Breakout: Bon Jovi’s Self-Titled Debut at 40
How the album helped set the table for the band’s “Runaway” success
Bon Jovi gets saddled with the hair metal tag and although the band had plenty of the former, it was always considerably short on the latter.
Facts are facts: The band was always more of a hard-edged pop unit that had a hotshot guitar player and could write a decent song. Like its contemporaries, Cinderella, there was always a little more to Bon Jovi than met the eye and ear. That’s evident on the group’s self-titled debut, which arrived in early 1984 and managed to stir up some fanfare and creditability.
It helped that the album already contained a hit. “Runaway,” co-written by Jon Bon Jovi and George Karak, had been tracked as part of a demo collection the singer had made at his cousin’s Power Station studios in New York City. Despite boasting a powerful cast of supporting players, including the E-Street Band’s Roy Bittan and session guitar ace Tim Pierce, the tune failed to land the budding artist a contract. He turned instead to a local radio DJ who championed the tune, featured it on a local talent compilation, and helped build enthusiasm for the song. By 1983, Bon Jovi (the man) was well on his way.
VIDEO: Bon Jovi “Runaway”
It’s not uncommon for critics and fans to cite a band’s debut LP as their best. That’s not the case with Bon Jovi’s first stab. Aside from “Runaway,” the only tune that demonstrates real commercial potential is “She Don’t Know Me,” and that came from outside writer Mark Avsec. The tune boasts a memorable chorus and lyrics that should have made it a sure-fire hit on MTV. It’s not a power ballad, but it is one of the best songs about romantic longing written in the ‘80s. That it never found a proper audience remains one of popular music’s great tragic mysteries.
The rest of the record isn’t entirely aimless. Instead, there’s a sense that the band really hadn’t jelled yet. The writing partnership between guitarist Richie Sambora and Bon Jovi was new as was the lineup assembled to record the lion’s share of the LP. This wasn’t a group that had sweated it out in clubs together for half a decade, honing its collective chops to a fine point. Instead, it was an ensemble essentially assembled to support a singer who had a recording contract.
Still, the record doesn’t suck. It’s evidence of a new group finding its footing.
Of the four compositions credited to Bon Jovi and Sambora, the sturdiest is “Roulette,” a tune that seems to have been born for the arena stage. It’s further aided by Sambora’s soaring, melodic lead lines and fine guitar orchestra. The others, including “Burning for Love” and the closing “Get Ready” far outshine most of what appeared on the following year’s 7800° Fahrenheit, with the latter tune offering us one of the most untamed glimpses of Sambora’s guitar prowess while also teetering on the cusp of bright-eyed bubblegum rock. (David Bryan, then known as David Rashbaum, earns writing credits for two promising pieces, “Love Lies” and “Breakout.”)
And, yes, although the phrase “Shot Through the Heart” would become central a few years later in “You Give Love A Bad Name,” the tune that appears on Bon Jovi is an entirely different song, one co-written by Jack Ponti. Though it’s far from the saving grace of this LP, it is the saving grace of When Midnight Comes, the 1985 disc from Surgin’.
In all, Bon Jovi is a fine (re)introduction to a band that would dominate the ’80s and become an often misunderstood and sometimes maligned household name.
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