BEST magazine- 1997 - translated from French

The history of a metamorphosis

You were not afraid to test new ideas. Today these ideas were transformed into a finished product, aren't you afraid of the reactions of the public? 
JBJ: It is not really a fear, but I understand and assume very well the situation. Being myself fan of certain bands, I know that I await from them to do a little the same things, even if I appreciate a certain change, this is if it's in a direction which is appropriate to me. An artist is not a product for human consumption which must eternally answer the same criteria, it's not Big Mac! With time changes take place this reveal new aspects of the same person... I do not expect thanks from the public and the only thing which I request is to give me the chance to take it along elsewhere than where it expects to go. I cannot rewrite the same songs as those made up for Bon Jovi ten years ago. It's impossible or I would betray myself... One of the gears of this awakening was a long discussion with Bruce Springsteen, at home around some beers. He had just finished "The Ghost Of Tom Joad" and the only thing I wanted from him was to turns over in studio with E.Street Band. I wanted "Born To Run"... He put his glass, looked in my eyes and said to me: "I was never so happy in my life. I don't want to be the boss any more... ". I am 35 years old, Bruce have to be 45 and now I feel something similar. I can also tell other things, show other faces. I couldn't compose such songs ten years or fifteen years ago. I needed to live these experiments to be able to tell them and to put them in music, I was right a kid of New Jersey dreamed to become a rock star. You discovered yourself constantly- it's necessary to this kind of process. The problem of Aerosmith, to give an opposed example, is that even if their album is excellent, it's the same one as the last which itself resembled as two water drops so that they had made before, and so on... 

Will this solo experiment change anything in the alchemy of Bon Jovi - the band? 
JBJ: As I said to the others of the group last summer: the last tour was so large and had been as well crowned success as the only thing to make not to become insane was to turn the heels and go as quickly as possible far from all this. It's obvious that when we return in the band, I will bring something different, just as Richie which currently works on his album with Don Was will bring also something different. It will be without any doubt more interesting for everyone... 

Is loneliness helpful for you or it's a hell for you? 
JBJ: Many affirms that the sad songs are easiest to write... When you are sad, you are really under good conditions to take your guitar.If everything is OK, you rather want to go to drink glass with pals (laughs)!... I am a lucky person, but it's true that my difficult situations are much more creative than my merriest moments.

Do you easily manage to preserve the first emotion in a song when you must finish it in studio months later? 
JBJ: It's a little like a continuous experiment, one should not lose the discussion thread and especially not to deviate from the first emotion, "August 7" for example is a song which speaks about the assassination of a small girl that I knew. It's the anger which led me to write this song, I were really out of me! During the mixing, I had to go away and when I returned I knew only the reason, it was not any more the same song: the murder of a child was changed to a song on which one could dance! It was necessary all to start again... It's undoubtedly the most significant song that I ever composed. Usually, I tackle subjects in connection with values common to everyone like the faith, the hope or the love; but there, it's really something which touched me deeply. 

Aren't you afraid sometimes to be too far away from the way of living of people who buy your records? 
JBJ: I try my best to avoid this distance. Now I am in Ritz, one of the most famous hotels in the world; it's ok for one day, but that becomes quickly shitting. I am rather a simple type. Everyone seems to pay attention to my image, some want to even control it, but it's something that doesn't interest me much. In the beginning of the Nineties, we had fired all our managers, agents and lawyers because they wanted really to handle us. The the business machine doesn't interest me, only the creativity is significant in my eyes. The remainder does not exist, it's only wind! When I become 50 or 60 years, I don't want to regret for anything, I want to be only a master of my destiny.

Would you say that to write a song is like giving rise to a child, bringing back something to the life or transposing a portion of life in a music? 
JBJ: I have really the impression that each song is a page of my life and that my life is a large book. 

You said that the most creative thing that you ever achieved in your life is to compose a song. Did you interest more in the phases of recording or even the touts than in the pure composition? 
JBJ: I like all, but the climax is really when the song is written or recorded with the guitar. I am really happy when I finish a song, it's still in my head and I don't escape from it. Then, there are the musicians, the production, the mixing, it's never again really the same song... 

Would you say that your best songs are those you'll never finish? 
JBJ: I don't know, since they are not finished (laughs)... More seriously, there are songs that don't work but I don't like the taste of the unfinished one. I prefer almost to scuttle them when I feel that they don't lead to nothing... 

"Janie, Don' T Take Your Love To Town" seems to be a very personal song, you say: "I hated you because I could not like me myself"... 
JBJ: I had this large argument with my wife, because after a concert in Amsterdam I had... say, a little too drunk (laughs)! We disputed a little, but when it's the case, it's rather infernal. I sit in the toilet because it was the only quiet place, at three in the night, writing my song... The trick, it was really: "What I did not say to you yesterday, I say it today to you, that does not change anything", and so one... 

And what about "Ugly"? 
JBJ: I think that everyone feels ugly sometimes, everyone has uncontrolled angers, things which we regret when we do them but that we do nevertheless. Popularity doesn't free people from being good with the others. Because you are adulated by thousands of fans not to be obligatorily for you to transform into bastard of the worst species... The origin of this song that I wrote with Eric Bazilian of The Hooters comes from the fact that his wife was pregnant and was horrible, enormous, etc..., that should have radiated in waiting of this happy event. 

Has the song "Little city" connection with film of the same name in which you played recently? 
JBJ: When I saw how many "The leading man" had inspired me, since I had written not less than ten songs during the shooting, I said myself that at the time of the next film, I was going to be able to write ten of more songs. I took my guitar and my keyboards, but nothing happened, I didn't even touch them! On the other hand, the first assembly of film completely reversed me, so when I returned home, I could not prevent me from putting in music my emotions and at my manner this history of simple people who wonder where goes their life... 

Your favorite film?
JBJ: "The Godfather" remains for me a top... All is perfect: the history, the actors, how Coppola insisted that Pacino has to play the role. I like also the values: the family, courage, etc... 

Your favorite place? 
JBJ: Paris is one of my preferred cities. There are so many things to see here, people are so different from one district to another, I like also Italy; Rome in particular... 

Your preferred dish? 
JBJ: I like to change, to test new things. I adore of course the French kitchen, but generally it's really too fat. I remember one evening in an excellent Parisian restaurant, the main cook had come to explain me his receipt, it was something like: "I cook one kilo of butter in goose grease" (laughs)... 

Your preferred drink? 
JBJ: Wine, since I went to a wine tasting and Cognac and Armagnac here, in France. It was the shortly after the MTV Awards, I had not badly drunk with Bono after the ceremony and this tasting and the following day, proved to be difficult to ensure until the end (laughs)... 

Your preferred moment in a day? 
JBJ: When we are at tour- the concert and if not, between my second and third coffee, more or less late the morning or before the evening... 

Your preferred season in a year? 
JBJ: I like the summer, the colors of the summer, the behavior of the girls the summer, heat, etc... 

Your preferred time in a life? 
JBJ: I am only at the beginning, at least I hope for it, but for now it's the birth of my children and there are strong chances that remains to the end of my days the most intense moment of my modest existence. 

To finish logically, the ideal way to die? 
JBJ: During my sleep undoubtedly is the only acceptable thing...