Best of Richie (post 2000 edition)

Is there a certain percentage of a song that has to be written by someone before they can be credited with co writing?

Could they add an "Oh Yea" in the lyrics and is that considered enough for a co write credit?

Would love to sit in on a song writing session to see how those 2 work together.

A bit over-the-top hostile, are we?

Jon and Richie used to tell that story a lot, how Desmond Child wrote just one line to the prechorus of Bad Medicine and they gave him co-writing credit.

I've always wondered what's Tico's contribution to Secret dreams...

thanks for that. I had never heard that story before.
good call on Ticos contribution. I would like to know that too.

How funny...I think everyone who has any sense for music will know that Bon Jovi only stood out from other 80s bands because of Richie Sambora's playing. He basically merged Eddie Van Halen with Eric Clapton and made it sound good. If Bon Jovi will EVER have any musical legacy it will be because of Richie Sambora and no one else. Fact!

And Becky...you sound like some washed up politician trying to define a policy despite knowing it's just wrong. Jon sells himself as the ULTIMATE CEO decision-maker in an official documentary...and you bring in some obscure interviews twisting things around almost making it sound as if Richie was responsible for the band's dreadful direction.

Well, there are interviews out there with Richie saying he loves the trashier Bon Jovi songs like Hey God or Fear.I know I heard an audio interview where he talkes about how it was him who brought the "Heavy Metal" component to the New Jersey record. When Tico was asked once why Bounce sounds so much rougher, he said it was because of Richie's playing. I remember Richie interviews where he talks about Judas Priest admiring their versatility in a music genre that doesn't allow for it. There's one where he talks in detail about Metal Church's musical layering and what an amazing job they did with Deep Purple's Highway Star. If you read Life on Planet Rock...Lonn Friend makes it quite clear that Richie was super excited by the raw energy of the grunge bands and loved to see them go crazy whereas Jon was just indifferent.

I am not saying Richie is innocent in the whole mess that Bon Jovi call music and that came out in the 00s. But his main fault is being passive. Allowing it to happen without doing anything. Probably even supporting it because, let's face it, a song like What do you got, they would've probably written while sitting on the toilet. Why bother with any sense of complexity? Why actually try hard and play something extraordinary when this dumbass fans will buy even shit like that?! That's his fault! Laziness. And I do blame him for that!

Actually Desmond Child's contribution to BM was adding the prechorus to the song. They had written the prechorus before,but hadn't used it and when Desmond heard BM he suggested that they insert the "That's what you get for falling in love" -part from another song.

Ice

You're head's so far up Richie's ass that YOU don't know the truth. You're just as much of an "ALL HAIL RICHIE" as you accuse me of being about Jon. The interviews I mention are out there, but I'm not so obsessed with the band that I can give you all the references. On the other hand, at one point I was so obsessed with the band that I have nearly 500 cassette tapes and 300 video tapes of concerts and interviews so most of the interviews I talk about are audio/video-based and, therefore, pretty believable. But given that I have a full time job, am in graduate school again, and, oh yeah, have a life outside of the internet, I'm not going to sift through the masses of material to give you a reference. You can take my word that I've heard it or not, but I don't make this stuff up. I don't really give a rats ass if you believe me or not.

It boils down to you want to give Richie credit for what you like and you want to blame Jon for what you don't like. It's laughable.

And to DevilsSon

Personally, I like 90% of what they've done for the past 25 years and I think they're both to be credited for it. I don't think Lost Highway, Have a Nice Day, Bounce, and Crush are the shitty albums that it seems like most everyone else around here does. I still listen to parts of Lost Highway more than I listen to the Circle. I'm pleased with what Bon Jovi have done with their career so there's not any "blame" for me to be putting on anyone's shoulder's. I can't possibly think Richie is responsible for a "dreadful direction" since I don't think they've taken one. The main thing I don't like about what they've done in recent years is that they've brought in more politics into their songs and I blame that squarely on Mr. Bon Jovi himself because he's very vocal about his political views.

Very interesting point.

Though he is a lazy bones, I do suspect that Richie's influence in the studio is the only reason we get any songs that have REMOTE nuances anymore. The Circle had Richie's influence not in particularly amazing solos or riffs- because there aren't any that qualify- but in the detail and change-ups and things that give the Circle a fuller sound than other recent albums have. If it were up to Jon, I think we'd get a bunch of wall-of-sound songs, or shit like Seat Next To You.