#9: Bon Jovi

If you have ever been to a Dorm Party at Notre Dame, then it goes without saying that you have probably heard large masses of inebriated freshmen singing the chorus to Living on a Prayer.  This song is one of the staples of the Dorm Party and requisite singing material for all Notre Dame Students.  Freshmen, in particular, play the song so frequently that by the time a Notre Dame Student is a sophomore, he or she feels compelled to walk out of any room where the song is played.  However, Notre Dame Students don’t just love the song, but they also love the band that plays it: Bon Jovi.

Never mind that this band had its glory years when current Notre Dame Students were in diapers, the student love for the band and its lead singer is unflinching.  Every year before big pep rallies rumors spread that Jon Bon Jovi will be a special guest and treat students to his rendition of the Notre Dame Victory March, and usually pep rallies come and go and Bon Jovi does not.  However, last fall Jon Bon Jovi did actually come to a pep rally and treated the students who were there to his rendition of . . . waving to the crowd. 

For his great performance moving his hand from side to side and accepting praise from Coach Weis and the Band, the student body gave him their biggest cheers since USC had a 4^th and 9 situation 3 years ago.  For all the cheers, one would have expected the man to at least sing one song.  Nope.  Notre Dame Students were just content to see the man who wrote the lyrics that they danced to their first semester on campus.  Meanwhile, the Band of Fighting Irish was having the time of their lives playing some of the singer’s more famous tunes (all of which are well before their time).

Do Students love him for his music, his New Jersey roots, or because his most famous song has the word prayer in it?  This question might never be answered.