SamboraBlog

By Ross Raihala
Knight Ridder Newspapers
What is it about Jon Bon Jovi and band that has kept them going so long, particularly when most of the band's peers are playing clubs and the Ribfest circuit?
Here's a look at five reasons why Bon Jovi still rules in 2005:

1. THEY'RE JUST LIKE YOU AND ME! While the group's earliest records indulged in a bit of teenage-boy-baiting naughtiness, Bon Jovi soon settled into the place they remain today. There's a definite Everyman vibe to the band's songs, the most popular of which celebrate simple themes (being in and out love, giving love a bad name, being thankful for being loved) delivered as arena-style anthems.

2. JON BON JOVI WAS BLESSED WITH ONE HECK OF A SET OF GENES As down-to-earth as he may seem, Jon Bon Jovi also happens to be one of his generation's most enduring sex symbols. Those smoldering eyes, that devilish grin and a head of hair that has defied all signs of aging add up to a guy who's irresistible. It helps, too, that the entire band has held up in the looks department.

3. THE BAND'S PUBLIC HISTORY IS FREE FROM "BEHIND THE MUSIC"-STYLE DISASTERS During the past two decades, Bon Jovi has had exactly one lineup change, when bassist Alec John Such quietly left the group in 1994. Beyond that, the band's career has been short on drama.
They've even managed to keep their private lives private. Bon Jovi said, "I've been in this industry for 22 years, and no one has any idea what my kids look like."

4. THEY'VE KEPT THE FAITH Unlike most of their contemporaries, Bon Jovi didn't make any ill-advised stabs at becoming an alt-rock band after grunge changed the musical landscape in the early '90s. Instead, they spent that decade issuing a pair of business-as-usual albums that kept the core audience happy.

5. THEY STILL KNOW HOW TO ROCK THE CHEAP SEATS As Jon Bon Jovi put it in a recent interview: "We like to give people value for their money . . . . I like to think that not only do we put out everything we have, but we spend money on it, that's for sure."