We are in the year 2004 and Bon Jovi has now been around for 20 Years at this point. To celebrate their 20th Anniversary, they released a really cool box set of mostly unreleased tunes and a lot of little extras titled ‘100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can’t Be Wrong’. The Box Set is a collection of 50 songs spread over 4 CDs, 38 of which had never been released. The others were songs from soundtracks, remixes and/or B-Sides. This was a band dumping everything sitting by the wayside in to one set and I applaud them for that. Us diehard fans love this kind of stuff. And if that wasn’t enough, if you have the Japanese Edition, which i do, you get another CD of B-Sides and Japanese Bonus Tracks. That is another 10 songs. 

This is a lot of music to absorb and we won’t be absorbing it all here. Nope. I’m going to go through each and every CD, track by track over 6 posts. We are on the first disc now which had a total of 12 tracks, 11 of which were previously unreleased. So let’s get started and dive into the music as that is why we are really here any way.

The opening track to the whole set is “Why Aren’t You Dead?” which was written and demoed for the ‘Keep the Faith’ album. The song didn’t make the cut because the band felt the song was more of where the bad had already been and not where the band’s sound was going. If you know that album, you understand why this didn’t make the cut. It is a great play on the line “If you can’t live without me, then why aren’t you dead” which is a cool line and probably a great country song. A band that was moving forward, easy to see why they left it off as it sounds too much like older Bon Jovi.

Next up is the only promo single released from the set for the song “The Radio Saved My Life Tonight”. The song was written on a piano and no sign of that piano on this version. Jon was very burnt out from the New Jersey record and tour and was becoming a little jaded. This song reflect a lot of those feelings. This is a really cool song and one of the better ones on the album. It sounds like old school Bon Jovi and it shows how great his writing was becoming. However, it would not have fit on ‘Keep the Faith’ either. Glad to see this one getting to finally see the light of day.

“Taking It Back” might be the most rocking song on the album. It shows the band with attitude and a chip still on their shoulder. Jon explained that the band had their mojo back in 1992 and realized it was the band against a new machine that was rearing its head in music, Grunge and Rap. They were competing against a whole new scene. This was them saying they were going to take it all back and rise to the top again. But the song is nothing else like anything on ‘Keep the Faith’ so it was scraped. A really cool rocker here with some great energy and even better guitar work…cool solo…cool riffs. Jon’s vocals are a little rough, but not sure this was properly finished. I do like this one.

The next one was written with Desmond Child on the island of Mustique in the Carribean. They went back to the studio later with a full band to try and flush it out. This is the demo of “Someday I’ll Be Saturday Night” which was originally released on the album 1994 compilation album, ‘Cross Road”. The lyrics are mostly the same, some slight changes and the music is a little slower, darker even. I like to see how a song has evolved so nice to see where this one was at a point in time.

“Miss Fourth of July” was written on piano in Malibu at Jon’s house. This was after working on ‘Young Guns’ and he was disillusioned with the whole music business and wasn’t sure what the future held. You can here the guitar sound of the ‘Young Guns’ era and some harmonica (or some sound like that). Richie’s backing vocals are splendid and something I don’t hear enough on a lot of these songs. A great song, but again…doesn’t fit with ‘Keep the Faith’.

The next one is not to be confused with the song of the same name on ‘Bounce’. This version of “Open All Night” is #2. And if that wasn’t enough, right after it we get “These Arms Are Open All Night”. Jon admits he loves that title and used it again and again until he felt he got it right. “Open All Night” was written in 1994 and is a great pop song. Upbeat with a good bounce to it (pun intended). The other track was from 1998 and performed by JBJ & The Big Dogs which was during a solo session for Jon. This one is a ballad, very slow, very dark. No real energy. I perfectly depressing 90’s song.

“I Get A Rush” is from 1996 and is a very familiar sounding song. I can’t place it. But it is an upbeat song, with some great riffs and Jon sounds great as well. I swear this is another Bon Jovi song though with a different title, someone help with that please. This is one of the best songs on the disc and should’ve been on a Bon Jovi album, but the problem was there wasn’t a Bon Jovi album for 4 more years and their sound had changed greatly from here.

