Bon Jovi Join Songwriters Hall of Fame

Very well said and totally agree that they should get this honor. IMO they don't get enough honors or awards.
Eileen

If it was just going to be the bands that have "shaped rock n' roll", they'd run out of artists to induct pretty quickly. Anyway, there's a number of modern bands that have been influenced by Bon Jovi ... almost every time I read a review of a song with an anthemic chorus, it's described as being of "almost Bon Jovi-like proportions", or something similar.

And there's no reason why they should have to be particularly influential in order to be included in a Songwriters Hall Of Fame ... that is purely about the songs, and Bon Jovi have written a number of songs that still hold up after 20 years ... that's gotta be worth something

But the list of songwiters to be honoured, cannot simply stop in the 60's or 70's. There is another 20/30 years of popular music to be recognised, and included in this is Bon Jovi. Their songwiting is different, its appealing and its not all about sex-drugs/rock n roll. As much as I love bands like Poison etc and believe me I do, Brett Michaels does not deserve to be in the SHOF for an example of a "fun rock" band (or whatever was said). Jon and Richies partnership offers something different, and hence their music is pretty timeless. Totally deserve it.

LOL

They influenced bands like Trixter and FireHouse back in the day.
But you don't see any Hard Rock band today saying "oh Livin' on a Prayer changed my life", "oh Jon's pink spandex was influential for me". Maybe some sacndianavian Glam band, but nothing mainstream.

Well it's questionable to what extent Bon Jovi themselves were ever really "hard rock" so you would be hard pressed to find a "hard rock band" citing Bon Jovi as a major influence. Not to mention it's not exactly cool to say you grew up listening to Bon Jovi. But I'm willing to bet a lot of mainstream modern rock and pop rock bands are influenced by them, whether they're willing to put it out there or not.

I never said about hard rock bands though, although a lot of them probably are influenced to some degree by Bon Jovi, it's just cooler, as Kenobi said, to say you were influenced by bands like Crue and GnR, if you are going for that Bad Boy image.

I was more specifically talking about modern rock bands, a lot of them seem to draw some influences from BJ

I can think of several mainstream, very successful bands who've named Bon Jovi as a major influence. Nick Wheeler (the guitarist from The All-American Rejets) credits BJ amongst the main reasons he's a musician, Fall Out Boy used to actually take the stage to LOAP. There are plenty of others as well, though since non of them are the ****ing love child between Motley and Vixen that you want all music to be, I'm sure none of this will matter to you anyway.

I disagree with you on several accounts. First off, to say Bon Jovi haven't influenced other artists doesn't make any sense. Any band that has been around as long as they have, with a the huge radio presence has influenced forthcoming bands by default, on varying levels. As for them not being "serious" enough, I don't buy that in the least. The R&R Hall Of fame is just that, a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Unlike a sports Hall, you can't quantify a musicians induction by a set of statistics. I feel it has to be based not only on influence, but on career, and honestly Bon Jovi is one of the most successful bands ever to have a career which began post-1980. They've been an almost constant radio and concert presence since they broke, which is something only really U2 can claim from that period. Any band that can do that absolutely deserves to be in the Hall. And this isn't my Jovi fandom talking. I'm NO fan of Kiss, but it's a travesty that they're not in the Hall themselves.

I think the songwriter Hall Of Fame is not connected to that more or less famous Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland? Because that other one is a joke

agreed with almost everything brian said