Bounce (Bon Jovi album)

Background

In May 2001, during the One Wild Night Tour, Jon Bon Jovi confirmed for the Billboard that he started to write new songs for the Crush (2000) follow-up and that band is planning to start recording in January 2002. Also, he confirmed that band is planning to release the boxset in 2003. in conjunction with the band's 20th anniversary. Between June and October 2001.,band members wrote 25 songs and demoed totally 12 of them. Many of those songs were written in September and they were influenced by September 11 attacks. Those songs were "Standing" and "Another Reason to Believe".

At the end of July 2001, Bon Jovi finished world tour with two sold-out shows at Giants Stadium in New Jersey. Band took a three-weak break after which Jon and Richie Sambora started writing songs, first in Los Angeles and later in New Jersey. They have demoed some of those new songs in New Jersey in November 2001. After that, Jon had to fulfill an acting commitment to TV Series Ally McBeal (1997-2002), so he stayed at Richie's house in Los Angeles and in meantime they continued with songwriting process and demoing process at Luke Ebbin's house. Songwriting and demoing process went on until March 2002. and between March and June 2002. band recorded the album. By the early July 2002. all the songs that will end up on the album were mixed and by the late July of the same year they were mastered. In a perod of less than one year, band wrote approximately 40 songs, 12 songs ended up on the album and several more songs in their demo versions ended up on singles as B-Sides. During the songwriting process, band members also wrote some songs that were written as a cathartic exercise. Those songs were written right after the September 11 attacks and they were very sad from lyrical standpoint because they were influenced by that tragedy. Jon said that those songs were only written and will never be recorded.

Lyrics and music

Lyrics in the song "Undivided" were influenced by the September 11 attacks. It simply states that No Man Is an Island and that all people are part of the greater world, that is humanity, that all people are stronger together, than being apart. Song "Everyday" reinforces the need to live each day to its fullest and the lyrics acknowledge the harshness of life, but encourage listeners to "brush themselves off", get back up on their feet and get on with life. "The Distance" is written in a cinematic style. The music serves as a score to the lyrics, which begins as an establishing shot and the "camera" draws closer into the story as the song progresses. The lyrics talk about the passion that person feels when there is a goal in sight and the determination shown when person is striving to reach that goal. Song "Joey" is influenced and inspired by Elton John's song Levon (1971) and talks about about character who befriends with simple-minded young man. "Misunderstood" is a song about every guy who's said the wrong thing or failed to say the right thing and had to face with the consecvences. The song was written after Jon Bon Jovi came home after long period of time and when he realised there were portions of his personal life he had neglected and wrote this song to admit his guiltiness. Song "All About Lovin' You" is a love song that talks about appreciating the love of another. It was also influenced by September 11 events and how many people after that tragedy rediscovered that love is most important thing in life.

"Hook Me Up" is a song that was inspired by a newspaper article about a young Palestinian man in occupied territory who was trying desperately to make contact with people via an old, beat-up ham radio. It was written from the young man's perspective who was trapped in a small corner of the world, amidst horrible events and all he wanted was communication, connection with outside world and other people. "Right Side of Wrong" is a modern-day Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid song that talks about good people involved in wrongdoing, but people who have hearts in right place. Song "Love Me Back to Life" is about world-weariness and need for someone or something that will breathe the life back into you and allow you to appreciate the world again. "You Had Me From Hello" is the song about a committed relationship and ability of someone to constantly see something new and beautiful in the one they love. The title was taken from the phrase made by Cameron Crowe in his movie Jerry Maguire (1996). The title track "Bounce" is a declaration of strength and defiance. Initially, it had referred to the city of New York, and the United States as a whole, but also to the band's perseverance over a twenty-year career. Song "Open All Night" is dialog between two characters in TV series Ally McBeal (1997-2002): Ally McBeal and Victor Morrison, plumber and babysitter portrated by Jon Bon Jovi. Jon appeared in nine episodes in role of this character and storyline (especially romantic) between him and Ally took a long time to evolve and Jon admitted that if that happened in real life, he would either never allow it to take so long or he would have move on. It's a dialog between Victor and Ally if Jon had written the teleplay

Critical reception

Bounce received generally favorable reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 61 out of 100, which indicates "favorable reviews" based on 8 reviews. Stephen Thomas Erlewine from Allmusic gave the album 2 stars out of 5 stating that album "After all, this is a record where Bon Jovi seems to have consciously decided to avoid everything that gives their music character, melody, and muscle, a move that would have been odd at any point during their career, but is particularly puzzling after they delivered an album that found them growing old gracefully. It's as if they want to undo everything Crush did for them". Gavin Edwards from Rolling Stone gave the album 3 stars out of 5 by saying that "The title Bounce is meant to be an exhortation to America after 9/11, and if it doesn't exactly offer poetic catharsis, the existence of the eighth Bon Jovi record is reassurance of a different kind: Life goes on". Sputnikmusic gave the album 3.5 stars out of 5 saying that "Fueled by an emotional theme, Bon Jovi end up making their best album of the millennium era". Steven Poole from The Guardian gave the album 2 stars out of 5 saying that "for most of the record Jon Bon Jovi sounds puzzlingly like Elvis Costello or Elton John, and sugary ballads predominate, with Bruce Hornby-like piano intros and tasteful acoustic-guitar lines leading to swollen, meaningless choruses".

Personnel

The following people contributed to Bounce: