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 now on the second disc which had a total of 12 tracks, 10 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 album kicks off with the song “Garageland” which was written by Richie and Jon at Jon’s new York apartment. The song was written during the Crush era and was about where the members of the band were when they were younger. Now, the individual band members might have been in garage bands, but I don’t see Bon Jovi as ever being a garage band so this doesn’t feel authentic to me. There are some cool moments in the song and it does rock out at times, but it is in rough shape and needs a lot of work to turn it in to something. Jon’s vocals are rough and the bridge/chorus is not that good. For me, not a favorite on this disc and could skip it.

Like “Taking It Back” on Disc 1, “Starting All Over Again” 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 it doesn’t sound like anything else on “Keep the Faith” stylistically so was left off the album. I actually like this track. It has some great attitude, I like the guitar tone and it rocks out really great. A vast improvement from the opening track. This song was on a Japanese Bonus Track for ‘Keep the Faith’, but this is actually an alternate version.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=wL-37J2Tu3I%3Fsi%3DUoPTreMkyO7TaRzI

“Maybe Someday” was a demo from 1999 and is a ballad and I think it is actually pretty great, but it didn’t make the ‘Crush’ album. Richie’s backing vocals add to the richness of the song (as he always does) and he lays down a very tasteful solo for the song that fits the emotion and tone. The song has a sadness for what seems like a lost love and he yearns to be with her one more time. A very somber, but terrific track.

Then we get to one of my favorites on this disc, “Last Chance Train”. The song was written by Jon and Mark Hudson back in 1998 and not sure if it was for Jon solo album or a Bon Jovi album. It isn’t quite a ballad but leans that direction. About another lost love and he wants just one more chance to be with her. Jon gives his all vocally and puts as much emotion in it as he can muster. Another touching song that is good enough of an album.

“The Fire Inside” was written in 1994 by Jon and it has that similar chip as “Taking It Back” and “Starting All Over Again”. This is, according to the booklet, the original, original, original demo that is just Jon and an acoustic. Plus Jon shaking his maracas…real maracas not his ass, get your mind out of the gutter. This is a song we’ve heard before in a later more polished version so we know it can be great and it is actually pretty great here. The song is another one that talks about a little of his bitterness with the music business.

We get another ballad with “Every Beat of My Heart” which is a Richie & Jon song from 1992. There is an acoustic flair to it, but some electric guitar as well. They wrote a lot of songs during the ‘Keep the Faith’ era and some aren’t as good as others and this is one of them. Very generic ballad as ballad goes. Nothing that really connects or stands out. I’ll pass…too many ballads.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=gQPqmamzQ0w%3Fsi%3DkKBzRKr6XAYPxbJQ

“Rich Man Living in a Poor Man’s House” picks up the tempo and gives a great pop rock song. A very catchy chorus and all around pretty cool track. And it should as it was written by Jon with the help of Eurythmics, Dave Stewart back in 1998. There is some fine guitar playing on this one too. This song is catchy enough to have been a single on an album.

We go back to the ballads with “The One That Got Away” written by Jon and Richie. The song was actually intended for a soundtrack for Kevin Costner’s movie “Message in a Bottle” but I guess didn’t make the cut. A lot of these tracks are ballads as they wrote a ton and this one isn’t bad. Acoustically done with Richie on backing vocals and there is a tenderness to it and I have to admit, I do like it a good bit. I mean, Bon Jovi does do a good ballad when they get it right.

“You Can Sleep While I Dream” is another from 1999 and this one was Jon, Mark Hudson and Dean Grakal. Bon Jovi has a song “Sleep when I’m Dead” so not sure we need another “sleep” song and maybe that is why they left it off. There is a bunch of “Hey Hey Heys” that they’ve used before or it feels like at least as it is too familiar but can’t place it. A cheesy song, that isn’t horrible, but not great either.

Next is “Outlaws of Love” and it says it is from 1992, but in the book, Jon thinks it is a precursor to “Wanted Dead or Alive” and it sounds way earlier as well. Jon doesn’t even remember writing this one and that is how deep their vault is. This is classic sounding Bon Jovi, but the song is really weak. A little corny and do we need anymore of those cowboy type songs. No, not really.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=owNMvTHB5So%3Fsi%3DsrADXPL96TLuL0sb

Then we get to one of the best and coolest songs on the disc and is “Good Guys Don’t Always Wear White”. The song was from the soundtrack to the movie, “The Cowboy Way”. This was 1994 and a full fledged song and it is fantastic. A high energy, uplifting rocker that will get you moving. This was 1994 so grunge was in full swing, but so cool to get an old school Bon Jovi rocker during this period. Such a great track and so glad I didn’t have to buy the soundtrack to get his one.

The last track is from way, way back in 1985 and is called “We Rule The Night”. It was written by Jon and Richie, but this is another one that Jon has no memory of writing. This sounds so dated in to early 80’s Bon Jovi and I love every second of it. It is a killer track and sounds like it could’ve been on the debut album or even 7800 Fahrenheit. I would love to hear more demos from this era as it takes me back to a more innocent time in my music stylings.

Track Score:

1. Garageland – Delete
2. Starting All Over Again – Keeper
3. Maybe Someday – Keeper
4. Last Chance Train – Keeper
5. The Fire Inside – Keeper
6. Every Beat of My Heart – Delete
7. Rich Man Living in A Poor Man’s House – Keeper
8. The One That Got Away – Keeper
9. You Can Sleep While I Dream – Keeper (1/2 Point)
10. Outlaws of Love – Delete
11. Good Guys Don’t Always Wear White – Keeper
12. We Rule the Night – Keeper

The Track Score is 8.5 out of 12 Tracks or 71%.  Keeping in mind, this is mostly 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. But I do love this kind of stuff as I’ve said before.  Some songs didn’t hit the mark, but a majority did and some are outstanding. It is great to get “Good Guys Don’t Always Wear White” and even to have a demo from 1985 with “We Rule The Night”, the definitely ended this disc on a high note.  I enjoyed this trip through the years of these little nuggets.  I would probably listen to this one more than the first one.  My Overall Score for Disc 2 is 3.5 out of 5.0 Stars.

See you next week as we dive in to Disc 3.

NEXT UP: BON JOVI – ‘100,000,000 BON JOVI FANS CAN’T BE WRONG’ (2004) – (DISC 3 – 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