Entered Top 40: April 21, 1984
1 week
Peaked at: 39
And here it begins. In retrospect it might be easy or tempting to scroll down and watch the “Runaway” video and think well, it was all there. Good-looking guy, decent-enough song. I’m not convinced; it still seems a little nondescript to me, at this point.
Sources differ on when John Bongiovi recorded the first demo of “Runaway;” either 1980 or 1981. By that time he had been playing in local bands since he was 13, and he was working as a gofer at his cousin Tony Bongiovi’s Power Station recording studio. It was there in 1980 that John landed his unlikely first professional recording: singing lead on “R2D2 We Wish You A Merry Christmas” from Christmas in the Stars: A Star Wars Christmas Album.
John had rerecorded his “Runaway” demo with session musicians in 1982, and agreed to put the song on a Long Island AOR radio station’s local-music compilation record. That version started getting local heat, so he quickly assembled a band — including drummer Tico Torres and guitarist Richie Sambora — anglicized his name to Jon Bon Jovi, and started work on the Bon Jovi debut LP. The band in the video is the familiar lineup that’d be superstars in a few years, but the recording is that 1982 demo version.
One thing about “Runaway” that didn’t last long were those high notes JBJ hits near the end. Wikipedia says he dropped those in favor of a short guitar solo. “Runaway’s” followup was “She Don’t Know Me” (#48) is the only song in the Bon Jovi catalog written completely outside the band (by Donnie Iris member Mark Avsec). Bon Jovi’s second LP, 7800° Fahrenheit, was pretty much disowned by the band. In 1986 Bon Jovi hooked up with Desmond Child, who ended up cowriting both #1 hits from Slippery When Wet, “You Give Love a Bad Name” and “Livin’ on a Prayer.” There we get the big, booming singalong arena choruses, and at that point Bon Jovi is huge for the rest of the 1980s.
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