Music / Bon Jovi

Bon Jovi's current lineup. From left to right - Phil X, Tico Torres, Jon Bon Jovi, David Bryan, Hugh McDonald

Influences:

• The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes, Led Zeppelin, Tom Petty, The Animals, Van Halen, The Beatles, U2, Leonard Cohen, Aerosmith, Elton John, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello

"I've been everywhere
Still I'm standing tall
I've seen a million faces
And I've rocked them all!"

— "Wanted Dead or Alive"

Bon Jovi is an American hard rock band from Sayreville, New Jersey. Fronted by lead singer and namesake Jon Bon Jovi, the group originally achieved large-scale success in the 1980s. Over the past 25 years, Bon Jovi has sold over 120 million albums worldwide, including 36 million in the United States alone.

Bon Jovi formed in 1983 with John Francis Bongiovi Jr. aka Jon Bon Jovi, David Bryan, Alec John Such, and Tico Torres. Richie Sambora joined shortly afterwards. Other than the departure of Such in 1994 (which pared the official lineup down to a quartet - his replacement, Hugh McDonald, did not become an official member until 2016), and Sambora in 2013 (replaced by touring member Phil X, who was an unofficial member until 2016 when, like Hugh, he was made an official member), the lineup has remained more or less stable. After two moderately successful albums in 1984 and 1985, the band scored big with Slippery When Wet from 1986 and New Jersey from 1988, which sold a combined 19 million copies in the U.S. alone, charted eight Top Ten hits (including four number one hits), and launched the band into global super stardom.

After non-stop touring, the band went on hiatus after the New Jersey Tour in 1990, during which time Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora both released successful solo albums. In 1992, the band returned with the double platinum Keep the Faith and has since created a string of platinum albums throughout the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s.

The band is closely associated with the 1980s Hair Metal era, but were one of the few bands from that genre to retain their popularity after the Grunge explosion of the early 1990s. This had to do with their move towards softer pop ballad, which made them staples on adult contemporary radio. This ultimately resulted in them permanently changing their sound to a much less metal-oriented style.

Jon's third child and second son, Jake Bongiovi, is an actor. He recently got engaged to actress Millie Bobby Brown, lining Jon up to potentially become her father-in-law.

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Principal Members (Founding members in bold, current members in italic):

• David Bryan - keyboard, piano, vocals (1983–present)
• Jon Bon Jovi - lead vocals, guitar, harmonica (1983–present)
• Hugh McDonald - bass, vocals (2016-present; 1994-2016 unofficial)
• Richie Sambora - guitar, vocals, talkbox (1983–2013)
• Alec John Such - bass, vocals (1983–1994; died 2022)
• Tico Torres - drums, percussion, vocals (1983–present)
• Phil X - guitar, vocals, talkbox (2016-Present; 2011-2013 touring; 2013-2016 unofficial)

Other Members

• Bobby Bandiera ^note Touring only - rhythm guitar, vocals (2005-2015)
• Everett Bradley ^note Touring only - percussion, vocals (2003, 2016-present)
• Matt O'Ree ^note Touring only - rhythm guitar, vocals (2015)
• Lorenza Ponce ^note Touring only - viola, vocals (2007-2009)
• Dave Sabo - guitar (1983)
• John Shanks - Record Producer (2005-present), guitar (on Burning Bridges and most tracks on This House Is Not For Sale), rhythm guitar, vocals ^note Touring only (2016-present)

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Band Discography

Studio Discography:

• 1984 - Bon Jovi
• 1985 - 7800° Fahrenheit
• 1986 - Slippery When Wet
• 1988 - New Jersey
• 1992 - Keep The Faith
• 1995 - These Days
• 2000 - Crush
• 2002 - Bounce
• 2005 - Have A Nice Day
• 2007 - Lost Highway
• 2009 - The Circle
• 2013 - What About Now
• 2016 - This House Is Not For Sale
• 2020 - Bon Jovi: 2020
• 2024 - Forever

Live Discography:

