Jon Bon Jovi is not a fan of his band’s early music videos, going as far as calling them horrible in a new interview. In a recent chat with SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen, the frontman discussed Bon Jovi’s videos from their first two albums, Bon Jovi and 7800 Degrees Fahrenheit, and how his inexperience led to some regrettable promotional clips. He spoke specifically about their 1984 debut single, “Runaway.”
“I was taking the bus in and out of Manhattan, working at a recording studio,” Bon Jovi explained. “I was fortunate enough to work at the recording studio. Others were working the bus station, if you know what I mean. You know, they were walking the streets around the tunnel, and that’s where the inspiration for the song came to me.”
But then it came time to make a video for the single. “‘Wait a minute, I just learned to play the guitar and write a song. You want me to be a filmmaker? What the hell do I know?'” Bon Jovi recalled thinking.
“I fell for it hook, line and sinker, and the stupid record company with the stupid video director who says Fahrenheit 451 or whatever with his niece starring in the video, it’s like Jesus God. You want to embarrass me? Tie me to a chair and make me watch videos from my first two albums.”
Watch Bon Jovi’s ‘Runaway’ Video
Bon Jovi noted that it took two full album cycles for the band to realize what worked best for them in videos. “We were smart enough by the third album – it took three albums to figure out: Just promote the live show with a video,” he said. “So by ‘You Give Love a Bad Name,’ ‘Livin’ on a Prayer,’ ‘Wanted Dead or Alive,’ those are really just performance videos, and that’s when we realized this is all that matters.”
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