And yes it is the last, sort of honest effort, to make something kind of original, in Jon's terms at least.

Every word, Starring, Janie, Little city, Cold hard heart, its just me, the title track even Learning how to Fall,.. all are very good & cool songs. Better than most post 2000 stuff.

And even the b sides, Sad Song Night, I talk to Jesus and of course Drive! Drive is one of the coolest BJ songs ever! Though as we know it is a band song from the KTF era.

And I dig the acoustic version of Every Word a lot.