These Days Era or How Bon Jovi aren't the same anymore.

Sorry in advance for the long, long post.

Hey there, it may seem a bit ridiculous but I have in fact registered in order to simply talk about this. Is there anyone else out there that supports the fact 'These Days' was their last great album ? Maybe.
Let's go back. I'm 22 now and nowadays bands such as Bon Jovi are far from being what i play on my stereo. I'm more into indie and alternative rock since im like 15. However, These Days was the first album i ever bought in my life and I don't forget that easily. I was about 9 or 10, too young to understand what it was all about. From that moment on, i started buying their albums and I ended up with the entire back-catalogue. I was a huge fan indeed for about 5 years. When i started listening to other stuff, I simply put Bon Jovi aside and never mentioned I was once a fan, as that would make me look 'uncool'. Today, I couldn't care less. It was the band that made me listen to music.
But now my theory. Most of you will sure tell me to f*ck off after this post and say Bon jovi still has it.

These Days is by far their most mature record ever. It's got deep great lyrics . A bit dark as well, so what ? Most people complain about the negative feel of the album. I call it nostalgic, melancholic, whatever. I don't consider it a negative album. Just a bit more pessimist comparing to the other ones. Keep the Faith was the candle, These Days the flame. They're good 90's 'americana' albums. Even for people who didn't fancy the hair metal period. Dry county has one of the most incredible lyrics ever written by mainstream pop rock bands. Also, the sound of the records is very intense, very guitar (mostly Fender and Gibson) driven. If there was ever such thing as a 'Sambora' guitar tone, those two albums define it very well.

The tours were incredible, especially the these days one. There was something unexplainable about it. Just watch wembley's video. it seems as classic as having once watched the stones in their heyday. (speaking of heyday.. whatever happened to songs like Hey God ??? )

Crush came out in 2000 and it was OK. I mean they had to keep up with the times, fine. But what's with Bounce, HAND and worse of all , Lost Highway ?? I don't get it. Make a memory and have a nice day itself aren't bad tunes but what about the rest of the album ? Frakin duo with Leann rimes ? 'Nashville' inspired songs as John Francis himself puts it ? It that's supposed to be something between Pop and country, they do it very badly but i don't blame em. I love country music up to a certain point. I mean, listen to johnny cash and then listen to shania twain. Which one's country for you ? New country sucks. It's not country at all. Those new called country artists never worked in the cotton fields anyway. Nah really, it's not like that's the reason i dislike new country music. I dislike it as much as new soul and today's R'n'B music. I mean, the rolling stones were considered a RnB band. Go to your local store and look up in the rnb section. Completely different stuff eh ? But let's not even go there. this post is becoming a critic of nowadays mainstream music already.

All I'm saying is These Days was Bon Jovi at their peak. They took a break to release solo albums which aren't bad at all. Fine. Then the 2000's came and they lost it. most of all, they lost their most precious gift. JBJ's voice. You may say what you want and I respect everyone's opinion. But you can't deny his voice's power is fading away. you can blame it on his age but then look at Aerosmith's Steven Tyler. Ok, some people are luckier than others. Bob Dylan is probably at the top of the list of the most unlucky ones . anyway, what did JBJ do following his vocal problems ? he puts out an acoustic best of, ****ing up songs such as always. what does he do now at their shows ? he performs lame acoustic versions of ill be there for you and blaze of glory. to me it's as if he's trying to fool most of the crowd into thinking they're just fed up with the regular versions of the songs. but they're just not acoustic versions. Their arrangements are different, jon bon jovi most of the times sings an octave lower, etc. Perhaps it's better than struggling to hit the high notes. Or he could simply NOT perform certain songs or who knows, have some kind of miraculous vocal chord surgery. lol.
seriously, they could still do the normal versions of the songs. To those who don't know that, they tune their instruments down a half tone. so it's easier to sing to. nothing wrong with that, many bands do it. nirvana did it. metallica do it. ozzy osbourne does it. etc. why don't they lower it a whole tone for example instead of having richie singing these days ? yeah i know, sounds awesome doesn't it ? course it does. richie still has it, that's why.

I never saw bon jovi live. I'm from Portugal and the last time they played here (94 i guess) I wasn't aware of them and i was damn too young. there are some rumours they'll play Lisbon in 2008. I'd love to see it, really. But i dont expect too much.

Anyway, i'm positive im not the only one with such thoughts but i didnt write this to get feedback supporting me. As a former BJ fan I thought i was in my right to write this. No offense to anyone. Peace and love.

Welcome to the boards.
Alot of people here share your opinion, and those of us who don't will respect it (unless you're a jerk about it, which you aren't in this post)

Be careful as your post might be deleted if you donÄt support the band! Sad but ture!!
Nice post then! Though I disagree on HAND which was a great record!

No, it won't. Because he's making an intelligent point here, about his views. He's not shoving them all in our faces, posting them in every thread he sees, and then boasting about seeing them in 1995.
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Cb250 Jade

I'll never understand the god-like worship on this board for that album. Nothing personal. I love the record. It's dark. It's mature. I don't think it's as good an all around record as Slippery or New Jersey though.

Did I mention I also saw em in 1989 and 1993 ?

Seems it's their most "european" album - as you can see in sales. They sold lots of it in Europe (I guess a LOT more than LH) and not too much in the US (did I go platinum there in the end ??)

And let's remember (and honor) the massiveness of the European tour we got :

1995 : 25 stadiums
1996 : 25 stadiums

Come to think of it, yeah, many times
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Silver Surfer Vaporizer

Don't worry 'TheseDaysEra' , you're not alone.