"Here's the last song you can sell," Bon Jovi slyly sings on "Burning Bridges," his farewell song to Mercury Records, who he's been with for 32 years. Now that the album of the same name, Burning Bridges, is out, he's fulfilled his obligation to the label and is moving on.
The song itself is a sing-along directed at Mercury Records with some pretty harsh lines.
"After 30 years of loyalty, they let you dig the grave / Now maybe you could learn to sing or strum along / Well I'll give you half the publishing / You're why I wrote this song."
"Hope my money and my masters buy a front-row seat in hell."
Burning Bridges dropped as a fan album on Friday with 10 songs intended to accompany the band's 12-stop tour in Southeast Asia. However, in a statement made to Billboard, Jon Bon Jovi said it was more about fulfilling a final commitment to the label before he could get out of his contract.
During his time at Mercury Records, Bon Jovi sold 21.8 million albums in the United States, five of which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 200, according to Billboard.
Now that he's free, he hopes to start fresh with a new album and tour in the spring of 2016 and plans to finish recording the album by the end of 2015. When it comes out, he said it will be something the whole band can be proud of, because he has a lot of material to write about.
In 2014, longtime collaborator Richie Sambora left the group, leaving a hole in the band's creative department. That combined with his public offerings to buy the Buffalo Bills has given Bon Jovi said quite a bit to write about on this upcoming album.
In the meantime, you can listen to the attack song, "Burning Bridges," and the rest of the album on Spotify below.