Now we have “Someday Just Might Be Tonight” and this was also 1996 and sounds just like Jon’s solo album material for ‘Destination Anywhere’ just not as good. The vocal styling is the same and there are musical elements as well. I can see why this was left off as it doesn’t hold up against the final songs on that album. No where near as good.

“Thief of Hearts” was written in 2003 and one of the newer songs on the box set. It is a pop song, with some country twang on guitar as well. Something Jon would explore further later on. This a catchy song, nice grove and beat. A pretty decent song and I think could’ve made an album as its that good.

Then we get “Last Man Standing” which is a demo. An alternate version winds up on the next album ‘Have a Nice Day’. This one was recorded and written in 2003. Lyrically, mostly the same as the final version. This one feels more country which makes sense as the song was inspired by Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash who had just passed. There is a commentary about the media force feeding us music through digital downloads and we should experience the real thing and go see this music in person.

The last song is “I Just Want to Be Your Man” was written back in 1994 and this feels like the 90’s. A little darker edge to it lyrically and musically. It starts of slow, with a twangy guitar and some minor percussion. The tempo picks up but the song never explodes, never fully ignites and stays a little shy of being good though it showed some serious promise.

Track Listing:

1. Why Aren’t You Dead? – Delete
2. The Radio Saved My Life Tonight – Keeper
3. Taking It Back – Keeper
4. Someday I’ll Be Saturday Night – Keeper
5. Miss Fourth of July – Keeper
6. Open All Night – Keeper
7. These Arms Are Open All Night – Delete
8. I Get a Rush – Keeper
9. Someday Just Might Be Tonight – Delete
10. Thief of Hearts – Keeper
11. Last Man Standing – Keeper
12. I Just Want To Be Your Man – Delete

The Track Score is 8 out of 12 Tracks or 67%.  Keeping in mind, this is a bunch of demos and unreleased tracks that didn’t make the cut on their respective albums so you know going in these aren’t their best tracks. I love this kind of stuff otherwise I wouldn’t own Gene Simmons ‘The Vault’.  These songs live up to the expectations, but some were definitely more standout then others.  These guys write a ton of songs for each album so I’m curious as to what is still out there. Anyway, off topic.  I enjoyed this trip through the years of these little nuggets.  This probably isn’t my favorite of the disc, but still some good stuff.  My Overall Score for Disc 1 is 3.0 out of 5.0 Stars.  Not a bad start.

See you next week as we dive in to Disc 2.

NEXT UP: BON JOVI – ‘100,000,000 BON JOVI FANS CAN’T BE WRONG’ (2004) – (DISC 2 – PART 3 of 6) – BOX SET REVIEW

THE BON JOVI COLLECTION SERIES:

