Songoftheday 8/4/13 - On the street where you live girls talk about their social lives, they're made of lipstick, plastic and paint, a touch of sable in their eyes....

Bon Jovi - "Runaway"
from the album Bon Jovi (1984)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #39 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 1

Today's Song of the Day is the first hit single for New Jersey "hair-metal" band Bon Jovi, named for lead singer Jon Bongiovi, who got his break working at the music studio the Power Station in New York where his cousin Tony Bongiovi. In 1983 he used his connections in the studio to make a demo, "Runaway", that would be used on a radio station compilation. With E Street Band keyboardist Roy Bittan along with a couple more studio musicians, Bon Jovi's "Runaway" kept turning heads until he was signed by Mercury Records. Assembling a new group with guitarist Richie Sambora, Alec John Such on bass, David Bryan on keys, and Tico Torres at the drums, the group released their self-titled debut album, albeit with Jon's "Runaway" attached as the first single. Named Bon Jovi to mimic the double-name moniker like Van Halen, it seemed to work on the east coast...

"Runaway" became Bon Jovi's first top-40 hit in April of 1984. It was a big hit on rock radio, where the single peaked up at #5, and of course here in Jersey the record was huge, seemingly played on local WPST every hour or so.

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Here's Bon Jovi way back in 1984 promoting the album in Japan...

...and again  year later...

On the Crush tour in 2000, the band turned the song into a ballad...

Finally, here's BJ doing "Runaway" from 2008....

Up Tomorrow: Another of my top-10 all-time 80s new wave faves. By a British band declaring independence. With Mutual Of Omaha.