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The Power Station Years: The Unreleased Recordings

1997 compilation album by John Bongiovi

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionDec 20, 2024
Entity authorityQ54805 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Power Station Years: The Unreleased Recordings, first released as John Bongiovi: The Power Station Years, is a compilation of previously unreleased songs recorded by vocalist/guitarist Jon Bon Jovi (then known by his given name of John Bongiovi) that was first released as a 10-track compilation in 1998. They were recorded in the early 1980s at The Power Station recording studio, where John worked basically as an intern for his cousin and then owner Toni Bongiovi, helping out running errands, cleaning, etc.

Recordings

The songs were recorded prior to the formation of the now-famous band, Bon Jovi. The album has been reissued several times since in a 14-track version and the latest 20-track edition, released on 18 September 2001. The albums were produced and released by Tony Bongiovi – Jon's father's first cousin. The albums are unofficial and were originally released under the "Masquerade" record label and have been re-released with different packaging on several occasions, including as Hollywood Dreams on 9 July 2018.

"More Than We Bargained For" was released as a promotional single for the album and charted at number 7 on the UK Rock and Metal singles chart.

The song "Bobby's Girl" is about Jon's wife Dorothea Hurley. Dorothea was dating Jon's best friend Bobby at the time Jon and Dorothea first met.

The most notable song on the album is an instrumental version of the song "Runaway" (although it was not available on all releases), which went on to reach number 39 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1984.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “The Power Station Years: The Unreleased Recordings” as 1997 compilation album by John Bongiovi. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Power, Station and Years.

Editorial reviewBest approached as a cultural-object dossier: authorship and date matter, but circulation and reception often explain the wider significance. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1998, 2001, 2018, 1984—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1997. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Power, Station and Years providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “The Power Station Years: The Unreleased Recordings”, the useful work is to connect “1997 compilation album by John Bongiovi” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 20, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q54805. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1998, 2001, 2018 and 1984.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “The Power Station Years: The Unreleased Recordings” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.