Richie Sambora Quotes

1. Being in America isn't old-hat - it's where we're from - but I get excited to be in other parts of the world like Athens and Croatia, which were quite cool. I'm a sightseer. I go see the sights and museums. I'm into that kind of thing.

2. I'm on a search for my future ex-wife.

3. Going through the grief period of my dad and losing him - that was the worst thing because you know when you get that call. When you are seven, eight years old, you have that almost vision in your mind of what that's going to be like and what your going to feel like and it doesn't prepare you.

4. I didn't check into rehab. Instead of me heading into a place - I was just drinking too much and I needed to get my life together. I'm still in therapy and stuff like that, but it's good. I'm great. I feel fine.

5. I just want to thank everyone for their support. Sometimes friends need the help of their friends to get by.

6. I love being a dad. I'd have more kids if I could. I'd take a couple more, one or two more before I croak.

7. I'm a lucky guy. I don't take for granted, for one minute, what I do.

8. I want the people of New Jersey to jump off a cliff like Kurt Vonnegut so I can show them how to fly. This way, nobody needs to grow any wings, which would be impossible anyway because we're humans and not some kind of bird.

9. I try to look at most of my solos as a musical piece within the song, not, say, showing off.

10. I've spent a lot of Thanksgivings on the road with my band, so anytime that I can spend Thanksgiving with my family in a traditional aspect, eating sweet potatoes and cranberries and stuffing and all the trappings of Thanksgiving and then get on a treadmill the next day extra long, I'm happy.

11. I'm all for sharing music, but when people can download a whole record and pay nothing for it and then they share it with 100,000 other people, it's breaking down the whole business.

12. Rock and roll is a contact sport. I enjoy playing the tunes that really get the people going.

13. Learning about all those different things psychologically - about grief and my own addictions and problems and stuff like that, and really getting an education on it, I think it was part of the process of it, learning about it and trying to lick it.

14. That got me thinking. Bon Jovi kills in Jersey. Just kills. We did Atlantic City this past winter and man, you wouldn't believe the intensity in that crowd. Can I just talk for a minute about how amazingly hot Heather is?

15. There are a lot of really good guitar sounds and new kind atmospheres on the new Bon Jovi record. I think people are going to dig it, man. And it rocks hard.

16. Stand on the stage in front of 15 people or 15,000. Have them look up to you and tell you how wonderful you are, and if you don't think that's a great feeling, okay, then you're unlike me.

17. We've been around for almost three decades now - there's about three generations of Bon Jovi fans.

18. You know, no matter what I am or what I do for a living, I'm still, you know, the husband and the dad and the protector of the house, and I have to be conscientious about that.

19. There's nothing like a love for our children. I love being a papa, and that's the truth.

20. You know, when you're an actor, you want to go to Hollywood. When you're a musician, you want to go to Nashville.

21. Obviously, you're going to miss the school play. My daughter scored her first goal in soccer, which you know, if you miss that, it pulls at your heart strings. The upside is we have an extraordinary life.

22. The real story is that there is no story. The truth is that after 11 years together, we are still happily married. Boring but true.

23. Yeah, you know, I'm driving on Highway 9, or I'm driving on the New Jersey Turnpike. You'd think that all people in New Jersey do is drive around. That's just not true, and fairly irresponsible on Bruce's part.

24. The Army guys were kind enough to give us their big theater they have there, and at the end of the rehearsals, we're going to do a show for all of the (soldiers) and their families…It's not open to the public. We're just doing anything we can do. Really, it's just any time you can give back to those guys who are out there fighting for our freedom, for God's sakes.

25. My father-in-law was a U.S. Marine colonel, and he was stationed on the base that we played at...There were about 68,000 Marines and families. We were raising money because when these kids go away and then come home in a body bag, their family gets $12,000 and they get kicked off the base a month later.

26. About two weeks before I left (to promote the new album), God just hit the creative gas pedal on me and I wrote like 14 new songs...So I have an album sitting in my pocket.

