One of the biggest bands of the 1980s, without a doubt, was Bon Jovi. With hits like “Wanted Dead or Alive,” “Living on a Prayer,” and “Runaway,” New Jersey frontman Jon Bon Jovi and his ridiculously big hair rocked stadiums all over the world, broke hearts on every continent, and drove every dude with a girlfriend to the brink of murder. The band managed to stick around for quite some time after their initial hay day, only breaking up after longtime guitarist and friend Richie Sambora left the band in 2013.
According to the Daily Caller, Bon Jovi recently sat down for an interview with Entertainment Tonight, where he cleared up some previous rumors and misconceptions about the out-of-the-blue departure of Sambora and how he has never come back to the band.
“There was never a fight,” the famous singer explained. “It was never about money, it was never about a girlfriend. He had issues … and he literally didn’t show up. We were playing for 20,000 people and there’s a black hole on the stage.”
Sambora and Bon Jovi penned some of the biggest hits in rock music together. As a duo, they seemed untouchable. The band rose to the top of the charts, and their fanbase grew to incredible proportions. The success of the band was undeniable, but Bon Jovi said that beneath the success story, as all his personal dreams were coming true, Sambora’s life was falling apart. He noted that Sambora’s personal issues took a huge toll on him, and before long, they began to deeply affect the entire band.
“Substance abuse or anxieties or single parenting, all those things weighed on him, losing his dad. These were all very hard things,” the New Jersey native said during his conversation with Entertainment Tonight, as he spoke of Sambora’s struggles.
“But in fairness, why would I take away the livelihoods of not only the band, but the 120 guys in the crew? Or the millions of people that bought a ticket? What am I going to do? Shut it down because you don’t want to go to rehab?” Bon Jovi added.
It’s pretty cool that Bon Jovi cares that much about the crew he employs. Dude has a real heart for the working man, which is probably because of growing up in Jersey. Good call by the man.
Sambora returned to the band to play with them one time since his departure — at the band’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2018, according to Entertainment Tonight.
According to the report from the Daily Caller, both Sambora and Bon Jovi have made peace with one another and are still good friends to this day. In fact, the former bandmates actually watched the first three episodes of the Bon Jovi documentary, “Thank You, Goodnight,” together, where Sambora made an apology for exiting the band, for the very first time. It was those words, Bon Jovi said, that help them repair their friendship.
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“You read, you talk to professionals, you sit with yourself, you learn to understand from a different perspective that his choices weren’t made out of animosity either,” Bon Jovi concluded.