Richie Sambora

I see this as another missed opportunity to put a spotlight on his own music.

I have no problem with "the other guys" comment. Richie clearly wants back in and sees those guys as taking his spot.

Constant over-exaggeration is exhausting to listen to. He is desperate for the world to know that Bon Jovi was more than Jon but it comes across as cringe. It also ignores that the best way to show that would be to release awesome music.

Slurring words. Who knows why but I lean more towards some lasting result of his addictions rather than him being drunk and/or high.

His playing is strange. He has that Sambora style but it is so sloppy. He is a pro guitarist and let's be clear, Richie Sambora's guitar solos/riffs are not hard to play. Also, the tone shouldn't be a problem for him. It seems like he wants to try to be a virtuoso who "can play anything" and look cool but his guitar playing was never about that.

These are strange times to be a Bon Jovi fan. The two main forces of the band - who held it together competently for 30 years - have completely gone off the rails for different reasons.

Indeed. The band we once knew and loved is gone. What's left behind is some awful zombie-like monstrosity.

I wish Jon would call an end to the band. If he wants to continue to make and release music, I wish he would do it as a solo act. Hell, he could have Tico, Dave, and Hugh play on the albums.

I watched the whole thing and he is not just slurring. He is talking nonsense sometimes, such as "wah bah bah" or whatever he says. Sometimes it is gibberish and strange mannerisms. And his guitar playing is mostly atrocious. I get that Richie plays on feel, but this is more than that because it is very poor playing from a pro guitarist. I play guitar and surely the other players on the forum can see it too?

Regarding the comments on YouTube, almost to a person they are saying he is drunk. It is not incredibly disrespectful because most are saying it is just sad. After watching it all, I really don't know what to think. In fact, many question whether the video should have been posted. This is more than just slurring some words, he is a mess and you can see Chris from the Foo Fighters knows this interview isn't going well.

I know some people say he isn't drunk. My only question is, why do you think he is not drunk? If I saw any other person in that state I would think they were hammered. Are we in denial here because to me this is someone who looks out of it?

Rubbish. I watched the whole thing too, he was just sometimes slow getting his point across or didn't answer the question correctly (maybe due to his hearing issues) or managed to go off topic during his reply. He was slurring a lot yes, but he wasn't talking gibberish and was making perfect sense. Maybe you just couldn't understand what he was saying sometimes?

This is exactly why you should not presume that people are drunk because of the way they act - it can be highly offensive and sometimes extremely upsetting to the person involved. In fact it's very ignorant. I have seen first hand the effect that some brain damage, strokes, or other illneses can make people seem drunk to somone who doesn't know any better. These people need to get on with their day and their lives, but are often judged because people think they are drunk, which simply isn't the case. To me Richie seems more like this. Drunk Richie from 2014-16 (or whenever he was really bad) was something different. This is nothing like that, at least to me. People that have abused their bodies over the years often have issues later in life. It's more like the Ozzy thing (who has been clean for years now) - it takes it's toll on your body in the end. It can also lead to a stroke, which the more I think about it is more what it feels like - long term recovery from a stroke, or something along those lines. At the end of the day, I suppose none of us know for sure, but it's my opinion that there is lasting problems stemming from other health issues and he is not constantly drunk. The slurring is clearly just a part of him now and he has good days and bad days, like most people dealing with health issues do. We have to remember that these guys are getting old now - Richie hasn't looked after himself over the years, we know that, and when you've lived that kind of life and get to your 60s, then things are going to start to break down, physically and mentally.

Isn't it just as offensive to label someone disabled because of their behavior with no knowledge of whether they are or not? I mean, we are both drawing conclusions based on what we see, there is no right or wrong here. But to claim one side is offensive when you think he might have had a stroke is a bit rich. I know many alcoholics who would be mighty offended to be seen as a stroke victim.

Unless, you know more than you say. You say "The slurring is clearly just a part of him now and he has good days and bad days, like most people dealing with health issues do" as a statement of fact. If not, you are basing your opinion purely on your experiences just like the rest of us. It is not clear that the slurring is a part of him. We have very limited access to him, so that is a bold statement to make so confidently.

I have defended the people who jump on his every public appearance, but sometimes it is hard to ignore. Could it be a stroke? Of course, but it could also be he is drunk. It is as simple as that.

Also, I didn't mean nonsense in not understandable. I meant he was talking rubbish... bullshit. Either way, I don't want to speak too soon because it may be a technical thing, but the video seems to have been taken down. There were many comments saying it shouldn't have been posted in the first place, and I agree. For us fans, it was uncomfortable, for many of the viewers of the channel it seems they saw it as a car crash.

Can someone please post the link to the full video? I'm struggling to find it on YT. Thanks

It's been taken down apparently.

Seen the whole thing twice..

Richie never talks nonsense in the 70 minutes...yes he is exaggerating sometimes, yes he goes of topic as well but if someone has seen richies interviews before nth tragic..
there are couple of times in the interview he tries to show off and plays some licks over the interviewer...overall it was a nice interview with some hidden gems in there...
If someone takes on account that Richie is now older and is not familiar with the podcast idea maybe we are too judgemental...
read the comments and most of them are negative but i dont think they do Richie justice...
He played ok, he said some new info and if it was a bit better prepared with a better video quality, sound quality and some editing it would be much much better

Your actual comment was "If I saw any other person in that state I would think they were hammered". Yes this is ignorance. Just as it would be to presume that the were recovering from a stroke - BUT most people are likely to just presume that they are drunk. I've seen it happen more than once!

My point was that you shouldn't presume one way or another if you don't know for sure. That means that you don't see someone on the street and just presume that they are drunk (or recovering from a stroke, or have a mental disability, or another illness).

Of course we are speculating and if you bothered to read my post properly I actually say that!

We've seen plenty of footage of him over the last few years and it's very clear to me that the slurring is part of his natural speach now. He's not drunk in every single appearance - that's just nonsense. There is a difference and you can see it. At least I can. Sometimes it's worse than other but it's always there. Look at some of the footage for his from 2014 - it's a world of difference. To be honest, I would rather it was drunk slurring because you can fix that. Unfortunatley (and I'll say it again just in case you miss it (again) - IN MY OPINION) the health issues here go way beyond that now...

What a shame - yes it was uncomfortable at times, but it was still a good watch and hardly a car crash. I expect that Chris has taken it down because of all of the comments about him being drunk. Most of these were actually coming from the Bon Jovi fan base it seemed to me, so that tells you a lot.

The majority of comments I had read from the regulars on Chris' page were actually prettty complimentary about Richie and the song (Wanted).

Social media is such a toxic place now.

Life in the fast has definitely caught up.

He's finished. It's a shame- on one hand he's wanting to slow down and unable to tour like the old days and says he's happy yet simultaneously saying he's ready for Jon to call him and get the band back out on the road.

Makes NO sense, kinda like the old guy at the end of the bar rehashing the same old rhetoric.

Hope he gets the help he needs and gets rid of the enablers all taking a wage from him.