For almost 25 years, Bon Jovi has been cranking out hit albums and playing arenas and stadiums, while establishing a level of enduring popularity that only a handful of acts have ever achieved.
Some would suggest that one of the secrets to Bon Jovi’s success has been the band’s ability to craft a signature style, an arena-friendly brand of melodic rock that has stayed pretty consistent since the days of the group’s 1986 breakthrough album, “Slippery When Wet.” Band members Richie Sambora and Tico Torres, though, have a rather opposing theory to explain Bon Jovi’s continued popularity.
“I think basically what keeps us fresh is the fact that, you know, we try to reinvent ourselves musically and listen to what’s happening sound-wise,” drummer Torres said during a recent teleconference interview. “Then when it comes out to do a record, you know, it’s the writing. I think you try not to emulate anything you did in the past, but try to grow.”
Torres’ observation could be taken as the kind of talk that occurs whenever musicians discuss a new album, much the way that musicians usually say the new CD is always their best record. But Torres makes a valid point.
As much as signature songs like “Living on a Prayer” or “Wanted Dead or Alive” might seem to fit a similar stylistic template, Bon Jovi (which also includes keyboardist David Bryan) hasn’t simply been making the same kind of albums for all these years.
Formed in 1983 in Sayreville, N.J., the band established its sound with its third CD, “Slippery When Wet,” which included hits like “Livin’ on a Prayer,” “You Give Love A Bad Name” and “Wanted Dead or Alive.” That CD, coupled with the 1988 follow-up album “New Jersey” (another chart-topper with hits like “Bad Medicine” and “Born to Be My Baby”), sold a combined 19 million copies in the United States alone.
On subsequent albums, the band’s signature sound has remained intact, but the group has frequently tinkered within that framework.
Now comes “The Circle.” This time Bon Jovi has returned to its familiar rock sound, cranking out anthems like “We Weren’t Born To Follow” and “Thorn In My Side” and power ballads like “When We Were Beautiful” that wouldn’t feel out of place on “New Jersey.”
But Sambora said once again there are some twists within the music on “The Circle” that epitomizes the band’s tendency to experiment with its sound.
“We’re actually moving in different sonic territory, I think, for Bon Jovi than I think we’ve ever done before,” he said. “And songs like ‘When We Were Beautiful’ and ‘Broken Promised Land’ ... there are all these different sounds that are coming in that we’ve never used before either.”
An even bigger wrinkle is the lyrical direction of “The Circle.” Sambora said when it came time towrite new songs, the plan was to finish a handful of new tunes to round out a greatest hits CD. Instead, the songs started coming fast and furious and Bon Jovi and Sambora found themselves tapping into topical themes -- the recession, the arrival of President Barack Obama -- that served as a notable departure from the group’s more common romantic fare.
“You know, people were losing their jobs all over the place,” Sambora said. “Jon and I kind of plugged into that [with] songs like ‘Work for the Working Man.’ We couldn’t have written this album if the world wasn’t in the state it was in.”
The group figures to give fans a chance to hear the latest turns in the Bon Jovi sound as the band, joined by touring bassist Hugh McDonald and guitarist Bobby Bandiera, begins a tour that will eventually number some 135 shows and extend into summer 2011.
“I’m sure that we’ll do ‘The Circle’ in it’s entirety a few times on this tour because we’re really, really proud of this record,” Sambora said.
-- Last Word Features
Concert preview
Bon Jovi with Dashboard Confessional
7:30 p.m. April 15. $29.50-$139. Philips Arena, 100 Techwood Drive NW, 404-249-6400, www.ticketmaster.com .
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