A Finnish Bon Jovi interview from 1985
 

http://translate.google.com/translat...udesta&act=url

The translation is far from perfect, but the interview has a few nice tidbits... Like how Alec keeps disappearing between gigs and how Jon had to try to learn the songs on bass in the bus on the way to the next gig.

And how he didn't like the first album, it's too "poppy" and how 7800 is much better, but you need to listen to it 5-10 times before it grows on you. Hardest Part is his favourite at the moment.

Apparently they travelled with a busful of French photo models... and read porn magazines. :)

Ice

Thanks for the link.

So much scope for abuse on the bit in bold. To be fair an opinion can change over time, Jon does say you need time to properly evaluate an album and he was towing the standard line.

He was right on 'Hardest Part...' though. The best song off 7800 and a taster for some of the great songwriting to come thereafter.

I can't believe "Bongiovi" gets translated to "Bongiovanni" from Finnish to English per Google Translate. I thought only Italian fans had to endure such a disgrace from the media or the so-called "casuals".

Having said that, I'm off to read the rest.

Fun to read the perspective of a young rockstar in his early 20s--life on the road with each other and girls, groupies and porno. Jon started playing in clubs at 16 and he once said in an interview that between acts, he and the band would go to a nearby porno theater and watch films. I often think that it would be a great article for a journalist to talk to rock stars about how they developed their perceptions about love and sex based on the fact that even as teenage musicians groupies gather around early on (and Jon even said once that he started in music "to get the girls.")

If someone from Finland could traslate this, would be amazing :D

I agree. I tried and read all the way till the end, but could gather very little, unfortunately. :(

Here's the first part:

Bon Jovi in 1985: "I sing of lust, not love!"

Bon Jovi Rockin' All Over The World
Text: Juho Juntunen
Pics: Harri Ahola

Originally published in Soundi 6/1985

Jon Bongiovi is exactly at the right place in exactly the time. I've just finished opening the first bottle with my teeth as this pretty-face storms in, flashes a blinding smile and starts shaking my hand. Rings the size of matchboxes scratch my fingers as I check the rings on his hand: his ring fingers and forefinger are decorated with a leopard, skull with a top hat and a snake in attack pose.

- Beautiful!, Jon says and wiggles his rings.

I shake my top and try to see what color are the eyes hidden behind black sunglasses. I can't. Jon flashes a new smile and bares about 10 inches of white teeth. His massive hair moves as he sits next to me.

Okay, this guy is born to be a rock star, I excitedly think and ask Jon if I'm right.

- During my last few years in school, I knew clearly that I would become a rock star, the 23-year-old admits. - I didn't want to get in the business to become rich or to buy things. I wanted to get girls. And besides, I have an attitude.

Jon lifts his leg on the table and pokes his torn-knee jeans with his finger.

- See, this is my attitude. I woke up this morning, thinking I would wear some nice pants and talk friendly to everyone. But then I thought about it again. Wait a minute! I'm not doing this for anyone. That's my attitude.

Jon spends a minute lookign at his bony knees.

- Yeah, maybe it pays to look poor. The people will pity me and give me money.

Jon Bongiovi's childhood wasn't exactly poor. His father is a hair-dresser and Jon himself made nice pocket money in school by playing the clubs in New Jersey.

- It's only 7 years ago. Then the music scene in NJ was still wild. Bruce Srpingsteen and Southside Johnne had just risen to the top and rock was played everywhere. A few years ago NJ collapsed. Because of the new alcohol laws the clubs had to raise the age-limit to 21 and it's not worth getting bands to perform in those places anymore.

- In any case, during my last years in school, I played in a 10-piece band that had horns as well - it was kind of Southside-influenced rock. The gigs were basically in the middle of the week, so as I got to bed at 3 am, I wasn't at my sharpest the next day at school. My eyes were red, so I used to wear shades all the time and sleep at my desk. The teachers hated me. I passed the finals on mercy. The teachers yelled at me that now that I was finished, I should get the **** out.

So you were the bad boy on NJ?

