Is it because the world had stopped? Is it because it was such good pictures with audio? For whatever reason, it resonated, and it certainly resonated with me. When the world stopped and we were all watching television and hopefully reading the papers and forming our opinions of what was going on during that period in time, you saw this passing of an African-American differently. It includes lyrics like “I can’t breathe” and “when did a judge and a jury become a badge and a knee.” As a white man, how did you approach writing about racial injustice?
I couldn’t help but write a song and see if those emotions could come out on paper. And because the world had stopped and we were all home and couldn’t do anything else work-related, I personally found myself slowing down, reading the paper, watching the news, and taking care of myself mentally, physically, spiritually. Not only did it make sense to postpone the album, but for me to consider what else was going on… And if it’s Covid and you’re talking about a topical record, how could you not sit down to write a topical song? Then George Floyd’s death happens. The New Year came and we’re getting ready for a release and a tour, and the seriousness of Covid set in. Why did you write the two new songs “Do What You Can” (also released as a country single) and “American Reckoning”? But as the writing process had taken hold, I started to realize that the songs that were rising to the top were the more topical ones. I thought it would make a hell of a bumper sticker, probably sell some T-shirts.
There was a certain wryness in that title. We recorded this record for the most part in Nashville, and I came up with the title of Bon Jovi 2020. You had 2020 all finished, but then two important events happened that compelled you to revisit the album: the Covid pandemic and the protests in the U.S. “If you’re going to be that cruel to say, ‘I’m going to go burn their records because he opined,'” he says, “then you never liked us anyhow.”
Bon jovi album 2020 series#
After a series of rewrites, he showed it to his band - and was surprised by their reaction.īon Jovi opens up about his white privilege, the misconstrued message of Colin Kaepernick, and what he thinks about fans of his band who bristle at him asking tough questions about social issues. This will mark a moment in time.”īon Jovi, that most blue-collar of bands, also dare to probe police brutality and racial injustice in the stark track “American Reckoning.” Originally titled “I Can’t Breathe,” the songwriter played it for his wife of 31 years, Dorothea, who warned him it wasn’t good enough to record. This song won’t be about shoulder pads and having a hairstyle. But none of us, you and I or our parents, were alive 100 years ago. “I think this is the Spanish Flu all over again. “I don’t think anyone will forget what their lives were like between March and September of 2020,” Bon Jovi tells Rolling Stone of his decision to write a song about Covid, with on-the-nose lyrics about social distancing, PPE, and vaccinations.