Jon Bon Jovi Says the ’Runaway’ Video Nearly Killed the Song

Jon Bon Jovi looked back with regret on some of Bon Jovi’s early music videos, saying the promo for debut single “Runaway” was one of the worst they’d ever done.

In the band’s defense, he said they’d had no control over videos in those days, and by the time they did they knew exactly how to avoid bad production.

“I’m not a filmmaker,” Bon Jovi accepted in an exclusive conversation with UCR. “Some of them we really got right, and others we didn’t. God knows things like ‘Runaway’ and some of those early ones were just dreck!”

He added: “What did we know? It was the advent of MTV; we’re talking 1983, remember, and everyone was with shoulder pads and dance moves.”

The video for “Runaway” was visually inspired by an iconic Ray Bradbury sci-fi novel, and directed by one Mike Cuesta (not the Michael Cuesta known for his TV work) who appears to have scored very few career credits.

It starred Jennifer Gatti as ‘The Girl’ – she’d go on to be seen in episodes of Cheers, Star Trek, NCIS and more, with her most recent credits including Outcast, Swamp Thing and The Resident.

Jon Bon Jovi Talks About the 'Runaway' Video

But all that was unknown to Bon Jovi when the “Runaway” video was shot in 1984. “Some director – I don’t know his name – was assigned to us by the label,” he said. “We had no input on the storyline and we got to see it when it was done.

“And we were all like, ‘Oh my God, this has nothing to do with the song.’ It was based on Fahrenheit 451 and he put his neice in it. We were like, ‘Oh, Christ.’ It almost killed the song!”

Was Bon Jovi’s ‘Runaway’ Influenced by Big ‘80s Hits?

The singer reflected: “But there are the lessons you learn; and that’s why, by the third record – well, even by the second record, but by the third record for sure – we said, ‘Performance only… that’s what we need to do.

“We’re a live band; let’s go and make ‘Bad Name’ and ‘Prayer’ and ‘Wanted’ and ‘I’ll Be There For You’ … all of those were performance pieces.”

Asked if he’d been influenced by the big hits of the early ‘80s when writing “Runaway,” Bon Jovi said: “You have to be influenced by what’s on the radio around you. Even to this day I’ll know the pop things that are massive on radio exist.

“I was definitely aware; I didn’t gravitate toward it. Those eighth notes and those stops were more from Journey than new wave.”

Watch Bon Jovi’s ‘Runaway’ Video