"Thank You, Goodnight": Interview with Rock Legend JON BON JOVI On His Iconic 40-Year Career And The Future Of Music

JON BON JOVI is a multifaceted and extraordinarily talented music icon like no other. As the frontman for the legendary Grammy Award-winning rock band BON JOVI, he is known worldwide for writing and performing countless smash hit rock songs such as "It's My Life", "Livin' On A Prayer", "Always", "You Give Love A Bad Name", "Wanted Dead or Alive" and "Bed of Roses" that have entertained generations of loyal fans for decades. After selling more than 130 million albums and performing in over 50 countries for more than 40 million fans, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in recognition of their longevity and impact on popular music. Aside from his massive success in the music industry, he is also a former majority owner of the Arena Football League team, the Philadelphia Soul, in addition to utilizing his spotlight to raise millions of dollars for those in need through his philanthropic work as the founder of Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation and JBJ Soul Kitchen nonprofit community restaurant.

In honour of the 40th anniversary of BON JOVI, which was named after his stage name Jon Bon Jovi, the New Jersey-born John Francis Bongiovi Jr. and his fellow band members have made the four-part documentary Thank you, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story, which is now streaming on HULU and Disney+. The documentary shows an honest and introspective side of the band as they look back on their 40-year journey from Jersey Shore Clubs to the biggest stages on the planet, while attempting to chart out their future as Rock 'n Roll legends.

GEORGINA LARA BOOTH interviewed Jon Bon Jovi on his 40-year music career, his iconic songs, his music documentary, the future of the music industry, whether he would use Artificial Intelligence to make new music, his philanthropy and more.

Hi Jon, it's so lovely to see you! How are you?

"Hi Babe! I am good, I am good!"

Jon, you're currently on the set of American Idol...how did you get involved?

"Hahaha, yes...I'm competing in Season 27 trying to get a record deal...!"

So...what does it feel like to mentor the next generation of musicians on American Idol and possibly the next Jon Bon Jovi?

"I'll tell you what it is, Georgina. It's difficult to sit and have to give criticism to singers who are putting it all on the line on a national television program, but the good news is each of the three contestants that I've spoken to are very confident and are very talented. So they're writers, they're singers, they're performers. They're not bothered by the idea that there's television cameras around them and bright lights in their faces...so they comforted me probably more than I comforted them!"

You write a song for yourself and the magic is when it connects with other people and you know it's sort of astounding to see how a song lives after you're done writing and recording it.

Your documentary "Thank You, Good Night: The Bon Jovi Story" is currently on Hulu and Disney+ and that was made in the context of Bon Jovi's 40th anniversary. Firstly, congratulations with your band's anniversary - that's an amazing achievement!

"Yeah, haha, I know! Hahaha, who would have thought 40 years of anything! That's incredible!"

Absolutely! Secondly, the documentary also deals with your legacy. Just for a little bit of context before my next question for you, Jon... My parents are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary themselves this year and they've always been huge fans of you. My sister, Natasha, and I have also been massive fans of you our entire lives and some of my best childhood memories are from singing your songs in the car or doing karaoke or just sitting in my bedroom listening to your music with my headphones on, so my question for you, Jon, is what does it feel like to have made such meaningful and entertaining music that has made so much impact on the lives of generations of people like my family and I?

"Well, first of all, congratulations to your mom and dad! Especially to your mom for putting up with your dad...which I'm sure is not dissimilar from my own house, hahaha, so bravo to them! But thank you for that. That is a nice compliment! You know, you write a song for yourself and the magic is when it connects with other people and you know it's sort of astounding to see how a song lives after you're done writing and recording it. One example is watching these three contestants on American Idol interpret these songs and make them their own when they're telling you what the songs mean to them. It's really heartwarming and humbling."

I do think that AI is going to be incredibly helpful when it comes to medicine and science, so there are some great things to look forward to, you know, and on the other hand it's scary when there's a political campaign in America coming up.

The music industry has changed massively over 40 years and especially in recent years due to technology like Artificial Intelligence (AI). How do you feel about AI being used to create new music that mimics your style, your voice and even your face like with deepfake technology?

