Bon Jovi Tours

Crush

Released on June 13, 2000

Sanctuary II, New Jersey

Tracklist:

01. It's My Life - Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Max Martin - 3:44

02. Say It Isn't So - Jon Bon Jovi, Billy Falcon - 3:33

03. Thank You For Loving Me - Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora - 5:09

04. Two Story Town - Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Dean Grakal, Mark Hudson - 5:10

05. Next 100 Years - Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora - 6:19

06. Just Older - Jon Bon Jovi, Billy Falcon - 4:29

07. Mystery Train - Jon Bon Jovi, Billy Falcon - 5:14

08. Save The World - Jon Bon Jovi - 5:31

09. Captain Crash & The Beauty Queen From Mars - Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora - 4:31

10. She's A Mystery - Jon Bon Jovi, Peter Stuart, Greg Wells - 5:18

11. I Got The Girl - Jon Bon Jovi - 4:36

12. One Wild Night - Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora - 4:18

Bonus Tracks

13. I Could Make A Living Out Of Loving You - Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Billy Falcon - 4:40

14. Neurotica - Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora - 4:45 (Australia and Japan only)

Personnel

Jon Bon Jovi - Lead Vocals / Guitar

Richie Sambora - Lead Guitar / Backing Vocals

Tico Torres - Drums / Percussion

David Bryan - Keyboards / Backing Vocals

Hugh McDonald - Bass / Backing Vocals

Additional Personnel

David Campbell - String Arranger

Michael Dearchin - Backing Vocals on One Wild Night

Melissa Russo - Backing Vocals on One Wild Night

Meredith Russo - Backing Vocals on One Wild Night

Engineers

Obie O'Brien

Mike Rew

Bob Clearmountain

Andy Snitzer

Graham Hawthorne

Producer

Luke Ebbin

Jon Bon Jovi

Richie Sambora

Chartpositions

 Chartname                                                       Peak position                                    Weeks in chart

Singles

The Videos

• For the main single, It’s My Life, the storyline of the video got inspired by the movie “Run Lola Run”. The video was filmed by Wayne Isham on March 19th 2000 between 6pm and 12pm at the Second Avenue Tunnel in Downtown Los Angeles which got specifically closed off for the band then.

• The video for the second single, Say It Isn’t So, was probably the most star-featured the band has ever done and will ever be doing in their career. It features appearances of Matt Le Blanc (who had already starred in the Miracle video ten years prior), Ralf Moeller, Claudia Schiffer, Emilio Estevez and Arnold Schwarzenegger. It was shot on June 10th and 11th 2000 at the Universal Studios in North Hollywood and showed different movie lots that were melting into each other with the band performing in the middle of all the “chaos”.

• On September 30th 2000, the band filmed the video clip for the ballad Thank You For Loving Me at the world-famous Trevi fountain in Rome, Italy.

Trivia

• Bon Jovi's comeback album after a 5 year break after the last release (These Days) and 4 years after the end of the last tour.

• In the early stage it was supposed to be another solo album by Jon with the name Sex Sells. However, it finally turned into a band album.

• One Wild Night was another working title for that album but was used for their first live album one year later.

• Jon and Richie each wrote about 30 songs for that album.

• Bruce Fairbairn who already produced Slippery When Wet and New Jersey was meant to produce Crush as well. He died the week before he was to meet up with Jon so they had to search for another producer. It became Luke Ebbin, a back then quite unknown producer. Jon asked their A&R Manager John Kalodner to find him a young up and coming producer with fresh ideas. He recommended Luke Ebbin who finally got the job and was allowed to produce the follow up Bounce as well. He once again entered the Bon Jovi world when he produced Richie's third solo album Aftermath Of The Lowdown in 2012.

• It's My Life was the albums first single and became one of Bon Jovi's biggest hits. Although it features some of Bon Jovi's classic elemtens, just like the talkbox or the reference to Tommy and Gina, right from the beginning fans were sceptical how much input Jon and Richie really had in the writing. Max Martin, a highly successfull writer and producer of pop-acts just like Britney Spears or The Backstreet Boys, co-wrote the song. In various interviews Jon tried to minimize Martin's input - which varied from "adding some words" to "just being in the same room" . In the album's booklet Martin isn't even mentioned. What makes people think that Max Martin presented the band an already finished song are the obvious similiarities to the Backstreet Boys' song Larger Than Life which was released in 1999 and was co-written by Max Martin as well. Furthermore It's My Life introduced a Bon Jovi sound no other song of the band ever had - neither on previous albums nor on other songs on Crush! Another point is that  almost up until its release Say It Isn't So was promoted as being the first single. It's My Life wasn't mentioned anywhere - not even at the band's listening party in Jon's homestudio in February 2000 . So the "conspiracy theory" says that the band or the record label was missing a powerful lead single. Max Martin was brought in who at that time dominated the charts with almost each project he had his fingers on. He gave Bon Jovi an almost finished song, Jon and Richie maybe added some minor changes here and there and the rest is history. But again: All of this is a theory based on the described well-known facts. Until that day there's no proof of it being true at all.
  