- No. I was to good boy. Now that I've met my teachers in the recent years, also the ones that hated me, they've come to hug me and tell me how great my albums are.

After school Jon Bongivovi got a job at a recodring studio where his fathers cousin Tony Bongiovi worked as a producer. Tony has produced Aerosmith, Carlene Carter, Meco, Talking Heads and early Ramones. Jon's job was to sweep the studio floors and hallways and with his broom he met people like Mick Jagger, Meat Loaf and Southside Johnny.

- I was just a sweeper, nothing more. But I got to try out the studio equipment late at nights or very early in the mornings and that's when I met Billy Squier and Aldo Nove, who became a good friend of mine. He even played on our first album.

Bon Jovi - the band was formed roughly 2 years ago, as Jon Bongiovi gathered his old friends, who had played the club scene in NJ. David Rashbaum took over the keyboards, Richie Sambora manned the lead guitar, Alec John Such the bass and the drummer was Tico Torres, the only professional musician of the bunch at the time. Each had created their own careers mainly playing Led Zeppelin covers, so the choice of musical style wasn't a tough one. It had to be heavy.

Bon Jovi were professionals to begin with, but the big record company Mercury was mainly interested in the massive and flexible voice of Jon. He was offered a solo recording deal, but he wasn't interested. It was the band or nothing. Tony Bongiovi supported the band heavily, so Mercury gave in and the deal was made.

The rest was easy. The first album "Bon Jovi" was recorded at the Power Station studios and was produced by Tony Bongiovi and his long-time partner Lance Quinn. The album was a smash hit and already at that time the hard-working band hit the top.

- Of course I've changed during my time in this band, Jon confesses. - A couple of years on the road makes you grow and mature, since this thing wont' work if you act like a douche. I guess I've become more of a business man - at the same time I've had to give up a lot of things. Some say they've sold their soul to rock'n'roll, I sold my normal life, my soul, my house, my car and everything I ever had.

But your albums have sold well, surely you must be rich by now?

- Our road manager is rich, Jon laughs.

Bon Jovi's first album was a surprise success. It sold well in the US, went gold in Japan (soon platinum) and it rose to the top of import-albums in the UK. The first song of the album, Runaway, was a big hit and the audiences loved this slick and smooth heavy the critics hated. They claimed it was too slick, over-produced, that it was bubble-gum-heavy for the American youth.

- In the early days we thought about who we should please. Then I found out that it was stupid - it's better to please yourself and then the kids. But now I'm ready to admit that our first album was too pop. We went into the studio and did everything the way we were told to. The songs stand up today, but the music lacked an edge.

Bon Jovi's latest album 7800' Fahrenheit has just been released in Finland as well. It's noticiably different from the first one, more versatile and more efficient. Bon Jovi was spared of the AOR-camps lures and can today be called a full-fleded heavy metal band.

I ask about the name, since I have no clue what happens at 7800' fahrenheit.

- I'll tell you, Jon helps me. - When I was thinking of a name for the album, I noticed that our name, Bon Jovi, means nothing to anyone. If you see a name like Twisted Sister, you immeditely now that they're a heavy metal band. When we didn't really have an image, to blow ourselved into peoples minds just like that, we had to have an album title that would lend itself to a great marketing campaign.

- We thought of may different titles, and then one of us decided to look up the temperature where rock melts. It was 1800' Fahrenheits. For some reason I felt that it wasn't big enough, so I decided to go further - to see where rock turns to gas. And it's at 7800', the temperature in the middle of the volcano. That's it! A great name for the album! A great name for a marketing campaign!

- The album itself is very different from out first album. For example, there's no "Runaway" here. If I wanted to, I could've written it again in ten minutes, but I wanted to go deeper. And the songs are very different - there's straight ahead heavy and then there are ballads with acoustic guitars.

- The biggest difference, however, is the sound and the playing. We were involved with the production and now it's less produced, harder sound than before. The sounds are live, which suits us. The guitars sound great, rough. I'm also very pleased with myself - just listen to me on Hardest Part Is The Night. It's great, even though I say so myself.