• 2001 - One Wild Night Live 1985–2001 ^note Recorded between 1985 and 2001
• 2008 - Lost Highway: The Concert
• 2012 - Inside Out ^note Recorded between 2008 and 2010
• 2016 - This House Is Not For Sale - Live from the London Palladium

Compilations:

• 1991 - Hard & Hot ^note Released only in Australia.
• 1994 - Cross Road
• 2001 - Tokyo Road: The Best of Bon Jovi ^note Released only in Japan
• 2003 - This Left Feels Right
• 2004 - 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong^note Box set that includes demos recorded between 1985-2003
• 2010 - Greatest Hits
• 2015 - Burning Bridges ^note Compilations of outtakes except for "We Don't Run" and the title track

Solo Discography

Jon Bon Jovi

• 1990 - Blaze of Glory
• 1997 - Destination Anywhere
• 2001 - The Power Station Years: The Unreleased Recordings ^note Credited by his real-life name John Bongiovi

Richie Sambora

• 1991 - Stranger In This Town
• 1998 - Undiscovered Soul
• 2012 - Aftermath of the Lowdown
• 2017 - Rise EP (with Orianthi)
• 2018 - Radio Free America (with Orianthi)

David Bryan

• 1995 - On A Full Moon
• 2000 - Lunar Eclipse

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"You give tropes a bad name":

