You’ve got to give Bon Jovi credit for the way they’ve been able to hang on in there.

When all of their hair metal contemporaries were being erased by the early 90s grunge wave, they refused to die. And when the handful of surviving artists (plus a bevvy of now extinct grunge bands) were being laid to waste by the early 00s nu-metal uprising, they dug in their heels.

Now here we are in 2005 and it’s alternative acts who rule the musical landscape, but it’s simply a case of “same shit, different day” for Bon Jovi. Having proven themselves capable of weathering even the most volatile of storms, it pleases me to announce that New Jersey’s biggest rock exports have delivered one of the albums of their career!

Have A Nice Day is loaded from start-to-finish with huge riffs and arena-filling choruses we’ve come to expect from Jon and the boys, showcasing a band who seem to know exactly who they are and exactly what they’re best at.

It isn’t going to redefine music, and it’s unlikely to win any awards, but for Bon Jovi it’s a pivotal achievement at an important time in their storied career.

You see, the band were said to be struggling for motivation after completion of the Bounce (2002) world tour, and this led them down a winding road where they got lost in compiling all of their B-sides and outtakes from the vault into a 4-disc collector’s edition, plus a Greatest Hits record on which they re-structured all of their most popular tunes into sombre piano-led ballads.

Fans had every right to worry they may never escape from this funk, but someone appears to have reminded them who the fuck they are.

We now know that “someone” is producer John Shanks (above).

“The band seemed unsure which direction to go on the new record. As a new guy drafted in to help produce it, I felt like my opinion didn’t really count for much inside that room, but one day I took a leap of faith and played the riff which eventually became Have A Nice Day. I told them that when I think about going to see Bon Jovi, this is the type of thing I want to hear; kick-ass rock songs, with big riffs and powerful lyrics. That’s what they do best, it always has been.”

– John Shanks

Shanks would eventually become a controversial figure in the lore of Bon Jovi, and his input into What About Now (2013) is said to have been the main spark which caused Richie Sambora to leave the band, but that was still several years away at this point.

His modern recording techniques seemed to gel nicely with the band’s old-school approach, providing each song on Have A Nice Day with a layer of sheen and making the record sound ten feet tall.

The title track and lead single sets the tone for the whole record, delivering the tried and tested format which the band had previously used on tracks like Livin’ On A Prayer and It’s My Life, to great effect.

This is put to great use once again on numbers like Story Of My Life and Who Says You Can’t Go Home, but the source material is more than strong enough to hold a candle to their previous work (indeed, there are several tracks from this LP which we expect to remain in the band’s live setlist from this point on).

The lyrical direction of this album focuses mainly on their struggle to survive in the budding digital era.

It’s put to good use on blistering rocker Last Man Standing, on which Jon Bon Jovi berates record company executives for the music industry’s tendency to push generic manufactured content rather than musicians who actually get out on the road and put in the hard hours.

“The songs were more than music,
They were pictures from the soul,
So keep your pseudo-punk, hip-hop, pop-rock junk,
And your digital downloads.”

Last Man Standing

Catchy-as-fuck hit single Who Says You Can’t Go Home is another highlight.

It’s a track which captures the New Jersey giants at their uplifting best, and it went on to spend a whopping six months on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 2006.

It also proved that the “cheese” which Bon Jovi were once ripped for has now become a sense of comfort for most listeners, a trait which is out in force on the equally inspiring Welcome To Wherever You Are, a track which manages to remind us that even the worst of bad days can be cured by a wink and a Hollywood smile from the evergreen “Jaahn Baahn Jowvy”.

Have A Nice Day also marks the first album on which the frontman changes his singing style in order to accommodate growing older.

The key changes and raspy howls of his 80s-90s material is replaced with a much more contained lower register vocal. It means some of the songs lack the intensity of those from yesteryear, but they make this it work by using cleverly-selected moments of silence in order to emphasize his voice, rather than having him push it to the limit.

(Seriously, go listen to I Believe for an example.)

It’s a singing style which he would retain (to mixed results) for the rest of his career after this LP.

This decision not to rely on sheer power seems to have made the band more melodic, as several tracks throughout the album apply smart key changes and cleverly-structured arrangements during segments where, in the past, the band would’ve perhaps just gotten louder. You’ll hear it best on the title track, standout balled Wildflower, and forward-thinking rocker Novocaine.

It feels strange to be heralding a Bon Jovi album circa 2005.

This is a band who are supposedly long past their sell by date, and they even poke fun at “not being as good as they used to be” on several tracks…. yet here we are!

Have A Nice Day is a triumph in almost every aspect. Loaded with giant hooks and stadium-sized choruses from beginning-to-end, Bon Jovi have managed to deliver an unapologetic rock record which offers more authenticity than anything which is currently lighting up their charts. It’ll sit nicely alongside Slippery When Wet (1986) and Keep The Faith (1992) as their finest work to date.

In summary:

Most of us scoffed as the ever-confident Jon Bon Jovi appeared on a chat show and declared “Have A Nice Day will be our best album since Slippery When Wet”, but it turns out he was speaking facts.

Have A Nice Day receives 9/11.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

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