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Blaze of Glory
Studio album by Jon Bon Jovi
Released	July 1990
Recorded	1990
Genre	Rock
Length	48:43
Label	Mercury Records
Producer	Jon Bon Jovi, Danny Kortchmar
Professional reviews
Allmusic link
Jon Bon Jovi chronology
Blaze of Glory (1990) Destination Anywhere (1997)
Japanese Limited Edition Cover
UICY-6469

Blaze of Glory is Jon Bon Jovi's first solo album, released in 1990. It includes songs from and inspired by the movie Young Guns II. Emilio Estevez asked for Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive" as the theme song for his upcoming Billy the Kid sequel, but Jon Bon Jovi ended up composing an all new theme song for the film's soundtrack instead. The album featured guests such as Elton John, Little Richard, and Jeff Beck. Blaze of Glory was awarded a Golden Globe. It also received Academy Award and Grammy nominations. The "Blaze of Glory" single hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, with the album peaking at #3 on the Billboard 200 and #2 on the UK Albums Chart.

The album mainly focuses on the theme of redemption and whether an individual's past wrongs will catch up with them. Another theme on the album is about making a stand and making yourself heard in the world. Jon Bon Jovi said on the 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong DVD that he originally thought the album's aggression and themes dealt with Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett from Young Guns II but has come to realize that they reflect the bad place he was in at the time.

Track listing

Personnel

• Kenny Aronoff – Drums, Percussion
• Jeff Beck – Electric Guitar
• Jon Bon Jovi – Vocals, Backing Vocals, Guitars, Piano, Harmonica, Producer
• Robbin Crosby – Guitar
• Bob Glaub – Bass
• Randy Jackson – Bass
• Rob Jacobs – Engineer
• Ron Jacobs – Engineer
• Elton John – Piano, Backing Vocals
• Danny Kortchmar – Guitar, Producer
• Dale Lavi - Hand Claps
• Myrna Matthews – Backing Vocals
• Aldo Nova – Guitars, Keyboards, Piano, Tambourine
• Phil Parlapiano – Accordion
• Lou Diamond Phillips – Vocals
• The Runners – Hand Claps
• Little Richard- Piano, Vocals
• Brian Scheuble – Engineer
• Alan Silvestri – Arranger
• Benmont Tench – Organ, Piano
• Julia Waters – Vocals, Backing Vocals
• Maxine Waters – Backing Vocals
• Waddy Wachtel - Guitar, Slide Guitar

Production

• Jon Bon Jovi, Danny Kortchmar: Producers
• Brian Scheuble, Rob Jacobs: Engineering

Trivia

• Jon Bon Jovi's lyrics from the song "Santa Fe" are quoted in the 1998 book, About a Boy. Although the author, Nick Hornby, would have been light-heartedly referring to John Donne's No Man is an Island.
• The song is also quoted in the film High Fidelity.
• In 1998, country singer Chris LeDoux recorded "Bang A Drum" which Jon would sing with LeDoux as a duet.
• In an interview for UNCUT magazine, Keifer Sutherland said "When Jon (Bon Jovi) joined the team for Young Guns 2, we were all eating hamburgers in a diner and Jon was scribbling on this napkin for, say, six minutes. He declared he'd written 'Blaze of Glory', which of course then went through the roof in the States. He later gave Emilio Estevez the napkin. We were munching burgers while he wrote a No. 1 song... Made us feel stupid."