Bon Jovi is a globally famous band formed in New Jersey, USA. The band consists of members Jon Bon Jovi who is singer and songwriter for the band. Ritchie Sambora, electric guitar and co-songwriter, Tico torres, drums. David Bryan, keyboardist and most recently Hugh McDonald on bass. The band formed in 1983 with the original members, including Alec John Such on bass.
The bands original sound was considered to be ‘80’s hair metal’, and from this they have progressed into a stadium rock band, writing number one anthems such as ‘living on a prayer’ and ‘you give love a bad name’ and ‘it’s my life’. During the bands 25 year career they have released 12 studios albums and one live album, selling over 120 million albums worldwide. 9 of their 12 studio albums have gone platinum with ‘Slippery When Wet’ selling 12 million copies in America alone
Throughout their 12 albums their sound has remained to their roots however each album has had some sort of experimental edge. From their self-tited album through to their ‘New Jersey’ album the bands sound has remained hard rock 80’s ‘cock-rock’ so to speak! However when it came to their ‘Keep the Faith’ album in 1992 the band toned down the cheesy hair metal and added a feeling of blues with their sound. The result was an album that sold 13,000,000 copies and topped the European, UK and Australian charts, it signified the end of the hair metal bon jovi and introduced the new rock’n’roll bon Jovi.
In 1995 the bands 7th studio album brought another new twist on the Bon Jovi sound. The album had a darker feeling appose to their more popular bouncy rock tunes and love ballads. After the huge success of the ‘These Days’ album selling 10,000,000 copies the band continued to produce globally successful albums and most recently the ‘Lost Highway album (2008)’ which introduced a ‘country’ feel to it.
In terms on bon Jovi’s influences their idols are classic rock bands such as Aerosmith and Thin Lizzy, through to successful artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Jimi Hendrix and The legendary Beatles. These influences can be heard through Bon Jovi’s whole discography for example the ‘These days’ has a lot of rock blues rhythm much like that of Aerosmith and in a few occasions the band has covered ‘Boys are back in town’ by thin lizzy at concerts. All their influences can be picked out in bon jovis sound however the band remains to have that original edge over other rock’n’roll bands, this is mostly due to Jon’s very unique sounding voice, that makes Bon Jovi the band they are today.
The bands image has changed with time, starting with big hair and torn blue jeans during their 80’s period, then to the denim jackets, leather pants and shorter haircuts in the 90’ which has remained a part of their image the current day. So after 25 years of practice and 12 studio albums, 6 number ones and 9 platinum albums its no surprise that bon jovi are one of the most successful bands of the past 20 years.
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