7800 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT

Musically, the band hardened and heavied up their sound. under the careful guidance of Quinn. Richie Sambora finally let rip. Jon's vocal style began to develop and the whole ambience of the album was a lot more threat­ening. This was not a pop/rock band enjoying themselves! Far from it.

Sadly, the album only served to confuse most people. Inside information suggested that the powers-that-be at Mercury panicked when they heard what the jewel in their hard rock crown had come up with, and secretly wondered whether this album could possibly sell. Indeed, apparently plans were made to drop the band - thankfully, they never came to fruition.

Commercially, the album was reasonably well received, matching what had gone before, but not building on it. The record was just too dark and dense for most people. A shame really, because it stands up arguably better than anything Bon Jovi have done. The prob­lem was that it was made at the wrong time. This should have been their third album, not the second one. The raw emotion, the sheer bitterness and disorientation articulated here was out of step with the vision of Bon Jovi as a bright. breezy, happy-go-lucky bunch of gen­erally good-looking popsters who appealed to a predominantly female audience.

With hindsight, the band have distanced themselves from this release. For them it brought to mind a period in their professional (and personal) lives that they would like to for­get - permanently. The upheavals were such that there was a sense of despair coming from within. Certainly, it gave the music a welcome edge, but as soon as they were able, Bon Jovi completely erased '7800 ... ' from their psyche by refusing to perform any of the numbers live. And on the 'Cross Road' compilation, only ‘In And Out Of Love' was to be included.

This was a great shame really, because there is little doubt that the quality of music or this album set standards few at the time could match. But business pressures were to force Bon Jovi into a radical rethink of their policy next time out. It must be wondered what ­would have happened if the Jovis had bee allowed to stick to their guns and develop naturally without outside interference. Who knows, perhaps they would have become a more alternative act.