27. Jon produced it. He did a very nice job, actually... Fly Me To The Moon.

28. We're about the music. We know everything about each other. We're very close family members.

29. She's cool with it. You know, it was her suggestion that I launch this campaign. We've been following the California recall situation and witnessing first-hand the connection that Arnold has made with the people. And why wouldn't he? He's like this handsome lovable guy with rich friends. It's such a political lock these days.

30. Guy can't get a job at the refinery, or guy hates his job at the factory, or guy lost his job at the refinery or the factory. Then he gets in his car and drives around. It's all so tongue-in-cheek, ya know? Most of New Jersey doesn't even have refineries. What is a refinery, anyway?

31. I'm talking about giving the people what they want. It's just like, you know, I don't wake up with perfect hair. It takes a certain creativity to get it right. Sometimes that's me, sometimes that's Miguel, my stupendous stylist.

32. We're a part of the fabric of people's lives at this point. As songwriters, but also as a band, we can stand up there and sing songs that (people remember) listening to the first time (they) made out in the car with somebody. It's a big privilege for us. When we walk out there and sing those songs, you see what's in the eyes of those people. We're singing about everybody.

33. God, it feels as if we're as big as we've ever been.

34. We're a band of brothers. I think that people want to see people stay together. They want to be entertained by people that are staying together, and people that have camaraderie. We still like each other. That's pretty unbelievable after 22 years.

35. We've had those elements, and now it's just kind of catching up to us. So it's a nice thing. And I love country music; I got to tell you, I watch CMT all the time. I'm a big country music fan now. I got into it over the last couple years.

36. After you come see this band live, you're going to be converted.

37. I think anything that we can do to give back and help out in any way we can…I think its a great thing.

38. I think what it all comes down to, first and foremost, is songwriting…Nashville has been famous for writing great songs.

39. It's perplexing to me that a man like this could ever ascend to the position of prominence he now holds in a democratic society.

40. Having Jon as my partner for 26 years I've been inspired and challenged to become a better musician, a songwriter, an artist and a human being. I've been blessed with Jon for these last 26 years and I've learned the meaning of trust, loyalty and brotherhood and my life is richer for it. Jon, you are beyond my brother.

41. Jon didn't like Living on a prayer. I had to convince him, I had to like buy him dinner.

42. When me and Jon get in a room - it's magic together! Without a doubt the most memorable collaboration!

43. Jon, in my opinion, on any given night, is the best front man in the business.

44. Uncle Richie gotta take his medicine now!

45. One misconception about me…that I have a small penis. That's a big misconception.

46. The thing about the album "Lost Highway", it’s honest. It’s about a lot of things I was going through in my life, my divorce, my dad dying; there was all this leaving going on. And that’s the song (there’s a whole lot of leaving going on) I didn’t write, but Jon was writing about me, I believe.

47. I try to always be there for him, as a friend, and from a musical level. Like I said, I want to make sure, if I can help Jon to be in a great mood, as much as possible, I’m gonna do it. And that’s been a part of what I put on myself for responsibility, and for the guys too. That’s part of my gig. And it started to fall apart a little bit when I was broken. And I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t fulfill that responsibility. And that’s when they started to realize they had to pick me up.

48. Jon is a guy who saddles himself with lots of responsibility. He loves that, drives on it. That’s where he comes from, but I never saw anybody do it better than him. It’s not luck, it’s thinking about it, it’s to resolve lots of trial and error in his mind. He’s more intense than I am, that’s for sure.

49. I saw Jon on stage, and I was like, WOW, that kid is a star. I knew it, immediately. He had the charisma, he had the chops, you know. I was the missing link, the missing piece.

50. Seize every opportunity you have to learn. Keep your eyes and ears wide open and seize life. Don’t let the moments slip through your fingers like a fistful of sand. Be your own teacher. Let life write your textbook.

51. Jon is an amazing front man. Every night I walk on stage with him and I just go: "Wow, this guy is just amazing!" He can make a place with 70.000 people feel intimate. It's a very special thing. There are not many people who know how to do that.

