The return of the hair
 

As a few people were interested, I'll post another review of a Bon Jovi album. This is the review of 7800 Fahrenheit - it's another short one, but the reviews of the later albums are longer. In the case people continue to be interested, I think it would be a good idea to post one review per week, so next week I could post the review of Slippery When Wet.


7800 FAHRENHEIT (1985)


7800 Fahrenheit, the follow-up to Bon Jovi's self titled first album, was released in April 1985 in the USA and in May 1985 in the rest of the world. The album was recorded in Philadelphia and was produced by Lance Quinn. The other producer of the first album and Jon's second cousin, Tony Bongiovi, was gone under controversial circumstances. The name of the album - 7800 degrees Fahrenheit - comes from the melting point of rock. The music on the second album is much like that of the first album: there's some rock, pop typical to the 1980s, shallow lyrics and synthesizers. There's also Jon's first attempt at a big power ballad. Jon is definitely more confident writer here than on the first album as there are three songs written completely by him - there were none on the first album and there wasn't as many until Keep The Faith. 7800 Fahrenheit wasn't a big success for the band. There were no hit singles from it and it didn't do too well in album charts either. It did bring them their second gold record though, but Polygram had invested in it hoping it would be a big seller and launch Bon Jovi into stardom; that didn't happen and therefore it was something of a disappointment.


In And Out Of Love

Written by: JBJ
Status: First single from the album released in May 1985, peaked at #69 in the US, did not chart in the UK

The first track is a solid rock song. It is probably the most well-known song on this album because of its inclusion on the Crossroad compilation; there it was easily one of the weakest songs but here it shines. This is the first Bon Jovi song written completely by Jon. The lyrics are about nothing but that doesn't bother as the song is a good rocker - easily the best rocking song on the album. Good guitars and power, you could almost say that the song has some "attitude". It was an energetic and great live song in the early days too, and it is clearly the best song of this album.

Rating: ***


Price Of Love

Written by: JBJ
Status: Album track

Written by Jon, Price Of Love is lyrically seamless continuation to the lyrics of the debut album. The lyrics are very typical; again the theme is love but there is very little content in the lyrics. Price Of Love is not a terrible pop song, but like many songs on this album, it's rather forgettable. In no way does it stand out positively from the other songs on the album, in fact, it's one of the most vapid songs on the disc.

Rating: **


Only Lonely

Written by: JBJ, David Bryan
Status: Released as a single in August 1985, peaked at #54 in the US, not released in the UK

Only Lonely, which was a single release with little success in the US, is a rather catchy pop song. Jon and David continue their writing collaboration on this album and, quite unsurprisingly, their lyrics are very much like their lyrics on the first album. The chorus is alright, and while it's not really great, this little pop tune does stand out as one of the better tracks of the album.

Rating: ***


King Of The Mountain

Written by: JBJ, RS
Status: Album track

This song bears the infamous reputation of being the worst Bon Jovi song ever. It's not, perhaps not even the worst of this album, but it sure is bad. It's so terrible mainly because of its cheesy and corny lyrics - they make the song almost unintentionally funny. The weak drum/bass beat in the beginning isn't impressive either, and even worse is the ludicrous endeavour to make this some tough, badass attitude rock song. King Of The Mountain was an attempt of a rock song, but a miserably failed one. It doesn't rock; it's only funny, weird and cheesy.

Rating: **


Silent Night

Written by: JBJ
Status: Album track

Silent Night was written by Jon, and it was his first credible attempt at a love-orientated power ballad. It can be seen as a predecessor and a sort of an exercise to the many love songs he would write later. The lyrics are nice enough, although Jon is far from perfecting his ballad-writing skills. The song is pretty good, if not in some way a bit too sentimental and stodgy. You can just imagine a sea of people waving cigarette lighters in a concert during this one - whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is up to you to decide. Anyway, I'd say that while Jon's first real power ballad is far from a great song, this is one of the best songs on the album.

Rating: ***


Tokyo Road

Written by: JBJ, RS
Status: Album track

This album has actually only two real rock songs, In And Out Of Love and this one. This song was often played live in Japan, and it was a kind of Japanese favourite, even though apart from the name and a few words of Japanese spoken at the beginning of the song the song has virtually nothing to do with Japan. More memorable than the pop and love songs on this album, Tokyo Road is a good rock song and it was obviously one of the band's own favourites too as they played it live still in 1987 and 1989. One of the best tracks on the album.

Rating: ***


The Hardest Part Is The Night

Written by: JBJ, DB, RS
Status: Released as a single in August 1985, peaked at #68 in the UK, not released in the US

This song has the honor of being the first Bon Jovi single that charted in the UK. And although the song sounds so very 80s pop, so very 80s pop (how about those awkward synths?), this is still a rather good song. The lyrics written by the team of Jon, David and Richie are relatively good - well, at least when compared to many other songs on this album. The chorus is catchy and altogether the song makes an okay pop-rock number.