"I know it's in the beginning stages and it's only going to get better, which can technically make it more scary, but what I'd seen in the last year wasn't a threat yet for Bon Jovi songs. You know, if I put in a 'create a Bon Jovi lyric and let me see what I look like in AI', I mean, the technology is not there yet, but I'm smart enough to know that it will be there soon. It can be influential or it may be dangerous. I think, you know, that is to be determined. I don't think anyone knows what it's going to do yet, because the computers are going to be smart. Whether or not it's going to have the emotion that a true songwriter has when he does his best work is to be seen, but I certainly don't count the computer out, so that's the part of me that is afraid of it, but I do think that AI is going to be incredibly helpful when it comes to medicine and science, so there are some great things to look forward to, you know, and on the other hand it's scary when there's a political campaign in America coming up or things like that - who knows what it's going to do!"

Do you think that the use of AI should be regulated?

"Yeah, you know, I think that for now I would like to see it regulated."

Would you ever consider using AI yourself to create new music and to write new songs?

"No, no...I'm not that lazy! No, that's why when I tried it once, I said 'oh, there's nothing here'! I still believe in the human... I just think that the human touch matters."

Tommy and Gina were fictional characters that generations have now made about themselves.

Since you are not a fan of using AI yourself to create new music, Jon, do you follow any specific method for your songwriting process to create all of the amazing smash hit songs that you have written throughout your career, like "Livin' On A Prayer" and "It's My Life", which are my all-time favourite songs of yours?

"No, I don't think that there are any rules that we follow, but I'm also kind of a creature of habit. Technology is not my best friend, hahaha, whether it's the computer or the air conditioning...! I know how to write a song one way, pick up a guitar or bang on a piano and tell a story. I'm really just not a computer-savvy, technology-driven writer. I like to tell a story, and it's sort of what I was just conveying with these contestants here you know, and a story connects to somebody that's listening to it who then in turn makes that story about them and when that magic happens, you sing a song like "It's My Life". I said it's Frank Sinatra when I wrote the line 'Like Frankie said I did it my way' and then you say back to me 'Frankie is my friend' or 'Frankie is me' or 'Frankie is my buddy'. You make these songs about you and that's the connection that we have had with our audience. They've made these songs their own. Tommy and Gina were fictional characters that generations have now made about themselves. That's another example."

That was literally what I was going to discuss with you, because my name is Georgina, so every time I hear "Gina" in your iconic songs "It's My Life" or "Livin' On A Prayer", I always like to imagine that your songs are about me.

"But it is about you, Georgina! It is! That's the whole point that you can relate to that lyric! Gina in It's My Life and Livin' On a Prayer is you, you know, it is! I know it sounds funny, but it is and it wouldn't matter if your name was Georgina or, you know, Judy. Gina is her too!"

Jon, would you ever consider rewriting your lyrics to "Tommy and Georgina" instead of "Tommy and Gina"...? Perhaps after this interview...?

"I could do that for you, Georgina. Yes, yes! In honour of your parents' anniversary...consider it done!"

That is so sweet of you, Jon! Going back to one of your other iconic characters in your songs and what you mentioned earlier, you said that "Frankie" was based on Frank Sinatra. Did he inspire your career or music in any way?

"He did, he did! You know, he was the ultimate rock star and Mr. Smooth from New Jersey. I had the opportunity to meet him in my youth, but I never took advantage of those opportunities. I really just wasn't ready at the time and it was after his passing that I became probably more mature really. Really, to tell you the truth, you know, I was just not ready emotionally to have met him, but here's a guy that made music, made movies, was involved in social causes, helped to get a President elected in America, he was the chairman of the board and not only did he make records, but he owned the record company. Not only did he like to record, but he bought the studio. Frank was involved in civil rights and he made sure that Sammy Davis walked through the front door. He saw what was unjust in the world and was a champion for the little guy. He was a great influence on me. I really wish I'd had the opportunity to sit with him now, you know, that I'm older and wiser."

Speaking of Frank Sinatra...I made the observation that all of my favourite Italian-Americans like you, Frank Sinatra and Frankie Valli are all from New Jersey...so I was wondering what New Jersey has that other states in the US don't have to create so many talented icons like you. Is there something in the waters of New Jersey, perhaps...?

"Maybe, maybe, hahahaha! You know, I don't know, but so many of our parents in their case or in my case, my grandparents, and their parents came at a time when America was really embracing a movement predating both World Wars and America was a Melting Pot where so many of the Europeans that came to America settled around New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia and that Eastern and South Eastern region of Pennsylvania. I'd like to think that my relatives got off the boat and said 'enough moving', hahaha! They said 'You're going to stay right here!' and they went about a half an hour outside of Ellis Island and said 'enough moving, we're staying in New Jersey!'"

