Bon Jovi
“Living Proof” (Island Records)
release date: 5/17/24
by Scott Deckman
Bon Jovi released a single and I don’t hate it. Honestly. I don’t love it either, but it’s not bad. Probably because it doesn’t sound like them, or didn’t, as I’d stop paying attention after Slippery When Wet. “Living Proof” is a good example of a dinosaur somehow transcending the times and making it work. Or so I thought, until I was clued into its likeness to 2003’s “It’s My Life,” which I’ll admit employs similar tropes to lesser ends, making “Living Proof” a bit of a copysaurus. But it’s got a better riff and chorus, and the pop sheen isn’t as noxious as what you hear on some other radio fare. In the car, watching out for maniacs who try to pass you with cars coming the other way, “Living Proof” is a decent fist-pumper.
