Do Bon Jovi have to please too many different fans?

I hope so.

I think, and I'm not saying I think they're right, but HAND was the band's idea of a "straight up" rock record.

well, not really. it's discussed a bit earlier. there's one country song on it and I was arguing it was lacking consistency...what other people denied. Nevertheless, there's songs like Welcome to Wherever you are or Bells of freedom which clearly target other audiences than Have a Nice Day or Last Man Standing. As Ellie was putting it, songs by numbers. Do you think they may give that up? I mean LH, despite being crap, I don't think it's inconsistent. That would be a good road to go, only change the direction.

But, with all due respect, Bon Jovi records very rarely, if ever really have one consistent musical direction. New Jersey for instance, while being a rock album, has two ballads, and two acoustic songs, not to mention the fact that the "rock" songs range from dumb party songs to deep reflective songs. These Days, which has more of a common theme than any other BJ album, still features several different styles of songs ranging from ballads to heavy rockers to poppier stuff.

well, this has been all discussed and acknowledged. As I agree with your statement, I think since 2000 it got more extreme and this is especially valid for Bounce. However, with LH they sort of proved they can do an album with somewhat of an unitary sound. I'm just wondering if they'd be willing to go the same road with a proper ballsy rock record.

I agree with you about Bounce. I listened to it the other day, for no reason other than I had a lot of free time at work and hadn't heard the whole thing in a long time. Anyway, the entire second half is horribly arranged, ballad/"rocker" over and over.
But, even LH doesn't have that consistent of a sound. You've got two/three "brainless rockers", the mid-tempo rockers with slightly deeper meaning, and the ballads.

I can only say that I always liked the diversity within every Bon Jovi album, you get different flavours that all sound like them. That's why I like them. Though I would welcome more hard rockers, I'm not sure how I'd like an album in that style only. Sometimes it's the other way around and I'd want them to experiment even more, for example "Temptation" should have made "Crush" IMO, to add another new spice.

For me the problem is not the range of styles on an album, but more the fact if these songs are produced just to please a certain market (this issue has been discussed when they announced the country-album), or if it comes from a band that just writes the songs they want to - which is considered to be artistic freedom. So, albums like "New Jersey" or "Keep The Faith", which have the "serious" songs and those with a more fun attitude are perfectly right with that. A little bit of everything. And those albums especially sound like one piece - I disagree with those who say differently. "These Days" is of course the most consistent album - it's almost sort of a concept-abum. Despite it has this overall melancholy feel, it still offers a range of styles and a band that is capable of creating different, unique songs within the shell of an overall trademark sound.

On "Crush" I can still feel the band expressing their different sides in different songs, and that's totally fine with me. On "Bounce" this starts to change slightly, as you can see a trend not to sound, but to "be" more commercial (shorter songs, structures etc.). The question really is, are songs like "All About Loving You" only on the album to please the fans of cheesy ballads?

In the end, this band always has had different sides, and that's why I love them. They should keep on writing different styles, but only if it comes from the heart. What I love about Guns n' Roses for example is the wide ranch of musical styles, from acoustic ballad to epic ballad to hard rock kick-ass, and it's all trademark Guns n' Roses. Because they stayed true to themselves. Bon Jovi did that too in their finest moments. So I don't care, if one album contains differnet songs as "Welcome To Wherever You Are" or "Last Man Standing" and "Hace A Nice Day" as long as the quality and feel of those songs is that of a band who is into what it is producing. And that, I think, is a slightly different question.

I think I agree entirely with Simon, well said mate.

For me - I've loved every album when it's come out - because I can still see the Jovi I love in the album as a whole - though in the recent albums there have always been two or three songs that I don't like, which would never have happened before.

Where I'm finding the difficulty is in the longevity of the albums. I will rarely play Bounce, Crush or Lost Highway. Have A Nice Day I listen to loads though. I always listen to KTF and These Days, or at least key tracks from them, and also Slippery and New Jersey, but hardly ever the first 2 albums.

Well said Simon, from my POV anyway.

Bon Jovi should stop trying to please anyone and make music they feel passionate about. I don't careif that means a album full of Tom Waits ballads or country songs, I'd just not buy it. But trying to please as many people as possible is a sure way to crash and burn. I haven't listened to Bounce since 2002. I haven't listened to HAND since 2006. And I doubt I won't in a while. I listened to Slippery last week.

So stop trying to please people and just make music because you feel like it.

Ice