BMatt’s Monday musings

AUBURN | In the first Iron Bowl at Jordan-Hare Stadium since the passing of Pat Dye, and played in the shadow of his statue, I’m reminded of what he told his players after a tough loss at Tennessee in 1981, his first season at Auburn.

“There’s going to be a lot of days when you lay your guts on the line and you come away empty handed. Ain’t a damn thing you can do about it but go back and lay ‘em on the line again, and again and again,” said Dye just minutes after a goal-line fumble gave the Vols a 10-7 win.

“Every coach, manager is glad to be associated with you. You keep fighting like you did today, you keep playing like that, we can build a foundation that we can live a long, long time on at Auburn.”

Forty years later, on Pat Dye Field, Auburn played their guts out against Alabama. A three-touchdown underdog, the Tigers took the Tide to the limit, coming so excruciatingly close to pulling off one of the biggest upsets in Iron Bowl history.

In that 24-22 four-overtime loss, that gut-wrenching defeat, we finally saw the Auburn team we’ve dying to see all season. And even with the four consecutive losses to end the season, there’s plenty of reasons for optimism.

Because what happened on the field, also happened in the stands and outside the stadium. That Auburn spirit is alive and well and you better believe the 100-plus recruits in attendance felt it, and are still feeling it.

That’s the kind of game, the enthralling atmosphere, that sticks in your gut for years.

Auburn’s got momentum in recruiting. They’re heavily involved with a number of elite prospects heading into the final 16 days before the early signing period. Most of them were in Jordan-Hare Saturday. They saw and felt the same things we all did.

The contact period has begun, Auburn’s coaches including Bryan Harsin will be on the road the next two weeks to capitalize on this momentum. The opportunity is there to take big steps in building the foundation of this program under Harsin.

Just as Dye did 40 years ago.

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In today’s musical journey, we go back 35 years to the first hit from a New Jersey rock group that helped launch them on the path to becoming one of the best-selling bands of all time. On Nov. 29, 1986, Bon Jovi’s “You Give Love a Bad Name” hit No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard for the first time. It was the first single from their third studio album, Slippery When Wet, which had a total of four hit singles including two No. 1’s, and has been certified 12x platinum by RIAA. It’s viewed as a breakthrough album that helped turn heavy metal into a more mainstream, popular format.

Bon Jovi was formed in 1983 in Sayreville, N.J. Jon Bon Jovi began performing live at age 13 and formed a band with David Bryan called Atlantic City Expressway as a 16-year old. In 1980, he first recorded “Runaway,” which was re-recorded in 1982 for a radio show’s compilation album of local talent. After attending college, Bryan returned to help Bon Jovi tour and promote the song and they added bassist Alec John Such, drummer Tico Torres and lead guitarist Richie Sambora. Bon Jovi was officially formed and they recorded their debut album in 1984, which included top 40 hit “Runaway.” Their second album didn’t include any big hits although they toured with Ratt in 1985. They hit it big with Slippery When Wet, which was the top-selling album of 1987. Their fourth album, New Jersey, included several hits such as “Bad Medicine” and “I’ll Be There for You.” Other hits came with 1994’s "Always" and 2000’s "It’s My Life." To date, Bon Jovi has produced 16 studio albums and sold more than 130 million records. Bon Jovi was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018 and Jon Bon Jovi and Sambora were inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame in 2009.

After moderate success with their first two albums, Bon Jovi hired a professional songwriter and producer and spent six months in Vancouver, Canada writing and recording for Slippery When Wet. Jon and Richie wrote most of the album with Desmond Child co-writing “You Give Love a Bad Name,” “Livin on a Prayer” and a couple of others. Child originally wrote “You Give Love a Bad Name” for Bonnie Tyler but reworked it for Bon Jovi. It’s written about a woman who has jilted her lover. The corresponding music video included concert footage and was directed by Wayne Isham, who also directed videos for Motley Crue. Upon release of the song and video, Bon Jovi went from opening for 38 Special to being a headliner.