Bon Jovi - 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong (2004)

“100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong” is a boxed set released in 2004 on Island Records. A collection of demos and B-sides, it was released to celebrate Bon Jovi's twentieth anniversary and the milestone of the band selling 100,000,000 albums worldwide.
The box set consists of 4 CDs, and also includes a DVD of the band talking about the tracks and additional archive candid footage of the band. Additionally, the Japanese version of the box set also includes a fifth CD.
The box set includes the songs "Real Life", "Edge of a Broken Heart" and "Good Guys Don't Always Wear White" all previously released as singles for soundtrack albums but never featured on a Bon Jovi album until now.
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.
The title and the cover art is a play on the 1959 Elvis Presley compilation 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong.

Track listing

Disc One
01. "Why Aren't You Dead?" (Unreleased)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Desmond Child)  - 3:31
02. "The Radio Saved My Life Tonight" (Unreleased)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora)  - 5:08
03. "Taking It Back" (Unreleased)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora)  - 4:17
04. "Someday I'll Be Saturday Night" (Original Demo)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Desmond Child)  - 5:18
05. "Miss Fourth of July" (Unreleased)  (Jon Bon Jovi)  - 5:40
06. "Open All Night (#2)" (Unreleased, not the same song from Bounce)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Eric Bazilian)  - 5:47
07. "These Arms Are Open All Night" (Unreleased)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Billy Falcon)  - 5:20
08. "I Get a Rush" (Unreleased)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Desmond Child, Eric Bazilian)  - 2:57
09. "Someday Just Might Be Tonight" (Unreleased)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Mark Hudson)  - 4:13
10. "Thief of Hearts" (Unreleased Studio Track)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Patrick Leonard)  - 4:17
11. "Last Man Standing" (Unreleased Studio Track, alternate version appears on Have a Nice Day)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Billy Falcon)  - 4:32
12. "I Just Want to Be Your Man" (Unreleased)  (Jon Bon Jovi)  - 3:28

Disc Two
01. "Garageland" (Unreleased)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora)  - 3:26
02. "Starting All Over Again" (Japan Bonus Track on Keep The Faith, but a re-recording for this box set)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Desmond Child)  - 3:44
03. "Maybe Someday" (Unreleased)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora)  - 4:43
04. "Last Chance Train" (Unreleased)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Mark Hudson)  - 4:31
05. "The Fire Inside" (Unreleased)  (Jon Bon Jovi)  - 4:50
06. "Every Beat of My Heart" (Unreleased)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora)  - 4:49
07. "Rich Man Living in a Poor Man's House" (Unreleased)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Dave Stewart)  - 4:22
08. "The One That Got Away" (Unreleased)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora)  - 4:48
09. "You Can Sleep While I Dream" (Unreleased)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Mark Hudson, Dean Grakal)  - 4:53
10. "Outlaws of Love" (Unreleased)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora)  - 3:20
11. "Good Guys Don't Always Wear White" (From the Motion Picture Soundtrack to The Cowboy Way)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora)  - 4:29
12. "We Rule the Night" (Unreleased)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora)  - 4:09

Disc Three
01. "Edge of a Broken Heart" (From the Motion Picture Soundtrack to Disorderlies)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Desmond Child)  - 4:36
02. "Sympathy" (Unreleased)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora)  - 5:23
03. "Only in My Dreams" (featuring Tico Torres on vocals – Unreleased)  (Jon Bon Jovi)  - 5:07
04. "Shut Up and Kiss Me" (Unreleased)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Desmond Child)  - 2:47
05. "Crazy Love" (Unreleased)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Mark Hudson, Dave Stewart)  - 4:25
06. "Lonely at the Top" (International B-side)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora)  - 3:51
07. "Ordinary People" (International B-side of "Say It Isn't So")  (Jon Bon Jovi)  - 4:07
08. "Flesh and Bone" (Unreleased)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, David Bryan)  - 5:01
09. "Satellite" (Unreleased)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Desmond Child)  - 4:56
10. "If I Can't Have Your Love" (featuring Richie Sambora on vocals – Unreleased solo track)  (Richie Sambora, Desmond Child, Diane Warren)  - 4:15
11. "Real Life" (From the Motion Picture Soundtrack to EDtv - Unreleased remix)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Desmond Child)  - 3:52
12. "Memphis Lives in Me" (featuring David Bryan on vocals – Unreleased from the Original Musical Memphis)  (David Bryan, Joe DiPietro)  - 3:03
13. "Too Much of a Good Thing" (Unreleased)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Richie Supa)  - 4:23

