The bands body of work - does this irratate you?

It's late and I'm knackered and going to bed, can't be arsed really replying properly, but you did basically answer it yourself by saying you too realised it happens to other bands. Just because you may not like some of the bigger hits, as a fan you now maybe like more of the lesser known tracks, but when the band are playing a concert or giving an interview the general public don't want to hear about random songs from albums, they want to hear about the hits. I don't know what you expect, Jon to start talking about Tokyo Road, Wild Is The Wind and Dry County in new interviews because a small percentage of the fan base thinks that the hits are boring?

My original point had nothing to do with the band playing the songs live, merely talking about them in interiews or even being asked about them. I competely understand the live situation, they have to please the most amount of fans as possible. I was merely commenting on the casual fan knowing JUST the hits mostly.

Ok - Im going to list my top 15 Bon Jovi songs and be totally honest about it and not be influenced by what this topic is about;

In no order;

These Days
Something to believe in
In these arms
The Distance
Livin on a prayer
Wanted
Keep the faith
Born to be my baby
Blood on blood
Dry County
My guitar lies bleeding..
Always
KTF
Someday ill be sat night
Novacaine

Ok..so that was interesting. Especially seeing that only just two were post-2000. So it seems that around half of my favourites are still quite popular whilst the other half more 'obscure' to a casual listener. I dont rate Its My Life, Bad Name, Bed of Roses, Who Says, Bad Mx etc in my top songs while im sure many casual fans do as demonstarted by the reaction that these get at concerts.


andi

They do have the space in their set lists to throw in a rare song or two nightly, that' one thing that I really don't get.
They should want to expose as much amount of music to people as possible, that assuming because that's what most bands want anyway.
They could expose some of the lesser played/known songs to the people at the concerts and still play the hits they always play, though they did it this last tour with Dry County so...

I think this "problem" can be found involving any band(atleast all the ones I can think of) so it's not limited to Bon Jovi.

My top 15(counting all the solo albums) would be:

Wanted Dead or Alive
Always
Someday I'll Be Saturday Night
Blood on Blood
Santa Fe
I Believe
Keep The Faith
Hey God
This Aint a Love Song
River Runs Dry
Just Older
Stick To Your Guns
Good Guys Don't Always Wear White
Born To Be My Baby
I'd Die For You

Many hits on there and many 80's songs. Some obscure songs but generally I prefer their anthemic "feel good" songs and a lot of those are well known.

I was also considering this point because I wanted to make a mixed disc for a friend that doesn't know much about Bon Jovi. Interesting that many of us have similar tastes in our top "non-hit" lists. I suppose mine would be:

Wild Is the Wind
Dry County
I Believe
Someday I'll Be Saturday Night
My Guitar Lies Bleeding In My Arms
(It's Hard) Letting You Go
Something to Believe In (OWN live edition!)
Hearts Breaking Even
Just Older
One Wild Night
Undivided
River Runs Dry
Satellite
Last Man Standing
Welcome to Wherever You Are

In no particular order:

Wild is the Wind
Dry County
These Days
Something to Believe In
Hey God
If That's What it Takes
Hearts Breaking Even
Two Story Town
One Wild Night
Livin' on a Prayer
Runaway
In These Arms
Prayer '94
Wanted Dead or Alive
Born to Be My Baby (TLFR)

Yeah I've thought about this too. My favorite songs off any album are never the one's they release as singles. I've taken several people to shows especially this last tour and they were all surprised at how good they really are. They never realized it until they went to a show.

Bon Jovi as a singles band are fairly different from Bon Jovi as a back catalogue band, which can be taken two ways: as a testament to their writing ability, that they can cover a fairly wide range...or as proof that they're greedy for the spotlight, that the stuff they release is written more for the attention it'll receive than any artistic merit.

Which of those you think is actually true comes down to how you look at the band and Jon's managing style.

You could even throw in a third...Bon Jovi as a b-side/demo band is different from the singles band or the catalogue band. More mellow.

Well the same applies to every other aspect, be it them giving interviews or whatever else