Bon Jovi after 40 years of fame: ‘There were more talented guys’

David Bryan, Tico Torres, and Jon Bon Jovi of American rock band Bon Jovi with fans during a pizza party and listening event for their new album “Forever” in central London. Ian West/PA Wire/dpa

US rock band Bon Jovi are looking back on 40 years of fame this year in a documentary series on Disney+ – but also looking forwards with a new album set for release in June.

As the band prepares to mark the 40th anniversary of their debut album, frontman Jon Bon Jovi says the fact that the group from New Jersey achieved their international breakthrough in the 1980s – and are still successful today – is primarily down to the work.

“There were certainly more talented guys that you could find in any corner bar,” the 62-year-old told dpa in London. “But the work ethic was real. I just had a kind of a focused effort to make this happen for 40 years, not once, but over and over and over again.”

The new documentary series “Thank You Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story” (arriving April 26 on Disney+) shows how the young Jon Bon Jovi made a name for himself in the New Jersey club scene at the beginning of his career and impressed superstar Bruce Springsteen, who was also from the area.

“It didn’t hurt where we were born at the time that we were born, that’s for sure,” said Bon Jovi, who grew up in a working-class family. Thanks to Springsteen’s success, record companies were specifically looking for new artists in New Jersey at the time.

The third Bon Jovi album “Slippery When Wet” turned the five musicians into global stars, and “New Jersey” was the next hit album to follow: “It prove[d] that we weren’t wrong.”

While many rock bands of the 80s lost popularity or disbanded in the 90s, Bon Jovi’s “Keep The Faith” continued to take off from 1992 onwards, particularly in Europe.

“At the time between those two periods is when the wall came down in Germany, and that song meant a lot to the people in Germany and throughout Europe. It backchanneled back into America.”

But the frontman is certain that in the end the key to continued success is just good songs. “That’s really what it comes down to at the end of the day. If you don’t have a song, then you’re nothing more than a pin-up and a poster in the centre of a magazine, if you’re lucky.”

The crucial thing is to deliver good songs in every phase and with every album, he says, and the band intends to do the same in their anniversary year. The 15th Bon Jovi studio album “Forever” will be released on June 7. The first single “Legendary” is already out.