1. Bon Jovi – The Albums Box Set (2017)
2. Jon Bongiovi – The Power Station Sessions (1980-1983) (2001)
3. Bon Jovi – Bon Jovi (1984)
4. Bon Jovi – Shot Through the Heart: Live in Cleveland, OH March 17, 1984 FM Broadcast (Bootleg)
5. Bon Jovi – “Burning For Love” – 12″ Single – Japanese Edition (1984)
6. Bon Jovi – 7800° Fahrenheit (1985)
7. Bon Jovi – Slippery When Wet (1986)
8. Bon Jovi – “Borderline” – 12″ Single – Japanese Edition (1986)
9. Bon Jovi – New Jersey (1988)
10. Bon Jovi – New Jersey: Super Deluxe Edition – Disc 2/DVD (1988)
11. Bon Jovi – “I’ll Be There For You” – Cassette Single (1988)
12. Jon Bon Jovi – Blaze of Glory (1990)
13. Jon Bon Jovi – “Blaze of Glory” – Cassette Single (1990)
14. Richie Sambora – Stranger in this Town (1991)
15. Bon Jovi – Keep the Faith (1992)
16. Bon Jovi – “Keep the Faith” – CD Maxi Single (1992)
17. Bon Jovi – “I Believe” – 7″ Single (1992)
18. Bon Jovi – Cross Road (1994)
19. Bon Jovi – “Please Come Home for Christmas” – CD Single (1994)
20. Bon Jovi – These Days (1995)
21. Bon Jovi – Live From London – DVD (1995)
22. Jon Bon Jovi – Destination Anywhere (1997)
23. Richie Sambora – Undiscovered Soul (1998)
24. Bon Jovi – Crush (2000)
25. Bon Jovi – Live From Osaka E.P. (2000)
26. Bon Jovi – “Thank You For Loving Me” – CD Single (2000)
27. Bon Jovi – The Crush Tour – DVD (2000)
28. Bon Jovi – The Love Songs E.P. (Promo) (2001)
29. Bon Jovi – Tokyo Road: Best of Bon Jovi (2001)
30. Bon Jovi – One Wild Night Live: 1985-2001 (2001)
31. Bon Jovi – Bounce (2002)
32. Bon Jovi – Unauthorized: Rock ‘n Roll Legends – Bootleg DVD (2002)
33. Bon Jovi – Target E.P. (2003)
34. Bon Jovi – This Left Feels Right (2003)
35. Bon Jovi – Wild in the Streets: Unauthorized – Bootleg DVD (2003)
36. Bon Jovi – This Left Feels Right – DVD (2004)
37. Bon Jovi – 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can’t Be Wrong (Part 1) – (2004)
38. Bon Jovi – 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can’t Be Wrong (Disc 1, Part 2) – (2004)
39. Bon Jovi – 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can’t Be Wrong (Disc 2, Part 3) – (2004)
40. Bon Jovi – 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can’t Be Wrong (Disc 3, Part 4) – (2004)
41. Bon Jovi – 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can’t Be Wrong (Disc 4, Part 5) – (2004)
42. Bon Jovi – 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can’t Be Wrong (Disc 5 & 6, Part 6) – (2004)
43. Bon Jovi – Have a Nice Day (2005)
44. Bon Jovi – Live from the Have a Nice Day Tour (Walmart Exclusive) (2006)
45. Bon Jovi – Lost Highway (2007)
46. Bon Jovi – Lost Highway: The Concert (2007)
47. Bon Jovi – The Circle (2009)
48. Bon Jovi – When We Were Beautiful Documentary DVD (2009)
49. Bon Jovi – Live at Madison Square Garden – DVD (2009)
50. Bon Jovi – Greatest Hits: The Ultimate Collection (2009)
51. Bon Jovi – Greatest Hits: The Ultimate Video Collection – DVD (2010)
52. Bon Jovi – Inside Out – DVD (2012)
53. Richie Sambora – Aftermath of the Lowdown (2012)
54. Bon Jovi – What About Now (2013)
55. Bon Jovi – Live E.P. (RSD – 2013)
56. Bon Jovi – Live 2 E.P. (RSD – 2014)
57. Bon Jovi – Burning Bridges (2015)
58. Bon Jovi – This House is Not For Sale (2016)
59. Bon Jovi – This House is Not For Sale – Live From the London Palladium (2016)
60. Bon Jovi – The Albums Box Set – The Extra LP (2017)
61. RSO – Radio Free America (2018)
62. Bon Jovi – 2020 (2020)
63. Bon Jovi – 40th Anniversary Box Set (TBA – I Hope it is out by the time we get here)

We’ve reviewed a bunch of pieces already over the years and won’t review again. They are as follows:

1. Bon Jovi – The Brotherhood Tour Book (1988-1990)
2. Bon Jovi – Bon Jovi Tour 2011 – Tourbook
3. Bon Jovi – The Rock History – Bootleg CD
4. Bon Jovi – “You Give Love A Bad Name” – 12″ Single
5. Bon Jovi – “You Give Love a Bad Name” – 7″ Single
6. Bon Jovi – Red Hot & 2 Parts Live E.P. – 12″ Single
7. Bon Jovi – “Wanted Dead or Alive” – 7″ Single
8. Bon Jovi – “Bad Medicine” – 7″ Single
9. Bon Jovi – “Born to Be My Baby” – 7″ Single
10. Bon Jovi – “I’ll Be There For You” – 7″ Single
11. Bon Jovi – “Lay Your Hands on Me” – 7″ Single
12. Bon Jovi – “Living in Sin” – 7″ Single