Jon Bon Jovi 'Janie, Don't Take Your Love To Town'

Chart Peak: 13
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This is the third single from Jon Bon Jovi's solo album Destination Anywhere... The band Bon Jovi are still going strong and have now sold over 75 million albums around the world.

It's probably a sign of the way the charts were in 1997 that this single matched the chart position of JBJ's first ever solo hit 'Blaze Of Glory' despite being much less well-known. The two previous singles from the Destination Anywhere project - a TV movie starring Bon Jovi himself and Demi Moore was released alongside the CD - both made the UK Top 10, although reaction to them and the album was more muted in the US. In an interview, he claimed that 'Midnight In Chelsea' had "stiffed" in America because people over there didn't know where Chelsea was, although the next single was called 'Queen Of New Orleans' and they must have known where that was.

No place names in the title 'Janie, Don't Take Your Love To Town' but it's probably not coincidental that the title recalls both 'Ruby Don't Take Your Love To Town' and Bruce Springsteen's 'Janie Don't You Lose Heart'; Janie is also the name of Moore's character in the film, apparently, but I daresay he wrote the song first. Despite the title references being very American, this is supposed to be a more European-sounding album, with occasional use of drum machines and synthesisers and even female backing singers (one of whom is the model Helena Christensen, though it's not clear whether she was on this particular track). Despite the intention, it's a pretty conservative-sounding track here, and not an especially memorable one either. His band are hardly immune to the generic or formulaic but at least they know how to come up with something catchy. This is just a female version of the Meredith Brooks song without the shock value. Maybe Richie Sambora was more important than we realised.

Available on: Destination Anywhere