Bon Jovi, Jane’s, N.W.A: Break Up or Make Up?

Remember when Jon Bon Jovi was telling everybody early last year that his decision to do a solo album posed no threat to the future of his best-selling band?

“It’s just a sidestep for me,” the pop-metal hero told Pop Eye at the time, denying widespread rumors that the solo album--coupled with whispers about the singer-songwriter’s longstanding conflicts with group guitarist Richie Sambora--meant the end of Bon Jovi, the New Jersey group that had sold almost 30 million records over the last seven years.

Lots of Bon Jovi fans may have been comforted by those words. But some people still had their doubts, especially after the solo album--whose hit single, “Blaze of Glory,” was featured in the film “Young Guns II” and earned Bon Jovi an Oscar nomination--sold more than 3 million copies

One of those with a lot of doubts was Sambora.

“I don’t care what was being said back then--and a lot of vague crap was coming out. There was a real danger that Jon would leave the group,” Sambora says now. “We didn’t know what the hell he was going to do. I talked to him and (even) he . . . didn’t know where the band stood.

“Frankly, I thought he’d wake up one day and, while eating his cornflakes, say: ‘This solo thing is nice. Maybe I’ll just do it.’ That’s when I thought I’d better entertain some of those offers I’d been getting (for solo record deals). I had bills to pay. Who knew what would happen?”

In fact, Sambora--whose romance a couple of years ago with Cher made him a supermarket tabloid star--did agree to make his own solo album. That collection, “Stranger in This Town,” was just released by Mercury Records.

And what about the supposed tensions between the two pop heartthrobs?

“It wasn’t all roses between Jon and me,” admits the candid, good-natured Sambora. “We’d argue--like crazy. It was like being married for 10 years. After that last tour I was ready for a divorce.

“We approached things differently. He wanted to work all the time, and too much work was killing me. That last 16-month tour that ended (early) last year was too much. I didn’t want to do the last four months. Physically I was a wreck. I was drinking way too much. My brain was fried. I was ready for the funny farm. But Jon got off the road and was ready to work again. I said, ‘Are you nuts?’ ”

In fact, Sambora maintains, the band’s future wasn’t resolved until this month: “We spent a day together in Jersey and drank a half a bottle of tequila--real macho huh? We got some things out. I ain’t gonna air all our dirty laundry and tell everything we talked about. There’s still crap to be ironed out. But it’s a start.”

Jon Bon Jovi was not available for comment, but the band’s manager, Doc McGhee, downplayed any tensions, insisting Bon Jovi was never going to break up. McGhee said the band will get together in October to begin songs for a new album, which he expects to be released next year.

Why does Sambora think Bon Jovi remains intact?

Two reasons: Sambora believes his sidekick has more fun working with the band than without it, and, as he put it, “Leaving the band would be like flushing gold down the toilet.”