Disc Four
01. "Love Ain't Nothing But a Four Letter Word" (Unreleased)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, David Bryan)  - 4:14
02. "Love Ain't Nothing But a Four Letter Word" (Original Demo)  (Jon Bon Jovi)  - 4:08
03. "River Runs Dry" (Unreleased)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Desmond Child)  - 3:57
04. "Always" (Unreleased Demo)  (Jon Bon Jovi)  - 5:46
05. "Kidnap an Angel" (Unreleased)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Billy Falcon)  - 5:56
06. "Breathe" (B-side)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Marti Frederiksen)  - 3:40
07. "Out of Bounds" (Unreleased)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora)  - 3:46
08. "Letter to a Friend" (Unreleased)  (Jon Bon Jovi)  - 4:19
09. "Temptation" (International B-side to "It's My Life")  (Jon Bon Jovi)  - 4:23
10. "Gotta Have a Reason" (Unreleased)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Michael Kamen)  - 4:59
11. "All I Wanna Do Is You" (Unreleased)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora)  - 3:03
12. "Billy" (Unreleased)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora)  - 4:32
13. "Nobody's Hero" (Unreleased)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora)  - 4:33
14. "Livin' on a Prayer" (Original Demo – Hidden track)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Desmond Child)  - 3:52

Disc Five (Japan Bonus Disc)
01. "With a Little Help From My Friends" (Live)  (Lennon–McCartney)  - 6:16
02. "Love Is War" (B-side of Living in Sin single)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora)  - 4:15
03. "Borderline" (Japan only single)  (Jon Bon Jovi, David Bryan)  - 4:10
04. "Hush" (B-side of It's My Life single)  (Jon Bon Jovi)  - 3:45
05. "I Wish Everyday Could Be Like Christmas" (From A Very Special Christmas Album)  (Jon Bon Jovi)  - 4:28
06. "Save a Prayer" (Keep the Faith Japan Bonus Track)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora)  - 5:56
07. "Fields of Fire" (These Days European 2 Disc Special Edition Bonus Track)  (Jon Bon Jovi)  - 4:10
08. "Another Reason to Believe" (B-side of Everyday single)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Billy Falcon, J. Steele)  - 3:29
09. "Let's Make It Baby" (These Days European 2 Disc Special Edition Bonus Track)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Desmond Child)  - 6:20
10. "The End" (These Days French Bonus CD Track)  (Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, David Bryan)  - 3:37

Credits
Jon Bon Jovi – lead vocals, acoustic guitar
Richie Sambora – lead guitar, backing vocals, talkbox
Tico Torres – drums, percussion
David Bryan – keyboards, backing vocals
Alec John Such – bass, backing vocals

Additional musicians
Hugh McDonald – bass, backing vocals
Joe Perry – guitar on "Last Chance Train"
Dave Stewart various instruments, backing vocals
Kenny Aronoff - drums, percussion
Bobby Bandiera - guitars
Eric Bazilian - guitar
Mark Hudson
Jeff Kazee - organ
Pino Palladino – bass
Shawn Pelton - drums
Michelle Grigg - singer special guest

Notes
Recorded: 1985-2003
Producer: Patrick Leonard, Andy Johns, Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Obie O'Brien
Genre: Hard rock
Length: 3:43:37
Label: Island Records

© 2004