• Aerosol Flamethrower: Used in the music video of "Always."
• Audience Participation Song: Let's just say the band is fond of invoking this trope, most especially in "Livin' On A Prayer" and "You Give Love A Bad Name." Justified in the former that Jon himself has rarely sung the chorus after the Slippery When Wet tour, probably due to a variety of reasons. "Wanted Dead or Alive" and "Who Says You Can't Go Home" take this up by a notch, with the entire audience singing the first verse and an audience member singing it with Jon respectively.
• Based on a Great Big Lie: It is now commonly known that Alec John Such barely played anything on the classic records, mostly being in the band since he fit the look, unlike the guy who actually wrote and played the basslines. The only albums where he played for certain were the first two, outside of "Runaway" on the Self-Titled Album.
• The Big Guy: Hugh McDonald, who stands a whole four inches taller than the second tallest member of the band, and almost half a foot taller than the others.
• Big Heroic Run: The "It's My Life" video.
• Bizarre Instrument: Their trademark talkbox. Basically an airhorn sealed in an airtight box, plugged into an amplifier and the guitar, and used by talking into a plastic tube while playing chords.
• Boxed Set: 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong, containing 4 CDs and a DVD.
• Break Up Song: "Silent Night"
  Now letting go
  It's always the hardest part to fight
  When we both know
  We're just two more victims of the night
• Call-Back:
  • "It's My Life" explicitly refers to Tommy and Gina from "Livin' on a Prayer".
  • So does "99 in the Shade".
• Canon Discontinuity: Outside of "Runaway," material from the first two albums have been rarely performed since January 1991. Bounce appears to have gotten this treatment as well, being unrepresented in their second Greatest Hits Album in addition to its songs being rarities (during their 2010-11 tour, Bounce material was rarer than those from the first two albums)
• Career-Ending Injury: Subverted when David Bryan regained control of one of his fingers when he nearly severed it in a sawing accident during the late 90's.
• Careful with That Axe:
  • Can be heard throughout the band's discography. Of particular note are "Let's Make It Baby," live versions of "I'll Be There For You" and "Living in Sin" during The '80s and early 90s, and the jungle versions of "Keep the Faith," which basically turn the trope up.
  • Famously also used in the later half of "Runaway", though concert versions have Jon playing a quick solo, since the notes have become too high for him to reach.
  • Averted since Bounce.
• Daddy's Girl: Mentioned in the chorus of "Runaway"
• Darker and Edgier: These Days is darker than their usual vibe.
• Dark Is Not Evil: "Good Guys Don't Always Wear White".
• "Days of the Week" Song: "Someday I'll Be Saturday Night."
• Determinator: Jon has been injured twice onstage and the shows still went on. In the case of the latter, he and the band even performed 7 more shows (one of them being a three-hour set) before finally undergoing knee surgery in Dublin.
  • Tommy and Gina, the protagonists of "Living on a Prayer" and its prequel, "Living In Sin."
  • David Bryan would brave through both an attack by a South American parasite while on tour in the early 1990's, then an accident involving a circular saw at home which would nearly sever a finger. After medical help and rehabilitation in both cases, Bryan would regain his playing abilities.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: This was mostly a fan reaction to Hugh McDonald (who replaced Alec as bassist) not being made an official member, not appearing in most videos, not appearing in publicity photos etc. between 1994 and 2016 despite having been in the band longer than Alec was, and having been an associate of the group since the very beginning (he played the bass on their debut single "Runaway"). McDonald himself didn't seem to have an issue with it and the band themselves have said it wasn't a knock against Hugh but just that they agreed to never officially replace Alec when he left. Finally averted when both Hugh and new guitarist Phil X became official band members in 2016 prior to the release of the upcoming album This House Is Not For Sale where Hugh and Phil appear in the title song's video and in publicity shots for the album.
  • The same reaction arose when Hugh was not inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Bon Jovi for the same reason. A few days later the HOF changed its mind and included Hugh as one of the inductees.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: The first two albums, but the sophomore album seems to get hit a little harder by this:
  Jon: I always overlook the second album. Always have, always will. We had no time to make it and we didn't know who we were. We did whatever producer Lance Quinn said. He was a brilliant guitarist and had made records with Talking Heads, so you listened.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: "Livin' On A Prayer" features a couple (Tommy and Gina) working REALLY hard to earn theirs. "Living In Sin", a sort of prequel sung from Tommy's perspective, depicts the start of their relationship: Her parents hated him because he was from the other side of the tracks, so they had to strike out on their own. They're briefly mentioned again in "It's My Life" as still hanging in there:
  This is for the ones who stood their ground
  For Tommy and Gina, who never backed down
• Egocentric Team Naming: Named after lead singer John Francis Bongiovi Jr. - last name pronounced exactly like the band's name.
• End of an Age: Jon describes Burning Bridges as this.
• Epic Instrumental Opener: Both "Let It Rock" and "Lay Your Hands On Me" take a minute or longer before the lyrics kick in.
• Epic Rocking: "Dry County" is nearly 10 minutes long. Even its radio edit spans over 6 minutes.
  • If we're talking about songs that barely went past the 6-minute mark, we have Blood on Blood (6:14), Bed of Roses (6:34), Hey God (6:10), These Days (6:33), and Next 100 Years (6:19). Fingerprints and Unbroken are the only post-Crush tracks to approach this trope at 5:59 and 6:03, respectively.
  • A lot of their pre-2000 material when played live will easily qualify as this trope, especially the ballads.
• Eternally Pearly-White Teeth: Jon.
• Face on the Cover: Used in the first two albums, These Days, Crush, and Bon Jovi:2020
• Fanservice: Jon mostly wears navel-deep clothes exposing his hairy chest and occasional nipple slips, not to mention lots of booty shaking on certain songs. It also forms a huge part of the band's appeal.
• Foil: "Who Says You Can't Go Home" to "Born to Run".
• Genre Shift:
  • "Who Says You Can't Go Home" is a lot softer than their normal vibe, which is why it placed higher on Adult Contemporary Charts than the Hot 100. And then they released a duet with Jennifer Nettles, and that version hit #1 on the country charts.
  • Lost Highway received criticism (despite selling well) from fans for being largely a country album. The album featured a lot of stripped down songs, string arrangements, and duets with country artists such as LeAnn Rimes and Big & Rich.
• Greatest Hits Album: Two of them, Cross Road and Greatest Hits, released in 1994 and 2010, respectively.
• Hair Metal: Until the Important Haircut.
• Heavy Meta: "Blame It on the Love of Rock & Roll".
• High-School Sweethearts: Jon and his wife Dorothea. They got married in 1989 and are still together.
• Homesickness Hymn: Setting aside its overwrought cowboy analogy, "Wanted Dead or Alive" is fundamentally about the loneliness and seeming meaninglessness of the touring lifestyle.
• Hymn to Music: "Scars on This Guitar" is about songwriting.
• I Don't Know Mortal Kombat: Jon can't succeed in singing his own song. Although to be fair, it's not like he can hit those high notes anymore...
• The Immodest Orgasm: You can hear lots of moaning during the first few seconds or so of "Social Disease."
• Important Haircut: Jon cut his long hair short when Keep the Faith was released.
• Iconic Item: The talkbox. Famously used on two of their biggest hits, "Livin' on a Prayer" and "It's My Life", before which the Talkbox was seen mostly as a dumb gimmick, with it's only big use beforehand being by Peter Frampton in the mid-70's.
  • Richie's "Jersey Star" guitars, basically hot-rodded Stratocasters with a big star painted on them, which he used in pretty much all their music videos.
  • The "Superman" logo tattoo on Jon's left arm.
• In-Series Nickname: Captain Kidd (Jon), The King of Swing (Richie), Lemma (David), and Hitman (Tico).
• Intercourse with You: "Let's Make It Baby," an out-take from New Jersey. It literally escalates from "When I look in your eyes I can feel the fire" to "I want to fuck you", the latter probably being the reason it was an out-take (since that was back in the days when parental advisory labels stigmatized an album).
• The Invisible Band: The video of "Labor Of Love" is their only one without any member showing up on it.
• "I Want" Song: "I Want You" from Keep The Faith.
• Job Song: "Livin' on a Prayer" is about a couple trying to make ends meet. Tommy lost his job at the docks due to the union going on strike, while Gina becomes the breadwinner from working at a diner all day.
• Large Ham: Phil X and Everett Bradley.
• Last of His Kind: "Last Man Standing" ("His kind" in this case referring to "real" musicians as opposed to pop/hip-hop/etc. performers.)
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: The entire band was this in the 80's, with Jon Bon Jovi in general being the poster boy of this trope among Hair Metal musicians.
• Long-Runner Line-up: Type 1 + Type 2. The band has had two change since their first album in 1984: bassist Alec John Such left in 1994, and they became a quartet (officially without a bassist although Hugh McDonald played on every album since These Days and appears with them live, he finally became an official member in 2016) until Richie Sambora left in 2013 (replaced by touring guitarist Phil X who again became an official member in 2016). (only changes being for live concerts when drummer Tico Torres couldn't attend) And while Jon Bon Jovi recorded a demo with McDonald and other guys before forming the band, the closest one got to being Pete Bested in Bon Jovi is Jon's neighbour Dave Sabo, who was his original choice to play guitar but went on to form Skid Row instead.
• Love Is a Drug: "Your love is like Bad Medicine!".
• Lyrical Cold Open: "Shot through the heart! And you're to blame! Darlin' you give love a bad name!"
  • "In and Out of Love" begins with this, repeating the title four times before the drums kick in. "God Bless This Mess" is a downplayed example.
• Lyrical Dissonance:
  • "Someday I'll Be Saturday Night": all the characters mentioned within are either desperate, suicidal, abused, or all three, but eventually they will be like a Saturday Night. This could either mean they they will be jubilant and free of oppression (indicated by the bouncy and joyous tune and vocals), or it could mean that they'll be like Saturday Night in terms of it being at the end of the week, all the bad stuff having happened and no more is going to come. These people are essentially looking forward to the sweet release of death!
  • "Always" is a love song with the singer declaring his ever lasting dedication to his one true love. The release video, along with the correct interpretation of the lyrics, makes it perfectly clear that he has been abandoned and is pining for someone he can never have again.
  • "One Wild Night" seems like a description of a great night out partying. Listen carefully, and it turns out that the singer is actually some kind of lecherous predator slipping into a crowd with the express intent of fleecing rubes for their money ("Take 'im for a coupla weeks pay") suggesting sexual favours from their victims' girlfriend in lieu of an unaffordable monetary debt ("If ya lose this roll/ I'll take ya girlfriend home/ Well, alright!"). One could even go so far as to make a link between the lines "Blinded by the moonlight/ Twenty-four hours of midnight/ I stepped into the Twilight Zone" and being rendered blind and mindless by a drug or alcohol induced fugue...
• Marked Bullet: "Love Lies" from their first album.
  Scratched a picture of a heart on a bullet and took his life away.
• Meaningful Name: The band's stage during their 2013 tour is called Sofia because it was the first city they toured using that stage.
• Memetic Mutation: An in-universe example. The smiley face in the music video for "Have a Nice Day", which even served as the cover of the titular album.
• Miniscule Rocking: Ride Cowboy Ride clocks in at 1:24.
• Music at Sporting Events: "This Is Our House" was primarily designed for this; the National Rugby League in Australia used it as their theme song for a time, and the New Jersey Devils started playing it for goals in October 2013 (ironically, this triggered a campaign demanding that they put back Gary Glitter's "Rock and Roll". And they were booing it too! In retrospect, New Jersey's hockey fans seem to be hostile to their state's own music.)
• Navel-Deep Neckline: On 90% of his performances Jon is wearing an unbuttoned shirt that exposes his whole chest allowing the crowd to feast their eyes on his sweaty, hairy chest and nip slips. He might as well just perform shirtless which in fact, he does on occasion.
• New Sound Album:
  • After having had a country hit before ("Who Says You Can't Go Home?") and having previously recorded songs tinged with a country and western vibe/themes, Lost Highway was the group's attempt to make a full-fledged country album, even collaborating with country artists Big & Rich and LeAnn Rimes on two songs.
  • Another case that maybe justified as the line-up underwent a slight change and lead singer/writer Jon aged and mellowed a little - and they went after the changing tastes of ladies more their own age (Hair Metal always being, in the end, all about the ladies)... but, the stylistic shift experienced between the classic but ironically titled Keep The Faith, and newer, more pop-oriented, and mushier Crush (with "These Days" as a confused, halfway turning point, and "Crossroads" being a sort of "this is the Best Of the OLD Bon Jovi, now watch as we change it all") is still a heck of a jolt for male fans who enjoyed the heavier, more traditional rock flavour of their first 15 or so years.
• Not What It Looks Like: The video for "Misunderstood" is a guy telling a long, protracted tale regarding why he and a woman, both naked, are in his girlfriend's bed.
• Ode to Youth: "Livin' On A Prayer"
• Older Than They Look: It's often joked that David Bryan has stopped aging in The '90s. Having retained the same look for over 20 years helps.
  • Jon himself could also count, having aged really well. Especially so before he went grey.
• Out-of-Genre Experience: "Born Again Tomorrow" is a mixture of EDM and the band's own sound. Go back one album, and you'll get "Take Back The Night," which has a similar vibe.
• Performance Video: "You Give Love A Bad Name," "Blood on Blood," "Lay Your Hands on Me," "When We Were Beautiful," "No Apologies," "What About Now," and the second half of "Livin' On A Prayer."
  • Dress Rehearsal Video: The first half of "Livin' On A Prayer."
  • Great Balls of Fire!: "You Give Love A Bad Name" and "Lay Your Hands on Me."
• Power Ballad:
