Jon Bon Jovi Admits He Wasn’t a Fan of “Livin’ on a Prayer” When First Written

Outside of nurturing a promising solo career, many know Jon Bon Jovi as the founder and frontman of the iconic band Bon Jovi. First formed in 1983, the band watched as their stardom hit new heights. Besides selling over 120 million albums, the band performed in more than 50 countries for over 34 million fans. With songs like “You Give Love a Bad Name”, “Thank You for Loving Me”, “and “It’s My Life”, Bon Jovi seemed to only know how to make hits. And while thrilled about the success of the band, Bon Jovi recently admitted to not being the biggest fan of “Livin’ on a Prayer” when they first recorded it. 

Speaking with People about his time in the studio, Bon Jovi pointed to “Livin’ on a Prayer” and his initial thoughts about the song. He said, “It wasn’t that I didn’t want to record it, but I wasn’t all that impressed on the day that we wrote it.” He continued, “It was the simple chord progression, the melodies and the lyrics. But the bass line came to life in the demo studio, when we took it back to the band and worked it up. That’s how it became what it is.”

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Not The First Song Jon Bon Jovi Worried About

Not knowing what they were creating at the time, Bon Jovi remembered, “We knew what we wanted, we just didn’t have it, and so I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s good. Good day. Good day at the office,’ and I was wrong.” He insisted, “It’s one of the biggest songs in our catalog.”

While fans love the song, it wasn’t the first time Bon Jovi had hesitation about what the band was working on. Pointing to the 1994 hit “Always”, the singer once again thought it was anything but a hit. “When I’d written that, we demoed it for a movie, that I had written it for, and thought, ‘Yeah, that’s not very good.’ Put it on the shelf, and an A&R guy, who was a friend of ours, was listening to some of those lost songs, and he said, ‘You know, this is a monster hit.’” And eating his words once again, Bon Jovi declared, “He was right.”

(Photo by Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images for Disney+)