Is the Jovi land full of chronic complainers ?

Am I happy with everything the band does? No. Am I a complainer? Not really. I'm not the biggest fan of the box set, but I'm not disappointed with it. It has its moments, as do all Bon Jovi albums (for me, anyway).

I'm not complaining about set lists because I've only been to one show in my life. I only think I'll do one show per tour from now on, anyway. And I'm not complaining about how "bad" they are live, because I never saw them when they were "good". I may have only been to one show, but it was the best day of my life. If they're "bad" now, they must REALLY have been good back in the early years. I would have liked to go to one of the 80s shows back when everything they played was pure rock.

I'm not complaining about the current albums because (gasp!) I like them. Some of them, anyway. Well, the 80s material is way better, but It's My Life was the song that got my attention, and Bounce was the first album that I ever truly loved. To this day, those are my favorite song and album (not just BJ-wise, but of all time). I still think Bon Jovi are a rock band. I can say- without guilt- that Bounce was a rock album. Maybe it didn't rock as much as BJ/7800F/SWW/NJ/KTF, but it rocked. Crush... well... it's a bit of a lightweight compared to the other albums, but it has some good rock tracks. As for These Days, I don't know what to say. That's the part of Bon Jovi that I don't really like. But I can't say that on JT, because if anyone says anything bad about These Days, they get slaughtered on the spot. But don't get me wrong. Remember, I said that I felt that every BJ album has its good points.

Come to think of it, I never really said much about TLFR. When that album came out, I stuck around JT a bit, but left soon thereafter. Those were really dark times and I couldn't stand the negativity from here and lack of action from the band. I just can't stand to hear that the band isn't good anymore. Just because they made an album (or more than one album) that you didn't like, doesn't make them a bad band. My opinion is that if all you do is reminice about the "good ol' days", then it's time to find a new band and move on. I'm just glad that Bon Jovi is still around so that I can fully enjoy them by buying new albums and going to concerts.

I think the sublime and the ridiculous exist with any fan base Mireille....I like to think [believe] that any criticism I have of the band is objective rather than subjective. I must be up front here and say, it gripes me, REALLY gripes me when people can't see the forest for the trees, specifically where BJ are concerned. There are, and there always will be, folks who think the sun shines outta JBJ's butt. [me...well, yeah...he's got a great butt...there's many women who wish they had a butt that looked that good in jeans - but does the sun shine out of it?...well not in my part of the world ]
IMHO, the bulk of BJ fans are realistic optimists - they are open about what they think is 'off' and equally open about what they think is good/great. The periphery will always be there. The internet has made it possible for a vast no. of people to be 'connected' and express feelings about this/that...so where once we had the knowledge of opinions our mates thought and shared with us about BJ, we have 100's/1,000's of differing thoughts and opinions being shared.

S.

Well, I am happy with most of the Box set too, only thing I´m not happy with are the studio albums and "projects" of the 00´s.

Only been to one but I have to say did enjoy myself.

I am globally satisfied the unhappy part is so small

This is my choice, in general I am happy with the work they produce. There are certain aspects I dont like ie covers of albums, name titles but at the end of the day these are small compared to how I am happy with the rest of Jovi, I do speak up about the small matters when I think it is necessary but this doesnt make me a complainer to have a point of view on small matters.

I suppose I think if I complained about everything Jovi did or didnt do what would be the enjoyment left as a fan. A constant complaining fan surely must be an unhappy fan, why would someone choose to be an unhappy fan, surely this would contridict being a fan . If you are constantly unhappy with a band to be complaining a lot then surely technically you are no longer a fan anymore because you are no longer happy..... I do link being a fan as being happy in general

Dawn

Aloha !

You tend to forget that a big part of being a fan of an artist is keeping the faith and being loyal towards the specific artist you're a fan of, even if the artist is doing a lot of things wrong. I became a fan of Bon Jovi before they released Crush. Loved all their albums for various reasons. Bon Jovi existed 15 years by then. Now they exist for over 20 years, and only 5 years of that time is time in which they became the band I dislike at most moments. things. So there is reason to keep the faith, as they did good things for most of the time. If you give up the band you're a fan of as soon as they start doing things you don't like you're not a real fan. Loyalty and being a fan belong to eachother, and I can say I'm very loyal after 4 crap albums.

However I must say, there will be a time I give up Bon Jovi I think, they're slowly ruining the big reputation they build up over the years in the eighties and nineties. I am not longer proud of the band I became a fan of, but feel ashamed when telling people I'm a fan of Bon Jovi. Misunderstood, Say It Isn't So, All About Lovin' You. How can anyone take a rock band serious when releasing such singles?

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

thats very interesting Seb, thankyou for explaining that, it must be very heartbreaking for you to feel that unhappy about the bands past 4 albums.
I hope you are able to find something positive in the bands next album that you can enjoy.

Dawn

If you're complaining about the band and their performances, I think it's fair to say that you're less happy compared to how you felt before. But 'less happy' doesn't necessarily mean 'unhappy'. And it certainly doesn't automatically mean you're no longer a fan.

I had never thought when you'd become a fan, but given your knowledge and huge collection I thought you had been since, well, since you were born or something :P

Aloha !

It's not really heartbraking. I've never seen any of the Bon Jovi guys as my heroes, and they don't have that connection with the world like other artists have. I mean, look at Oasis, they're giving comments of everything they dislike, bashing every artist they hate, but it gives you more the feeling that they're in the same world, living the same life as you, instead of Bon Jovi who sees a lot of things from a business point of view.

But if Bon Jovi will continue like this there will come a time that I'll not be into them as much as I am now. The same happened with Bryan Adams, I was a fan but now I can't really be arsed to follow the guy around lately since he's been producing the same pop shit for over 8 years right now, touring with the same setlist for the same time and so on. I sometimes listen to the older albums, but won't rush to the record store to check his new album out.

Well in fact I started collecting albums and all that stuff since 2001, since I had seen them live in Amsterdam on June the 5th. Great show, sort of a tryout before the sold out show the day later, with a rare setlist (Hey God, Something To Believe In). It made me want to hear more of the live stuff and most of it was released on bonus discs. Started collecting bonus discs, started collecting all the bonus discs and my collection grew bigger and bigger. I've always liked Bon Jovi though, but before 1998 it was mainly McCartney and Dire Straits that I listened to.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan