Bon Jovi: Runaway Success

By Kyle Gunderson
Contributing Writer

First and foremost, being the 22 year old male that I am, I do not fall into Bon Jovi’s direct target audience. Nothing against the band, but when in circles of like-aged and gendered peers the mere bringing up of the name conjures snickers and sarcastic guffaws.

Just the other night I was sitting at a friend’s apartment with four or five other 20-something-year-old guys working on this article and when I told them who it was about, sure enough, heckling ensued. After they all had their fill and quieted down, I decided to play some Bon Jovi songs to continue the joke. I grabbed my laptop, pulled up the first Bon Jovi song that came up, and at that moment something completely unexpected happened. When the first chorus of “Its My Life” came on, everyone in the room started belting out every single lyric in perfect harmony. Stunned by the occurrence I decided to click on the next link just to see what would happen.

And then it came.

“Woooah! We’re halfway there. Woooah! Livin’ on prayer. Take my hand and we’ll make it I swear. Woooah! Livin on a prayer.” Again. Harmony. Not only were they singing along, but it seemed as though they were all thoroughly enjoying it. Song after song from “You Give Love a Bad Name” to “Wanted Dead or Alive,” every chorus seemed so familiar.

It was a rude awakening. I know some of you are thinking that this would never happen within your circle of friends but I’m willing to bet most of you know the chorus of at least one of their songs.

I decided to brush up a little bit on my knowledge of them, and in my research I have concluded that Bon Jovi is rich as @$%#. Granted a lot of the information I am going to share with you came off of Wikipedia, I can only hope, for the sake of the band, that these figures are somewhat close to factual.

They formed in 1983 and have been consistently putting out records and touring ever since (that’s 27 years for those of you reaching for the calculator). They have put out 14 albums, sold 120 million albums worldwide, performed 2,600 concerts in over 50 countries, and have played in front of an accumulated 34 million fans. In 2009 their breakthrough album Slippery When Wet had sold an estimated 25 million albums worldwide since its release in 1986. The Tour Without An End after that album’s release had them headlining 130 shows, and grossing $28,400,000. As I started thinking more in depth about it, I realized I had not even taken into consideration how much money they must have made from all their records, tours, merchandise, endorsements and appearances. It really blew me away.

Bon Jovi was formed in New Jersey, and, like I said before, in 1983. Their first album, Bon Jovi, had a single on it called “Runaway” that was on the Billboard Charts Top 40 in 1984. In 1985 their next album, 7800 degrees Fahrenheit, went gold. In 1986 they dropped the hugely successful album Slippery When Wet. It contained three Top Ten hits and became insanely popular, with their music videos being heavily played on television. In the 90s the group took a break and Jon Bon Jovi wrote the sound track for the movie Young Guns 2, which became a hit, receiving Grammy and Oscar nominations. The band went on to release three more albums in the 90s, each of which was reasonably successful. In 2000 they did it again with the single “It’s My Life” on their multiple-award-nominated Crush.

Bon Jovi have proven that they can withstand the test of time. For almost three decades they have been so successful it’s practically unheard of. These days they continue to tour worldwide, and on March 13 they will be appearing here in Fargo at the Fargodome. I get the feeling it will sell out…

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If You Go

What: Bon Jovi
Where: FargoDome
When: Sat, Mar 13
Info: 701.241.9100