Is it the songs? the band image? or the industry?

Great post. I completely agree.

The rules of the industry have changed dramatically. Longevity is rare indeed. When it comes to hit singles, I think it depends mainly on current trends and thg state of the music world as a whole and has less to do with songwriting capabilities. That said, I still believe a song as strong and powerful as Prayer or Always would still be a hit, even nowadays.

Though not too recently, i often heard We Weren't Born To Follow on local radio here in Buffalo within a year of the albums release. It's My Life, Who Says, and the big 3 from Slippery are the only other songs that have a chance of making it on any pop stations. Even the classic rock stations stick to the big three off of Slippery, plus Runaway. Honestly though, i don't tend to listen to rock stations. I listened to enough rock as is, so when i'm in my cat listening to radio i want something else.

Never in the UK though. It's still Always, Bad Name and Prayer that get airtime on local and DAB radio

My local radio station plays often BJ. And I'm talking about songs like These Days, In These Arms, Keep The Faith, Always etc. besides Prayer and IML. Also the singles off LH, TC and the GH were played regularly. On Jons 50th birthday they did a BJ day - every hour a BJ song.

Kinda impressive considering my small country and the radio station not being part of a network.

well, I disagree with one of your points in the OP. I don't think you need chart topping hits to stay relevant. Other than maybe U2, none of the major touring bands have had big hit songs in recent years. Not the Stones, not AC/DC, not Bruce Springsteen, not Metallica. I don't think anyone sees these acts as 'Nostalga'. In my mind, when I think of nostalgia, I think KISS, Motley Crue, Twisted Sister etc but these bands will never be able to draw anything similar to the first set.

IMO they don't need to follow what the Industry says: for example: if they had released "Superman Tonight" as the first single off "The Circle", with a GOOD video, maybe a story between a boy and a girl (even Jon said that it was a "boy-girl song"), I'm sure it would have been a hit!

This. Singles aren't that important once an artist is already established in the 'big league' really- many of the big names don't even bother or give it much thought these days, what's the point? They have already played the 'singles game' back in their early days, trying to get noticed on radio etc, now they have their loyal fanbase, so why try as hard? When was the last 'hit' single Paul McCartney had? Elton John? Aerosmith? Some may call that being a bit nostalgic, but if they are still making decent modern music, but not scoring pop radio hits, who cares? I am all about the album as a whole anyway.

I think Jon, however, seems to think he needs this pop/chart success to stay relevant and to stop becoming a nostalgia act, but I am not that sure. He envies how U2 have done it, usually still having a few big hits of every album and still being critics darlings.

I guess it all comes down to Bon Jovi being a ''singles band'', much like someone like Queen are. Whereas, bands like Led Zep or Pink Floyd are very much 'album bands' for example and have a totally different outlook to what success means.

andi

I was just thinking about the comparison between BJ and U2, discussed above. Now that I think of it, I can´t recall any single release by U2 during the last 10 years. Have they really had chart success these last few years?

I remember a song called Get On Your Boots, though. It was minor hit song, then?

This is a very good point. They haven't had an album out in ages either. What was U2s last big song? Elevation? Vertigo?

From both 'All that you cant leave behind' (2000/1) and How to Dismantle and atomic bomb (2005) they had HUGE single success, scoring multiple number 1's all over the world. How can you not recall Beautiful Day, Stuck in a Moment, Vertigo, Sometimes You cant make it on your own, City Of Blinding lights etc? And yeah, the last album wasn't as successful single wise, but it was tied with the 360 tour, which was one of the biggest Touring event in the history of the touring industry.

andi

EDIT, just a follow up after checking wikipedia - U2 have had 12 UK top 5 singles in the past decade (on top of other top 40 hits) against Bon Jovi's 3 (Its my Life, Everyday, Who Says).