The song is significant in the band’s 40+ year career
Celebrate 25 years of Bon Jovi’s hit album Crush on SiriusXM’s Bon Jovi Radio. To mark the anniversary, Jon Bon Jovi takes listeners behind the scenes with personal insights on his favorite songs throughout the Grammy-nominated album. The special features Bon Jovi’s frontman as he recounts how Frank Sinatra’s influence led to the creation of their hit song, “It’s My Life.”
“By the time 2000 came, we really had an idea of what we were and how yet to change our sound. Having been in Europe for several months doing U-571, I’d been listening to a lot of different music, and when we came back, we had songs like ‘Captain Crash,’ ‘Thank You for Loving Me,’ but we needed something that was going to be unique. The same way that ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’ changed the sound of everything else that was on the radio. We started to play around with these loops and brought back the talk back box and it was a lyric that simply stated who and what we were in this moment,” Bon Jovi says during the special.
He continues, “And having come back from a film set where I was away for nearly six months, I was very much aware of Mr. Sinatra passing away and the impact that someone like he had on the industry. He was making records, he was making movies, he helped get a president elected. All of these things weighed very heavily on me in the 2000 election and this reinvention. And like I say, you’re coming home with a crew cut and the industry is saying you should go away. And I say, ‘Wait a minute, it’s my life. It’s now or never.’ And like Frankie said, ‘I did it my way.’ And that was the line that I had to defend with Richie because he said, ‘What is anybody gonna know with this Frankie?’ I say, ‘I’m gonna know.’ And what he said to me is, ‘Well, you’re the one that’s gotta sing it at night. So I get it.’ And ‘It’s My Life’ was yet another reinvention of the band.”
“It’s My Life” was released in May 2000 as the lead single to Crush, which dropped a month later. The song peaked at No. 33 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and topped the charts throughout Europe. Earlier this year, the song surpassed one billion Spotify streams, marking the group’s third song to join the Spotify Billions Club.
Crush was the band’s seventh studio album, marking the group’s return after a five-year hiatus. It was a significant album for them, introducing their music to a new generation of fans. Crush was largely well-received by critics and was a commercial success, debuting at No. 9 on the Billboard 200 and topping album charts in multiple countries, including Australia and the UK. It was certified double platinum in the United States.
