Jon's Voice

I know this may be a bad subject to bring up and i've been holding off on bringing it up because i don't want it to seem negative towards the band. and IMO no it doesn't matter and i don't really care about it i'm just very curious on the subject.

Where did Jon's voice go?? i mean it's OBVIOUS he can't hit the notes like he used to. something seems to have happened between the These Days tour and Destination anywhere..

Is it age? did he hurt it from the massive tour? he stop taking care of it?

i still think his lower voice is amazing but most of his songs require high vocals.. either way the band still rocks, and jon does a great job

There are several reasons. His age, probably also his hay-fever every year during the time they tour and maybe also his smoking. It's just normal that a 42 year old man can't sing as high as a 20 year old youngster.

Afraid to bring it up?? The subject has been discussed a million times here already. I would tell you to do a search, but now you can't.

While I think it's obvious to pretty much anyone that his voice isn't what it used to be, I don't think it is simply about "high notes."

Sure, they matter, but they aren't everything.

If you listened to much of the Crush tour(try the Crush DVD even), there are times when he is simply squeeking notes out his nose and really slurring the words. That concerns me more than a reduced range, though they are probably related. Personally, I think there was a genuine vocal problem because at times he sounded horrible(VH1 Storytellers is a great example) during the Crush period. I also think the vocals on the Crush album are inicative of how the future tour was going to go.

That said, he sounded better on the OWN tour, and much better on the Bounce tour. No, he didn't really go for any of the really high notes often, but he consistently sounded better and performed the songs convincingly. Judging by the web casts at the end of the Bounce tour, his voice was under considerable strain and he was reverting back to slurring the words, and absolutely butchering "These Days." That doesn't concern me too much as it was the end of a lengthy tour and he sounded great a few months prior to that the times I saw him. I think it was just a tired voice that needed rest.

I also really like the sound of his voice on TLFR. It's warm and inviting, rather than nasally and piercing.

I don't think his voice is "lost," but I do sometimes wonder if he notices what fans are noticing and, if so, does he care. Obviously he does, but does he care enough to get serious about vocal training and laying off things that damage it(smoking..).

In fairness, if we weren't complaining that he didn't sound as good, we'd be complaining that they weren't touring enough. It's the constant touring that is probably the most likely culprit in why it sounds so different.

has his voice weakened since Bounce though?

I mean he may have sounded a bit off towards the end of the tour but do you think it had improved by the time they recorded TLFR or made the DVD?

I think its hard to tell cause he sings differently on that album but he still sounds good on songs like Joey and Last man Standing.

To me though, vocals arn't all that important.. I mean they are, but I'd prefer good music and weaker vocals than average music with good vocals.

Even on the These Days tour he couldn't hit all the notes he could 10 years before, specifically on songs like Livin' On A Prayer.

I suppose that because he virtually wore out his voice on the Slippery When Wet and New Jersey tours that could have had a long term effect, and also the smoking doesn't help, and probably just the main thing is age. He's been doing it for 20 years now, and even though he can't hit all the notes or sing quite as well now, even now he could probably beat most of the acts in the charts, who can't sing to start with and rely on their looks for record deals.

How many of todays artists could hit those crazy notes that john was hitting,night after night on slippery tour? very few, its incredible that he sounds as good as he does considering what strain he put into his vocal chords.
I think he still sounds great though, i went to see them last year and his voice was fine.
So the next generation of bonjovi songs will be sung in a lower key, who cares as long as the songs still rock.

All the above! Some can scream out those high notes after 40 but not many. I think it doesn't help that he hurt it during the SWW tour. I don't know how painful blowing out your voice can be cuz I'm not a singer (even though I attempt it in the car ). I know after a Bon Jovi concert my throat is sore & I'm hoarse the next day so I can't imagine doing that night after night. I also don't think that it helps that he smokes but it's his life not ours. We can only hope that he'll quit. However I do like his voice nowadays so I don't mind that he can't always hit those high ones.

Yeah that's true, but one exception is Steven Tyler. Man that guy can sing as good as if he were 20, maybe even better.