0:02

You're listening to Math and Magic, a production

0:04

of iHeartRadio.

0:08

I think it comes down to truth.

0:10

No matter what we're collectively marketing

0:13

and or the dirty word it's selling,

0:16

it has to be based in truth because even

0:18

if you pull the wool over someone's eyes once,

0:20

it's not going to resonate the second time.

0:24

I'm Bob Pittman.

0:25

Today is a special episode of Math and Magic,

0:27

and it might sound a little different, not

0:30

only because our guest is one of the biggest rock

0:32

stars on the planet, but because we recorded

0:34

live on stage at the Possible

0:37

Conference at the Fountain Blue in Miami.

0:39

And I hope you enjoyed my conversation exploring

0:42

math and magic, which I bon Jovi.

0:47

Today we have a guest who is a magician

0:49

in many obvious ways, which

0:52

we'll explore today. But the math's pretty good too.

0:54

You've sold one hundred and fifty million albums worldwide.

0:56

He's played twenty eight hundred concerts

0:59

and fifty for thirty.

1:01

Five million fans.

1:02

He had three top ranking

1:05

tours in six years, matching a record held

1:07

by only the Rolling Stones. He

1:09

is also a successful business

1:11

person. He and his son started the wildly successful

1:14

Hampton Water Wine company. He's

1:16

a generous and impactful philanthropist.

1:19

He's an actor, he has strong political

1:22

convictions which make their way into his music.

1:24

And he's a well known family man,

1:27

great marriage and role model for how to

1:29

do it the right way. But

1:32

what's also interesting is he started his ride

1:35

at about the same time we started

1:37

MTV, so we were sort of locked

1:40

through this thing.

1:40

And you know, when people start, especially

1:43

in the music.

1:43

Business, you never know who's

1:46

going to be there thirty years from now, and very

1:48

few are.

1:49

So we got the guy who

1:51

is here, John bon Jovi.

1:53

Well, thank you, thank you, Mom, thank you. I'm happy to

1:55

be here. Good morning.

1:58

We got a lot to talk about.

1:59

But first I want to do do you in sixty

2:02

seconds. What we're going to do is we're going to lightning

2:04

round style. Give you a couple

2:07

of choices.

2:07

Lay down right like you're ready to go. Ready

2:10

to go.

2:10

Prefer cats or dogs, dogs,

2:13

early.

2:13

Riser, night out, morning guy city

2:16

or country city, winter

2:18

or summer.

2:19

Summer, salt, your sweet torn.

2:24

Beach, your mountains, beach, off of your tea

2:26

coffee text dark call depends.

2:32

Garden State or Madison Square Garden Garden

2:34

State.

2:36

There we go.

2:36

Here's the Jersey folks, It's

2:38

about to get harder. All time favorite

2:41

musical artist The Beatles. Childhood

2:44

hero.

2:46

Bruce had a lot to do with my being here today.

2:49

There we go.

2:52

Technology, you can't live without my teenage

2:55

kids, favorite

2:58

country to visit.

3:00

The final one, What did you want to be when

3:02

you're growing up?

3:03

Me?

3:04

And it happens only in America?

3:08

So let's jump in.

3:10

You are one of the best

3:13

and most enduring brands in music?

3:15

How do you stay connected with this audience for

3:18

forty years?

3:21

Nothing would have happened if you didn't have a song.

3:24

So the brand had to be built on a solid

3:26

foundation, which was the song and

3:29

being true to who and what I

3:31

was.

3:32

In order for the collective

3:34

we to.

3:35

Then be true to who we were, and

3:37

so that is the basis of all of it. Not

3:40

to chase fads and fascions was

3:42

also really important to me. Fads

3:45

and fashions come and go, and the truth

3:48

will always prevail.

3:49

Were you ever tempted with any of the fads or fashions.

3:52

Not really to be? I don't think well, I

3:54

don't think so.

3:55

I may have been a byproduct

3:57

of the closure wore in the a or

4:00

the haircut you hadn't it. But that's

4:02

who and what you were in real time.

4:05

And if the next fat in fashion

4:07

came along, ie in our business, boy

4:10

bands and then grunge music

4:13

and then wrap, you know, we were there

4:15

at the advent of rap, and to

4:17

start doing duets would

4:19

not have seemed honest, you know, to

4:21

certainly be with a boy band and or none

4:24

of that would have rang true. So I was

4:26

smart enough to know not to get a flannel shirt.

4:28

When Seattle became popular, it was just

4:31

stay the quarters.

4:33

Let's talk about intergenerational hits,

4:35

and these are marketers here, so they're looking

4:37

for things that are enduring. My friend's

4:40

daughter, it is twenty two. She was

4:42

in a college bar, living on

4:44

a prayer comes on. The kids all

4:47

start dancing on the tables. They

4:49

weren't even born when the song came out. What

4:52

is it about your music that

4:55

connects was such a young generation,

4:58

even though it was made originally for a

5:00

completely different generation.

5:02

Again, I think it comes down to truth.

5:05

No matter what we're collectively marketing

5:08

and or you know the dirty words selling,

5:11

it.

5:11

Has to be based in truth.

5:13

Because even if you pull the wool over someone's

5:15

eyes once, it's not going to resonate the second

5:17

time. So when we wrote a song, if

5:19

I was doing it from a place of honesty,

5:22

that song resonated with me, and therefore I was

5:25

confident it would probably.

5:26

Resonate with that audience.

5:28

Songs like Living on a Prayer, when we wrote them

5:31

to be bluntly honest, I didn't realize what we

5:33

had, but I felt that the character

5:35

driven storyline was legit,

5:38

and in doing so, you know, obviously

5:40

that's.

5:40

One of the many that has stood the test of time.

5:43

It's as simple as that, because it's everybody's

5:46

story.

5:47

So when you create a new song, how

5:50

often do you know that you've got

5:52

something special?

5:53

Absolutely do not, as you know, as we talk

5:55

behind the stage. I got in around two thirty this

5:57

morning and have been recording some

5:59

stuff in Los Angeles for next

6:01

year.

6:02

And I left there thinking

6:04

I've got it. I'm a genius.

6:05

But I wake up this morning you go, I don't

6:08

know what I'm talking about. I just did it again, you

6:10

know, you really, you don't know. There's so many times that

6:12

I've thought I had it and I don't, and so

6:14

many times that I was surprised.

6:16

So by the way, for us old people, let me just throw something

6:19

out.

6:20

Hey, But you've gotten older, have

6:22

you got more questions when you were younger? Did you

6:24

think this is going to be a hit or is

6:26

this something that as you age you go.

6:28

Who knows.

6:30

There's a certain confidence you have when you're a young

6:32

kid.

6:32

I was much more fearless, and

6:35

it was probably naivete. Now

6:37

I don't live in fear, but I

6:40

don't pay attention like I used to. There

6:43

was a story I was talking about yesterday and

6:45

it was during the era of Slippery and Wet,

6:47

and I remember this really well, reading

6:50

a music publication and George

6:52

Harrison was alive and well, and it was

6:54

asked about the success of the band and

6:56

he said, I don't know who they are. And I

6:58

was initially offended. And

7:00

I was saying to the guy yesterday that I was talking

7:02

to. He wasn't saying

7:04

something offensive about the band. It

7:07

was just not where he was at

7:09

in his life then. So

7:11

as we were talking about young, young, young

7:14

artists yesterday that coming out of TikTok,

7:17

you know the guys with one new song, I

7:19

said, no, I'm sorry, I don't know them. And it wasn't meant

7:21

to be at all offensive. It was

7:23

that I'm not paying attention to that.

7:25

All I can do is beyond my journey and

7:28

write who I am and what I want to talk about,

7:31

and not to look around based on that.

7:34

It has to be based in truth.

7:36

So let's take that one step further.

7:38

You are almost like a rock

7:41

star by day, family

7:43

man by night, and everyone who knows

7:45

you comments that's sort of your reputation.

7:48

I don't think you've ever fallen victim to the trappings

7:50

of being a rock star. You stay in rooms,

7:52

not sweets. There are no trails of limos,

7:54

there's no tons of security, no

7:57

visible hangar ons, and you have one

7:59

of the most six celebrity marriage is how

8:02

does that happen?

8:02

There have to be some lessons in that.

8:04

But the group of everybody here who

8:07

probably has opportunities to get seduced

8:09

by power and privilege.

8:12

So did I look, I'm those

8:14

saint, I'm the lead singer and a

8:16

very successful rock band. We've

8:18

had a lot of wonderful memories,

8:20

but they were what they were, and you

8:23

know, on the family side of things, that's my rock

8:26

and my wife and I went to high.

8:27

School together, and I know that we

8:31

grew together.

8:32

That was important, you know, we grew up together,

8:34

so she saw every facet of this, and

8:36

then you know, we grew together. That's imperative

8:39

here. And then you know, the kids, I hope

8:41

they see that work ethics. So again,

8:44

if you can bestow on your kids anything

8:46

is if they could see by example

8:48

what you've done, maybe they'll take the

8:50

good of it and disregard some of the bad.

8:55

I'm no saint, it's just it's a work in progress.

8:58

You grew up obviously the product

9:00

of the seventies and early eighties. How

9:03

did your family life influence you? And

9:05

what are those sort of lessons

9:07

that you learned there that show up as you

9:10

today.

9:10

In the time that I was born, in nineteen sixty two,

9:13

President Kennedy was in office, my parents fully

9:15

bought into the whole camelot.

9:18

You know, we can go to the moon, you could be

9:20

anything you want. We're going to buy a house in middle

9:23

class New Jersey. I was blessed with

9:25

that. I was born at the right time, in the right place,

9:27

looking a certain way, and so there

9:30

weren't a lot of, you know, obstacles in the way

9:32

of dreaming. And I know the difference,

9:34

and I know the difference especially now,

9:37

so I was lucky, and then hard work

9:39

and.

9:39

Luck makes for success, you

9:41

know.

9:42

But a lot of it had to do with the time, the

9:44

place, the color of my

9:46

skin, the economic advantages

9:49

of you know, two parents that worked, and

9:52

that work ethic was instilled in all of us.

9:54

Got to hope my kids say something like that about

9:57

me at a certain point. Are

9:59

there any words from your parents that

10:01

echo in your head now? And then

10:03

that advice they gave you or comments

10:06

they made.

10:07

Other than my mother was smart enough to say the

10:09

band's name should be bon Jovi.

10:13

That was pretty good advice. You

10:16

know.

10:17

Even then, I knew that if I was going to fail

10:20

or succeed, it was going to be, you know, my

10:22

responsibility.

10:24

So that was actually

10:26

great advice. That my

10:28

folks were supportive enough.

10:30

And when the drinking age in New Jersey

10:32

was eighteen and you could sneak into a bar at sixteen,

10:34

you could cut your teeth, but you didn't have responsibility

10:37

yet. You didn't have to worry about a paycheck.

10:39

You know, you lived under your folks roof at sixteen,

10:41

at least I did. All they told us was

10:43

that if you're going to be in a bar, at least we know where you are,

10:46

and so if you're going to focus on something, keep

10:48

focusing on it. I didn't go to college,

10:51

you know, but I had a record deal by the time I was twenty

10:53

one. It's the same record deal at the same company,

10:55

and I'm sixty one, and that's pretty

10:57

good.

10:58

Yeah, that's pretty good.

11:00

Give me a little loss of that stability,

11:02

and the music business not allow of

11:04

it.

11:06

You.

11:06

Also, we were talking a little bit of a

11:08

backstage where parents, we all have

11:10

these kids coming into their own great

11:13

temptation to tell your kids

11:16

what they should do. Did

11:19

you give your parents a vote, you know.

11:20

In retrospect. But I don't want to hear that, Bob. I

11:22

want to hear that I'm right and my kids.

11:24

Should listen to me.

11:26

This is bullshit, because

11:29

I've come to that phase and stage in my children's

11:31

lives where they don't listen to me any longer.

11:33

And I'm I'm just dad. Oh you

11:35

don't know what you're talking about, and you're like, oh God,

11:38

But you know, it's a continual learning.

11:42

In the process of learning and being

11:44

a parent, ever evolving a.

11:46

Being a family man. You're actually in business with your

11:49

sons.

11:50

Yeah, in this great

11:52

successful watch company.

11:53

Hampton water, Hampton Water.

11:55

How did that dynamic come about?

11:57

My son, Jesse, was a walk on football player

12:00

at Notre Dame and his roommate

12:02

was a hockey player. And I often

12:05

drank Rose wine, and for

12:07

many many years, under the guise

12:09

of not telling my kids that I was drinking as much,

12:11

I'd say, Daddy wants.

12:12

Some pink juice.

12:13

And one night the kid came home and he said, I've

12:15

got an idea. It's not pink juice anymore.

12:18

It's Hampton water and you know, and I went,

12:20

wow, I love that. And

12:22

then we start to jokingly saying

12:24

we should have a wine knowing nothing

12:26

about the wine business, and I said, if you go back

12:28

to school, use that business degree, come

12:31

back with a power point if it makes

12:33

any sense, I know where to go with it. He

12:35

did six years later, where the

12:37

number five rose in the world, and

12:40

he's really on the verge of something big, which

12:43

is fabulous. One

12:46

thing we did from day two was

12:49

we really were confident that we

12:51

weren't going to have a celebrity brand, but we

12:53

were going to have a family business. And

12:55

so you know, I'm Santa Claus, I'm the guy

12:57

that shows up for the photo op he's the

12:59

one that does all the hard work. But we've

13:02

got a full staff. Were in all fifty states, we're

13:04

in fifty plus countries, and it's a

13:06

family business. It's going great.

13:08

So let me get attle entrepreneurs lesson

13:11

in here.

13:11

Yeah, if you had known everything

13:14

you know now about the wine business,

13:17

would you have started it?

13:18

Then?

13:19

Yeah? I like this.

13:20

I find it sexier than selling you know,

13:23

socks. You know, I get the samples. I

13:26

like taking the samples home at night, so

13:29

you know, we're having fun with it. More

13:31

importantly, I'm absolutely

13:34

pay for the privilege of

13:36

being in business with one of my children,

13:39

who make me proud every day.

13:43

More of math and Magic right after this quick

13:45

break, Welcome

13:48

back to Mathem Magic.

13:50

Let's hear more from my conversation with John

13:52

bon Jovi. Soul

13:54

Kitchen. You

13:57

and your wife started it.

13:59

It served over one hundred and sixty thousand

14:01

meals. I think it's the number you've used

14:03

your power and connections to help others.

14:06

That's a hallmark.

14:07

I think you've done on a very small scale, and

14:09

then you're doing on a much larger scale too. Where

14:11

did that strong commitment to help others

14:14

come from?

14:16

There was probably instilled in me in

14:18

my years of travel.

14:20

The seeds were probably planted by my parents,

14:23

but they weren't necessarily philanthropic, or

14:26

certainly weren't political. In

14:28

my world travels, i'd seen a lot of unfair

14:32

inequality. But on the streets

14:34

of Philadelphia, I

14:37

was the co owner of an arena football

14:39

team with a buddy of mine

14:41

named Craig Spencer.

14:42

Whose daughter's here today.

14:44

And I said, we can win

14:48

in the market if we think

14:50

of this differently than the Big four baseball,

14:52

basketball, football, hockey.

14:54

And that was to be more philanthropic than anyone.

14:56

One night, I was looking out of the window of the hotel

15:00

and I saw a man sleeping on a great

15:03

dead a winter. And I called a buddy of mine

15:05

who was born and raised in Philly, and I said, if you could

15:07

find me somebody in the homeless area, I'd

15:09

like to talk about housing. And

15:12

he found me the Michael Jordan of the issue,

15:15

a sister of mercy by the name of Mary

15:17

Scullion. So Sister Mary and I meet

15:20

and she says, maybe you guys can save up enough money

15:22

to refurbish a row home.

15:24

And I said, how much is it to do a block? And

15:27

I said, I'm not being a wise ass, but

15:29

if we can do a block, we could do a neighborhood. If we could

15:31

do a neighborhood, we can impact the city. She

15:33

said, I like you, And one thing led

15:35

to another. We've built

15:37

a thousand units of affordable housing. We have

15:40

four soon to be five Soul Kitchen

15:43

restaurants. The restaurant is an

15:45

incredibly unique model. It didn't exist anywhere,

15:48

but Dorothea dreamed it up. It's a

15:50

pay it forward model. If any

15:52

of you were to come to it, there's no prices on

15:54

the menu. It's a farm to table

15:56

environment. It looks like a beautiful beestro,

15:59

but you would never know that someone next to you is.

16:01

Actually in need.

16:02

And get out of your mind's eye that it's

16:05

a soup kitchen, because it's not those

16:08

amongst us that are making ends

16:10

meet barely.

16:12

You know the old adage two paychecks away.

16:14

In the economic downturn, this was really

16:17

prevalent again in COVID. People

16:19

would come to our restaurant. They

16:21

are greeted by a what looks

16:23

like a hostess, but really a social worker.

16:26

That social worker discusses the

16:28

concept and if you are

16:32

willing, you participate and

16:34

that means you're busting a table, you're

16:36

working in the garden, you're doing something that

16:38

is earning that meal.

16:42

Empowering somebody,

16:44

having them give the opportunity to earn

16:46

that meal makes someone feel so

16:49

much better than a handout.

16:51

It is a hand up.

16:53

And so we created this model in the restaurant

16:55

those who want to affect change directly. If you

16:57

and I go in there and you put down fifty

17:00

dollars, it pays for your meal and

17:02

the meal of that guy and his wife.

17:04

Daughter sitting next to you.

17:07

Directly, I'm affecting change

17:09

and that guy's volunteering, or if you don't

17:11

volunteer, you sort of feel

17:13

like you're missing out of the party. So we started

17:15

the first one in a thirty three seat restaurant. It

17:18

serve over one hundred thousand meals.

17:20

Our second one was after Supers from

17:22

Sandy in New Jersey. We have an

17:24

all service providing in there, which was

17:26

integral to this too, because people

17:29

who are in need of a meal, they

17:32

need opportunities for service

17:34

providing, whether it's work credentials or

17:36

job training, childcare, dental

17:38

doctors. We have access

17:41

to all that in our second location. Then in

17:44

a genius move. We realize that kids

17:46

on college campuses who

17:48

are struggling with food insecurity.

17:51

So we went to Rutgers University,

17:53

and to be honest with you, the chancellor didn't

17:55

realize her own food pantry

17:58

was what and where it was until

18:00

mister bon Jovi showed up and she's walking

18:02

through the halls of Rutgers and sees that food

18:04

pantry and goes, we can do better,

18:07

and we said we'd like to put a sole kitchen on

18:09

campus.

18:10

The phone rang off the hook.

18:12

From UCLA to Georgia, universities

18:14

across the nation wanting to open soul

18:17

kitchens and then COVID hit.

18:19

It set us back.

18:20

But Rutgers was the first one to stand

18:22

up and say we want to do this.

18:24

And now it's doing very well

18:27

there and at a place called Jersey City

18:29

University, and now we're going to expand

18:32

on the college model because, much

18:34

to many people's surprise, kids

18:36

on college campus just have food insecurity.

18:39

That's great. Great.

18:45

We can't leave today without

18:47

the hot topic AI music.

18:52

I want AI to do my interviews to

18:56

travel for me.

18:57

Yesterday was my first opportunity to

19:00

see that mash up with the weekend and.

19:03

It scared the hell out of me.

19:05

What I'm hoping though, is that again

19:07

the truth prevails, and so you

19:10

know, a real song written by the real

19:12

guy, I

19:14

hope is always going to win that fight. So

19:20

I guess I'm going to offer the same massage I did

19:22

when I came in. Don't fall for fads and fashions,

19:24

and let's be aware that that one's scary, you

19:26

know, AI really is. It can be used

19:28

for good and it can be used for bad, and we

19:31

should all be very.

19:31

Aware of it.

19:33

We are probably all of us in the advertising

19:35

business, probably overrepresented in

19:38

New York Silicon Valley, LA.

19:41

You're out on tour, you really see the country.

19:43

What advice would you have for everybody

19:45

here in terms of trying to talk

19:47

about everybody in America, not

19:50

just the narrow world we'd live in.

19:52

The coasts, as we call it, the flyover.

19:54

Yeah, there's fifty states with fifty diverse

19:58

opinions of who and.

19:59

What we are as an But that's really what we're

20:01

supposed.

20:01

To have made the nation great, which was that

20:03

we the people, and you know, everybody

20:06

has their values and they should be

20:08

spoken to without just

20:10

the use of social media.

20:13

You know that connectivity is what's missing

20:15

today. And you know, brands

20:18

to me, bon Jovi is

20:21

Levi's. We are Cadillac,

20:23

we are Coca Cola. We're that thing that's

20:25

been there forever. And those

20:27

people between the two

20:30

sides are

20:32

that right and those values

20:35

are legit and should be heard.

20:37

So we always end the episodes

20:40

of Mathemagic with shout outs to the greats

20:43

for you because of who you are, who

20:45

on the business side of the music

20:48

business would you give a shout out to?

20:51

First name I guess it comes to mind is an old friend

20:53

named Jimmy Iveen. Jimmy,

20:56

you know, of course, was a great record producer,

20:59

saw that there was a change in

21:01

his own life and making the records that he

21:03

knew how to make.

21:04

It was like what am I going to do next?

21:06

So he was smart enough to become an owner

21:09

and create Innerscope with Ted

21:11

Field and then go on to

21:13

be in Beats when Interscope had run

21:16

its course. So he really created

21:18

something magical. If I think about

21:20

my football ties, you think about Jerry Jones,

21:23

and you know he just took another

21:25

football team and said, no, this is America's

21:27

team, and then he created the Dallas cowboys.

21:30

So there's ways to take something that is.

21:33

Considered to just be bedrock and

21:36

make magic out of it because you know of what it

21:38

stood for. So those would be guys,

21:40

you know, from different walks of my life that I feel

21:42

that I'd give it the quickest shout.

21:44

Let's go on the other side, let's go on the magic

21:46

side, creative side, producer,

21:48

artist, Who would you give a shout out to?

21:52

I don't know.

21:52

I worked with a guy yesterday named Ryan Tedder

21:55

from a band called One Republic.

21:56

I find that he's the next generation.

21:58

Kind of whiz kid

22:00

and very very smart, both you know,

22:02

playing the instrument as well as talking

22:05

about the business of music. I used to pride

22:07

myself on knowing many of the

22:09

aspects of the business of music.

22:11

You know, I'm one of those fortunate guys. I

22:13

own my publishing.

22:14

That's seventeen albums of you know,

22:17

that's a lot of records for.

22:18

You who don't know that. That's like Nirvana.

22:20

Yeah, so it's I knew all

22:22

those things when I was a kid. It was we

22:25

created bon Jovie Management. I didn't have a

22:27

manager, the commission stayed in house.

22:29

So we were smart enough that I knew how to do all

22:31

that, But I'd see the next generation that's

22:34

what they do, and.

22:36

I'm excited to talk.

22:37

To those kind of young guys about it.

22:40

John, thanks for coming.

22:41

Thank you, Bob, thank you for having me.

22:43

Here

22:46

are a few things I picked up from my conversation with

22:48

John bon Jovi. One, stay

22:51

true to who you are. Fads and fashion

22:53

come and go. For John, staying

22:55

true to himself instead of chasing the hottest

22:57

new trend in music has been the key to longevity.

23:01

Two.

23:02

Luck is no match for discipline. John

23:04

is the first to admit that much of his success has

23:06

to do with being born at the right place the right

23:08

time. However, he wouldn't have

23:11

achieved his level of success without

23:13

the strong work ethic his parents

23:15

instilled in him.

23:17

Three. Family and business

23:19

can be a great mix. When john

23:22

Son came up with the idea of the successful

23:24

wine brand Hampton Water, John

23:27

knew he didn't want it to be just another

23:29

short lived celebrity brand. Instead,

23:33

he built it together with his son, and it's

23:35

a true family business with staying

23:37

power. I'm Bob Pittman, Thanks

23:39

for listening.

23:42

That's it for today's episode. Thanks so

23:44

much for listening to Math and Magic, a production

23:46

of iHeartRadio. The show is hosted

23:48

by Bob Pittman. Special thanks to Sidney

23:51

Rosenbloom for booking and wrangling our

23:53

wonderful.

23:53

Talent, which is no small feat. Our

23:55

editor Emily Meronoff, our engineers

23:58

Jessica Crinchitch and but He Fraser,

24:00

our executive producers Nikki Etoor and

24:02

Ali Perry, and of course Gail

24:05

Raoul, Eric Angel Noel and

24:07

everyone who helped bring this show to your ears.

24:10

Until next time,