Rating: ***


Always Run To You

Written by: JBJ, RS
Status: Album track (also released as B-side to The Hardest Part Is The Night)

What is a notable thing with many songs on this album but can perhaps be best seen with this song, is the general "sound world" of it. Now for example this song is this very questionable 80s poodle pop/rock, but it is very easy to imagine these songs with the Slippery sound. The thick, heavy guitars, blasting drums and overdubbed choruses came only a year later - thanks to Bruce Fairbairn's production. For example this song would have sounded totally different (much better obviously) had it been done a year later. But now, this song is exactly that poodle pop. And, lasting to five minutes, it drags on way too long.

Rating: **


(I don't Wanna Fall) To The Fire

Written by: JBJ, DB, RS
Status: Album track

Starting with awful, almost humorous and embarrassing synthesizers, this song proceeds to be one of the worst Bon Jovi songs ever. In addition to the dominant and ugly synthesizers, that is mostly because of the stupid and cheesy lyrics. This song is much like King Of The Mountain, but even worse. And if this wasn't only the second Bon Jovi album To The Fire might easily get the "one star" rating. Of course, looking at these songs now, it would be perhaps too harsh to give them that rating. The lyrics and the whole song are in fact rather cute - it's this very serious 80s bubble gum poprock that just can't be taken too seriously.

Rating: **


Secret Dreams

Written by: JBJ, RS, Tico Torres, Bill Grabowski
Status: Album track

Too bad that Bill Grabowski was writing this track, as without him this would have been the only Bon Jovi album written 100% completely by only the members of the band. On the other hand, the drummer Tico Torres was writing this song and that's a great thing - this is the only time he's had his hand in writing a Bon Jovi song. Secret Dreams, which concludes the album, is another average or below average song. The chorus is good but that's about it. It's not totally terrible, but it isn't very good either and it's fast forgotten.

Rating: **

continued
 

THE BEST SONG: In And Out Of Love, which is definitely the most rocking song on the record. Silent Night, the band's first real ballad, comes as a second. Tokyo Road and The Hardest Part Is The Night are rather good too and are third and fourth, respectively.

OVERALL: 7800 Fahrenheit isn't an improvement from the first Bon Jovi album. For the most part it is very much like that first record. The lyrics on 7800 are mostly about nothing. Clumsy synthesizers are notably present on the album. There are no classics, but there are a few really bad songs. Songs like King Of The Mountain, (I Don't Wanna Fall) To The Fire and Always Run To You are weak for any recording artist - although I guess we should give them credit for being funny. Only a few tracks are real rock songs while most of the album is this very typical 1980s soft rock. 7800 is somewhat weaker than the debut album and one of the worst Bon Jovi records.

However, having that said, a large part of the criticism of that kind can be forgiven for the fact that this is really a band still on their developmental stage. This was a band still searching for their own sound, they were yet to find where they should be musically. And even the band themselves became very soon overly critical of their first two albums. Of their first two albums, only Runaway stayed in the live set and the band started to act as if the albums didn't exist and they were ashamed of making them. It's true that they aren't really great music but that's a wrong attitude as far as I can see it; the albums were an integral part of their development and they do have their good moments. So while 7800 Fahrenheit is easily one of their weakest pieces of work, it is also a look at Bon Jovi making their baby steps and a bit of a frightening look at the 1980s pop genre - and it includes a few good songs too. But it's really no more than that.


OVERALL SCORE: 8 OUT OF 20

The songs you hate, King Of The Mountain and To The Fire are my favorites on this record.

Good thorough review though even if I don't agree with some of it.

deb

Excellent in-depth coverage!

It's funny that you say it is not an improvement over the first album and many may agree with you, after all Jon always slates it so it must be bad (Sarcastic!). I think this was an improvement in a sense though as it's the first album where Bon Jovi started to find their own identity. The first album does tend to sound like every other rock band at that time. On Farenheit though Richie begins to develop his own sound rather than copying every other guitar player. The solo in Silent Night for instance was much more unusual and inventive than anything on the first album. I think the band as a whole really began to find their own sound on this album and for that reason I think it was a step forward. I really like the album and rate it above Crush, Bounce and possibly even HAND.

Y'what?

7800 is one of the heaviest albums they've done. How can you not think that Price Of Love is a rock song, with that fantastic opening drum build up and intro riff? Sorry, but I disagree with just about all of this review

More reviews / memories from other users for this album here:

http://www.drycounty.com/jovitalk/sh...ad.php?t=27042

I love the bridge leading into the solo on Price Of Love and the same thing on Only Lonely.

Only two rock songs? What the hell? Apart from Silent Night, all the songs are rocking - even Only Lonely is a lot heavier than any of the 86+ ballads. The whole album sure sounds a lot like Survivor, but it definitely is rocking. It's also better than the debut IMO.

This must be the worst review of this record I've ever read. 1980s soft rock???? That's by far Bon Jovi's heaviest record and beside Silent Night, I wouldn't consider any song soft rock. But hey, it's your thing, I don't give a shit about.

By the way, you have absolutely no in-depth knowledge about song-writing and producing. There's 1000s of critics who lack that knowledge as well, but they have TALENT, something you obviously don't have. Good luck!

Wasn't Silent night released as a single??
I mean there's a video for it and everything?? WTF