I first thought I sensed a slight decline with the These Days album. The vocal didn't seem quite as good and powerful as it had been on KTF. But then I saw them for the first time in 1996 (Milton Keynes and was blown away by how powerful and perfect his voice sounded) and decided there hadn't been a decline just that he was using a different technique slightly on record. I saw them again in 2000 and 2001 and thought maybe his voice wasn't quite as good as in 96 but still great.

Looking back now I think I was probably right to sense a slight decline with These Days and I put that down to smoking from 94 onwards having quite a quick effect. The smoking thing is really sad if it is that and also makes me angry! I read an interview somewhere in which Jon talks about quitting smoking (I think it was around 2010), but the reason he gives for stopping is not to protect his voice or his overall health, or even to be a better role model (all of which would have been great reasons), but rather because his insurance premiums were too expensive because of being smoker!!! This I thought was pretty sad that he was essentially saying that he wasn't bothered about his health, voice etc but the size of his bank balance! Its comments like this that make kind of support the view that Jon's more interested in running Jovi as a business and making money than about the actual music.