Why are so many people embarrased to like Bon Jovi??

Bon Jovi have always been laughed at and ridiculed along with White Lion, Skid Row, and all the other hair bands. I think that mostly was due to the fact that these bands came along, jumped on the popular bandwagon of metal, but raped and distorted true metal with their watered down versions wearing pink leather pants, girly make-up and puffy hair - making music that is as easily digestible as soup. If you are a true metal fan, that cannot possibly sit very well with you and you will not particularly like them. (though you will find a good number of true metal fans that have always liked BJ).

Of course not everybody laughs at them - like Becky suggested, country music fans do not. I think it is because BJ is much closer to country than to metal = what do you expect? If one hates a certain genre (pop music) they won't applaude BJ - just common sense.


As far as why people STILL don't like them today, see supersonics post.

As fan I must admit, as much as I like this band, I've always found something ridiculous on each and every album, wether a song, a lyric, a pic...
As if they can't help it. Their attitude, mainly Jon's as he's the "store window", doesn't fit their words and said aspirations.
I often hate their pics, the way they pose and all, and also their choices of singles out of their albums. And that's the part of the band that everybody, not just the fans, sees.

To like Bon Jovi, you need to discover them through their less popular music. But if you've never been hooked by a song, the top of the iceberg is not appealing.

Ponrauil

I actually have an mp3 of a derogatory comment Axl made about Jon on stage during a show one night. But I totally agree. I love metal, but I also love pop metal. I've never understood what's so bad about liking songs that you can actually SING ALONG TO. Jovi has always gotten a lot of hate from the metal community, as does Poison. Motley Crue, who eventually went VERY pop metal, still seem to hold respect in the metal community that they maintain to this day.

But I'll tell you one thing. For the newer fans who think you get slack for being a fan now...you don't even want to imagine how hard it was during the Grunge invasion. That was a living hell, and I'm sure many others would agree with me on that.

In my opinion, the first four albums rock WAY harder than anything post-KTF. Even when the older songs are played live...that edge just isn't there anymore and I've never really been able to put my finger on why. Maybe it's Jon's voice and Sambora's playing both, like someone else said.

Plus, I may get flamed for saying this...but making appearances on Ally McBeal, exclusive deals with Target and QVC isn't very rock 'n roll either and makes them an even easier target on the rock/metal community

I've always thought that now a days, Jon acts more like a superstar as opposed to a rock star if that makes any sense.

I think it's cause the band is called Bon Jovi. I know, I know, Jon's name is Jon Bon Jovi but most people don't know or don't care to know. So when you tell some other guy that you "like Bon Jovi" they asume you are saying that you have a crush on Jon. The fact that Jon is considered a sex symbol, dosn't really help the matter too much either. Aerosmith and Bon Jovi in my mind make pretty much the same style of music (give or take) it just happens that Jon is a pretty boy and Steve looks like a body parts factory exploded.
If Jon was the lead singer of Aerosmith and Steve was the lead singer in Bon Jovi do you think it would be the other way around and Bon Jovi would be more masculine? I do.

ever seen Steven Tyler in real life? sigh. Never mind - you are male...........

I don't think Aerosmith are considered particularly masculine -- in fact, you'd probably find more BJ supporters among Aerosmith fans than any other band........

Its only 'hip' to like manufactured bands these days. BJ are certainly not in that catagory. Only young artists with bags of good looks are respected in the current market, which basically sucks!

There's a dose of the 'tall poppy syndrome' in there...seems you can't have it all...and if you do, there is someone, somewhere just waiting to tear you down. BJ suffer from that a fair bit. There's also a lot of BJ dislike out there by default. For a lot of people seeing IS believing. My brother is a really good example of that. He used to think BJ were cool in their halycon period [SWW/NJ]...then they 'disappeared' off the radar for a spell...Jon did 'Blaze' [which most guys I know that bag BJ mercilessly, all like]...in that interim hiatus period, there was a definite move away from the 'hair rock' into the grunge era...at this point my brother became a Nirvana, and then a Pearl Jam fan and considered BJ to be a joke [he never did define what he meant by a 'joke']. That was despite the fact that he hadn't even bothered to listen to KTF. When 'pushed' a bit to explain why he'd started bagging them, it always came down to the 'Jon' factor...and that explanation was always, "you know...the hair and all that spandex crap"
[Does anyone besides me, remember Mick Jagger and co. wearing a bit of eye liner and tight spandex at one point in their career?]
In 1995, BJ played at the after race show at Adelaide's last Grand Prix. My brother & his wife attended the gig [it was a part of the ticket cost, so he was going regardless...would he have gone to a stand alone BJ show...not one chance in hell] That was in the November...just after Xmas he caught up with us to exchange Xmas cheer and the like, noticed all my BJ cd's, passed a comment about them [I'm thinking...here we go...usual crappy carry on] - and lo and behold...he tells me how f*****g unbelievably brilliant they are....aliens have abducted my brother and left this imposter in his place To what did the band owe this change of heart?....he's seen them live, seen for himself why they are so strongly and determinedly supported by their fans....seen and heard for himself just what I'd been talking about and apologised for being a daft p****. He was so impressed by what he saw at that gig, that he went out the following week and bought KTF and These Days and still says that TD is one of the best albums he owns.

The way people slag off the band used to rile me...now I just think they're the losers..not me.

S.

Deja vu

does anyone from the Uk have this months Classic Rock mag? it is a ''special edition' with some typical tagline like ''the worlds greatest classic rock bands'' etc and in it are ALL the names youd expect APART from Jovi.. i just didnt get it theres your ACDCs, Aerosmiths, Whitesnake, Queen, etc etc in there but no BJ.

So, i hafta agree with whoever made the point that if a band is given bad press, or none in this case, they'r not considered 'cool' to like but the common sheep-like fans who only like what they think they should like will lap up anything the critics suck up to. the business sucks!


andi

I've had a few issues of Classic Rock from the times Bon Jovi had new released and such and they did have multiple page features for them, so they must like them a little at least.


It seems the pop market of today caters more for looks, and many of todays singers are just dancers that lip synch basically.