I think that John Lennon would have been a great teacher.

If you could add a new band member to Bon Jovi, literally anyone dead or alive, who would you choose and why?

"Wow! John Lennon would be the first name that comes to mind! He would be my first choice as a songwriter, as a teacher and as a political figure. I think that John Lennon would have been a great teacher."

What is your all-time favourite Bon Jovi song if you had to choose one?

"It'd be impossible to pick just one. You know, you work so hard on every album and at the time that you put it out, it's your favourite. Obviously, I'll be remembered for having co-written 'It's My Life' and 'Livin' on a Prayer' and songs like that, but the whole catalogue is something I'm very proud of. It still stands up to me 40 years later."

You've been performing for 40 years now, which can be physically demanding. How do you stay fit to be able to perform on stage with so much energy for such a long time? Do you follow any specific fitness regimen?

"You know, it's not that I go out of my way to do something, but I do something because that's what makes me feel good. You know, yesterday, I went for a three mile run and then went to the gym before I started the day. It's just because that's sort of the way I start my day. I like to play a lot of tennis. I'm an avid runner, but those things are just what I do for pleasure and then you try to equate it to singing and being on a stage, but truthfully those are all different muscles."

What does it feel like to have basically grown up and lived your life in the public eye for 40 years and that everyone knows so much about you? Is there anything that people don't know about you and that you have never really publicly revealed?

"I think that the documentary, for example, is as revealing as you can be, you know. I haven't really hidden anything ever and someone was asking a question like that last night at a forum for the documentary and I said we had always been that vulnerable. We just hadn't had a platform to share it with and so people got to see a different side in the documentary that they're not accustomed to seeing, but we as a band always showed that kind of stuff, you know...the pleasure and the pain of it all. Now it's in the film, people can see what's behind the curtain, but what I like about the film is that if you're going to have a real career, you know, something that spans something like 40 years, you're going to see that it's not all peaks. There's going to be a lot of valleys. There's going to be a lot of pain to give you pleasure and that's sort of what life is, you know, when you're sharing your career with the world."

I don't have a lot of big career regrets...well, maybe some of the clothes in the 80s, haha.

Is there any specific moment in your career that stands out to you? What's been the most memorable moment for you personally if you had to choose?

"How can I give you one? I've been blessed with a lot of great and very little bad, you know. I don't have many regrets that I can tell you with surety, but one of the few was not meeting Sinatra and so you can see that I don't have a lot of big career regrets...well, maybe some of the clothes in the 80s, haha, but other than that…hahaha."

Have you ever suffered from stage fright? Obviously you perform in front of thousands of people in sold out stadiums, but has that ever bothered you or intimidated you in any way?

"No, you know, you just want to be great. I don't care if it's for 15 or 50,000. The goal is to just be great!"

Aside from music, you're also very much involved in charity work with JBJ Soul Kitchen and Foundation. What inspired you to start this community restaurant with the 'Pay It Forward' model and why did you focus on restaurants and food specifically for your charity work?

"Well, the thing about food and housing is that we don't need a scientist to find the cure. We don't need a magic pill. It's going to take money and sweat and so we can all come together breaking bread. It doesn't matter if you're young, old, black, white, Republican or Democrat, people have to eat and there's a need for both nutritional food and affordable housing, so those are two things that we felt good about. What drew me into it really was I started the foundation some 20 years ago when I used to own a sports team in Philadelphia and it was a way to ingratiate ourselves in the community and become part of the community. The team no longer exists, but I still have the foundation."

What's next for you and Bon Jovi? Do you ever see yourself retiring...or will you just continue to perform until you're 100-years-old?

"My goal right now is to get my voice back 100% healthy, but I'm well on the road to recovery and if everything goes as planned, my hope is to be touring in 2025, because we're so excited about the new album and, you know, I think as you record new records, when you're excited about them, you want to share them! As long as I'm making new records that I'm excited about, then I would hope that, if I'm healthy enough, I'll be able to tour them."

Thank you so much for this lovely interview, Jon!

"Thank you, Babe! It was great talking to you and congratulate your parents for me!"

Main Photo Credit: Clay McBride