  • "Silent Night" from 7800° Fahrenheit
  • "Wanted Dead Or Alive" and "Never Say Goodbye" from Slippery When Wet
  • "Stick To Your Guns" and "I'll Be There For You" from New Jersey
  • "Bed of Roses" from Keep the Faith
  • "Always" from Crossroad
  • "This Ain't A Love Song" from These Days
  • "Thank You For Loving Me" from Crush
  • "(You Want To) Make a Memory" from Lost Highway
  • Averted in Bon Jovi, Burning Bridges, and This House Is Not For Sale.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: IT'S! MY! LIFE!
• Real Life Writes the Plot: This House Is Not For Sale is greatly influenced by the events that happened during the band's 2013-16 period, including Richie's departure, Jon's trouble with the label and the release of Burning Bridges, and the ensuing creative breakdown.
• Rearrange the Song: You have This Left Feels Right, which is basically composed of acoustic rearrangements of their songs. Then you have David Bryan rearranging "In These Arms" on both of his solo albums, both instrumental and with vocals.
• Religion Rant Song: "Hey God", one of the band's Darker and Edgier moments, falls squarely under this trope.
• Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: On December 19, 2011, rumours spread on the Internet that Jon Bon Jovi had died. It got so widespread that news sites had to post articles confirming that he was not dead.
• Rhyming with Itself: "Wanted Dead Or Alive" does this:
  I walk these streets, a loaded six string on my back
  I play for keeps, 'cause I might not make it back
• Rooftop Concert: At the rooftop of the O2 Arena in 2010.
• Scatting:
  • The "na na na" chorus at the beginning and end of "Born to Be My Baby".
  • "One Wild Night" from Crush and "Judgement Day" from New Jersey Deluxe Edition.
• Self-Deprecation: You have Jon poking fun at his own voice problems in "God Bless This Mess."
  My voice is shot, I'm going grey
• Self-Parody: Done in "Burning Bridges," considering the band has always created anthems.
  Here's one last song you can sell
  Let's call it "Burning Bridges"
  It's a singalong as well
• Self-Titled Album: The first one.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Jon and Richie.
• Sequential Symptom Syndrome: Provides the page quote with lyrics from Bad Medicine.
• Sex as Rite-of-Passage: Briefly mentioned in "Blood on Blood"
  Danny knew this white trash girl
  We each threw in a ten
  She took us to this cheap motel
  And turned us into men
• Shout-Out: From "It's My Life":
  "My heart is like an open highway / Like Frankie said, I did it my way."
  • 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong. The title and the cover art is an obvious one to Elvis Presley's greatest hits album 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong.
  • The house at the end of the video for This House Is Not For Sale and the album cover itself is one for Jerry Uelsmann's photomontage of a tree with a house on top of it◊.
  • The album cover of Bon Jovi: 2020 is one to a 1962 photo of John F. Kennedy.
• Silver Fox: Jon's hair started to grey around 2014, and since then hasn't dyed it back to blonde.◊
• Spoken Word in Music: Jon does a monologue after the guitar solo in "Keep The Faith."
• Step Up to the Microphone: Disc three of the ''100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong" box set features three songs sung by the other members of the band, rather than Jon. Richie Sambora sings "If I Can't Have Your Love", David Bryan sings "Memphis Lives in Me", and Tico Torres sings "Only in My Dreams".
• Strike Episode: "Livin' on a Prayer" starts with Tommy facing tough times after he loses his job at the docks when the union went on strike, and had to pawn his guitar for extra money, while his girlfriend Gina becomes the breadwinner and has to work overtime at the diner to make ends meet.
• Stylistic Suck: "Ride Cowboy Ride" is recorded in mono and is pretty much scattered with noise.
• Soprano and Gravel: Jon and Richie. Richie's got a somewhat deeper, but much raspier voice, perfectly highlighted when the two shared lead vocals.
• Subdued Section: Quite a lot - You Give Love A Bad Name, Keep The Faith, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, Bed of Roses, Lost Highway, and Because We Can.
• Take That!: "Last Man Standing" to music other than rock and roll.
  • "The More Things Change" is a swipe against the record industry.
  • The title track off Burning Bridges is another example, this time directed at their label. And on a similar note, "Devil's in the Temple."
• Team Hand-Stack: Used in the album cover of Keep The Faith.
• Technician vs. Performer: Rhythm guitarist John Shanks (technician; justified in that he's the Record Producer after all) and lead guitarist Phil X (performer). While Shanks relies on gear that could rival The Edge in terms of size, Phil X lives by the philosophy of using as few pedals as possible. This is best exemplified in this video where Shanks introduces his rig for 50 minutes, as opposed to a combined 30 minutes from Phil and Hugh.
