Make or Break for Jovi ????

I couldn't agree more !!!

It could also be a conscious decision on the bands part.i.e If the label takes out a huge promotional campaign for this Album it is money that comes out of the sales before the band see anything from it.
Where as most of the money made from concerts and t-shirts etc goes to the band.
So if the label spend 1million on promotion then the band owe the label 1 million regardless of whether it is a success or not.
I think that as its not a mainstream pop album(dont say there not pop you know what i mean) and is somewhat of a gamble I could see the label seeing how it goes down in the states,depending on this they could have a chat with the band and think more about global marketing.
Prehaps for the second single.Ye know how it will go
Bon Jovi new single---(BLah blah blah) taken from their latest Album Lost Highway containing the the U.S hit Make a Memory out now ...Blah blah blah

Trouble is that I cant but help feel that Jovi have got into a bit of a lazy streak.
Crush, Bounce and HAND - are all ok but not what made Jovi a great band in the first place.
For example - the guitar solos seem to have got shorter in songs (some dont even have solos) - a jovi album used to go on for a good hour - the last 3 are roughly about 45 mins each.
The promotion in each of the last 3 albums has been awful.
I just feel that Jon & Richie need to write a great rock album again - i know LH is a side project but i hope the album after that is a well written and musically brilliant album - something they havent done since These Days (IMO) - I love seeing them live but the new songs dont stand up against the old ones.
I hope they dont become a nostalga band and just keep releasing bland after bland album - they are better than that.

Yeah ... and there are many, many bands who stick to the US market.
Especially country bands.

Why releasing a country influenced album when they don't want to stick at the US market?
This album won't have a chance in Europe anyway ... even with promo.

Whether Jon or the fans will admit it or not - they are turning into a nostalgia band this side of the pond and beyond.
Until they come up with a killer song and an album to follow, things aren't going to get any better.

it seems as though there's a disjunction between the band and the business... jon and the band seem focused on recapturing the commercial success of they heyday, whilst the business end of things appears to avoid commercial exposure. it is as though the PR is embarassed to be working with Bon Jovi.

i'd actually argue that this disjunction goes beyond promotional confusion.

sometimes i feel the band are unaware of the level of development they are actually making. in a lot of interviews jon/richie will mention how their sound is 'evolving'; reviews tend just to say something along the lines of 'new bon jovi album... what do you expect? it's all big ballads and feelgood bombast', indicating that the press do not notice the evolutions and changes that are so often discussed.

i don't think it is make or break for bon jovi, but i do think that some of the ambiguities about the band should be cleared up, and could fairly easily. are the band about artistic/commercial success, or are they just about plodding along because retirement seems dull after years of touring?

i believe that simple changes could be made to improve things...

promotion needs to be consistent, the webiste needs to be refined and updated regularly. i like in the uk- the us e-mails i receive are of no intrest to me... an official myspace page should be maintained too, with the latest releases and maybe alternating past tracks... bon jovi as a brand could be made more personal- this crappy arial style logo thing should be scrapped- it is bland and forgettable. i appreciate that jon is sick of being asked the same questions in interviews: why not send dave out with him, he doesn't seem to shy away from the cameras in other video footage and he's pretty damn funny.

it just seems to me like the bon jovi the band and bon jovi the brand do not fit together as well as they could. i had to look on wikipedia to find out that lost highway was being released today. this isn't the way a fan should find out about the latest release by a 100 000 000 selling band.

rant over!

el
xx

Best post I've read in ages, and I agree with every single point of it

I seem to be liking a lot of your posts today ... keep it up!

Well said, I too agree with all that you said.
There has been no promo of LH in Australia at all. A friend and I joked when HAND came out that we should be running the promo side of the band for Australia .

Bon Jovi is no where near a "make or break" situation. I believe what an other poster said, which is that the band was much more in a "meak or break" situation prior to the release of Have a Nice Day. Before that CD, they were coming off the commercial failure of Bounce, This Left Feels Right, and 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong. But then they had arguably their biggest US hit in this decade with "Who Says You Can't Go Home". But while the band is having a great year and a half hear in the states, overseas it seems to be a different story. While HAND sold well its first week, the lack of a HUGE hit (WTWYA, "Who Says..." flopped) hurt them. And they definately don't seem to be helping themselves by releasing a country-tinged album, which isn't particularly embraced on European radio. I think Bon Jovi was hoping for this record to bring in a new batch of fans in the states, while they tried to keep fans in the UK, but not to add many. I mean, lets face it, Bon Jovi will always be big overseas, even if for nostalgic purposes, but in the states, its hard to stay on the top. But Bon Jovi saw that they had success with a country song and decided to try and duplicate that success. That's what they've done their whole career, SWW and NJ; Crush, Bounce, and HAND; and now "Who Says You Can't Go Home" and LH. But if I was in charge of promoting the CD, I'd release Any Other Day next (to show they can still rock), and then Strangers (to get another hit on country charts), and possibly another single. Then maybe next fall release a greatest hits with one or two new songs, but then take a break. I'd like to see them take a break like they did between TD and Crush, or NJ to KTF, just so they could get their creative juices flowing, and produce great material. So, in the UK, I don't think this is a "make or break" situation for the band, I mean, just look at how fast they sold out the O2. And don't forget, when they start touring next year, it'll be a huge plus for album sales.

I wouldn't say Who Says flopped everywhere but America ... in the UK at least it was the highest charting single off the album (#5, HAND got to #6), and (I'm about 90% positive) was joint with Everyday as their highest charting single since It's My Life