- The only problem with the new album is that it doesn't get you as fast as the first one did. You have to listen it through 5 to 10 times before you really get into it - you get what we were after. This is not an album that will hit you in the face once. I't meant to be near you and listened to year round.

- There. Did I praise it enough?

Yes, yes, I nod. One of the more interesting songs is Tokyo Road, that begins with an interesting music-box melody and continues as rough rock. The antagonist (Jon himself?) is sitting in a bar, breathing smoke, drinking whisky and coke. It continues:

This guy turns me around and he's pointing up the stairs
I found myself in her doorway but there wasn't anybody there
She walked in the room with nothing on but a red light
And with a smile she got so close to me.
She whispered something 'bout midnight
You know I didn't understand a word she said
But it felt so good
She knew that I didn't have any money
But baby I knew she would...

- Well, first the music-box. Japan was the first country where we really broke through. When we were touring there, we got hundreds and hundreds of gifts from the kids. We got Bon Jovi -dolls and all sorts of stuff, six big boxes that we sent home to NJ to. Then we got the music box that played that melody in the beginning of the song. That kickstarted the song and it was our way of saying thank you to our Japanese fans.

- Then there are my lyrics. I've said that I sing of lust, not love. And that's true. The first song on this album, In And Out Of Love, has the real lust-attitude. I guess I've become a liitle macho after spending so much time on the road. I meet a lot of girls, but it impossible to imagine having any deep love affairs with them.

Have you met any Finnish groupies yet?

- No, Jon sighs and grabs "Erotica"-magazine on the table. - These are quite the women. I wish I could them at our shows.

In Finland the heavy shows are mostly populated by ugly dudes, I tell Jon, who sighs again - now even deeper.

- It's alright. We have a truckload of French photo models with us. There are two divorcees, two guys kicked out by their girlfriends and one saved in this band - we're free to have our adventures.

To act like asshole's as well?

- No. Of course we do the same stuff that everyone else does on tours, but we don't want make any fuss about it. I don't like going around talking about booze and women. I prefer rock'n'roll as a subject.

At this stage in the restaurant where I'm talking to Jon - the bassist Alec and the keyboardist David notice the "Erotica"-magazine that Jon's flipping through in an ever increasing pace. They sit down with us, open up beers, say "cheers" in Finnish ("kippis") and want to also see a glimpse of the nude ladies in the magazine.

It seem like these creeps enjoy each others company.

- Oh yes, David says. - We're always together, weather it's in the road or home in NJ. We pratically live together. We're happy sons of bithces, we're having so much fun…

- Alec is our only problem, Jon continues and points at the bass player with a funny soul patch. - His nickname is "the cat" because he seems to have nine lives. He's a difficult person, he spends his last pennies on gambling. Besides, he has a habit of disappearing after the shows. So we travel to the next show worrying, me practicing the songs on bass just in case. So far he's always appeared on time…


Ice

- As a matter of fact, we've been on the road for so long, we've started hating travelling and waiting, Jon explains. - Fortunately going on stage is so much fun that it balances out. We have fun playing the hour and a half every night and goofing around. We go by the Tom Petty -school of stageshow, we have no show. I don't like coreographs and it must be boring to think, when the next smoke bomb's going to go off or when to sacrifice the naked girl. With us everything is spontaneous, in the moment. I can climb on the PA stacks and jump down to the front row to touch the fans. I think it looks stupid and the fans say it too, but I don't care, I think it's cool.

You said earlier that Bon Jovi doesn't have an image and now you said your stageshow looks stupid. Couldn't you fix those things with a good video?

- We've only done three videos so far. From the first album we did Runaway and She Don't Know Me and they're both terrible. I hate them, and I or any one of us had nothing to do with them. The record company ensured us that they would be cool. They weren't.

- When we got the okay to shoot Only Lonely for the new one, I hired a director myself, I took him to see the actual locations in NJ and to meet all the friends we wanted in the video. He said "okay, trust me".

