Sound Garden State

<center></center> ---------------------- As far as I know, I have only ever been to New Jersey once in my life. It's possible that we traveled there when I was a kid for something, but I honestly don't know what it would have been. It's a bit too far out of the way to have been part of our New England trip. The time I do remember was for work and while it had the potential to be pretty awesome, it ended up being just kind of "whatever". I used to work for a computer company that had a pretty big contract with a major global chemical company. When that chemical company would buy other businesses they would send us to the sites to switch their desktops and other devices over to the new corporate network. It was an interesting if not boring job, but it gave me the opportunity to fly for the first time, so it will always be a bit special to me. <center></center> -------------------------- One of those businesses just happened to be in New Jersey, so my boss and I made the trip out there and spent a couple days doing our work. On the last day, we finished a bit early, so the boss decided it might be a fun time to drive over to Atlantic City. I don't remember much about the trip, but I do remember we went to the Trump Taj Mahal and that my boss spilled his drink all over the roulette table. That kind of thing is frowned upon, so it was kind of a big deal. We promptly left and that's all I really remember from the trip. As you might have guessed, our #threetunetuesday post this week sponsored by @ablaze focuses on the garden state of New Jersey. This one was almost too easy given how many great artists there are from New Jersey and reference it in their songs. Oddly enough, some of the most specific examples actually shout out the New Jersey Turnpike, but I tried to include songs that also reference just the state as well. <center></center> ----------------------- Of course given @mrsbozz and I's love of Bon Jovi, it was only right that I include them in this post. In addition to that, I also felt the need to include Bruce Springsteen as you will see in a second. I usually try to avoid some of the obvious references in these posts, but in this case it was just too iconic to pass up. There is simply zero way I could write a post about New Jersey without talking about The Boss and Bon Jovi. Since I clearly don't have any photos from the actual state, I am using images I took at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year in Cleveland, OH. They had a special exhibit on the top floor that was all Bon Jovi. We had no clue when we decided to visit, but it ended up working really well for us. So let's get to the music. <center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xdqjPCynGUc?si=ah1YfUeVVGhgQFgZ" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></center> ------------------------- [Direct Link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdqjPCynGUc&list=RDxdqjPCynGUc&start_radio=1) ------------------------ I didn't own any Bon Jovi records growing up, and this song didn't get a lot of mainstream airplay (if any), so the first time I remember hearing it was many years later at one of their live shows. "Raise Your Hands" is just a banger of a tune. It has some amazing guitar work, a driving beat, and a great chorus that gets the crowd singing along every time. It's […]