Bon Jovi is an American rock band from Sayreville, New Jersey, who formed in 1983 during the hair band era. Bon Jovi gained popularity with their single “Runaway” in the early ‘80s, and went on to have major success with their Slippery When Wet album, which features “Livin’ on a Prayer,” “Wanted Dead or Alive” (the long-time theme song for the hit TV show The Deadliest Catch) and “You Give Love a Bad Name” (Barney Stinson’s mix tape song from How I Met Your Mother). The band’s lineup has been the same for the vast majority of their existence, with a change to their bass player in the early ‘90s and lead guitarist in 2013. The current lineup is Jon Bon Jovi (lead vocals, guitar), David Bryan (keyboard, backing vocals, accordion), Tico Torres (drums, percussion, backing vocals), Hugh McDonald (bass, backing vocals) and John Shanks (lead guitar, backing vocals). Since their debut, the band has released thirteen studio albums, with a fourteenth expected to release in 2016.
Burning Bridges is the thirteenth studio album, which was released on August 21, 2015 worldwide. Burning Bridges has two singles to date: “We Don’t Run” and “Saturday Night Gave Me Sunday Morning.” This is the band’s first album without lead guitarist Richie Sambora, whose compositions and lyrics gave Bon Jovi huge commercial success. He is given composition credit for “Saturday Night Gave Me Sunday Morning,” which has a completely different sound than the rest of the album. While Bon Jovi’s sound changed from album to album, they are a true rock ‘n’ roll band, with influences from metal, pop, and country. Burning Bridges has a mix of sounds and emotions running through each song; it is a diverse album full of various elements. Almost every song follows a pop rock chord progression, which gives the listener the uncontrollable head nod and foot tap. Some songs feature a screaming guitar solo over loud vocals, blasting distorted guitars and thunderous drums. Others feature an acoustic guitar, soft percussive instruments, a whispery vocal line and harmonized lead guitar; these show off the Nashville country-style influences.
The album is full of emotion, which can be felt through the dramatic vocal melodies of Jon Bon Jovi, and the “Comfortable Numb” (Pink Floyd) style guitar solos. The music is simple; each song consists of simple melodies, simple solos, simple harmonies, which makes each song easy to listen to and enjoy. It’s the type of music that you want to blast in the car with the windows down as you enjoy the feeling of driving around with nowhere to go. The lyrics are full of optimistic and fun motifs, such as enjoying life (“Life is Beautiful”), not backing down (“We Don’t Run”) and getting back up after failing (“We All Fall Down”). The final song, “Burning Bridges” is heavily influenced by Mercury Records dropping Bon Jovi after a 30-year loyal partnership. The song is a parody of a sing-along country song (the style Mercury Records has made Bon Jovi write over the past three albums), with lyrics that completely show the distaste towards Mercury Records; “Here’s one last song you can sell… hope my money and my masters buy a front row seat in hell.” Bon Jovi has always been a class act that hasn’t gotten into trouble and has produced great music. One doesn’t simply drop Bon Jovi.
The album has not landed on the U.S. Billboards just yet due to its recent release, but it should. Currently, it has landed at number two on the Dutch Albums MegaCharts,
Although the album isn’t as heavy or catchy as their previous hits, Burning Bridges is a fun album, with influences from the Rolling Stones, Van Halen, various ‘80s hair bands and the Nashville country scene, amongst many others.