I freely admit that, when in elementary school, I was totally into Bon Jovi. I can remember as a fifth or sixth grader rockin' out to "Shot through the heart" or "Living on a prayer". Even a bit later, "Blaze of Glory" and "Cowboy" still got me groovin'.
(On a side note, I do wonder what it means that grown men and women get all worked up over the same music that invigorated an eight-year old. I guess all it means is that I'm elitist. In fairness, I suppose those songs would still get me excited today. But they are forever grounded in my pre-teen existence.)
At any rate, I cannot make heads or tails of this new hit. Granted, Bon Jovi has come a long way down hill, with lame ass anthems like "Raise your hand" etc. But, "Have a nice day"? Pardon? The funniest thing about this song is the self-assured hardness and toughness of it. Jonny boy croons, "When the world gets in my face...I say, Have a nice dayayayayaya!" Wow, yeah man. That's what I was missing. That's what I frickin' needed. I'm gonna stick it to the man, to that whole bunch of lame asses gettin' me down. "Have a nice day...turkies..."
I dunno, maybe he got funding from Reading Rainbow or some other constructive public service announcement organization that encouraged him to write a non-confrontational, anger management song. "Mr. Bon Jovi, we're tired of those gangster rappers with their songs about AKs and doing their, um, ho's, and smoking their, um, blunts. Would you please write a song that will show kids these days that one can draw boundaries between oneself and those of ill-will in a more productive way? We will be sure to fund it so that it gets air time on all the stations, because on its own, we know it would flop." Well, if that's the case, then my hats off to Jonny. If people are out there rockin' out to this, visualizing in their head their bosses, their ex-boyfriends and girlfriends, that jerk who cut them off in traffic, etc, and if they are seeing themselves drawing a line in the sand and saying with pride "Have a nice day", and if they are seeing this instead of seeing themselves sockin' them in the eye, well, then, maybe Mr. Bon Jovi has done us a great service.
But in terms of music, this song is simply perfect...for me to poop on.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
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6 comments:
Thanks. Now it's stuck in my head. Rock on.
The question is - which song is a better anthem for white bread evangelicals: 'Livin' on a Prayer' or 'Have a Nice Day'? As in, which shows up at seeker services first?
I say the latter.
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