Home Read Classic Album Review: Bon Jovi | One Wild Night: Live 1985-2001

Classic Album Review: Bon Jovi | One Wild Night: Live 1985-2001

This live album from the pop-rock outfit will reignite the age-old Bon Jovi debate.

This came out in 2001 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):

 


There are two kinds of people in the world: Those who love Bon Jovi, and guys.

Upon seeing One Wild Night, the first group will sigh at how cute Jon looks, ignoring the fact that the title of this live album makes no sense, since it was recorded at more than a half-dozen shows over 16 years. The second group will point out that this seems like a blatant attempt to cash in on the band’s resurgent popularity by peddling a bunch of decade-old tapes along with a few recent cuts. The first group will argue that Bon Jovi is an underrated songwriter with a lengthy catalogue of hits — Livin’ On A Prayer, Wanted Dead Or Alive, Bad Medicine and the newer It’s My Life. And they’ll claim that covers of Rockin’ In The Free World and I Don’t Like Mondays (with Sir Bob Geldof) really spice up this set. The latter group, while maintaining that Bon Jovi is really just a poor man’s Bruce Springsteen for the headband crowd, will allow that these versions rock enough to make listening to You Give Love A Bad Name for the one zillionth time something vaguely close to tolerable. But after much debate, they will eventually agree on the one thing no one can dispute — Heather Locklear was way too hot to be married to Richie Sambora.