Upcoming Interviews
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Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet BandAgainst the Wind (30th Anniversary / #1 Album) With guest Bob Seger |
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Bon JoviCrossroad (Best 1984-94) With guests Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora |
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Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double TroubleIn Step (20th Anniversary) With guests Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Chris Layton, Tommy Shannon, Doyle Bramhall, Joe Bonamassa, biographer Joe Nick Patoski |
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GenesisTurn It On Again Pt1 (Rock & Roll Hall of Fame) With guests Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks and Phil Collins |
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GenesisTurn It On Again Pt2 (Rock & Roll Hall of Fame) With guests Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks and Phil Collins |
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Crosby, Stills, Nash & YoungDéjá vu (40th Anniversary) With guests David, Stephen, Graham and Neil |
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The PretendersThe Pretenders (30th Anniversary) With guest Christie Hynde |
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In The Studio with
Bon Jovi
REDBEARD: Jon, in a September 1989 interview, you told me that your politics and religion have to be kept private. When did you change your mind in that regard, and more importantly, why ?
JON BON JOVI: I really see myself as a concerned citizen (now), and a father of four and a husband, and certainly an ambassador of pop culture in this world. As I traveled near and far, to Africa, Asia, Europe, I've seen just from afar that people love America. They really love the culture. They love the music we have given them. They love the idea of the dreams that we have given them. And I'm sad to say that, in places where I went fifteen years ago and was greeted as that ambassador of culture, I would have second thoughts about going to. Not necessarily for fear of my own safety but perhaps for somebody on a road crew. And it's a shame, because I love this country immensely. And I don't get involved in politics as much as I do in philanthropy, because I'm a firm believer that 50% of the people are against you just because they believe you vote with a certain political party. I don't want to be the man at the party, I want to be the guy who makes a difference, that believes in the ideals of what this country was founded on. The more I read of Jefferson and Lincoln and Washington, and especially John Adams who was not as well known to me until recent years, that I realized that this is a magical place, a mystical place that is worth defending. Not the way it was represented by Bush and Cheney. And if that's going to cause me some pain, as it has, then so be it. I'm just reporting in as a concerned citizen.
Behind the mic
In The Studio with Redbeard
The weekly hour-long rockumentary In The Studio features in-depth interviews with superstar musicians who have created the greatest rock albums in history. Now in its 22nd consecutive year, In The Studio is heard each week in approximately 70 U.S. cities, produced and distributed by Redbeard's Barbarosa Ltd. Productions.
ITS Newsletter
This Week In The Studio
Bob Seger - Against The Wind 30th Anniversary
It was just after sunrise on a cool late winter Saturday morning in Memphis in 1980, and about a thousand people had camped out overnight at the main ticket outlet to be among the first to buy Bob Seger concert tickets for his upcoming stop on the Silver Bullet Band's Against the Wind tour. The album had debuted at #1, and in anticipation of this turnout for tickets, my Memphis radio station ROCK 103 was serving free hot breakfast to the first 103 people in line.
As I gazed out over the long line of humanity as it snaked around the building across the crowded parking lot, boom boxes blaring out Seger songs to serenade the bleary-eyed throng, my mind drifted back 8 years earlier to my first time seeing Bob perform. It was another Saturday, about mid-afternoon in Summer 1972 in a cornfield in Northwest Ohio, where Seger was about fifth down the bill of mostly regional Detroit acts. As it turned out , he was on sabbatical from rock'n'roll , accompanying himself with just an acoustic guitar. Many years later Bob would explain to me that it was his journeyman period for songwriting because, unlike with a band, when you perform solo there's no place to hide. Every phrase, every chord, every note is laid bare.
Apparently Bob Seger learned his lessons well. That Memphis concert sold out in advance, as did practically every stop on the 1980 tour. Against the Wind was one of seven Top 10 multi-platinum albums in a row. And by the way, Seger didn't forsake rock'n'roll very long: he ended that acoustic set that afternoon "back in '72" by calling out his friends David Teegarden and Skip "Vanwinkle" Knape for a rousing rendition of "God, Love, and Rock'n'Roll!"
-Redbeard
Live In The Studio
Bon Jovi - Wanted Dead or Alive (New York City - March 1987)
By Spring 1987, it was now clear that the third time was indeed the charm – k-ching! – for the band Bon Jovi with their third album, Slippery when Wet. The first two singles, "You Give Love a Bad Name" and "Livin' On a Prayer," had been huge hits; the band was headlining for the first time; and they were looking for that all-important third single to drive the album to a whole new level of success.
After hearing that my Dallas/Ft.Worth radio station had been getting #1 requests for an album track, "Wanted Dead or Alive," the decision was made to release it as the third single. Only one problem for us: by the time the rest of the country's 11,000+ radio stations got on board, our audience potentially could be overly-familiar with it from our repeated airplay and need a break.
So wisely, Bon Jovi's record company sent to radio stations a four-track promotional-only CD containing the original album version of "Wanted…"; a shorter edit ; a live version from an '87 show in Detroit; and an acoustic performance by Jon and Richie at New York City's Electric Lady Studio on March 18, 1987. This acoustic version of "Wanted Dead or Alive" actually grew to be even more requested than the original on my Dallas / Ft.Worth radio show over the years. Now I see it going for $100 – used – on eBay, so enjoy it here, remastered and sounding better than ever, for free.
-Redbeard
