In summary:
Bon Jovi switched to a harder, heavier sound on 1992’s Keep The Faith. It’s a titanic effort which features several career highlights, and the bulk of the material has stood the test of time.
Keep The Faith receives 10/11.
★★★★★★★★★★
Jon Bon Jovi’s hairstyle is one of the few things to transcend both the 1980s and the 1990s.
As are his knack for writing kick-ass rock songs, and his epic pronunciation of the word “thay-engs” (that’s “things” to you and I).
And all of these weapons are out in force on the band’s fifth studio album, Keep The Faith, which spawned an impressive six hit singles and sold over 10 million copies around the world.
Not only are those numbers impressive for any band, but especially so for Bon Jovi in 1992.
You see, this album dropped in the midst of the grunge wave, and was largely expected to fail. Not only did it succeed, it cemented Bon Jovi’s status as one of the world’s biggest rock bands, elevating them into an elite tier of musicians who were seemingly unaffected by the changing rock landscape (the others being Guns N’ Roses and Metallica).
There are several career highlights scattered throughout Keep The Faith’s lengthy 66-minute runtime.
The first is album opener I Believe.
At its core it’s a tight, laser focused rock song, and it’s easy to see it as a signpost on the road which led to the eventual creation of It’s My Life.
When we look beneath the surface, the track also discusses the mental health risks of trying to live up to the unrealistic standards set by Hollywood, and it takes several pot-shots at their former hair metal contemporaries, many of whom Jon Bon Jovi felt were “selling their soul” to cash in on the short-lived grunge trend.
"Don't look up to your movie screens, your records or your magazines.
Close your eyes and you will see that you are all you really need."
The album is front-loaded with massive hits. Lead single Keep The Faith sees the band uncork one of the best choruses they’ve ever written, and this is quickly followed by classic singles I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead, In These Arms, and splendid power ballad Bed Of Roses.
It’s a record which captures the band at an important career crossroads, and that’s something which has added to the charm of the album over the years.
They hadn’t quite shed all of their 80s bombast at this point in their career, so musically, there are several instances where Jon Bon Jovi’s growing ambitions clash with his inability to save himself from himself.
For example, while it’s clear that he’s trying to distance himself from his party rock past and his hair metal contemporaries (evidenced by the superior production of this album), he also can’t resist yelling that “Seven days of Saturday is all that I need” (I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead) and declaring his undying lust for all of womankind (Woman In Love).
It’s this jarring combination of backwards and forwards which creates some of the album’s best (and worst) moments.
Jon Bon Jovi: “”When we got back together in a room in Vancouver, we closed the door and ignored what had happened to our genre of music. We’d been kicked in the teeth by Nirvana, but we didn’t pay attention to that. We got rid of the clichés, wrote some socially conscious lyrics and got a haircut. I didn’t do a grunge thing and I didn’t do a rap thing. But I knew I couldn’t re-write Livin’ on a Prayer again, so I didn’t try. And it paid off. It made me a better songwriter, too, because it would never have been possible for me to write Bed Of Roses or Dry County five years ago.”
He’s probably right.
An astoundingly well-written ballad, Bed Of Roses sheds light on his struggles with trying to balance married life with being the frontman of one of the world’s biggest rock bands.
"As you close your eyes, know that I'm thinking about you.
As my mistress, she calls me, to stand in her spotlight again."
Meanwhile, the experimental Dry County comes in at 10-minutes, making it (by far) the longest Bon Jovi song to date.
It’s worth every second, too, and stands tall as the jewel in Keep The Faith’s crown.
This track really drives home just how far Bon Jovi has come as a songwriter since 1988’s New Jersey, and provides axeman Richie Sambora with an opportunity to unleash some Earth-shattering riffs on the way to what will ultimately be remembered as his greatest ever guitar solo.
Seriously, it’s the type of stuff you’ll want to tell your grandkids about!
Deeper into the playlist sits the ferocious Fear, which features Bon Jovi at their loudest. The lyrics are top notch on this standout track, and the band really smashes through your speakers like never before.
Written as a cynical sequel to mega hit Livin’ On A Prayer (“Take my hand, I Know we’ll make it!”), the singer replaces the hopefulness of the mid-80s with a bleak story that sounds like it came from the rain-soaked streets of Gotham City.
Hidden bonus track Save A Prayer (taken from the international version of the album) also deserves a mention, because it features a great vocal performance and should have been included on the main album.
Not everything on Keep The Faith lands successfully, though.
Numbers like Woman In Love and the schlocky ballad I Want You struggle under the weight of Bob Rock’s crunching production, and would’ve likely fared better on their 80s output instead, whereas the poor lyrics of If I Was Your Mother lets down what is an otherwise good (and very heavy) song.
Overall, though, Keep The Faith is a triumph which captures Bon Jovi at the peak of their powers.
It never got the praise it deserved when it was first released, but that was more a case of bad timing and poor journalism than anything else (e.g. once-respected UK magazines RAW and Kerrang! each handed it scathing 1-star reviews for “not being Nirvana enough”).
So allow me to do the honours: listening back now, in 2024, not only does Keep The Faith rank as one of Bon Jovi’s finest albums, it also ranks as one of the best pure rock albums of the 1990s, period.
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. What can I say, Superman got laser eyes and I got this! So here’s how you should listen to Bon Jovi: Keep The Faith (1992) for maximum effectiveness:
- Keep The Faith (5:46)
- I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead (4:43)
- In These Arms (5:19)
- Little Bit Of Soul (5:44)
- Bed Of Roses (6:34)
- I Believe (5:48) ★
- Fear (3:06) ★
- Dry County (9:52) ★
- If I Was Your Mother (4:27)
- Save A Prayer (5:58) ^
- Woman In Love (3:48)
- I Want You (5:36)
- Blame It On The Love Of Rock & Roll (4:24)
^ This is a bonus track from the international version of Keep The Faith (1992).
In summary:
Bon Jovi switched to a harder, heavier sound on 1992’s Keep The Faith. It’s a titanic effort which features several career highlights, and the bulk of the material has stood the test of time.
Keep The Faith receives 10/11.
★★★★★★★★★★
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