Jon Bon Jovi has always carried himself like
               someone who knows exactly where he's headed.
               But with his second solo album, "Destination
               Anywhere," the singer-songwriter-guitarist (and
               movie actor) steps into the unknown.

               Fans will be startled by the trendy dance beats,
               samples and loops on the new CD, which comes
               out Tuesday. The tracks - particularly the seven
               co-produced by Stephen Lironi, a one-time
               member of the new-wave band Altered Images
               who more recently has worked with British
               alternative-rock band Black Grape - began as
               experiments.

               "The first couple of days, I was baffled," says Bon
               Jovi, a Sayreville native who now lives in
               Rumson. "It was as if I had never made a record
               before. Using these loops and putting the bass
               and the drums on last, (they're) usually first. But once I grasped the
               way (Lironi) was approaching it, that became the catalyst for the
               record."

               Mostly written during the three months Bon Jovi spent filming "The
               Leading Man" in London, "Destination Anywhere" revolves around the
               twin themes of escaping the past and starting over. "Name the place,
               and I'll be there/Pack a bag, and we're out of here," he begs in the title
               track.

               "I was a foreign man in a foreign land," he says, referring to his
               London sojourn in early 1996. He spent his off-set time during those
               months contemplating life apart from his longtime bandmates, who
               were planning to reunite for summer shows and then go their separate
               ways. "I didn't know what the future held. I just knew I was about to take
               two years off from doing what I do best."

               A break was needed, he says, because the band had "nothing left to
               write about. What were we going to say? 'Isn't the airplane wonderful'
               and 'multiple nights in stadiums sure are cool.'" He laughs at the
               thought.

               "I needed to explore different ways of expressing myself. When
               (guitarist-songwriter) Richie (Sambora) and I collaborate, it's not my
               voice or his voice. It becomes our voice."

               That said, the band plans to reunite, probably next year, to release
               more albums. Bon Jovi hopes everyone will bring "new information"
               back from the hiatus that will help create a new sound. Or at least
               return with a fresh perspective.

               His bandmates have pursued their own projects in the interim:
               Sambora is currently working on his second solo album after the first,
               1991's "Stranger in This Town," went nowhere. Drummer Tico Torres
               is spending time at an art gallery he opened in Palm Beach, Fla., and
               keyboardist David Bryan has been writing songs for an upcoming
               album by New Orleans legend Dr. John.

               "It's all about life experiences," Bon Jovi says, adding that after the
               band went its separate ways for two years before recording "Keep the
               Faith" in 1992, "it changed everything. It changed the look of the band,
               and it changed the sound of the band.

               "As wonderful as (being) in the band (is), everyone would have had
               that same experience (if we stayed together). Now, going off and
               doing these films and the solo record, I know what story I'm going to
               tell next year. And whatever ones they're coming back with, we'll have
               that to share."

               This makes sense. After all, Bon Jovi has remained successful (if not
               exactly hip) for more than a decade by refusing to live in the past.

               The group has come a long way from such 1980s lite-metal hits as
               "You Give Love a Bad Name" and "Bad Medicine." "Keep the Faith"
               and its most recent album, 1995's "These Days," explored adult
               issues like disillusionment, deceit and commitment, combining
               ingratiating pop melodies with quasi-funk beats and layers of heavy
               guitars. In tours promoting those albums, the band wisely dropped the
               larger-than-life theatrics of its Û'80s arena concerts and added a
               dose of bar-band rambunctiousness instead.

               The decision to put the band on hold was Bon Jovi's, he says: "I
               dictate the schedule. I wanted to take some time off, so I encouraged
               the guys to go off and do some different stuff."

               His desire to follow up his 1990 solo debut, "Blaze Of Glory (Songs
               Inspired by the Film 'Young Guns II),'" wasn't the only factor. He also
               wanted to see how far he could go with his acting, which he calls "a
               great passion" and "a great outlet."

               "It's a way to be productive and creative and not have to be in control
               of every aspect of it," he says. "I don't have to write it. I don't have to
               produce it. I just show up and express myself."

               His low-key performance in 1995's "Moonlight and Valentino" brought
               him far more positive reviews than rock critics have given him over the
               years. He "generates a nice charismatic warmth," Hollywood Reporter
               critic Michael Rechtshaffen wrote. "Much to everyone's surprise, (he)
               did not give acting a bad name," said Entertainment Weekly's Corey
               Davidson.

               Bon Jovi has two movies coming out this fall: "Homegrown," a black
               comedy starring Billy Bob Thornton, and "Little City," co-starring
               Dennis Leary and Annabella Sciorra. ("The Leading Man" has been
               released in Europe but not the States.)

               "I'm still not Daniel Day Lewis," he concedes, "but I only ever claimed
               to be a student of film. But these are not dumb roles. All these films
               are dialogue-heavy, with good stories."

               Due to movie commitments, Bon Jovi will perform only a handful of
               gigs to promote the new album. One will take place Wednesday at the
               Supper Club in New York.

               If New York radio station Z-100's May "Z-Day Concert" on the U.S.S.
               Intrepid is any indication, the atmosphere at the Supper Club will be
               charged. Appearing with veteran synth-pop band Erasure and relative
               newcomers like Paula Cole and Duncan Sheik, Bon Jovi "stole the
               show," says Z-100 program director Tom Poleman. "The reaction was
               nothing short of hysteria.

               "Jon has done a great job of keeping his image fresh in the public.
               He's done ads for Versace, and the new movies he's been working on
               have rejuvenated his perception in the market. He's become much
               more than a musician. He's part of pop culture."

               This Jersey boy is also a global phenomenon. The 1995-96 Bon Jovi
               tour came to amphitheaters in the United States but to stadiums
               elsewhere. "Across the world, it was multiple nights in stadiums," Bon
               Jovi says.

               "They're enormously successful over there," says Little Steven Van
               Zandt, who performed with the band on a 1995 European stadium
               tour. "It's like them and U2, neck and neck.

               "In America," Van Zandt continues, "they're known as a pop band
               because of the hit singles, but in Europe, there aren't those
               distinctions. It's not quite as polarized. They have respect for the pop
               hits, but (Bon Jovi is) considered a rock band like Guns N' Roses or
               Metallica."

               Lenny Bloch, director of rock programming at Jersey stations like
               WDHA (105.5 FM, Cedar Knolls) and WRAT (95.9 FM, Point
               Pleasant), confirms Van Zandt's assessment. He's staying away from
               "Midnight in Chelsea," the first "Destination Anywhere" single,
               because it's too pop, he says, but is playing the harder-edged album
               track, "Queen of New Orleans."

               No matter what his stations are playing, Bloch says, requests for Bon
               Jovi songs are always heavy in the Garden State.

               "Even though he's a big celebrity, he's maintained some of that
               'regular guy from New Jersey' mystique," he says. "He still lives in
               New Jersey, and he married a Jersey girl (Dorothea Hurley), his
               high-school sweetheart. How cool is that?"