Bon Jovi and Cinderella

I was saying they were 'in-between' from a musical perspective. They were a little grittier than Aerosmith but still had the 'feel-good' vibe in the music. They were never quite as dark as Metallica, although, as Bob Rock puts it, they wanted him for the Black Album sound.

So - in terms of 'chasing trends' - Bon Jovi were not quite riding the Grunge bandwagon, but stayed a lot closer to home (while following similar bands that were slightly more successful than them at that point).

Really????

Are you saying his not? His got it in spades.

Bon Jovi's biggest success during the grunge period was 'Always' which was an accidential hit. There was no grunge sound surrounding that song.

I wouldnt call the Black album 'dark' in comparrison to Metallica's other albums. This was as commercial as they got. They were just an ugly Guns and Roses during that period.

He wasn't saying that Metallica was a dark album compared to their others, he was saying it was compared to Bon Jovi's output, which it was.

I agree about Always though. In fact I don't think Bon Jovi was chasing a fad back then, aside from realizing that they had to modernize their sound. I would not even say Crush was chasing a fad, and if Bounce was then it was chasing loads of them, the first time it became noticeable to me was with the HAND album.

I don't know if I agree with that 100%. If there was a darker scale, of course Metallica would beat Bon Jovi every time but let’s not confuse "Darkness" with "Heavier"

If you do a real comparison of KTF to the Black album, I wouldn't say the standout differences are the darkness’s between the two. I'd say "Heavier" is more accurate. (These Days is much darker than the Black Album, but The Black album is heavier.)


Is The Black Album darker? Maybe a little but I define darkness by mood and imo, the mood is generally the same for both of these albums. Metallica just happens to be a real heavy metal band. Comparing Bon Jovi to Metallica is like comparing Justin Bieber to Adam Levine. Kinda the same but so different..... Sorry Jon, but you would be Justin Bieber

Enter Sandman
The Unforgiven
Nothing Else Matters

Keep The Faith
If I Was Your Mother
In these Arms

Where was it quoted that Jon said he wanted Bob Rock to produce KTF because they wanted to go after the Black sound? BTY, That Black album was one of the best albums of that time. Even though Load and Reload were good, they just didn't have that same magic.

I am not confusing heavier with darker, I love metal and like plenty of power metal bands that are heavy but not especially dark.

Of course Metallica is heavier, but despite being easily their most commercial album, it is still darker than Keep The Faith.

lets look at your comparisons. BTW I do not research through the history of bands I like so if some details are wrong I beg forgiveness.

Enter Sandman and Keep The Faith: On the surface it is clearly about fears but I am sure I remember Hetfield saying the song was about heroin? Anyway either way it features much darker imagery than Keep The Faith. I am not sure Keep The Faith is dark at all, it is socially conscience yes, but surely the underlying theme is about holding on and maybe, keeping the faith.

The Unforgiven and If I Was Your Mother: The Unforgiven as far as I know is about growing up under strict social conditions, lyrically it is pretty dark. If I Was Your Mother is heavy, at least for Bon Jovi, but is it really dark? I would say yes, but the arrangements and lyrics of Unforgiven make it darker.


Nothing Else Matters and In These Arms: Actually quite similar in what they are saying, Nothing Else Matters details Hetfield being away from someone he loves and In These Arms is wishing to have the one you love. I still think Metallica's is darker, especially in terms of musical arrangement (not talking about being heavy).

If we were comparing Metallica with These Days then we may reach agreement, but with songs like I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, Woman in Love, I Want You etc, I would say tracks like Of Wolf and Man, The God That Failed, My Friend Of Misery, Don't Tread on Me etc etc are much darker.

Regards the Bob Rock quote, it was in the interview on the other thread

To me the 90s was all about the Seattle sound (Pearl Jam, Soundgarden). KTF and TD seemed to follow that style.

Being that the Metallica Black album is not a dark album, saying that it's darker that KTF is a moot point.

It's not, considering Keep The Faith was - as evidenced by the title, for starters - a positive album. The Black Album had songs about war or titled "Sad But True". The difference is significant, even if both are rather tame when it comes to darkness.