• Say It Isn't so was meant to be the lead-off single but the plan was changed last-minute. About the track, Jon told reporters: “The song is from the point of view of an optimist who happened to be me when I was writing, saying: You know, in a strange way, I still have to believe in Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny and Outer Space because – had I not, how could I’ve ever achieved those amazing goals, those amazing dreams when there’s so many nay-sayers in the world, saying: you can’t do this, you can’t do that…”

• Just Older was one of those songs Jon wrote for a potential third solo album named Sex Sells. A slightly different version was played live on his solo tour promoting Destination Anywhere in 1998.

• Jon wrote I Got The Girl for his daughter Stephanie.

• The idea for Thank You For Lovin Me came from that exact line which was said by Brad Pitt in the movie “Meet Joe Black”.

• For Next 100 Years, the band was contacted by the Kobe Relief Fund Foundation in Japan and asked if they could add a song for the “J-Friends” band as well. They sent the demo over and the Japanese version turned out to be their first domestic number one single over there.

• Save The World was a song Jon wrote after having been sent the script of “Armageddon”. But since Aerosmith then had already delivered a top-notch ballad with “I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing”, he kept the track for the band’s own album. The story has been told that the producer, Luke Ebbin, got the job by taking this track and arranging/adding the string section to this song, hence convincing the band of his skills. For the movie soundtrack, Jon sent the song “Mister Big Time” instead.

• Captain Crash & The Beauty Queen From Mars got heavily influenced by David Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust”.

• She’s A Mystery was written by Jon at a songwriter’s retreat on an old castle in the south of France.

• The bonus track, I Could Make A Living Out Of Loving You, was initiated by Jon. He played the chorus to Richie who said: “Great B-section.” Jon went: “No, that’s the chorus!” with Richie repeating “Great B-section!” They both joked about Jon being a little pissed by that and then actually made it the B-section of the song and wrote a new chorus together.

• Other songs from that era are: Ain't No Cure For Love, Hush, I Don't Want To Live Forever, Life's Too Short For Days Like These, Ordinary People, Stay, Temptation, Welcome To The Good Times, You Can't Lose At Love, These Arms Are Open All Night, Someday Just Might Be Tonight, Garageland, Maybe Someday, Last Chance Train, Rich Man Living In A Poor Man's House, The One That Got Away, You Can Sleep While I Dream, Crazy Love, Satellite, Real Life, Too Much Of A Good Thing and Kidnap An Angel.

Live

•  Save The World and She's A Mystery never got played live.

• Say It Isn't So, Two Story Town and Next 100 Years got played regularly during the Crush and One Wild Night tours in 2000/2001. But after the One Wild Night tour ended none of the trio ever appeared again.

• It's My Life has become a setlist staple ever since it was introduced and until that day enjoys the same status as songs like You Give Love A Bad Name or Livin' On A Prayer.

• Just Older was a staple in the 2000/2001 setlists and used to get played quite regularly on the following tours as well. During the Lost Highway tour in 2007/2008 its appearances started to become rare. The last time it got played was in 2011 where it got played in 9 out of 59 shows.
  

• Thank You For Loving Me was the last big Bon Jovi ballad in the vein of I'll Be There For You, Always or This Ain't A Lovesong. It got played regularly on the Crush Tour but only appeared twice during the following One Wild Night Tour in 2001. After that it took 10 years until it appeared once again on Valentine's Day in 2011 during their show in Toronto, Canada.

• One Wild Night was a staple during the 2000 and 2001 tours and even opened the shows in 2001. But despite 2 appearences during the Lost Highway Tour in 2008 in Kansas and Brussels it never got played again.

• Mystery Train was a semi-rare song during the Crush Tour. After that tour it would appear once in a while each tour.

• I Got The Girl is also one of those songs Bon Jovi used to play quite often during the Crush/One Wild Night run and afterwards slowly putting it aside and nowadays playing it once in a while as well.

• Captain Crash & The Beauty Queen From Mars might be the I'll Sleep When I'm Dead of the 2000's. Although not even being a single it is a setlist staple right from the beginning and to this day gets played quite often each tour.