Questions: Starting All Over Again, These Days, US popularity and 96-00 break

Hey guys! This won’t be another “favorite x” thread (let me know if you want me to continue though &#128517, I got some questions I’ve been wondering about for quite some time. Here we go!

1. Why did Bon Jovi rarely play These Days tracks on concerts from 2000 and up, heck even on the These Days tour itself.? Don’t they know that it’s a fan favorite?

2. Does anyone have any information on “Starting All Over Again” from the Box Set 2004? I absolutely love that song and think it would be perfect for a not-too-sad Bon Jovi tribute whenever they call it quits.

3. I think I might know the answer to this one, but why did Bon Jovi lose their popularity in the US? Did that also contribute to their break from 96-00? Which other factors played a part in that break?

Jon once went on record saying that he didn't sing them much anymore because he mostly wanted to do "happy shows". Somewhere in around 2000/01 I think. And the alternate rock sound from the 90s often did have a darker side to it. However, that was just him not addressing that his vocals had deteriorated so much in the four-year time span which would've made a higher number of these songs impossible (on a regular scale).
You're mistaken about the These Days tour though. 1996 had a huge amount of These Days songs almost on a nightly basis, 6-7 tracks were pretty standard with Dublin '96 even having 11 tracks off the album in its setlist.
Only early 1995 rarely featured them, but you have to keep in mind that the album wasn't released until they were about halfway through their European tour and hence the audience wouldn't have been familiar with the stuff. The 2nd half of 1995 had already seen rising numbers of These Days tracks in the set. Take Tampa 1995 (on YT) as an example.

Jon and Richie joked on the Box Set Bonus DVD that they didn't include it because it would've killed Jon's voice. Something along the lines of "if we did that one, we could pack up after three shows on the tour and go home 'cause I'd be done..."
As of now, we can safely say that Bon Jovi will never play that and Jon most likely has forgotten about it anyway.

The music scene had changed drastically in the early 90s. 80s Bon Jovi (or hair metal in general) had been the absolute opposite of what had become popular. Of course, Bon Jovi adapted their sound which helped them survive in the long run, but at the time, no Grunge fan cared about hearing their songs and the old-time fans who stuck to the hair metal genre were alienated by the change in looks and sound (as Jon said himself). So there wasn't too much room for them to fit in.
I don't think the break was because of that though, but due to the band members striving for creative outlets at the time (Jon with solo album and movies, Richie's solo album, Dave's independent album, Tico's art exhibitions) and their tight working schedule from late '92 to mid-'96 wouldn't have allowed that. Keep in mind that 1995/96 actually was their peak in popularity in almost all parts of the world, except for the US.

To add to the first part: the band also has a tendency to ignore the songs the die-hard fans wanna hear and play the more commercial ones (or the ones they THINK are more commercial) instead.

1. Why did Bon Jovi rarely play These Days tracks on concerts from 2000 and up, heck even on the These Days tour itself.? Don’t they know that it’s a fan favorite?

These Days was not a hit in the US, but Crossroad sold very very well. So they did a world tour of Crossroad first.

Once the These Days album came out, and it didn't have the expected success, it seems that Jon wasn't as confident about playing too many These Days songs and leaned more on the Crossroads hit set list. All that insecurity was changing when a moderate success reached them at the international level (as Dominik says, this songs was added in the following legs). If you look at the 1996 European and Japanese setlists, you will find up to 9 songs from These Days on the setlist.

After 00, the band was renewed with Its My Life, they returned to have some success in the US, the shows were selling very well. But remember that These Days Album was not a success there, and thematically, those dark days sounded like the past. People wanted to hear more upbeat music. Even so, some songs from These Days were included in some shows of the European and Japanese tour again.

These Days was not a massive record like SWW or NJ was, nor did it have a stadium anthem song that resonated at shows like Keep The Faith. When an album is not very massive and its singles do not finish working, then the normal thing is that once it completes its cycle, they are replaced by new songs from future albums. These Days is the favorite album of many fans, but to achieve that status it has taken several years to achieve it.

2. Does anyone have any information on “Starting All Over Again” from the Box Set 2004? I absolutely love that song and think it would be perfect for a not-too-sad Bon Jovi tribute whenever they call it quits.

It's a demo recording from 1992 sessions. I think the album was going to start with this song, until Keep The Faith and I Believe came along... and this one was discarded.

3. I think I might know the answer to this one, but why did Bon Jovi lose their popularity in the US? Did that also contribute to their break from 96-00? Which other factors played a part in that break?


Its popularity declined with the explosion of new trends in the early nineties. The year 1991 was key. Lots of new bands, new sounds, established bands / artists who successfully reinvented themselves ... so Bon Jovi played that card, reinvent themselves or die. In the US, it was not convincing enough. These Days convinced even less. It's My Life hit the bull's-eye again.

The decline in popularity after the first 10 years of success is normal anyway. Bon Jovi didn't do a bad job.

Bonjovi90:

1. Oh I see, that makes sense. What I meant by “heck even on the these days tour” was they only played the same songs like Something for the pain, These Days, Hey God (?), This Ain’t A Love Song, and occasionally songs like Believe In, Lie to Me and Letting you go. Wanting a more Happy Vibe to their concerts makes perfect sense but doesn’t Hearts Breaking Even and If That’s What It Takes bring that? + the percentage on your website show that in general they weren’t played as often as they probably should be when they’re promoting the album on tour.

2. Haha, it doesn’t sound too challenging compared to other songs by them but that may just be the high key all the way through. It should have made an album anyway though ;p

3. Makes perfect sense. The fact that they called it breaks when they were on top all over the world and as a band too just sounds like a missed opportunity in a way. On a personal note I’m glad they did cause Jon’s Destination Anywhere and U-571 is so good! Richie’s US too!

Thanks for the answering my questions though, I really appreciate it! Hope you didn’t mind haha ��

I think if Jon hadn't shot that movie "The Leading Man", maybe the tour would have continued between January - April 1996, and they would have ended up playing Hearts Breaking Even and If That’s What It Takes.

However, not all album songs are always played live.

Rolo Tomachi:

1. Okay I see now, thank you! Just seems like a missed opportunity to not play those songs when the band was at their peak considering how difficult they are to sing.

2. Oh so it was mean to be on KTF? To be fair, this song doesn’t sound more difficult than other songs they made + I wouldn’t mind they performing this one a key lower at concerts if that’s necessary. And considering many fans dislike the 2nd half of KTF, songs like this one and The Fire Inside would definitely have made the album better!

3. Yeah that was what I have been thinking. I don’t know why but a part of me thinks of it as a missed opportunity. Peak vocals, band at its peak, songwriting at its peak, popular all over the world expect the US. I wouldn’t change this if I could alter history, but would be interesting seeing what would come out of this in an alternative universe.

Thanks for answering my questions though! I highly appreciate it

Starting All Over Again was finished and released in 1992 as a b-side for "Bed Of Roses" 7" (and also as a 2nd bonus track on japanese KTF). Remember hunting down the vinyl at the time just to hear additional new song:

https://www.discogs.com/release/2833...i-Bed-Of-Roses
https://www.discogs.com/release/1925...Keep-The-Faith

Yep, but we talked about the importance of belonging to the official album tracklist, not as a bonus track or b-side. Save a Prayer is so atmospheric, it should have been on the album instead of Woman In Love.