Post by Admin on Oct 4, 2020 6:12:53 GMT
During a conversation with Rock Antenne, Jon Bon Jovi talked about the new Bon Jovi record, "2020."
The record is out now, you can check it out here via Amazon.
When the interviewer said he "never heard a more serious, and a more desperate Bon Jovi song ever" than "American Reckoning," the track on the album dedicated to George Floyd, Jon commented (transcribed by UG):
"I think it's probably one of my best, I'm very proud of it and blessed to have written it. And it's a difficult subject matter.
"I was aware of all of the other shootings as they were reported on the news, I've been aware of the other George Floyds that came before, but for some reason, I was never moved to write it.
"Maybe it's because of the COVID lockdown, maybe it's because we were all watching the news every day, all day. Maybe it's because of the filming of it and the recording of it, you could hear it and see it, and it moved you so.
"But when I saw this man in that situation calling out for his mom with his last breath, it moved me emotionally. And so I wrote the song, and I had to be very careful to get it right.
"And so I wrote it, I played it for my wife; she said, 'It's a great verse, the chorus isn't good enough.' I went back. I didn't just say, 'I'm right, you're wrong.' I went back and I worked on it.
"And then I played it for several people of influence, real people of influence, and I played it for them and got their opinions so that I could defend every word.
"And then when we went in the studio, Tico [Torres, drums] fought me on it to make sure that he pushed me to title it 'American Reckoning,' and it was Tico, you know, that was a lyric in the song, it wasn't the title.
"And I agreed wholeheartedly when he and John [Shanks, producer], they pushed me in the studio - because it was 'I Can't Breathe,' and they said 'American Reckoning.' And then it hit me and I said, 'That's the title - it's even stronger.'"
"It actually wasn't difficult. When we went down to Nashville in March of 2019, what I believed to have been the album was in retrospect just the first batch of songs.
"Because 'Let It Rain,' 'Lower the Flag,' 'Do What You Can,' 'American Reckoning,' they were all written after the fact, so the album title, '2020,' was originally just tongue-in-cheek, to be honest.
"I had suggested it to the band because I thought, 'Well, it's cute in an election year if it looked like a bumper sticker or a T-shirt.' But as the songs took on a deeper meaning, '2020' became a topical record, and I started to see all of these events unfolding that gave me something to write about and that's what I've gravitated towards.
"Then I took the position that I am witness to history, not taking sides, just as though I were an unbiased reporter stating the facts, and, 'This is what happened, this is what I'm writing about.'
"And with that in mind, I really enjoyed the writing process and pushed myself to write honestly, openly, and most importantly, unbiasedly.
"I didn't want to show any bias because it doesn't mean that if you're on the opposite end of an issue that you're wrong. It's your opinion, the reporter's opinion, nothing wrong, just two opinions, so I just wanted to state the facts."
The record is out now, you can check it out here via Amazon.
When the interviewer said he "never heard a more serious, and a more desperate Bon Jovi song ever" than "American Reckoning," the track on the album dedicated to George Floyd, Jon commented (transcribed by UG):
"I think it's probably one of my best, I'm very proud of it and blessed to have written it. And it's a difficult subject matter.
"I was aware of all of the other shootings as they were reported on the news, I've been aware of the other George Floyds that came before, but for some reason, I was never moved to write it.
"Maybe it's because of the COVID lockdown, maybe it's because we were all watching the news every day, all day. Maybe it's because of the filming of it and the recording of it, you could hear it and see it, and it moved you so.
"But when I saw this man in that situation calling out for his mom with his last breath, it moved me emotionally. And so I wrote the song, and I had to be very careful to get it right.
"And so I wrote it, I played it for my wife; she said, 'It's a great verse, the chorus isn't good enough.' I went back. I didn't just say, 'I'm right, you're wrong.' I went back and I worked on it.
"And then I played it for several people of influence, real people of influence, and I played it for them and got their opinions so that I could defend every word.
"And then when we went in the studio, Tico [Torres, drums] fought me on it to make sure that he pushed me to title it 'American Reckoning,' and it was Tico, you know, that was a lyric in the song, it wasn't the title.
"And I agreed wholeheartedly when he and John [Shanks, producer], they pushed me in the studio - because it was 'I Can't Breathe,' and they said 'American Reckoning.' And then it hit me and I said, 'That's the title - it's even stronger.'"
"It actually wasn't difficult. When we went down to Nashville in March of 2019, what I believed to have been the album was in retrospect just the first batch of songs.
"Because 'Let It Rain,' 'Lower the Flag,' 'Do What You Can,' 'American Reckoning,' they were all written after the fact, so the album title, '2020,' was originally just tongue-in-cheek, to be honest.
"I had suggested it to the band because I thought, 'Well, it's cute in an election year if it looked like a bumper sticker or a T-shirt.' But as the songs took on a deeper meaning, '2020' became a topical record, and I started to see all of these events unfolding that gave me something to write about and that's what I've gravitated towards.
"Then I took the position that I am witness to history, not taking sides, just as though I were an unbiased reporter stating the facts, and, 'This is what happened, this is what I'm writing about.'
"And with that in mind, I really enjoyed the writing process and pushed myself to write honestly, openly, and most importantly, unbiasedly.
"I didn't want to show any bias because it doesn't mean that if you're on the opposite end of an issue that you're wrong. It's your opinion, the reporter's opinion, nothing wrong, just two opinions, so I just wanted to state the facts."
