Bon Jovi‘s Keep the Faith, which arrived in stores on Nov. 3, 1992, signaled a new era for the Jersey rockers.

In many ways, this was inevitable. After spending most of the ’80s on the road, the band had taken a break after the touring cycle wrapped up for 1988’s juggernaut New Jersey. During this break, music trends had moved on from the kind of glossy hard rock and metal at which Bon Jovi excelled. Separately, the members of the band explored different sonic avenues. Jon Bon Jovi landed a solo No. 1 hit, the twang-tinged “Blaze of Glory,” from the movie Young Guns II; guitarist Richie Sambora released a solo album, 1991’s Stranger in This Town, featuring guests such as Eric Clapton; and keyboardist David Bryan dabbled in soundtrack work.

In a 1993 interview with The Georgia Straight, Sambora credited this break — and the band’s individual creative detours — for rejuvenating Bon Jovi. “We needed to find ourselves individually,” he said. “The Bon Jovi situation was extremely successful, and I was very happy to be in a band of that stature, but there was almost nothing left to write about at that point — we were all just so tired and so burnt out. All we were writing about was bein’ on the road and bein’ in a hotel room and bein’ lonely and talkin’ to your girlfriend on the phone. They miss you and you miss them — that was what our lives were about at that time. MORE