Albums: Good and bad, my thoughts about the whole thing

It depends on the context. Bill Bellicheck was part of the inspiration for Bounce, so it has a football connection. It's My Life, which I love and brought in a new generation of fans, was inspired by Jon's acting career. An inspiration doesn't have to be spelled out and obvious. Now if they start singing about field goals and the fifty yard line, it might be too much. LOL

Becky

I don't think they have quit trying, but I think that they don't always know just where to take it. There is a legacy here for a certain type of song and a certain sound. Trying to expand on that and yet still stay "bon jovi" cannot be easy. look at the response they get just here when they step outside the box. TLFR was a brave creative move even if it didn't go over very well. I think they are just going to have to make recoerds they love whether they are commercial or not. The problem with that is that it will probably keep them off the road since they have been adamant about not just being a nostalgia act. And if they don't tour they don't sell records because God forbid if yoy can get them played on the radio. It's a weird time and place I think for the band to be. Hopefully they worked something out for this new record
I've got to agree with Becky about being fair about blame when it comes to outside interests and families. they all do other things not just Jon. And it's Richie that is the most adamant about not being away from his family, I believe he has a ten day rule. And we'll see how thrilled Tico is to be out now that he has a little one. It's one thing to leave a spouse and go to work it's a whole other thing to leave the kids and miss out on the things they do. Especially when they are little and everyday brings a new surprise.

I think Richie kicked ass on the bounce tour. I remember his solo on i'll be there for you which just blew me away, also his performance. BTW all the solo's were different on the bounce tour, it sounded good to me. And the show they give is good too. Although I still believe they can do better, but it's not as bad as people make it out to be. The "problem" is, the songs are too good to come across bad you know what I mean? Bad Name will make a great impact no matter how they play it. (okay counting out the TLFR version!)

Ok f*ck it then, since u ppl insist on bringing up live performances all the time. Last tours....Good songs doesn't save the boring predictable performance they give every night. Vocal parts on recent tours, Jon keeps on going through same set, same speech & same audience-a**-kissing routine night after night, without any spark, or even effort. BJ's performance has been like having a ferrari in your garage but restiricting its top speed to 60km/h. Know what I mean. There's potential, there's songs, there's experience, there's talent. But they just don't deliver the goods.

Bad name? Bad med? "is there a doctor in the house....." so worn-out that they should be dropped from set, at least occasionally. I'd say 9 out 0f 10 performances in recent tours of those standards has been nothing but something they "had" to do. No life or spark, like there's no emotion in performing them. Goes for various other songs as well...This has been discussed various times before, but what they'd need is to add some unpredictable moments into their sets. I mean, who is nothing but bored/pissed off when u hear the beginning of Bad Med, knowing it will be followed by annoying & boring renderition of shout. Every f*cking night. Prayer? just check Borgata performace, they managed to f*ck it up nicely. Ok I guess that's their way of being unpredictable these days. If they can't deliver them standards, what can they deliver?

YEAH!!!!ROCK AND ROLL BABY....

I GOT YOUR POINT AND I AGREE 100%

Maybe their predictability and lack of passion and originality has do to with TD failure. For once they tried to do something completely different and the album sales were certainly not outstanding and the reception of the album quite cool. After that they took a break and they came back with IML which might be good or bad but it's not very original. Same for Bounce - only worse. Their only attempt at swimming against the flow seems to be TLFR - and that may only be because of their deal with the record company - an album full of versions of old songs being the fastest way to comply with it.

Somehow I get the feeling they're trying to balance too many aspects and keeping happy too many people with many different interests - themselves, their record company, their old fans, their new fans and a view on enlarging their fan base.

I have a few points I'd like to make here:
1. You said that Fahrenheit and Bounce are exact opposites. I love both. Does that make me a walking irony?
2. Becky once said that Bon Jovi have always been "pop". I think that there has been a pop element in all their albums. Some are just more apparant than others.
3. I also think that there is a rock elemant in every Bon Jovi album. Again some rock more than others. But they all rock.
4. I think that what went wrong with Bounce has nothing to do with 7800 Fahrenheit. I think that what went wrong with Bounce was that it failed to generate a hit.

