Bon Jovi

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

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• tour
• ballad
• adult contemporary
• niche

• karaoke
• hair band
• heartthrob
• huge

• mayhem
• easy listening

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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Back in his hair band days, Jon Bon Jovi was a teenage heartthrob. It’s pretty amazing that he’s still a heartthrob today, over twenty years after he started his band Bon Jovi. Of course, the average age of his fans has gone up a couple decades, too.

Bon Jovi has changed its sound significantly since the 80s. They now play softer, more mom-friendly music. Find out if Beren and Marni think the band can still rock.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Marni

Beren

Marni:  So if you had told the ten-year-old me in 1986 that 20 years later Bon Jovi would still be this huge band, I never would have believed you. And yet, they’re huge!

Beren:  No, they are huge. They’re probably the biggest, you know, band of their genre, still around and still touring. Still putting out albums.

Marni:  Well, I think that’s kind of the fascinating thing about them. They’ve got their 11th studio album out now, it’s called The Circle, and I think they’ve really transformed themselves into a basic like easy listening kinda softer rock band.

Beren:  Yeah, really ballad-y. Safe for mom.

Marni:  Very safe.

Beren:  Almost adult contemporary but still rock.

Marni:  Yeah. They’ve got a very interesting niche, if you will. And it seems to work, people love ‘em.

Beren:  Yeah.

Marni:  “Livin’ on a Prayer,” classic karaoke song.

Beren:  It is a classic karaoke song. I actually saw Bon Jovi in concert with my best friend’s mom.

Marni:  Wow.

Beren:  Yeah, she took me to the show. Nobody else wanted to go.

Marni:  Yeah?

Beren:  It was incredible.

Marni:  Was it crazy mayhem? Girls like tearing off their shirts?

Beren:  Moms were tearing off their shirts.

Marni:  Nice.

Beren:  Like, 50-year-olds.

Marni:  Yeah.

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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