Jon Bon Jovi sat down recently to chat with SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen Live and took a trip down memory lane. The focus? His early days with Bon Jovi, when music videos were all the rage. Specifically, he dished on one video he now sees as a ‘horrible’ mistake.
In the early ’80s, music videos were a big deal. They were the new, hot way to reach fans; every band jumped on the bandwagon. Bon Jovi was no exception. They shot a music video for their hit song ‘Runaway’ from their debut album ‘Bon Jovi.’ But looking back, Jon thinks they missed the mark.
So, what was so wrong with the ‘Runaway’ video? Jon chose to listen to the record company and the video director’s advice, but it’s clear he wasn’t happy with how it turned out. He seemed to feel that they were trying too hard to be something they weren’t. It wasn’t until their third album that the band figured out the secret sauce. Instead of trying to make fancy, over-the-top videos, they decided to keep it simple.
Jon Bon Jovi’s words about the ‘Runaway’ music video read:
“When I think back that ‘Runaway’ …. when we made a video, ‘Wait a minute, I just learned to play the guitar and write a song. You want me to be a filmmaker? What the hell do I know, I fell for it hook, line and sinker, and the stupid record company with the stupid video director who says Fahrenheit 451 [when the album was 7800 Fahrenheit] or whatever with his niece starring in the video, it’s like Jesus God. You want to embarrass me? Tie me to a chair and make me watch videos from my first two albums.'”
He added:
“Horrible. Horrible and the second album, same kind of thing, and then by the third album, we were like, ‘Wait a minute. Let us just film us performing,’ and boom. Everything changed.”
In retrospect, after many years, Bon Jovi learned a valuable lesson from their early video-making days. He realized that they didn’t need to be filmmakers or actors; they just needed to be themselves. This revelation changed the way they approached music videos and helped them get back on track. But as Jon pointed out, sometimes you have to fall flat on your face to figure out the right path. It’s safe to say they’ve come a long way since their ‘Runaway’ days.