- If you'd asked me three weeks ago what will Only Lonely be as a video, I would've jumped up and down and praised it. Now I'm depressed. The video is much too dark and it's filled with close-ups. You can't see the backgrounds, or anything at all. It's a bad video.

Oh well, maybe next time. For what sort of audience is Bon Jovi tailored for? What's an average Bon Jovi -fan like?

- According to fan-mail, our fans are 14-16 year-old girls. In Europe you see a lot of 20-something men at our shows. It's really hard to say, since Japan, Europe and the US are like three different worlds. Anyone can buy our albums, ans it's okay.

What sort of fan-mail do you guys get?

- Usually it's something like "I love you and want to **** you to death". Or "if you do'nt write back, I'll kill myself". All sorts…

And what do you want to tell your fans with your songs?

- We have songs like King Of The Mountain or To The Fire that have a message in them. I think it's awful to listen to kids who're going to be doctors or lawyers just because their parents think so. I think it's wrong, I've never had that mentality, Jon says solemnly. - You have to be who you are. If you want something bad enough, you can do it, because your brain believes it.

- I think Bon Jovi music has a positive attitude. It would be wrong if we sang about a revolution or the idiocy of the US government, because I don't have enough knowledge on those things. I'm a 23-year-old dude and a naive one. It's not worth it to try and act smart.

- When punk came along, I listened to it a lot. However, it's message was too simple and one-sided, and I didn't really get excited about it. A man can only preach when he knows something better than the people he's preaching to.

Suddenly David digs up the new 7800' album and starts showing me the pictures on the inner sleeve. Jon and Alec get excited about it as well. The guys explain how it's sort of an photo album, where their friends in NJ can see, where the band has been during the tour.

- That's Gene Simmons from KISS. He's balancing a drum stick on his nose in our dressing room. There we are at the Eiffel tower. And this is a photo of the dolls we got from the Japanese girls. That's Aldo Nova and that's Meat Loaf who came to see us backstage in London. That's a little girl that had a bad kidney disease and to whom we held a charity show for. That one was taken on Elvis' farm, where went on a tourist tour. And here's a big porn store where we went to look at some magazines…

In the evening there's a Bon Jovi show at the Helsinki Culture House. There's too few people, but luckily there are enough enthusiastic people to raise the atmosphere.

Bon Jovi is a rarity, a very low key heavy metal band, but you come to like them very quick. These guy have a lot of fun on stage and they're great players! Richie Sambora is especially fun to watch as he throws his guitars around lively and flexible: the croaks and crashes are enjoyable.

After asking Jon Bongiovi during the day about his musical influences, he listed names like Tom Petty, Little Steven, U2 and The Babys - not really heavy metal bands. Jon, however, admitted to listening to a lot of heavy metal as well.

- I get it that bands like Mötley Crüe have huge success and I want to know why. And besides, I have to have respect for bands like Twisted Sister who've done similar music for a decade without going with trends.

And after asking for more heavy bands to respect, Jon named bands like ZZ Top, Scorpions and KISS, all of whom Bon Jovi have opened for.

- We've learned a lot from those "old timers". Gene has been a real mentor of mine. Oftentimes he came to our dressing rooms and talked his head off - he know an amazing amount about music and the business.

- When I was a 12-year-old kid, I loved KISS. When we went out with them, I told Paul Stanley how much I loved him ever since I was 12. He told me to **** off. Maybe he got dizzy after realizing how much time had passed.

And when I look at Bon Jovi and their adventures on the stage of the Helsinki Culture House, I suddenly realize the KISS-influences. In And Out Of Love is like stolen off KISS' Lick It Up album. This grooves and booms, this is the American dream on a highway and all around the world! This is where the prodigal sons of the middle-classed families let loose!

Young and wired
Set to explode in the heat
You won't tire
Cause baby was born with the beat
Take you higher than you've ever known
Then drive you down to your knees
I pick you up when you've had enough
You been burned baby lessons learned

Text: Juho Juntunen
Pics: Harri Ahola

Originally published in Soundi 6/1985


Ice