The ’80s were a different time, with music videos being one of the primary promotional ways an artist could get their music to listeners. And as the video era boomed, there was a lot of trial and error when it came to successful music videos. While appearing on SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen Live, Jon Bon Jovi shares his thoughts on making Bon Jovi videos back in the early days, the lesson he eventually learned and one of the videos he’s most embarrassed about making.
When asked by Cohen if he had a favorite Bon Jovi video, the singer explained, “We were smart enough by the third album, it took three albums to figure out just promote the live show with a video, so by ‘You Give Love a Bad Name,’ ‘Livin’ on a Prayer,’ ‘Wanted Dead or Alive,’ those are really just performance videos and that’s when we realized this is all that matters.”
But seemingly admitting that it took them three albums to figure it all out, Bon Jovi then shared his thoughts on their early music videos, cringing a bit while speaking about one of the band’s early hits.
“When I think back that ‘Runaway’ …. when we made a video, “Wait a minute, I just learned to play the guitar and write a song. You want me to be a filmmaker? What the hell do I know,'” the singer reflected. “I fell for it hook, line and sinker, and the stupid record company with the stupid video director who says Fahrenheit 451 [when the album was 7800 Fahrenheit] or whatever with his niece starring in the video, it’s like Jesus God. You want to embarrass me? Tie me to a chair and make me watch videos from my first two albums.”
The singer adds, “Horrible. Horrible and the second album, same kind of thing, and then by the third album we were like, ‘Wait a minute. Let us just film us performing,’ and boom. Everything changed.”
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Indeed, after two albums that sold modestly well, Bon Jovi took their major step to stardom with their third album, Slippery When Wet, which hit No. 1 back in 1986. Director Wayne Isham shot the concert-centric video for “You Give Love a Bad Name,” as well as “Livin’ on a Prayer” and “Wanted Dead or Alive,” with each clip centering on footage from the band’s touring.
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