How the Meaning Behind Bon Jovi’s “American Reckoning” Divided Some Fans

2020 was a rough year for America, and it was a bit of a rough album for Bon Jovi. While it received the usual media buzz, 2020 was one of only two studio albums by the band not to hit or debut at No. 1 or on the Top 10 since 1986’s Slippery When Wet. It peaked at No. 19, which was six spots lower than the rarities and unreleased collection Burning Bridges in 2015. The stream counts were also lower, and the subsequent tour, while selling well at the box office, was marred by Jon Bon Jovi’s vocal problems. But hey, not every album cycle is the same.

The band’s 15th studio album, 2020, found frontman Jon Bon Jovi in a very contemplative mood as some of the material was written during the pandemic lockdown. He mused on the state of the world in many songs, including “Do What You Can” (which offered a message of hope during the exhausting pandemic), “Let It Rain” (calling for unity amid an increasingly divided society), and “Lower the Flag” (lamenting how the media jumped from one mass shooting story to the next, blurring them all together).

But the 2020 song that sparked debate among fans online was “American Reckoning.” It was not a rousing anthem or intense rocker, but a gentle acoustic ballad with, of all things, a harmonica solo. It was a mournful song the frontman felt compelled to write in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and the subsequent groundswell of support for Black Lives Matter. The song began like this:

America’s on fire
There’s protests in the street
Her conscience has been looted
And her soul is under siege
Another mother’s crying
As history repeats
I can’t breathe

The lyrics go on to decry senseless police violence, but it did so in a way that actually did not invoke race or purposefully name the real-life situation of the tragic murder of George Floyd by officer Derek Chauvin. But the “eight goddamn minutes” reference certainly let you know what inspired the song, which turned one cop’s senseless murder of another human being into a cautionary tale that could speak to anyone who feared that their son or daughter could face a similar circumstance. And the song’s gentle tone made it more hopeful for peace and change without sounding angry or preachy. It subtly took the point of view of Floyd at one point, though, saying, Stay alive, stay alive / Shine a light, stay alive / Use your voice and you remember me.

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Public reaction to the song online revealed a lot about where things stand in America and beyond. As has come to pass more and more in our divided culture, there are those people who do not want politics in their music—unless it’s their politics—or they simply want no politics. While there was plenty of positive support for the song, some fans derided Bon Jovi for being privileged, being on the wrong side of the issue, or cashing in on the George Floyd controversy.

In a press statement at the time, Bon Jovi declared, “I was moved to write ‘American Reckoning’ as a witness to history. I believe the greatest gift of an artist is the ability to use their voice to speak to issues that move us.” He also tweeted that “100% of the proceeds from the download will support Bryan Stevenson’s Equal Justice Initiative.”

When asked by Hadley Freeman of The Guardian in 2021 if he worried about alienating fans with a song like this, he replied, “There are men on my stage who see things differently, but I don’t let our differences come between us. I never wanted to become a captive to the stage. How I live my life’s up to me.”

Bon Jovi’s stance on this song and issue should not have surprised anyone. He has frequently stumped for Democratic presidential candidates including Barack Obama and Hilary Rodham Clinton. He founded the JBJ Soul Kitchen, which has two locations in New Jersey and whose mission is “providing fresh, seasonal, nutritional produce to individuals and families facing food insecurity.” Customers can pay what they can or offer to volunteer in the kitchen to help pay for their meals.

Speaking of political differences, the singer let former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, a Republican, use a Bon Jovi song during his 2015 presidential campaign. That’s rather bipartisan considering other Democratic rockers would deny such usage.

Bon Jovi became famous for a hard rock and pop-metal sound in the decadent 1980s. It was their most successful period and produced hits like “Livin’ on a Prayer,” “Bad Medicine,” “Wanted Dead or Alive,” “You Give Love a Bad Name,” and many others. By the early 1990s, the lyrics shifted to more adult themes and spoke to the concerns of everyday people just trying to make it. That lyrical path has continued ever since. Sure, they’ve had other hits like “Keep the Faith,” “Bed of Roses,” and “It’s My Life,” but they’ve also recorded songs like “Dry County,” “Two Story Town,” “Brokenpromiseland,” and “Bullet,” many of which have been played in concert.

Obviously, the upbeat hits are what many people want to hear in concert, but there are those who also appreciate that Bon Jovi, the man and the band, have grown up. “American Reckoning” is one of the bravest statements Bon Jovi has put out and is a song that stands out from the last few albums. It was played live a number of times in acoustic form, with keyboardist David Bryan playing accordion, and the response was positive.

“I had to be very careful with that song to get it right,” Bon Jovi told MSNBC’s Ari Melber in February 2021. “And I wrote it, I rewrote it. I played it for a variety of people. People in the African American community, people in my band, people in my family, other influential songwriters.”

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