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Bon Jovi
100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong
Release Date: 2004 11 16
Label: Island
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Bon Jovi's four-CD/one-DVD box set of rarities, 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong, inspires two immediate reactions. The first: How in the world did Bon Jovi have four discs' worth of unreleased material in their vaults? The second: Who on earth would want to hear 50 rarities from Bon Jovi? To anybody who's not a devoted fan, the New Jersey group always seemed like a quintessential singles-driven band. Sure, they had many albums that were blockbusters -- 1986's Slippery When Wet and its 1988 follow-up, New Jersey, dominated the American charts in the latter half of the '80s -- but those were hits because of the singles that ruled the radio, hits that were so well crafted, it was hard to believe that Bon Jovi left material behind, but as this box set proves, they did. Apparently, the band followed the lead of their fellow Jersey icon Bruce Springsteen and cut more material for each album than they could possibly have used. Starting with Slippery When Wet, the band would record somewhere between 30 and 40 songs for an individual album, then whittle it down to a 12-track album, which means a whole bunch of completed material was left behind. Some of it turned up on soundtracks or foreign-market B-sides, but most of it lay unheard in the vaults until Bon Jovi assembled this box to commemorate their 20th anniversary (which arrived around the time they sold their 100,000,000th record, hence the title).

All that explains how this box came to be, but it doesn't address whether the set is any good or not. Surprisingly, the answer is that it's very good indeed. In the liner notes, Jon Bon Jovi claims that the band carefully chooses the songs that make the finished album so the record has a specific flow from beginning to end, meaning that the outtakes aren't necessarily worse than what made the record -- they may simply have been songs that didn't fit the mood or spirit of a particular album. Of course, Bon Jovi's fellow Jersey rocker Bruce Springsteen follows the same aesthetic when he makes his albums, and it's fair to say that 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong is the group's spin on the Boss's rarities box, Tracks, which mixed B-sides, demos, and unreleased songs the way that this set does. The big difference between the two is that there are no outright classics on 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans -- no songs that are a crucial part of the story, no songs that make it necessary for any curious listener. However, that doesn't mean that listening to it won't make a doubter reconsider their views of Bon Jovi as a singles-only act. What's impressive about the box set is that it's consistently strong and well crafted. Most of these songs wouldn't have stormed up the charts, but they would have fit comfortably on any of the band's records, and sometimes would have been highlights. Bon Jovi were smart to sequence each of the four discs as their own cohesive album, since it gives each disc its own momentum and doesn't isolate all the gems to one single disc. Make no mistake, this box is still for the hardcore fan, who will delight in the rather lengthy collection of behind-the-scenes footage included on the DVD (no music videos are here, just rare footage shot throughout the band's career) and find that the entire set exceeds their expectations, but anybody else who dips into this generous collection will find that the music is strong, varied, well crafted, and often memorable. It's the rare set that enhances a band's reputation, since it reveals that there was more to the band than what was readily apparent on the surface, and that makes 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong an excellent way to celebrate the band's 20th anniversary. Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide


Tracks:
TitleComposerTime
1Why Aren't You Dead? [#]BonJovi, Sambora, Child3:31
2Radio Saved My Life Tonight [#]BonJovi, Sambora5:08
3Taking It Back [#]BonJovi, Sambora4:17
4Someday I'll Be Saturday Night [Original Demo]Child, BonJovi, Sambora5:18
5Miss Fourth of July [#]BonJovi5:40
6Open All Night [#]Bazilian, Child, BonJovi5:47
7These Arms Are Open All Night [#]Falcon, BonJovi5:20
8I Get a Rush [#]BonJovi, Child, Bazilian2:57
9Someday Just Might Be Tonight [#]Hudson, Sambora, BonJovi4:13
10Thief of Hearts [Studio Track][#]Leonard, BonJovi4:17
11Last Man Standing [Studio Track][#]Falcon, BonJovi4:32
12I Just Want to Be Your Man [#]BonJovi3:28
13Garageland [#]BonJovi, Sambora3:26
14Starting All Over Again [Japan Bonus Track]BonJovi, Sambora3:44
15Maybe Someday [#]Sambora, BonJovi4:43
16Last Chance Train [#]Hudson, BonJovi4:31
17Fire Inside [#]BonJovi4:50
18Every Beat of My Heart [#]Sambora, BonJovi4:49
19Rich Man Living in a Poor Man's House [#]Stewart, BonJovi4:22
20One That Got Away [#]Sambora, BonJovi4:48
21You Can Sleep While I Dream [#]BonJovi, Grakal, Hudson4:53
22Outlaws of Love [#]BonJovi, Sambora3:20
23Good Guys Don't Always Wear White [From the Cowboy Way]BonJovi, Sambora4:29
24We Rule the Night [#]Sambora, BonJovi4:09
25Edge of a Broken Heart [From Disorderlies]Child, BonJovi, Sambora4:35
26Sympathy [#]BonJovi, Sambora5:23
27Only in My Dreams [#]BonJovi5:07
28Shut Up and Kiss Me [#]BonJovi, Sambora2:47
29Crazy Love [#]BonJovi, Stewart, Hudson4:25
30Lonely at the Top [International B-Side]Sambora, BonJovi3:51
31Ordinary People [International B-Side]Bryan, Sambora, BonJovi4:07
32Flesh and Bone [#]Sambora, Bryan, BonJovi5:01
33Satellite [#]BonJovi, Child, Sambora4:56
34If I Can't Have Your Love [Unreleased Solo Track]Warren, Child, BonJovi4:15
35Real Life [From Edtv]Child, BonJovi3:52
36Memphis Lives in Me [#]DiPietro, Bryan3:03
37Too Much of a Good Thing [#]BonJovi, Sambora, Supa4:23
38Love Ain't Nothing But a Four Letter Word [#]Bryan, Sambora, BonJovi4:14
39Love Ain't Nothing But a Four Letter Word [Original Demo]BonJovi4:08
40River Runs Dry [#]Child, BonJovi3:57
41Always [Original Demo]BonJovi5:46
42Kidnap an Angel [#]BonJovi, Falcon5:56
43Breathe [B-Side]BonJovi, Sambora, Fredrickson3:41
44Out of Bounds [#]BonJovi, Sambora3:46
45Letter to a Friend [#]BonJovi4:19
46Temptation [International B-Side]BonJovi4:23
47Gotta Have a Reason [#]BonJovi, Kamen, Sambora4:59
48All I Wanna Do Is You [#]Sambora, BonJovi3:03
49Billy [#]BonJovi, Sambora4:32
50Nobody's Hero [#]BonJovi, Sambora8:36
51Bonus Material [DVD][*]

Other Releases:
Who Says You Can't Go Home/Have a Nice Day
Release Date: 2004
Label: Island/Def Jam

Who Says You Can't Go Home [Digital Remix]
Release Date: 2004
Label: Island

Who Says You Can't Go Home [CD Single]
Release Date: 2004
Label: Mercury

Who Says You Can't Go Home [3 Track]
Release Date: 2004
Label: Universal International








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