  • First bassist Alec John Such was this to current bassist Hugh McDonald. Alec, while with the band during their mid-80's heyday wasn't a very good bassist, but had the looks and stage presence needed. Hugh, on the other hand was an established session musician, and a great bassist - but was also pushing forty while the rest of the band were in their twenties. Eventually, a compromise was reached, where Hugh did all of the actual playing on the records, while Alec appeared in their performances, until Alec was sacked, and Hugh ended up playing both live and in studio.
• That Syncing Feeling: This is zigzagged. During the opener ("This House Is Not For Sale") of the April 2017 Mohegan Sun show, a downtuned alternate version of the song can be heard playing over the band, which was only noticed after said track went out of sync and went straight to the bridge, while the band was playing the second chorus. It can be clearly seen that whatever the band was hearing on their in-ear monitors is different from what is blaring over the PA system, though they noticed it sometime later when Jon and David looked at each other while Tico was trying to catch up with the track. Jon's brother Matt blamed the incident on the track used to sync with the lighting during the soundcheck (which was supposed to be closed) not being closed by the time the band was performing. Only a soundboard mix of the show (which, along with nearly every other THINFS gig, is being sold by the band) can prove/disprove that Jon lip-synced throughout the song, considering he was the only one who wasn't heard through the PA system. Which is likely the reason they ditched the backing track before the solo in "Livin' On a Prayer" the following show.
  • The band experienced a similar situation at Osaka in 2006, where the "Livin' On a Prayer" click track containing backing vocals was triggered earlier than usual and threw them off in the key change.
• Title-Only Chorus: "Lay Your Hands on Me".
• Title Track: "Keep The Faith," "These Days," "Bounce," "Have A Nice Day," "Lost Highway," "What About Now," and "This House Is Not For Sale."
• Train Song: "Homebound Train" from New Jersey.
• Tranquil Fury: If any member screws up onstage, Jon gives them the stink eye.
• Truck Driver's Gear Change: "Livin' On A Prayer" and the demo of "Always".
• Unplugged Version: Their performance of "Livin' on a Prayer/Wanted Dead or Alive" at the 1989 Video Music Awards and possibly the Trope Codifier.
  • This Left Feels Right is a whole album of this.
• Updated Re-release: New Jersey had one in 2014; two of its editions contained additional material in the form of demos (up until then were only available in low quality over YouTube) and a DVD. This House Is Not For Sale will get one 16 months after release, with two new songs.
• Vocal Evolution: Jon started out in the 80s with a smooth but aggressive voice and had a tendency for using his then-powerful falsetto when he could. That falsetto voice started petering out by the time Slippery When Wet came out, then his entire singing voice gave out in late 1986 or early 1987, causing him to take steroids just so he can sing. His voice had gotten a bit rougher in New Jersey, and virtually their entire catalogue had to be down-tuned half a step live. He maintained most of the grit in Keep the Faith and got smoother by the mid-90s when he picked up smoking. He started losing his range in the 2000s, causing his voice to be shot for some part on the Bounce tour and re-arranging ballads to suit his voice on the following one. As early as 2006, he started showing signs of switching his style to a more nasal one, which became more prominent as he regained part of his range in Lost Highway onwards, well at least until the middle of the 2013 Because We Can tour when his voice rapidly declined to the point that he's struggling to sing "You Give Love A Bad Name" and desperately clinging himself to the mic stand, a state which he hasn't recovered from since.
• Wacky Marriage Proposal: All About Lovin' You.
• We Used to Be Friends: Jon and Richie, following Richie's abrupt departure from the band. There's seemingly very little bad blood, with Jon going on record as stating he totally understood why Sambora left the band. Nevertheless, they don't have much contact, if any, anymore - though they're on good enough terms to congratulate each other on new releases, and such.
• Working Class Anthem: "Living on a Prayer" offers a sort-of optimism to folks in a similar situation (Bon Jovi also being from New Jersey):
  Tommy used to work on the docks, union's been on strike
  He's down on his luck, it's tough, so tough
  Gina works the diner all day working for her man
  She brings home her pay, for love, for love
• Word Salad Lyrics: Present in the first verse of "Who Says You Can't Go Home"
  Like a blind dog without a bone
  I was a gypsy lost in the Twilight Zone
  I hijacked a rainbow and crashed into a pot of gold
  • "Bed of Roses" is much worse:
  With an iron clad fist, I wake up
  and french kiss the morning.
  While some marching band keeps its own beat in my head
  while we're talking.
  • Or this doozy from "I'll be There For You"
  I know this time you're really leaving
  I heard your suitcase say goodbye.

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