In summary:

There are some real bangers featured across this 4-disc collection which should’ve made the cut for several of their biggest albums, but the vast majority of this 51-track LP will only appeal to super-fans.

100 Million Fans Can’t Be Wrong receives 6/11.
★★★★★★

Bon Jovi celebrated their 20th anniversary by dropping a huge four-disc collection of rarities, outtakes, and B-sides.

Titled 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can’t Be Wrong, it coincided with them selling their 100,000,000th record.

And while we wouldn’t normally take the time to review an album which is primarily aimed at super-fans looking to soak up every last drop of content from the New Jersey rockers, there are some real gems buried within the 50+ tracks which are worth a listen.

Bon Jovi have always been good at identifying hit singles, so as you should expect, those songs were featured on their main albums.

What we get here are the album tracks which didn’t quite make the cut – but don’t let that dampen your expectations too much, because there’s more than a few tracks which could have (and probably should have) featured on their 80s and 90s output.

And that brings us to the biggest fault of 100,000,000 – it’s too vast!

You see, the sheer size of this monstrous 51-track collection means the good stuff is scattered across four discs, which dilutes the overall quality. It’s a shame Bon Jovi never released an alternate version which condensed all of the best tracks onto one disc (see below), because it would’ve made a really solid album.

Each disc in the collection focuses on a different era of the band’s career (1981-1985, 1986-1990, 1991-1995, and 1996-2004), therefore each one has it’s own distinct sound and feel.

Noteworthy highlights include the movie soundtrack duo of Good Guys Don’t Always Wear White and Edge Of A Broken Heart, which capture the band at the peak of their late 80s hair metal pomp.

Under-stated rocker Garageland reminds us that, despite how polished and glossy they are now, at their core they remain a bunch of guys who just love rocking out.

There’s an authenticity about the track which is really quite endearing. Let’s not forget that, unlike the majority of their over-manufactured 80s rivals, Bon Jovi had played over 1000 gigs before breakthrough album Slippery When Wet catapulted them into the charts!

And for the life of us, we can’t figure out why neither the electric Taking It Back or potential hit The Radio Saved My Life Tonight were never used before now.

Both are superb efforts from the early 90s, showcasing the band’s ability to write instantly catchy songs.

Sure, it might have been difficult to squeeze them onto 1992’s splendid Keep The Faith, but they’re easily good enough to have made the cut for These Days, Crush, or Bounce – albums which actually suffered for not having enough rockers of this very kind.

Elsewhere, several tracks reveal the more mature, heavier Bon Jovi we came to know in the mid-to-late 90s, including the thumping Flesh & Bone (seriously, what a chorus), and standout track Why Aren’t You Dead, in which Jon Bon Jovi delivers the immortal line:

“You said you couldn’t live without me, so why aren’t you dead?”

Russ’ re-worked playlist:

Maybe it’s the autism in me, but I’ve always been good at re-working album playlists to create a superior listening experience. If 100 Million Fans Can’t Be Wrong was cut into a single album featuring the playlist below, it would’ve received an 8-star review:

1. Good Guys Don’t Always Wear White (4:29)
2. Edge Of A Broken Heart (4:34)
3. Thief Of Hearts (4:15)
4. Garageland (3:25) ★
5. Why Aren’t You Dead? (3:30)
6. Taking It Back (4:16) ★
7. The Fire Inside (4:50)
8. Flesh & Bone (5:00)
9. The Radio Saved My Life Tonight (5:07) ★
10. Maybe Someday (4:42)
11. Open All Night (5:47)
12. Rich Man Living In A Poor Man’s House (4:20)
13. Sympathy (5:23)
14. Real Life (3:50)
15. Love Ain’t Nothing But A Four Letter Word – Demo (4:07)

In summary:

There are some real bangers featured across this 4-disc collection which should’ve made the cut for several of their biggest albums, but the vast majority of this 51-track LP will only appeal to super-fans.

100 Million Fans Can’t Be Wrong receives 6/11.
★★★★★★