At the time, this certainly seemed like a darker album the most Bon Jovi albums. I remember that during Bounce promo Richie was asked about the darker feel of These Days said that Jon was working out his demons on this record. I was absolutely shocked to read that because it sounded like "airing the dirty laundry." I even call my best friend to read what he had said. I think it does go to show that "the poet needs the pain." It seems like this album has touched Bon Jovi fans more deeply than most of the others. I've wondered since reading that statement if one reason Jon doesn't play much from this album is that he doesn't want to revisit those demons, whatever they were.

I'm usually not a fan of ballads, at least not in the 2000s, but I really loved a lot of this album and it was ballad heavy. Highlights are Letting You Go, Lie to Me, Love Song, My Guitar Lies Bleeding, and Something to Believe In. I'm not so crazy about SFTP and Damned. The demos from this album were all awesome too.