(Sorry if this is a little choppy but I wrote it real quick)

I will start by saying that Bon Jovi does need to re-find their nitch again. However, I don't think they are entirely to blame.

In the US, current rock does not exist anymore. There are no MAIN rock stations (some underground ones). It's a shame. Right now, Bon Jovi best fits in with the Adult Contemporary music category (95.5 WPLJ in the NY area). This is not necessarily a bad thing. (Don't get this confused with Light FM). It's more Lady AntaBella, Daughtry, Nickelback. It's basically music that doesn't fit in with Club, Dance, Rap, etc. I wouldn't even consider Daughtry or Nickelback real rock. They sound overproduced as well. Rock is officially dead people. Where did Creeds new album go? And the list goes on forever.

I think most people give Jon way too much credit. Yes, it's his vision and yes he is the final decision maker, however, he's got a whole team working with him. He's not designing album covers (they probably give him a choice of 3 and say pick 1), he's not making videos (just a vision). Yea, he co-writes his music but I'm sure research is involved by his record co. instructing him to target a specific audience. And the producers make the sound.

Bottom line, he's a puppet to his record company as all artists are. Jon is all talk in interviews.

I've heard people say that the band needs to take a break. And what? Come back when they are 60? Tico's getting up there you know. lol The band's had 2 record breaking tours, 2 consecutive #1 albums, multiple Grammy nominations. Why would they stop? Because a few wrong choices were made as lead singles. We all agree there are some good songs in the post 2000 era. Just not released as singles or given away as demos. The band still has it. It's just not being made public.

I think a lot of people are just like Jon and want the big radio hit. They want the respect as a fan to say, "Yea! Bon Jovi's still got it and I've been a fan for 20+ years".

Who's to say if ALWAYS was released today, it would be a big hit. I remember hating that song when it first came out. "This ROMEO is bleeding".... I was like WTF. But it grew on me, became a hit, and now it's a classic.

Lets get to the single..... Bon Jovi music is so accessible. It's all over the net. More so than any other band. And it's in Demand. You Tube is flooded with every live performance ever done. You could literally rip any song from Bon Jovi off You Tube. Studio or Live. The new single was played and 5 minutes later it was on every fans ipod. This hurts the band with album sales. And this is why they don't release singles anymore. Without releasing singles, it's hard to chart them correctly.

With all that said, the job of the new single is to go after a target audience and make them aware of the new greatest hits. And that's it! If it becomes a hit, that's just a bonus. There is no money being made off the single. The single is not supposed to represent the album b/ it's not a new album. It's a hits complication. That's why the single was given to the fans for free. They want to get the song out there to cause awareness and advertise that a new Greatest hits is coming out.

Times have changed since the last greatest hits in 94. If you wanted the song you buy the album or the single. Now if you want the song, you download it and move on. It's almost to the point where you wouldn't want the song to supersede the classic hits.