Hey Jon, nice hair! So, five Bon Jovi albums in ten years – when are guys going to take a hint and quit?
It’s a lot of material in one decade, isn’t it? Who knew? That’s my response — who knew? I didn’t intend to write five albums in this decade, but when the subject matter is there, it just comes out.

Kinda like a bowel movement, then?
The story of this record is that it was meant to be two songs for a greatest hits album. I had asked our label if I could go to Nashville and make a country record with a blank chequebook, and they said “sure”. Just before our company president broke into tears, he said, “I’m gonna lose a lot of money on this, but can I have a greatest hits record when you’re done?” And I went, “Deal!”

How come you guys always come out with these lighter-waving arena-rock tunes? Ever considered penning a depressing “I wanna kill myself like Kurt Cobain” album for a change?
Well, the These Days album seems rather dark in retrospect, but I remember at the time we were actually in great spirits. Still, that record came from that emotion, and those songs were great for what they were. That album is looked back on as a favourite by our fans, but it didn’t have a hit single. It didn’t have that big, optimistic, uplifting Keep The Faith or It’s My Life-type vibe, but it had its own voice. I find that when we write those kinds of songs, they go on to cross borders and even generations of people. It really is our trademark sound.

Can’t Bon Jovi just coast along on your catalogue of mega-hits by now?
That would be career suicide. Looking back 22 years ago when we released Slippery When Wet, if we tried to re-write You Give Love A Bad Name now just because it was our first number-one single, being nearly 50 and pretending to be 25 wouldn’t work. One thing we always said was, “I wasn’t going to be 50 painting my fingernails black and writing ‘bitch’ on my belly.” It just wasn’t going to happen!

Guess that means the duet with Marilyn Manson is off, then? Do all the old ’80s hair-rock lovers totally flip when you play the old torch songs?
We want that reaction — it’s what makes you wanna go out and do this job. The idea of being out on stage keeps everything going — the other 22 hours in the day are pretty boring. When you have a song that has touched people like Livin’ On A Prayer, that’s crossed generations and borders, you think, “Wow, this is the power of song!” It’s what it must feel like to be Simon & Garfunkel or Dylan or The Beatles or Bruce Springsteen — whoever that’s written songs that have stood the test of time. We’ve been blessed with having written a few of those now, and you’re doing justice to the songs to go out there and give them your all.

Ever look back and regret some of those haircuts and spandex?
Other people reflect, but we’re usually caught up in the moment or looking ahead. I’m not really one to reflect on yesterday’s news. I mean, it happened… it’s like an old newspaper.

Did you ever think you’d be so big? And, er, star on Ally McBeal?
No, who could have? The furthest I ever looked from my childhood, or even when we got our record deal, was the year 2000. It was a round number, I was going to be 38 years old and I thought, “What will I be like then?” To be sitting here in 2009, and having accomplished what we have in our lives, has been the biggest blessing.

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