Ooh I'm Jon and so interested in you all.

Interesting point of discussion Keeper. Nice quote in the sig too. I'll raise a glass to that!

To put this rumour in perspective, I remember reading when I was about 9 (15 years ago, God I feel old ) that Jon got pissed off at some radio guy and hung up on him. I don't remember the exact thing this guy said, but it ended with something like "He probably has AIDs or something." Sure enough, this jibe became "fact" within no time. Clearly, it was not true and yet someone still jumped on it, and it snowballed to the point where a lot of people thought it was true. It's the Chinese Whispers syndrome.

Another great one is the people who think "I Want to Break Free" is a gay anthem, and yet it was written by the married, heterosexual and strip club frequenting bass player John Deacon. Or the people who think Brian May perms his hair. It's naturally big and curly, just as my unusually strong and thick (according to my barber) hair naturally sits in a crewcut like manner. I've used gel all of twice in my life.

See my point? Things are not always what they seem.

So many people seem to assume the worst when it comes to celebrities, and it sickens me. They're supposed to be these arrogant, high and mighty, eccentric jerks but, with obvious exceptions (exceptions are almost always the reason for stereotypes) that seems to be mostly rumours and innuendo. It's bitterly funny in a way - they've got all this money and "prestige", and yet I think they have grounds for being classed as a persecuted minority.

Funnily, I've taken a real shine to DVD commentaries mostly because, perhaps more than any other way shy of stalking, they usually give you a more honest insight into the people involved than anything else (obviously scripted commentaries aside of course). Today I listened to the Resident Evil commentary and heard "supermodel" Milla Jovovich and "hot up and coming actress" Michelle Rodriguez bullshitting and joking with each other in a manner not at all dissimilar from the way my friends and I do, including no less than two fart jokes. I know this sounds two state lines OT, but it's part of the point I'm trying to make about Jon and the boys. They're human and suffer from all the same flaws as "the rest of us". The media and similarly minded people are like a pool of water. Even a tiny stone makes a comparitively huge impression.

Even more OT, the TLFR version of Bad Name is ****ing cool. Damn sweet guitaring.

I don't see it as him being uninterested. I just see it for what it is that he wanted to smoke. It would be interesting to know how many shows out of all the ones they've done that Jon did smoke on stage. Unlike Tico, I'm guessing it can't be more than a handful. My thing is I've never understood how a person can smoke and sing but as others mentioned there are singers that do it a lot. I've seen John Rzeznik and John Mellencamp both smoke on stage during their performances and it was for a lot of the show not just one song at the end.

deb

Yep, I know what you mean and that's why I gave both versions. However, and I'm not saying this is the case, sometimes rumours carry some true in them to a certain degree.

Oh, and glad you liked my sig!

It's almost like folklore and mythology in a way - no matter how screwed up and bizarre it may sound, there's usually a very real event behind it all. It could've been drugs, but the allergy theory is just as likely.

It's an interesting coincidence that I said "the war life often is" before you posted, and I actually originally typed battle

Why don't you get a life and find a Band you actually do like, instead of coming on hear and constantly slagging off the lead-singer!
It's not as if this is even a recent picture. And at least he's not smoking dope and other 'stuff' that Richie has admitted to doing whilst on stage!

Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah! This is great, may the real backstager please stand up!

Aloha !

I was just giving my opinion on the lead singer's behaviour, and if you all would've thought it wouldn't be such a problem this silly fights wouldn't start. But due to the fact that you know it's a lack of interest from Jon's side, you start making silly excuses for it like "Slash smokes on stage too, as well as Keith Richards does" which is completely different, since it's not something they only do when being bored, but just because it's part of their image, which is not the case for Jon.

Recent or not, Jon still smokes and looks not interested during the performance of several songs. So basicly what you're saying is that if it would've been a screenshot of a vid from the Bounce tour it's more fair to say something like this ? That's just plain silly.

And yes, Richie smokes dope, but it's not like his playing is influenced by it, and he doesn't look more or less into the show. In fact he looks like he's got more fun which isn't really a bad thing. Plus I think because I attacked Jon, you thought the dope thing would be a great way of putting Richie down, which ofcourse can be done, but not in this way.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

I wonder if I posted a picture of Richie blinking on stage could I say that He's falling assleep on the shows.

Anyways Opinions are all opinions, but picking apart the lead singer of a band because he smokes or has a certain look on his face is just plain sad.
And I wouldn't dare compare the Jon of today with Axl or Have you guys seen Vince Neil perform lately??
No Contest Jon's one of the best frontman and performers out there, Deal with it!!

In this case it's you and Supersonic acting like sort of Backstagers - examining Jon's every move and thinking why he does this or why he does that.

Honestly, it's just an anecdote to me. And I don't think it implies he's bored or anything. Maybe he just felt like it. I thought it was all about the music, and yet you keep bringing up silly topics like this. Did the cig even affect the way he was singing then? Did the people attending the concert feel offended? I wouldn't have unless the singing had been awful, no matter how many cigs he'd smoked.

I wouldnt compare Jon with Bruce Dickinson either. Or Ian Gillan. OR in fact, with noone who can still deliver the goods. Jon has become a poser & lazy performer. Deal with it!!