Jonny says 14, 15, 16... 22

[Mine]

Jonny says... XIV

- So the song ("Hook Me Up") is about people, not politics.
Jon Bon Jovi: I have a real hard time with the idea that I'm supposed to hate all Iraqis, for instance, just because George Junior hates them. I don't hate Iraqis - I hate terrorists. I don't agree with Bush's politics, I'm still the guy on the Al Gore line.
- Politics aside, you and your band have always faced an uphill battle to make it in music. Why?
Jon Bon Jovi: There are radio stations that just won't play Bon Jovi. If my record said Goo Goo Dolls on it, they'd be playing it. They see Bon Jovi, and they say we're too old. I'm 40 years old, gimme a break. I'm frustrated by that. I want people to hear the music.
- Does the band get a fair shake in the business?
Jon Bon Jovi: Do we get a fair shake? Do we get the cover of Rolling Stone when we've sold more records than most bands? No and no.
- You don't sound angry about it. No chip on your shoulder?
Jon Bon Jovi: I'm beyond that.

The Post, 2002

[Mine]

Jonny says... XV

"Could you see me being a nuclear physicist? I've told some lies to some girls in my life, but that was never one of them. I don't think that any of the alcohol could have made..."
Jon Bon Jovi, Press Con, 1989

"I'm never gonna be annoyed by girls! People always ask if it annoys me to see loads of girls in the audience - are they kidding? Do I wanna see a bunch of guys in the audience? I'd much rather be looking out of girls and singing to them than 'Born To Be My Baby' to some big guy in a leather jacket!"
Jon Bon Jovi, Hot, 1990

"I don't know why my hair attracts attention. No, I don't like talking about my hair. Hair is hair. A man is a man! Who gives a sh!t?"
Jon Bon Jovi, July 1993

[Mine]

Jonny says... XVI

"I live in some ratty apartment, a one-bedroom near the Jersey shoreline. I like it a lot. Let's face it, I'm not home enough to care that much one way or another. The main reason for having a place at all is to have somewhere they can send my mail to."
Jon Bon Jovi, Metal, '87

"I don't have to do this. I want to do it. I've committed to do it for the rest of the year, but if I were to get to show number 60 and say, I don't want to do this anymore, I'd go home. It's only money. Who cares? Our lives aren't dependent on going to Cleveland for the twelfth f**king time, they're only dependent on us being happy, healthy and wanting to be here."
Jon Bon Jovi, 1995

"I call 1991 The Grey Summer, I was here in California with my wife, but all I'd do was drink. Excess. Confusion. Disappointment. Anger. I'd just sit out on the deck and question everything I'd done up to that point. It wasn't what I thought it would be when I was a kid and I'd sit in front of the mirror and dream about being Southside Johnny, I didn't know it was going to get ugly. The innocence was gone. And I would just drink away... those blues. I spent that summer wallowing in it."
Jon Bon Jovi, July 1996

[Mine]

Jonny says... XVII

"My real friends and my family know that if I'm not working I'm miserable. It's not for monetary reasons. I already have fame and fortune. Now I want to find the greatness in things - which is why I was attracted to the arts in the first place. Slowly, I have fallen in love with acting. And all the struggle here - the acting lessons, the indie movies - has taught me so much."

"You know what happened to Rocky: In the second and third movies, when he's on top of the world, he gets his ass whupped and goes back to find out what it was that he loved about boxing in the first place. Even with all the success, I wanted to find out again what I love. And now I'm in a completely different head. Fortunately, unlike Rocky, I didn't lose everything I had."

"When you look at Sean Penn - who, to me, is the pinnacle of the actor of my generation - obviously Sean could do movies for money every day of the week. He chooses not to. In the same way, for me to rewrite 'You Give Love a Bad Name' just because it was successful would be a cheap shot, and I gotta look in the mirror when I shave in the morning."

Jon Bon Jovi, from Interview, February 1998

[Mine]

Jonny says... XVIII

"It's (his good-looks) both helped and hindered me. But that's OK. Ten or eleven years ago, when Slippery hit, I was very excited about being on the cover of Rolling Stone. Then their reporter turned up, and all she could talk about was, 'You're so cute. And your hair!' I thought to myself: 'If you want to f**k me, let's just get on with it.' I was very angry about all of that. But what could I do? Scar my face? Knock my teeth out? After a while, I learned if they're going to say all I am is a pretty face, then they're not taking the time to look at the facts, which speak for themselves. I'm not just talking about the work facts, but the personal facts, too. How many guys would have left their wives when they found fame and fortune? Why would I get rid of my wife for, you know, Michelle Pfeiffer? It would be a stupid move. How many guys would have left their friends, fired the band? I haven't, because these were people who believed in me seventeen years ago. I wouldn't be able to sleep or go on if I didn't acknowledge them and give back to the people who gave to me."

Jon Bon Jovi, from Interview, February 1998

[Mine]

Jonny says... XIX

"I may have been very successful in my music career - but when I started a film career, I was just another actor looking for work. My fame wasn't a help - in fact, it was a hindrance. No one in Hollywood encourages musicians to make the transition into acting. I had to audition just to get an acting coach!"

"I had gone from three years of studying in a room with that acting coach to standing on the set of a major motion picture beside Gwyneth Paltrow, Whoopi Goldberg and Kathleen Turner. Was I scared? Yes! I was starting over again… at the bottom. It was like the first day of school for me and I couldn't call my mother to hold my hand - a new beginning."

Jon Bon Jovi, Monmouth University, May 16, 2001

[Mine]

Jonny says... XX

"There are lots of people out there waiting to say 'Ha, ha. You couldn't do it again.' And you think to yourself 'Can I do it again?' ... The only thing I've said is 'It's going to do more than Slippery'. You have to be positive in your attitude or you're halfway down the tubes already."
Jon Bon Jovi, Faces, '89

"... I've been old my whole life. I've been feeling old since I was born. I'm an old man trapped in a young man's body. Elvis lives in my body..."
Jon Bon Jovi, RIP, '89

" I see 'Keep The Faith' not so much as a challenge but as an evolution. Lyrically, I'm coming to terms with who I am at 30 years old... This record truly sums up Bon Jovi goin' into the '90's."
Jon Bon Jovi, Kerrang, October 1992

[Mine]

Jonny says... XXI

"Extravagance isn't in my nature."
Jon Bon Jovi, Metallix, '87

"I want to know why Tom Selleck is the sexiest man in the world - and I am only number seven?"
Jon Bon Jovi, US Magazine, '88

"I write my own personal stories... Things I've gone through that I think people can relate to."
Jon Bon Jovi, Press Con, '89

[Mine]

Jonny says... XXII

"There's a passion... the passion that I sing the lyrics with and the passion that we play with..."
Jon Bon Jovi, Starblitz, '88

"We look at ourselves like 'the same old dudes with new shoes' - those seem to be the words to live by these days. Your fans are really the most critical of you - they're the ones who let you know when you're screwing up."
Jon Bon Jovi, Circus, '89

"Right now... things are not happy in the Bon Jovi camp, that's for sure, they're not happy at all. But... I don't want the band to break up... I want to keep it together cos these are the guys who seven years ago were here when we didn't have enough money for a pretzel across the street!"
Jon Bon Jovi, Kerrang, July '90