''Bon Jovi'' is the debut studio album by American
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band
Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi is an American Rock music, rock band formed in 1983 in Sayreville, New Jersey. It consists of singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, guitarist Phil X, and bassist Hugh McDonald (American musician), Hugh McD ...
, released on January 23, 1984, by
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...
. Produced by
Tony Bongiovi and Lance Quinn, it is significant for being the only Bon Jovi album in which a song ("
She Don't Know Me") appears that was not written or co-written by a member of the band. The album charted at number 43 on the US
''Billboard'' 200.
Aside from the hit single "
Runaway
Runaway, Runaways or Run Away may refer to:
Engineering
* Runaway reaction, a chemical reaction releasing more heat than what can be removed and becoming uncontrollable
* Thermal runaway, self-increase of the reaction rate of an exothermic proce ...
", songs from the album were rarely performed live after Bon Jovi released ''
Slippery When Wet'' in 1986. However, on the band's 2010
Circle Tour, songs including "Roulette", "Shot Through the Heart" and "Get Ready" were performed. The album was ranked the 11th best rock album of 1984 by ''
Kerrang!
''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one- ...
'' magazine.
The song "Shot Through the Heart" should not be confused with the much better-known "
You Give Love a Bad Name" from ''Slippery When Wet''.
Background
In 1980,
Jon Bon Jovi
John Francis Bongiovi Jr. (born March 2, 1962), known professionally as Jon Bon Jovi, is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actor. He is best known as the founder and frontman of the rock band Bon Jovi, which was formed in 1983. He ...
(born John Francis Bongiovi) began work at
Power Station Studios, a
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
recording facility where his cousin,
Tony Bongiovi, was a co-owner. Jon made several
demos
Demos may refer to:
Computing
* DEMOS, a Soviet Unix-like operating system
* DEMOS (ISP), the first internet service provider in the USSR
* Demos Commander, an Orthodox File Manager for Unix-like systems
* plural for Demo (computer programming)
...
and sent them out to record companies, but failed to make an impact.
In 1982, Jon went to local radio station
WAPP 103.5FM "The Apple". DJ Chip Hobart listened to the demos and loved "Runaway", deciding to include it on the station's compilation album of local homegrown talent. The studio musicians who helped record "Runaway" were known as The All Star Review. They were: guitarist
Tim Pierce, keyboardist
Roy Bittan
Roy J. Bittan (born July 2, 1949) is an American musician best known as a long-time member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band. Nicknamed "The Professor", Bittan joined the E Street Band in 1974. He plays the piano, organ, accordion and synthe ...
, drummer
Frankie LaRocka, bass guitarist
Hugh McDonald, and additional singers David Grahmme and Mick Seeley (Seeley also composed the distinctive keyboard riff that opens the song). McDonald would later replace Alec John Such as Bon Jovi's bass guitarist.
The song began to get airplay around New York. Jon signed to
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...
, part of the
PolyGram
PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be a ...
company. He wanted a band name and the
A&R staff at PolyGram came up with Bon Jovi.
In March 1983, Bon Jovi called
David Bryan (then known as Rashbaum), who in turn called bass guitarist Alec John Such and an experienced drummer named
Tico Torres
Hector Juan Samuel "Tico" Torres (born October 7, 1953) is an American musician, artist, and entrepreneur, best known as the drummer, percussionist, and a songwriter for American rock band Bon Jovi. In 2018, Torres was inducted into the Rock ...
. At that time Bon Jovi's lead guitarist was
Dave Sabo
David Michael Sabo (born September 16, 1964), nicknamed "The Snake", is an American musician best known as one of the guitarists of heavy metal band Skid Row.
Biography Pre-Skid Row
Sabo was born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey and grew up in near ...
, who later formed the band
Skid Row. Sabo was soon replaced by
Richie Sambora
Richard Stephen Sambora (born July 11, 1959) is an American rock guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer, best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Bon Jovi from 1983 to 2013. He and lead singer Jon Bon Jovi formed the main songwri ...
.
"We weren't a good band", Bon Jovi said in 2007. "We didn't become a good band until
the third record, but we had
a drummer who could keep time, which you should never take for granted. But I did okay for a 22-year-old. I'd only been in a studio for three years total prior to that record and I didn't know anything about comping a vocal – where you take a word or a line from one track and piece it together. I was thinking, My God, I'm so bad that they have to put my vocals together for me. The
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...
was saying, Don't fret, Jon: even
Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara; 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British singer and songwriter, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. Regarded as one of the greatest singers in the ...
and the greats have to comp a vocal."
Release and reception
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
has retrospectively rated ''Bon Jovi'' three-and-a-half out of five stars. Leslie Mathew, who reviewed the album, said: "The songs may be simple and the writing prone to all clichés of the form, but the album boasts a pretty consistent hard rock attack, passionate playing, and a keen sense of melody", and called the album "an often-overlooked minor gem from the early days of hair metal".
Track listing
Personnel
Bon Jovi
*
Jon Bon Jovi
John Francis Bongiovi Jr. (born March 2, 1962), known professionally as Jon Bon Jovi, is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actor. He is best known as the founder and frontman of the rock band Bon Jovi, which was formed in 1983. He ...
– lead vocals , guitar
*
Richie Sambora
Richard Stephen Sambora (born July 11, 1959) is an American rock guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer, best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Bon Jovi from 1983 to 2013. He and lead singer Jon Bon Jovi formed the main songwri ...
– guitar, backing vocals
*
Alec John Such
Alec John Such (November 14, 1951 – June 5, 2022) was an American musician. He was best known as a founding member of the rock band Bon Jovi. As their bass player from 1983 to 1994, he played on their first five albums.
Such started his ...
– bass, backing vocals
*
Tico "The Hitman" Torres – drums
*
David Rashbaum – keyboards, backing vocals
Additional musicians
*
Hugh McDonald – bass on "Runaway"
*
Roy Bittan
Roy J. Bittan (born July 2, 1949) is an American musician best known as a long-time member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band. Nicknamed "The Professor", Bittan joined the E Street Band in 1974. He plays the piano, organ, accordion and synthe ...
– keyboards on "Runaway"
*
Chuck Burgi
Charles Arnold Burgi III (, born August 15, 1952, Montclair, New Jersey) is an American drummer. He has performed with many rock bands and musicians, ranging from local New Jersey/New York-area artists to international groups, throughout his pr ...
– additional drums
*
Doug Katsaros
Doug Katsaros is an American keyboardist, arranger, composer, and conductor.
Biography
In 1978 he played on Paul Stanley's debut album, followed by working on albums by Richie Havens, Michael Bolton, Arc Angel, Bon Jovi and his band Balance ...
– additional keyboards
*
Frankie LaRocka – drums on "Runaway"
*
Aldo Nova – additional guitar and keyboards
*
Tim Pierce – guitar on "Runaway"
*David Grahmme – backing vocals on "Runaway"
*Mick Seeley – backing vocals on "Runaway"
Engineers
*Larry Alexander
*Jeff Hendrickson
*John Bengelshmy
*Arthur Mann - executive producer
Design
*Spencer Drate – album design
*Judith Salavetz – album design
*Geoffrey Hargrave Thomas – photography
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bon Jovi (Album)
1984 debut albums
Albums produced by Tony Bongiovi
Bon Jovi albums
Mercury Records albums
Vertigo Records albums