Vote for Bon Jovi as best rock band and for Richie as best Rock Guitarist!

I changed what I said, as I've seen nothing debating the 300 million. But still, as I said, yes, it's more than Bon Jovi, but they've also released more than twice as many records.

Yeah, but it was just you or whoever that said Queen wern't as popular in the U.S that I wanted to stress this point to.

andi

I don't know to be honest. I was too young, or just not as into music at the time. I don't recall Queen ever being as huge in the US as Bon Jovi was 1986-1989. If they were, it was early 80's or before. I was still listening to Michael Jackson then.

Americas a big place, and when you're younger I guess its all about where you live and who you hang about with which can sometimes determine what you listen to. I live in Ireland and i somehow only stumbled upon U2 about 8 years ago. Just like how Garth Brooks is now outselling Elvis, but I'm sure theres many Americans out there who would scoff at this fact! (it is a bit unbelieveable actually, but its official folks!)


andi

There's no accounting for good taste - Especially in America.

I like(d) em - very much so - but they are just not in the same League as Zeppelin Beatles Queen Deep Purple Sabbath Van Halen and other great bands who changed the Music scene upside down.
They are a joke now (with the crap they are producing and the sad live shows they are doing). But when they were good (until 2006) they were not taken seriously at all by anyone except their (huge) fanbase. Ask anyone about Zep or the Beatles and nobody will say "well they are quite ridiculous and not relevant". BJ is a different story. They will always be remembered for big hair and ridiculous clothes and their "cute lead singer" rather than their (mainly) great songs (which is sad).

Queen did not cross dress (not in the 70's and not in the 80's. They had one Video for "I Want to break free in 1984" which was a parody of a British TV series.....)

Well if you compare Bret Michaels and JBJ right now - the better live shows easily come from Poison. I have a US-TV Special of a 2007 concert of them - and they were awesome. Way better than in their (drug) days back in the 80's. Sure they are a nostalgia band but what's wrong with that? I'd rather see JBJ playing the Slippery and Jersey albums in its entirety in smaller halls instead of stadiums than the sad stuff they are offering right now.
And I don't consider playing for the Queen or the President an achievement. It's got nothing to do with rock music - the opposite is the case. Remember when Rock music started - it was all against the establishment. It's rather sad seeing a (ex)-Rocker playing for those people.....

Many? Too many to mention a single one huh ?
They were a great rock band but they didn't influence anyone.
And they truely ain't a band that changed the music scene (neither songwriting-wise nor production-wise...)

Nothing left to say. Freddie Mercury wouldnt even wipe the floor with JBJ.

I got to agree with Born_to_run. Queen are legends and everybody around the world at least knows We Are The Champions or We Will Rock You.

Bon Jovi is my most favourite band of all music I've heard. When I started to listen to them I simply loved everything and though they are the best rock band ever. That everything what they've done was great. But after the years gathering information and live concerts and stuff like that I got into it and found that not everything is great. They are one of the most commercial bands, each one of their steps is calculated (not 100% of course). They are great live but it was hard for me to admit they are using recorded backing vocals and the additional sounds playing from playback...etc etc. There are many things that I didn't want to admit (last one, which I don't believe because people are magnifying things, that Alec haven't played the studio stuff). But I can accomodate with all of this.

My biggest problem always was that I couldn't boast that I listen to Bon Jovi. Really. Real rock fans don't consider Bon Jovi as a rock band. You can hear that they are rockers now from radio and tv when they're getting all the prizes or in tv shows. But that's kind of nostalgia. They are no rock anymore. HaND isn't a rock album - it's today radio pop with "heavy" guitars. But it's still better than the country crap. You can't hear Bon Jovi on real rock radios (sometimes Livin' On A Prayer), only on the pop ones. To be honest - the style they started in 80s was pop music of that time. People who listen to classical rock bands (Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, AC/DC, Ozzy..) only laugh at me when I say, my favourite rock band is Bon Jovi. For them it's the band which is famous because of ballads as Always and is producing music to sell as much as possible.

Few years ago I'd have hated person who'd have written this but now it's me writing it. On the other hand there are so many important things that makes this band special for me and because of them I really love the band. But I also love rock music. I started to listen to rock music because of Bon Jovi, because I thought they are doing rock music. Everyday I had to convince everyone how Bon Jovi rocks.But they have done? Recorded a country album!!! All my work was destroyed. Sorry but country couldn't any real rock fan take seriously. Jon said that he need experimentation, nice isn't it? Interesting that they tried something that is really popular in US these days. I'd love them record some blues album - that would be something that public could appreciate, I mean music experts and fans. Something they could be proud of.

Sorry for the length I needed to write it down. I'm curious about your reactions. I want you to disprove my arguments

While that's probably true, it might have something to do with them being popular sports anthems

Do Queen not do the same? I'd imagine they'd have to in order to recreate songs like Bohemian Rhapsody, The Prophet's Song, the stuff with synths etc.


What exactly is the difference?

Ozzy and 80's Bon Jovi aren't really all that different. As for the others bands you mentioned, they're really from a different era to Bon Jovi, they'd all pretty much got past their (studio) prime by 1986.

I agree to you with an extent, I'd like them to be more credible in the rock world, simply because that's the world that I'm a part of. You're about the same age as me, so we're gonna think a certain way. The members of BJ are 25+ years older than us, I don't think they're that interested in still being perceived as a hard rock band. And probably a lot of their fanbase don't care too much about genre definitions either. We're young and petty, maybe that makes it different!

And I think they genuinely are proud of Lost Highway

Good point!! I'm young and probably why I want them to rock! I usually get angry when people love everything through genres just because it's by their beloved band. I'm from the Czech Republic (does anybody know where is it? ) and the fan base here isn't that big. I can say we know each other I have a friend of mine (she is actually Slovak - you know we were one state early), she is in the age of Tico and Hugh and she told me that I would understand it at some point. OK we will see

You pointed out the details from my post I don't know if Queen were using background vocals but they definately used some of the additional sounds - e.g. in the beginning of Radio GaGa. From 1984 they had a keyboard player onstage - many people don't know that. And of course - Bo Rap has playback part in the middle of the song (it's impossible to sing) - they used that break to change the clothes
But I didn't want to compare Bon Jovi to Queen in post. It was just note at the beginnig.

I just wanted to write down the classics. You're right - as the classic rock band are considered the ones from 70s. I can't recollect any band from 80s regarded as classic - maybe Guns N' Roses....

For me rock music is not just loud music. I need to find something behind it. Last album that has it (for me) was Crush. But this one is on the border. Bounce was heavy and loud - for me it was just glitz. HaND was better in that way but nothing sensational.