Have a Nice Day (Bon Jovi album)

Have a Nice Day is the ninth studio album by American rock band Bon Jovi, released on September 20, 2005. Produced by John Shanks, the album was recorded at Sanctuary Sound II in New Jersey, and Ocean Way Recording in Hollywood, California.

Have a Nice Day was originally recorded in the summer of 2004 and planned for release in early 2005. However, due to misunderstandings between the band and its record company, the album was delayed. The band wanted to write and record more songs, remove others from the original track list, and in the process, altered existing album tracks.

Have a Nice Day peaked at number two in both the US and UK. In the US, it sold over 202,000 copies in the first week, making it Bon Jovi's best first-week sales in the band's history at that time. The album was eventually certified platinum by the RIAA.

The album produced the hit singles "Have a Nice Day" and "Who Says You Can't Go Home". Have a Nice Day has received mixed reviews by music critics. It was commonly commented that Jon Bon Jovi was "stretching" his lyrical abilities.

Background

Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora headed into the studio with producer and songwriter John Shanks in summer of 2004 to begin working on a band's ninth studio album. They started to write songs and songs came very quick. After Jon and Richie co-wrote all the songs with Shanks, they recorded them immediately using a drum machine. Sambora and Shanks played all the guitar parts, Jon recorded all the vocals and there were no bass player or drummer in the studio. Later in the recording sessions, David Bryan, Tico Torres and Hugh McDonald recorded their parts. In the meantime, the band was doing finishing touches on their boxset 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong (2004). Jon planned to turn the album over to record company right before Christmas of 2004., but he changed his mind. In December 2004, he went to Sanctuary Sound Studio to write more songs. When the band regrouped in 2005, they recorded four more songs and also worked on the revised versions of the original songs.

Lyrical themes

The lyrical themes center around political changes that happened in United States in that period and the state of music business, but also reflect personal and introspective views on issues that Jon Bon Jovi had while growing up, which he had never discussed before. He said: "I've always kept this 'chin up, glass is half-full' kind of optimism, and [now] I showed some chinks in the armor." On September 2, 2005, it was announced that a full-length version of the song "Last Man Standing" was available for listening in the discography section on the band's official website.

Critical and commercial reception

Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave Have a Nice Day 2.5 stars out of 5, saying that the album "picks up where 2002's Bounce left off, showcasing a harder, heavier band than either 2000's Crush or Jon Bon Jovi's 1997 solo effort, Destination Anywhere. Not only that, but this 2005 album finds Jon Bon Jovi picking up on the serious undercurrent of Bounce, writing a series of angry, somber neo-protest songs that form the heart of this record."

|rev2 = Blogcritics

|rev2Score =

| rev3 = Entertainment Weekly

| rev3score = B−

| rev5 = Rolling Stone

| rev5Score =

Track listing

Personnel

Bon Jovi

Jon Bon Jovi – lead and backing vocals
Richie Sambora – guitars, backing vocals
David Bryan – keyboards
Tico Torres – drums, percussion

Additional musicians

Hugh McDonald – bass
Paul Buckmaster – string arranger
David Campbell – string arranger
Dan Dugmore – steel guitar
Dann Huff – mandolin and bouzouki
Jennifer Nettles – duet vocals
B.C. Smith – programming
Jonathan Yudkin – fiddle and mandolin

Recording personnel

Gary McGrath – 2nd engineer
Jeremy Wheatley – mixing
Chris Lord-Alge – mixing
Tom Lord Alge – mixing
Justin Niebank – mixing

Charts

Weekly charts

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|+Weekly chart performance for Have a Nice Day

! scope="col"| Chart (2005–2006)

! scope="col"| Peak<br /> position

! scope="row"| European Albums (Billboard)

| 1

! scope="row"| Japanese Albums (Oricon)

| 1

! scope="row"| Mexican Albums (Top 100 Mexico)

| 1

! scope="row"|Taiwanese Albums (Five Music)

| 1

Year-end charts

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|+2005 year-end chart performance for Have a Nice Day

! scope="col"| Chart (2005)

! scope="col"| Position

! scope="row"| Australian Albums (ARIA)

| 73

! scope="row"| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)

| 20

! scope="row"| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)

| 81

! scope="row"| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)

| 63

! scope="row"| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)

| 19

! scope="row"| Japanese Albums (Oricon)

| 50

! scope="row"| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)

| 19

! scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC)

| 128

! scope="row"| US Billboard 200

| 135

!scope="row"|Worldwide Albums (IFPI)

|30

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|+2006 year-end chart performance for Have a Nice Day

! scope="col"| Chart (2006)