Inspired by the life-changing events of a year that’s defied all expectations, Bon Jovi discusses crafting the new songs with his band on their new album Bon Jovi 2020 on SiriusXM’s Classic Rewind (Ch. 25). Arguably the most topical rock album to emerge this year, band leader Bon Jovi will take a deep dive in the band’s 15th album.  SiriusXM Host and original MTV VJ Alan Hunter will virtually join Jon as he answers subscribers’ questions about the new album and Bon Jovi’s Rock And Roll Hall of Famer’s career.

Jon Bon Jovi on how he created “Beautiful Drug”: That song ["Beautiful Drug"], we wrote early on. That was one of the two songs on the record that I actually co-wrote and I co-wrote that with both John Shanks, who was my co-producer on the records, and also one of our guitar players and my dear friend, Billy Falcon. We wrote the song here in this room where I'm sitting right now. It was just as simple rocks on to be bluntly honest. Not a lot of depth to it, but it was something that you think you'd play in the arena. But, as the record took shape between March and June with the rerecording and the additional songs, I rewrote the lyrics. I thought that it would be much more fitting of the rest of the material on the record if they were all topical. So, in this moment in time, while we are in fact looking for a vaccine, my substitution was love. And I thought in that lyric, that was just one little page in this big book called 2020. But the lyric then was more specific and it still rocked. So, that's what happened. But that song was finished, done, in the can ready for release and then I pulled it back and we rewrote it.”

On 2020’s creative direction: “It was March of 2019 when we set out to record this record in Nashville, Tennessee. In retrospect, I realized it was just a collection of songs and what was going to become the first batch as opposed to have been the album. Some of the earlier songs, there's a song on the album called, ‘Blood In The Water,’ that had more of a topical sway to them. And I'd come up with the title with the guys and I said, ‘I think we could call this album 2020.’ And I said, it's a tongue-in-cheek nod to an election year. Obviously, it could be a great bumper sticker. So there was a wryness in it, but it was lighthearted. On the other hand, I thought after all we'd been through, 2020 also is clear vision and I had a vision for myself and where I thought that the band were going. So, with that in mind, we, we set out to make that record. But, in light of all that was happening around us, I continued writing and 2020 took on a whole different meaning, when ‘Let It Rain’ and ‘Lower The Flag’ and ‘American Reckoning’ and ‘Do What You Can’ and I just kept writing and writing and writing. I took the position that I was just witness to history because so much is going on around us and my belief is that every day is an opportunity to write a song. It's whether or not you are receptive to the song that you're witnessing and in light of everything that had been going on, I found that opportunity to be exciting because it wasn't me just writing a boy-girl song. It wasn't me writing a buddy song. This was about topical issues that we were all living. And so 2020 is my sort of take on the world that I either lived, read about or watched on the television.”

Bon Jovi's new album, 2020, is out now via Island Records. Order the album here.

2020 tracklisting (with songwriter credits):

"Limitless" (Jon Bon Jovi, Billy Falcon, John Shanks)
"Do What You Can" (Jon Bon Jovi)
"American Reckoning" (Jon Bon Jovi)
"Beautiful Drug" (Jon Bon Jovi, Billy Falcon, John Shanks)
"Story Of Love" (Jon Bon Jovi)
"Let It Rain" (Jon Bon Jovi)
"Lower The Flag" (Jon Bon Jovi)
"Blood In The Water" (Jon Bon Jovi)
"Brothers In Arms" (Jon Bon Jovi)
"Unbroken" (Jon Bon Jovi)

"Brothers In Arms" lyric video:

"Let It Rain" lyric video:

"Lower The Flag" lyric video:

"Do What You Can" video:

"American Reckoning" lyric video:

"Limitless" lyric video:

"Limitless" video:

"Unbroken" video: