Bon Jovi – Always

Written For A Gary Oldman Movie That Rejected It

Released in September 1994 as the lead single from Bon Jovi’s first official greatest hits album Cross Road, “Always” peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent an extraordinary six months in the Top 10—27 weeks total on the chart—making it one of the longest-charting singles of the 1990s. The power ballad reached number one in Belgium, Canada, Ireland, and Switzerland, number two in Australia and the UK, and number four in Germany. It sold over one million copies in the United States alone and more than three million worldwide, becoming Bon Jovi’s highest-selling single and earning platinum certification from the RIAA. The song reached number 91 on Billboard’s 1994 year-end chart and number 17 on the 1995 year-end chart, eventually ranking 589th on Billboard’s Hot 100 All-Time chart from 1958 to 2018. What audiences didn’t know was that Jon Bon Jovi had originally written the song for the 1993 film Romeo Is Bleeding starring Gary Oldman as a corrupt cop, but the filmmakers rejected it, leaving Bon Jovi to reclaim the power ballad for his own greatest hits compilation.

While “Always” peaked at number four in America, blocked from the top three by Boyz II Men’s “On Bended Knee,” All-4-One’s “I Swear,” and Ace of Base’s “The Sign,” it became Bon Jovi’s 11th and final Top 10 hit on the Hot 100. The song’s remarkable longevity demonstrated the band’s crossover appeal to adult contemporary audiences even as grunge and alternative rock dominated MTV. In the UK, Cross Road became the bestselling album of 1994, while the single spent weeks in the Top 10. The track was bassist Alec John Such’s final recording with Bon Jovi before he departed in late 1994, ending the original five-member lineup that had dominated rock charts throughout the late 1980s. The success convinced Bon Jovi they could continue as a commercial force into the mid-1990s despite changing musical tastes, leading directly to their 1995 album These Days, which debuted at number one in the UK and sold over eight million copies worldwide.

Jon Bon Jovi wrote “Always” in 1993 specifically for the soundtrack to Romeo Is Bleeding, a neo-noir thriller directed by Peter Medak. The film featured Gary Oldman as Jack Grimaldi, a corrupt New York police sergeant who becomes entangled with the Russian mob and a dangerous female assassin played by Lena Olin. Bon Jovi crafted the ballad around themes of desperate devotion and unconditional commitment, believing the song captured the film’s dark romantic undercurrents. When the filmmakers passed on the track, Bon Jovi put it aside until the band began assembling material for Cross Road. The greatest hits album needed at least one or two new songs to entice fans who already owned the back catalog, making “Always” and its companion track “Someday I’ll Be Saturday Night” crucial to the compilation’s commercial viability. Bon Jovi later reflected that getting rejected by a movie was the best thing that could have happened because the song was far too good to be buried in a film soundtrack nobody would remember.

Recording sessions took place in 1994 with the band’s longtime collaborators. Richie Sambora contributed the crisp guitar work that Larry Flick from Billboard described as generating a charming breeze throughout the track. Michael Kamen, who’d arranged strings for Metallica’s S&M and scored films including Lethal Weapon and Die Hard, provided lush orchestration that gave the song its cinematic sweep. The production featured gradual shifts in tempo, building from intimate piano-driven verses into the dramatic chorus where Jon’s vocals strained for high notes that pushed his range to its limits. Tico Torres delivered understated drumming that emphasized the song’s emotional dynamics rather than overpowering them. The arrangement incorporated synthesizers, piano, acoustic guitars, and Kamen’s orchestral strings into a wall-of-sound production typical of mid-1990s power ballads. Engineers mixed Jon’s lead vocal prominently, capturing every rasp and crack in his delivery as he navigated the demanding melody. The final recording ran four minutes and 36 seconds, perfect for rock radio while maintaining the song’s emotional arc from vulnerability to declaration.

Cross Road, released in October 1994 via Mercury Records, compiled Bon Jovi’s biggest hits from their first decade alongside the two new tracks. The 14-song collection reached number eight on the Billboard 200 and spent 57 weeks on the chart, eventually earning multi-platinum certification. The album featured enduring classics including “Livin’ on a Prayer,” “Wanted Dead or Alive,” “You Give Love a Bad Name,” “Bad Medicine,” “I’ll Be There for You,” and “Blaze of Glory.” The compilation’s success validated Bon Jovi’s decision to take a break after their grueling touring schedule throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s had left Jon vocally exhausted and the band creatively drained. The addition of “Always” gave the greatest hits package a current radio hit that reminded audiences Bon Jovi remained relevant despite the rise of alternative rock. Critics praised the collection’s sequencing and noted that Bon Jovi’s knack for melodic hooks had aged better than many of their hair metal contemporaries.

The music video became one of the most-watched clips of the 1990s, eventually reaching one billion views on YouTube in March 2024—the band’s third video to achieve that milestone after “Livin’ on a Prayer” and “It’s My Life.” Director Marty Callner, who’d previously worked with Aerosmith and Cher, created a mini-movie starring Jack Noseworthy as a stuntman in love with a woman played by Carla Gugino. The narrative follows Noseworthy’s character performing increasingly dangerous stunts to impress Gugino while she pursues a relationship with another man played by Jason Wiles. Future Felicity star Keri Russell appears in early scenes. The video builds to a climax where Noseworthy’s character performs a stunt that goes tragically wrong, leaving viewers to interpret whether he survives. An alternate version features just the band performing the song without the narrative, though the cinematic version received far more airplay on MTV and VH1.

The song’s vocal demands became legendary within Bon Jovi’s touring history. Jon could handle the high notes during the 1995 These Days Tour, captured on their Live From London video with powerful performances at Wembley Stadium. But as his voice aged and touring took its toll, “Always” became increasingly difficult to perform. During the 2005-2006 Have a Nice Day Tour, the band occasionally performed an acoustic version heard on their 2003 album This Left Feels Right, which lowered the key and reduced the strain on Jon’s vocals. By the 2007-2008 Lost Highway Tour, Jon struggled with the chorus high notes, particularly during UK performances where audiences sang along loudly enough to help him through difficult passages. A 2015 performance in Korea became infamous among fans when Jon couldn’t reach the notes in the third chorus and passed the microphone to the audience to carry the melody. Vocal coaches have analyzed the song’s demands, noting the repeated D5 notes in the demo version would challenge even trained opera singers.

Critics were divided on “Always.” Larry Flick from Billboard called it charming and one of the band’s most interesting efforts, while Alan Jones from Music Week gave it four out of five stars and named it Pick of the Week. However, NME dismissed it as softy rock, with Tommy Udo comparing Jon unfavorably to Bryan Adams in the battle for king of emotional power ballads. Jonathan Bernstein from Spin called it karaoke Bryan Adams, while Paul Moody quipped the song was so Bryan Adams it turned up on his doorstep whenever it got lost. These comparisons reflected broader critical skepticism about power ballads during the grunge era, though the song’s massive commercial success proved audiences still craved romantic rock ballads regardless of critical fashion. The track appeared on numerous Bon Jovi compilations including Greatest Hits and The Greatest Hits across multiple international markets, cementing its status as one of the band’s defining recordings.

Bon Jovi has sold over 150 million records worldwide since forming in 1983, making them one of the best-selling bands of all time. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted them in 2018, recognizing four decades of consistent commercial success and cultural impact. Original bassist Alec John Such died on June 5, 2022, at age 70. Longtime guitarist and co-songwriter Richie Sambora left the band in 2013 during the Because We Can Tour, replaced by Phil X. Despite lineup changes and Jon’s well-documented vocal struggles in recent years, Bon Jovi continues touring and recording, with their 16th studio album Forever released in 2024. As music historians have noted, “Always” represents the peak of 1990s power ballad craftsmanship—lush orchestration, soaring vocals, dramatic dynamics, and lyrics about unconditional devotion that resonated across demographics. The song’s rejection by Romeo Is Bleeding became one of music’s great happy accidents, allowing Bon Jovi to reclaim a composition that would become their biggest-selling single and a staple of wedding receptions, karaoke nights, and classic rock radio for three decades.