That's exactly what I hope for in the next album.

I think the appeal of TD is that it's "unlike anything that Bon Jovi have ever done." It's almost as if it was from another band. Now, I like a bunch of different bands, many of which are more negative than Jovi. That could be why some people like TD as well as Bon Jovi's other albums. I could be wrong, though. After all, I'm not a big fan of the album, myself.

Maybe it's not that no one likes Crush. Maybe it's a second favorite album for a lot of people.

I don't think there's such a thing as a "rock" producer. Likewise, I don't think there's such a thing as a "pop" producer. They can't be limited to one genre. There just producers.

Neither. But I'd probably like it. Still there is no way Bon Jovi will make another 7800 Fahrenheit.

The Bon Jovi fan base is pretty big. Let me correct myself- really big. All I can say is that you can't please everyone all the time. There will be people who will love the new album. There will be people who hate the new album. There will be in-betweeners. That's the great thing about Bon Jovi: there's something for everyone.

1) nope. that kinda makes u more open minded than "common" jovifan of this century. Including me.
2) they started as rockband, then pop aspect grew and grew and rock was put aside. IMO. I don't agree 80s being pop when it coems to jovi. Just go check what pop was back then, not quite similar to what jovi did.
3) as said, personal opinions right. Crush was nothing but pop all the way.
4) agreed.

IF not every but most producers has certain way of working, and not every way suits rockband. You just don't go telling rock band that they should add drum-machines to their album. If u do, you dont know shite about essence of rock.

It just seems now that the band have hit cruise control,with outside interests - virtually all financial (dont they have enough money?!)- taking quite a big role now. I realise that they all need new challenges in their lives, but ive no sympathy for the Jay-Z-esque business tycoon approach that celebrities cant seem to resist. I agree with you with regard to David, he seems the only "pure" musician in the band, and he deserves credit for that. Tico's baby clothing line seems completely irelevant and pointless, its not like he's even a C-list celeb.

These Days was probably their best record critically, and sales were disappointing, probably because the majority of BJ fans wanted to scream along to Power Ballad V or Hair Metal Anthem XII.

I can only speculate that Jon then deliberately took the band back on to their more commercial routes, and sure Its my life was great, but the rest of Crush didnt back it up, and without similarly strong backup singles the album didnt really sell as well as maybe it could. Had Bj have continued on the introspective and mature road of TD, maybe-like Bruce, after Born in the USA- Bj could have moved on and have genuinely threw off the critical hindrance of SWW and 80s hair metal.

Jon tried to convince everyone that Bounce was a "socially conscious record" - utter rubbish, compare it to "The Rising" and Bounce is made to look ridiculous.

I think most fans have come to the (seemingly correct) conclusion that TLFR was an easy way to bump up sales prior to the boxset, and a nice vanity project for the band. Sure there are some nice guitar bits, Wanted/IML and a few others work quite well, but in the end it just sounds like a naff unplugged covers album. And as for OWN, for the well-versed fan, its just not worth buying.

Dramatic Pause......back to the live thing

Bruce is pretty much unique in that he's had a career so very contrasting, yet impressive in styles, that each show will be genuinely different (i concede that his back catalogue is larger). A large proportion of people go to BJ gigs just for the whole LOP/IML/Bad Name medley, however with Bruce Dancing in the Dark/Hungry Heart/Born to Run are very popular songs granted, but you're never 100% sure theyll be played.

Any comments?

7800° is by far a BETTER album than bounce....would you compare these purely great rock anthem like hardest part of the night, in and out of love and the pure aor only lonely with misunderstood,you had me from hello and joey???????????just few tracks hold the comparison.....

if only it would have been produced in a better way.....