Liner Notes · No. 015
"Blaze of Glory" by Jon Bon Jovi: the B-side
Quick hall pass: Jon Bon Jovi was asked for an old song, wrote a new one and got a #1 for his trouble. Then it kept turning up in places nobody planned. Here's the B-side.
📰 FAST FACTS
- 1995 was the song's second-busiest year on the road: 77 more Bon Jovi performances. (setlist.fm)
- Bon Jovi's album Forever came out June 7, 2024; a Forever (Legendary Edition) was used for the 2026 UK and Ireland presales. (Rolling Stone)
- According to a fan writeup, the Chuck cast spent two weekends shooting Jeffster's music video for the song. (Chuck fan wiki)
On this record
TRACK 1 · The cameo
End credits, a pit and a timestamp
It plays over the Young Guns II end credits, and Jon's acting debut needs a timestamp to find: 28:08, in the pit.
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The placement: In Young Guns II (1990), "Blaze of Glory" plays over the end credits, alongside "Billy Get Your Guns." Those are the only two songs from the album that made it into the movie. Jon wrote a whole record and the film used two tracks. Somewhere a soundtrack supervisor is still apologizing.
The cameo, located: You know from the pop-ups that Jon plays a prisoner who gets shot. Kiefer Sutherland's official site will tell you exactly where: 28:08 into the movie, in the pit with Doc and Chavez. A rock star at the height of the perm era, and his acting debut needs a timestamp to find. Pause carefully. Blink and you'll miss him. Sneeze and you'll miss the whole career.
The second life: The song outlived the movie. Twenty years later, a TV show handed it to a fake band in a season finale. Which show? Your turn.
Which TV show's fake band covered "Blaze of Glory" in a 2010 season finale?
No Googling. We'll know.
That's Side A. Flip the tape.
Side B is where it gets weird:
- A TV show's fake band covered it in a 2010 season finale, and that same band also did "Take On Me." Yes, really.
- Kelly Clarkson's 2024 Kellyoke cover went so sideways that Jon walked onto the set to rescue her.
- Young Guns 3 has been announced, and in 2026 Bon Jovi went back on the road after Jon's vocal surgery.
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▶ SIDE B
TRACK 2 · The live one
The solo song that moved into the band's set list
Jon's movie song moved into the band's set for roughly 495 shows, last logged in Cardiff in 2013.
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The debut: The pop-ups covered the first live performance, at the Oscars on March 25, 1991, with the full Bon Jovi band and exactly one committed cowboy hat. One review adds that Waddy Wachtel and Danny Kortchmar played guitar that night too. Three extra guitarists for a song about riding alone. Very on brand for 1991.
The takeover: Then the solo song quietly joined the band. Its busiest year was 1993, the Keep the Faith era, with 156 Bon Jovi shows logged on setlist.fm. It's the only Jon solo song that became a set-list regular. Imagine your side project showing up to your day job and taking your desk.
The last ride (so far): The most recent Bon Jovi performance setlist.fm logs is June 12, 2013, at Cardiff City Stadium in Wales. That closed a run of roughly 495 band performances. Not bad for a song that was only supposed to be in a movie.
TRACK 3 · Cover watch
Jeffster!, Lydia Lunch and Kellyoke
A fake band on Chuck, a surprisingly reverent Lydia Lunch, and Kelly Clarkson losing to the teleprompter until Jon walked out.
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- 2010 · Jeffster! (Chuck, NBC). The Buy More's in-house band covered it in the Season 3 finale, "Chuck Versus the Ring: Part II." Jeffster's catalog also includes Toto's "Africa," Styx's "Mr. Roboto" and a-ha's "Take On Me." That's not a band. That's every wedding DJ's hard drive.
- 2017 · Lydia Lunch & Cypress Grove. The no-wave legend put it on Under the Covers (Rustblade), her first all-covers album, next to Tom Petty and Bobbie Gentry. Reviewers called it surprisingly reverent. Nobody saw that coming, least of all the people who own her other records.
- 2024 · Kelly Clarkson (Kellyoke). Sung on The Kelly Clarkson Show in June 2024 to mark Bon Jovi's 40 years. The blooper reel, posted June 6, shows her fighting the teleprompter and calling it "the song that almost killed me," until Jon walks out, hugs her and says "Come on, girlfriend!" He later teased her that it took "all four takes." The original singer showing up mid-cover: every karaoke bar's worst nightmare, and her best day.
▶ WATCH THE CONTENDERS
Battle of the versions: which "Blaze of Glory" wins?
Cast your vote. Results in the next issue. Choose carefully: we're judging you.
TRACK 4 · Where are they now
Where Jon (and the Young Guns) are now
After vocal cord surgery in 2022, Jon opened the Forever Tour at Madison Square Garden this July. Young Guns 3 has no date yet.
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The voice: In 2022, Jon had vocal cord surgery, an implant to rebuild a cord that was atrophying. He has said it didn't give him back his old voice, but it made singing possible again. Hulu's four-part docuseries Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story (April 26, 2024, directed by Gotham Chopra) covers the band's history and his recovery.
The road: On July 7, 2026, Bon Jovi opened the Forever Tour with a nine-show run at Madison Square Garden (July 7–26), their first shows since the surgery. Reviews were broadly positive about his voice; one show was reportedly cut short by a sinus infection. Murrayfield in Edinburgh (August 28), Croke Park in Dublin (August 30) and Wembley Stadium in London (September 4, 6 and 9) were booked. Whether "Blaze of Glory" is in the 2026 set is unconfirmed.
The sequel: Emilio Estevez announced Young Guns 3 at the New Mexico State Capitol, under the title Young Guns 3: Dead or Alive. Read that title again. The man who once asked to borrow "Wanted Dead or Alive" now has a sequel with "Dead or Alive" in the name. We just report the facts. Estevez is directing and co-writing with original writer John Fusco, with Lou Diamond Phillips and Christian Slater returning. No filming start or release date as of October 2026. Around the 35th anniversary, Estevez joked: "We're not calling it Young anymore." Correct. The hair has also filed for retirement.
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