Why I am NOT done...

I for one LOVE your Liverpool FC analogy as that's how I feel. For me instead of Liverpool though it's the Dallas Cowboys lol!! They haven't been in or won a Super Bowl since 1995 but they are still my team. I can't stand Jerry Jones and thinks he needs a real GM (that's not him) but I still support the team always will even in losing seasons.

I had to run inside today as it's north pole cold today in New Jersey and Room At The End Of The World came on my randomly shuffled iPod and I thought to myself, "man such a good tune". As long as I can say that, I'll always support them.

The interesting thing about you, Becky, is that you are that kind of fan that criticizes the band when it's needed and I respect people like you. But... you are far from the point of music, the reason that you buy/consume Bon Jovi it's beyond of music, it's at a point where it's just because they are Bon Jovi, and I think that is the point where it brought us to Crush, Bounce, Have A Nice Day, What About Now and stuff like that.

I was just like you, when I realized that, I didn't even download What About Now after listening on iTunes and it was the first Bon Jovi album I didn't buy.

Giving up on Bon Jovi now is like throwing away your Beatles collection because you didn't like the direction Paul McCartney headed in after Wings broke up.

Bon Jovi did some amazing things during their prime as a band and as solo artists. If you include Blaze, Stranger, DA, & US, we got an amazing 10 album montage of music within that 80's & 90's window... Sure 2000 onward were a bit of a roller coaster but there were also some really great takeaways as well.

We'll probably never get that perfect album ever again. And we'll probably never get that perfect tour ever again either but if you can't go to a show and enjoy yourself because you didn't like the latest album and it's not the same as Wembley '95, 20 years ago, you might want to reconsider your outlook on life.

You don't have to come here and post everyday to be a fan. The band comes around with an album and tour every three years. I don't think a 10 dollar album and a 50 concert ticket every three years is going to break any ones bank. You could even go cheaper if you want and you could obviously spend more. Live in the past, embrace the future but giving up on this band because you didn't like the WAN album and tour is just ignorant.

Guns and Roses didn't come out with anything worthy since Sympathy in 1994 but I'm still a huge fan.

I'll get the new Bon Jovi album, I'll embrace the good, ignore the bad, go to the summer concerts, have a great time with my friends, not dwell on the bad, and let life move on.

What a nice thing to say Becky. I also have made some great friends thanks to this board and this band. It's not something I take lightly. And yes, I had a bad experience too but overall, meeting new people and fans has been very positive.

Good points Becky, I mostly agree with you. I've always felt connected to their music even though it wasn't my first *fandom* or the most intense I've ever had. Just the most consistent troughout my life and like you, the one that makes me happy the most.

But, over the years I've become tired and disappointed about all those things around them that shouldn't be there, at least not so *upfront* over everything else. The business part of the music, I understand. Nothing wrong with trying to get #1 singles, albums and tours. Nothing wrong with milking the cash cow, really. But there are many ways of doing it without losing the integrity that Jon loves to preach and lately I've felt it wasn't the case.

How many times have we heard about the music in the last 10 years? And about the business? Let's see:

- Music: they used to talk about the songs, do those "making of", be (or at least pretend to be) proud of the whole process of creating the song, tweaking and polishing it, recording, etc. I remember the lame interviews from HAND, they just talked about the new producer and how much they loved his methods. The Circle was more of the same, they barely talked about the music. The GH interview with Jon&Richie was sad to see, Jon seemed bored to death, they barely interacted. And don't get me started on the WAN promotion, yes, we got it, artwork was very cool, songs? Too busy painting their faces to comment on that. That's pretty disappointing to me for an obvious reason: they are much more talented artists than latest albums show and specially than critics or even casual fans see them. And their enthusiasm pre Crush was pretty contagious, you could see they loved the songs. Now we just get a standard and rehearsed "this is our best song, we are very proud of X, blah blah blah" every time. Since Jon hates so much interviews and is so proud of being a songwriter, I don't understand why he doesn't use those platforms to speak about his passion. It's hard to believe him when he doesn't seem to believe in it. I'm not saying he doesn't, but how can he be so dispassionate about BB which has some of the best lyrical content since the 90s? Even if it was a just damn contractual obligation, disregarding those songs and beating us over the head with BWC or WAN (eg: keeping them in the 2015 mini tour even if the album tanked and they are long forgotten) makes me sad, really sad. It's not that I don't like that music, objectively speaking you can't compare Teardrop or Who Would You Die For with the WAN songs and say that there's not much to say about them. Excuse me? (same thing happened with the boxset, which wasn't a throaway record, Jon didn't seem overly enthusiastic about most of the songs and there are lots of gems there and lots of good songwriting)

- Business: We hear about the ridiculously priced Runaway tours (a JBJ fanclub thing, but promoted on the band's official website, so most fans know about that), the fanclub doesn't get free/affordable exclusive shows only overpriced and underwhelming, ticket prices are syrocketing while tour performance quality has decreased alarmingly, Jon trying to buy the NFL team, his support of Hillary Clinton who's being widely criticised by her business ties (let me be clear, I'm not saying he shouldn't support X candidate or try to buy whatever he fancies, or milk the fanclub while he still has some voice left, but everything adds to that "Jon is just a CEO, all business" image). Those are things that wouldn't bother me at all if what matters, THE MUSIC, was his focal point. Which it isn't, most of the time seems like an afterthought, and that's why the other aspects of him are dividing the fans and "spoiling" the experience if you will. They have always been commercial and never bothered me until recently because there was a perfect balance between the music output (quality wise) and their desire to make it bigger with each album.

So, I love the music, I cherish the memories and I'm sure there will be new ones to come (fewer, I'm afraid), but the music (and specially the passion behind it) it's taken such a backseat in the last 10 years that it's hard to feel the enthusiasm I felt before Crush was released. Though I want to, believe me

ETA: I'm not saying Jon isn't passionate about the music or has lost his gift. But he's choosing to shy away from that, whether it's a concious decision or not. As if he feels that showing too much passion is not worth the effort (or could drive fans away). And frankly, if he doesn't feel it is, how are we going to?

I'm not done because I believe Jon is still capable of putting out good music. There's at least a couple songs on each album that are worst listening to. I can listen to every song on the day it comes out if they put it on Spotify.

I'm not done because I still enjoy the albums and tours. Even WAN had bright moments for me.

Luckily, the concerts I have seen have all been fairly decent- surprisingly so in 2013 where Jon didn't sound too bad in Manchester, Villa or Hyde Park. Loads of reverb and sound engineering, but he was in fairly decent voice for most of the European leg, and less static than the previous US leg.

I'll always like seeing my favourite band live playing their songs. BUT, JBJ's voice needs to be better than it was on the 2015 mini tour, as that was embarrassingly bad. I've been saying I'll only do one show for the past 3 tours, but I keep ignoring it, but I'm sure I will this time around, especially with the way ticket prices and availability is lately.

All the business stuff, and the fan club shit and any other stuff I can easily separate when it comes to simply listening to the music/going to a show. I can easily criticise and analyse on here but it's an interest and it's good to discuss with like minded people. There's a lot that can be improved, and that's what we discuss, but it's still good enough to keep me going for now at least.

Great post....Im not done and I never will be. Been a fan since 1988. OK, I dont like every song from 2000 onwards but not many bands can still produce all killer no filler albums after 10 years let alone 30.
If I end up loving half the new album thats good enough for me.

Most of you guys haven't quit but Jon did years ago.

Guess if we were done we wouldn't still be here. It not the same without Richie but I can't ever imagine being done. Every album is a track list of my life whether I like it or not. Thankfully I usually do. X