Bon Jovi - Have A NiceDay

Thu 6th Oct, 2005 in Music Reviews

There was once a time when you could afford to be picky about which hard rock bands you would listen to. At the height of their career, Bon Jovi were either loved or hated and sparked countless other bands to imitate their immensely successful style. This huge commercial success turned a lot of rock purists off the band and this is probably how most of the lesser known imitators survived.

Almost twenty years after their heyday, and most of the imitators are long gone and Bon Jovi have a top ten hit with the first single and title track of their new album Have A Nice Day. Not only have the band managed to have considerable success with each album they have released but they have managed to do it without the turmoil and tragedies that most bands go through to survive. They still have mostly the same line up since they started (original bassist Alec John Such departed years ago and a permanent replacement has never been recruited) and they have changed their style very little over the years, just enough to remain fresh.  

With Have A Nice Day, their ninth album (excluding compilations and live albums), right from the start, they deliver what you would expect from the band. Title track, Have A Nice Day rocks hard in the same fashion as It’s My Life did a couple of years ago. Gradually as the album progresses we get a more mature and mellow Bon Jovi. At their age, I guess they have all of the teenage angst out of their systems by now, so it’s only fitting.

Track three, Welcome To Wherever You Are sounds like a potential future hit single. It has that power ballad feel that only Bon Jovi can get away with in this day and age. In fact, the whole album has that old school rock feel to it that not many artists can do seriously today. Who Says You Can’t Go Home is a possible exception. This track is extremely reminiscent of The Counting Crows hit Accidentally In Love. I guess even Bon Jovi can be influenced by other artists occasionally.

The answer to the often asked question, what makes Bon Jovi so successful when so many others have failed? is fairly easy to answer when listening to a whole album.

A fundamental rule that has helped the band and should be adhered to by all musical artists is this – write good songs! This is what makes them stand out from the now extinct rock dinosaurs that they used to compete with. Year after year, album after album, Bon Jovi have always written quality songs and this latest album is no exception.

Have A Nice Day is a simple rock album that doesn’t break any new ground or try to fit into a certain popular trend of today. It doesn’t need to. The name could almost be classified as a genre of its own. You know what you’re going to get and as long as it’s done as well as this, it will do well the way it is.