52. I don't know where Jon is! It wasn't my turn to watch him!

53. If you don’t believe in your self, how do you expect someone else to believe in you?

54. Dare to fail. If you never fail, you’re never taken risks and that’s no way to take on this life.

55. I'm a cowboy, Jon is a superman!

56. If you're gonna get weird, get weird.

57. Movies are Jon's mistress, but his true heart is with me.

58. Maybe Jon has got a nice ass, but it's the front that counts!

59. Jon is a handsome guy, what can I say? Yeah, he could cut all his hair off, he probably could be bald and he would still be good-looking.

60. We wrote this in my mother’s basement. Jon had this title "Wanted Dead Or Alive" and then I came up with that signature guitar-riff and an hour and a half later, "Wanted Dead Or Alive" was born and it was a song about us, we were traveling around the country in a bus and we would walk into these truck stops and those guys were looking at us like we’re a bunch of girls, you know, they had no idea what was going on. And then once we made it, it seemed like everybody wanted a piece of us.

61. It was Jon’s birthday. And after you know somebody for 25 years it’s hard to get'em something unique. Both of us are huge Bob Dylan fans and respect Bob as a writer. So I called Bob and asked: Would you do me a favour and would you sign this guitar for Jon Bon Jovi. So I sent him the guitar and Bob fell in love with it and calls me, he goes: Ain’t giving it back! So I had to go find another guitar for Jon, and Bob signed it with: To Jon, Happy Birthday, Keep livin’ on a prayer, Love Bob Dylan.

62. Whatever we were feeling towards each other, at the end of the New Jersey tour, we both put it aside. This business drives you into weird places, and Jon and I got secluded from one another. Communication became a problem. We were used to communicating so closely. All of a sudden everybody is telling you shit, and you don't know what to believe. Ultimately the common cause of the music and playing it for the people cut through it all. Jon and I have never been closer than we are right now.

63. I thought Jon was so charismatic. It was just magic. I went backstage kneeled down on my knee and said: "Here I am!" I said: "I have made some records before and I'm a pro and I'm not full of baloney. We should get together and try something." He was kinda: "Hey, uh, who is this guy? What's going on?" But about a week later I got a call, inviting me to a rehearsal. By the time Jon got to the rehearsal I had whipped the band into shape. He came in, listened to it, and said: "You're hired."

64. Jon is very smart, he's a great frontman, a very talented musician. He's a very dedicated guy, very focused. He always had a good heart, always took care of the people in the band. It's very important for everybody to take care of each other, especially the band leader, and Jon's clearly the band leader. He looked out for us.

65. When we were broke, around 1985, it was cool. We were all living in the same apartment in Philadelphia, sleeping on the floor when it was 12 below zero outside, the heating wasn't working well, and there wasn't a lot of food in the refrigerator. Even then, we never stopped having fun. That's the kind of thing that bonds you, high points, low points, everything. I never, ever thought that Jon wasn't there for me. And vice versa. That's what makes a great band, I think.

66. The whole band is married to each other. The mothers hang out and have their motherly lunches, the dads golf, we have barbecues, at Christmas there's a big dinner. It's a family. I don't think that anyone else could have a better life. Believe me, anybody who wants my job can't have it, because it's my job, and I'm having a great time.

67. Music is my life. I brush my teeth with rock and roll!

68. I read online that Jon had passed away, then got a call from him like 20 minutes later. Honestly, I don’t know what to believe anymore.

69. Don’t look over your shoulder and don’t use or abuse others to get ahead. Keep your eyes focused on your goals and keep working for what you believe in and what you want to accomplish.

70. Embrace every challenge you have, every person you meet, every place you visit, every task you succeed at, and especially those at which you fail. You will learn from them all. You’ll learn about the world at large and about other people but most important, you’ll learn about yourself. 

71. There is absolutely no substitute for hard work. 

72. Let me assure you, nothing in this life feels better than having the confidence that you can take care of yourself and your family and know that you can continue to grow and excel in your profession and as a person. 

What do you think of Richie Sambora's quotes?

Feel free to comment and share this blog post if you find it interesting!