Celebrate 25 years of Bon Jovi’s hit album, Crush, on SiriusXM’s Bon Jovi Radio. To mark the anniversary, Jon Bon Jovi takes you behind the scenes with personal insights on his favorite songs throughout the Grammy-nominated album. During the special, Jon Bon Jovi shares the back story behind the hit song, “It’s My Life” and how it was inspired by Frank Sinatra.
Listen to the full Crush 25th Anniversary Special today on SiriusXM’s Bon Jovi Radio and any time on the SiriusXM app. Audio clip and transcript below courtesy of SiriusXM’s Bon Jovi Radio.
Jon Bon Jovi on Frank Sinatra’s influence on “It’s My Life”:
“By the time 2000 came, we really had an idea of what we were and how yet to change our sound. Having been in Europe for several months doing U-571, I’d been listening to a lot of different music and when we came back we had songs like ‘Captain Crash,’ ‘Thank You For Loving Me,’ but we needed something that was going to be unique. The same way that ‘Livin’ On A Prayer’ changed the sound of everything else that was on the radio. We started to play around with these loops and brought back the talk back box and it was a lyric that simply stated who and what we were in this moment.
And having come back from a film set where I was away for nearly six months, I was very much aware of Mr. Sinatra passing away and the impact that someone like he had on the industry. He was making records, he was making movies, he helped get a president elected. All of these things weighed very heavily on me in the 2000 election and this reinvention. And like I say, you’re coming home with a crew cut and the industry is saying you should go away. And I say, ‘Wait a minute, it’s my life. It’s now or never.’ And like Frankie said, ‘I did it my way.’ And that was the line that I had to defend with Richie because he said, ‘What is anybody gonna know with this Frankie?’ I say, ‘I’m gonna know.’ And what he said to me is, ‘Well, you’re the one that’s gotta sing it at night. So I get it.’ And ‘It’s My Life’ was yet another reinvention of the band.”
