I think the difference between these 2 albums and the earlier ones is that on the earlier albums every single song could have been a huge hit, not so with Crush or Bounce.

But it definitely doesn't make them bad albums, no matter how much they seem to be maligned on here:

CRUSH - I remember that when this first came out was also the exact same time I found myself online and browsing boards and chatrooms here and at Bon Jovi.com. There were many cries of Jovi's "gone pop" and some people who loved it and some people who hated it. Me, I like everything the band does to a point, and Crush isn't any different. Some of the tracks Captain Crash, Mystery Train, OWN were fantastic, but then She's A Mystery plumbed the very depths of rubbish, cheesy, spew-inducing love songs. I'm bored with IML these days, but when it first came out, I loved it. So it's an album of a lot of good, fun rock tunes - not a "pop" album in any sense - and certainly no more commercial than anything else Jovi's done.

BOUNCE - Remember that first little snippet of Everday that was doing the rounds? from Kiss FM or somewhere like that I think. When I first heard that, it sounded like the hardest thing Jovi had ever done - and the album continued a similar theme. Undivided, Everyday, Hook Me Up - they're some of the heaviest songs the band have ever gotten into. Unfortunately, the dirge like Open All Night and All About Lovin' You really let the album down (sorry for those who like AALY, it's okay, but tried too hard to be Always and wasn't). I honestly think The Distance should have been the lead single. It had that great lyrics and that sweeping sing-along chorus that just takes me away every time I hear it. I wish they'd played the full version on tour rather than the more acoustic stripped down version it seemed to be. Just glad I got to hear it at SBE in all its glory.

So my verdict is that neither are bad albums, and in fact, both of them have some amazing songs. The problem is the scattering of poorer tracks letting the side down and for some reason its those everyone seem to focus on.