year—or ten—it still needs to resonate. You want things to be timeless and classic. You want things to be there forever. So, it’s not catering to this generation … it’s for all generations. So we hone the lyric. We universalize it.
New Jersey promotional photo shoot, Little Mountain Recording Studios, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, 1988.
Mark “WEISSGUY” Weiss/www.markweiss.com
Recording session for Young Guns II: Blaze of Glory , A&M Studios, Los Angeles, CA, 1990.
Mark “WEISSGUY” Weiss/www.markweiss.com
RICHIE: Lost Highway evolved. The idea was to go down to Nashville and try something different. We had a great window after “Who Says You Can’t Go Home.” I think a band that has been together as long as we have, any time there is a door open to evolution, give it a shot.
JON: It was totally a get-out-of-jail-free card. Just try it. Who knew?
TICO: Not having any pressure, man. We were having fun.
RICHIE: It was an opportunity to experiment. We’re in a place, at this point in our career, where we don’t have to worry. If we don’t like something, we just don’t put it out.
JON: Lost Highway was an introspective record because we took a look at ourselves and left ourselves open to scrutiny by sharing those situations and feelings beyond the four of us. It was a great growth record. We were in a place where we had something to write about and turn our lives into big, broad subject matter.
Lost Highway Tour, pre-show walk to the stage, XCEL Energy Center, St. Paul, MN, March 2008.
Phil Griffin
Song lyrics handwritten by Jon Bon Jovi, photographed August 2009.
Mark “WEISSGUY” Weiss/www.markweiss.com
Sanctuary Sound II, Middletown, NJ, April 2009.
Phil Griffin (2009)
Sanctuary Sound II, Middletown, NJ, April 2009.
Phil Griffin (2009)
Sanctuary Sound II, Middletown, NJ, April 2009.
Phil Griffin (2009)
RICHIE: Everything we wrote about came from someplace real. The Lost Highway album represented what I was going through in my life, with substance abuse and emotions caused by my divorce and my father dying. It was cathartic. It’s impossible, as an artist, for those feelings and emotions not to come through in your songs.
“Whole Lot Of Leavin’” was a song I didn’t write, and Jon was still writing about me, I believe. I’m sure some of it was what was going on in his own life at the time.
When the fans get beneath the lyrics and read between the lines, they can feel that. A lot of fans have attached themselves to particular songs because they embrace the underlying meanings.
Sanctuary Sound II, Middletown, NJ, April 2009.
Phil Griffin (2009)
TICO
Lost Highway tour, XCEL Energy Center, St. Paul, MN, March 2008.
Phil Griffin
If there are no fireworks, there’s no music.
—Tico
M y musical journey has encompassed my life for over forty years. My creed, right from the beginning, was (and is) to communicate and speak through my instrument and keep myself open to all emotions and interaction.
Since the band got together twenty-five years ago, I believe the key to our longevity has been the common goal of pushing ourselves past our creative limits, not only in the studio but in our live performances. The key factor is our respect for each other’s ability to push the envelope, individually and as a group.
It’s been comforting to me to have my bandmates as friends and brothers during tough personal times and to share all our achievements together.
We are as good as our last record. That being said, we have never sat back on our accomplishments. Instead we strive to explore the unknown, yet always remember where we came from. Sure, we’ve weathered some tough storms but they only made us stronger. Music is full of wonderful accidents that will always take you to higher levels of creativity and success. That can continue forever, if we don’t get in its way…
Simplicity is genius for us kids, and
New Jersey promotional photo shoot, Little Mountain Recording Studios, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, 1988.
Mark “WEISSGUY” Weiss/www.markweiss.com
Recording session for Young Guns II: Blaze of Glory , A&M Studios, Los Angeles, CA, 1990.
Mark “WEISSGUY” Weiss/www.markweiss.com
RICHIE: Lost Highway evolved. The idea was to go down to Nashville and try something different. We had a great window after “Who Says You Can’t Go Home.” I think a band that has been together as long as we have, any time there is a door open to evolution, give it a shot.
JON: It was totally a get-out-of-jail-free card. Just try it. Who knew?
TICO: Not having any pressure, man. We were having fun.
RICHIE: It was an opportunity to experiment. We’re in a place, at this point in our career, where we don’t have to worry. If we don’t like something, we just don’t put it out.
JON: Lost Highway was an introspective record because we took a look at ourselves and left ourselves open to scrutiny by sharing those situations and feelings beyond the four of us. It was a great growth record. We were in a place where we had something to write about and turn our lives into big, broad subject matter.
Lost Highway Tour, pre-show walk to the stage, XCEL Energy Center, St. Paul, MN, March 2008.
Phil Griffin
Song lyrics handwritten by Jon Bon Jovi, photographed August 2009.
Mark “WEISSGUY” Weiss/www.markweiss.com
Sanctuary Sound II, Middletown, NJ, April 2009.
Phil Griffin (2009)
Sanctuary Sound II, Middletown, NJ, April 2009.
Phil Griffin (2009)
Sanctuary Sound II, Middletown, NJ, April 2009.
Phil Griffin (2009)
RICHIE: Everything we wrote about came from someplace real. The Lost Highway album represented what I was going through in my life, with substance abuse and emotions caused by my divorce and my father dying. It was cathartic. It’s impossible, as an artist, for those feelings and emotions not to come through in your songs.
“Whole Lot Of Leavin’” was a song I didn’t write, and Jon was still writing about me, I believe. I’m sure some of it was what was going on in his own life at the time.
When the fans get beneath the lyrics and read between the lines, they can feel that. A lot of fans have attached themselves to particular songs because they embrace the underlying meanings.
Sanctuary Sound II, Middletown, NJ, April 2009.
Phil Griffin (2009)
TICO
Lost Highway tour, XCEL Energy Center, St. Paul, MN, March 2008.
Phil Griffin
If there are no fireworks, there’s no music.
—Tico
M y musical journey has encompassed my life for over forty years. My creed, right from the beginning, was (and is) to communicate and speak through my instrument and keep myself open to all emotions and interaction.
Since the band got together twenty-five years ago, I believe the key to our longevity has been the common goal of pushing ourselves past our creative limits, not only in the studio but in our live performances. The key factor is our respect for each other’s ability to push the envelope, individually and as a group.
It’s been comforting to me to have my bandmates as friends and brothers during tough personal times and to share all our achievements together.
We are as good as our last record. That being said, we have never sat back on our accomplishments. Instead we strive to explore the unknown, yet always remember where we came from. Sure, we’ve weathered some tough storms but they only made us stronger. Music is full of wonderful accidents that will always take you to higher levels of creativity and success. That can continue forever, if we don’t get in its way…
Simplicity is genius for us kids, and
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