Would Bon Jovi get more respect if they weren't goodlooking?

[quote="Jim Bon Jovi"]hey lets be honest hear i probably wouldn;t by bon jovi records if he looked like meatloaf

Ah Jim so you fancy the guys then!!!!!!!!

I have to say I fell in love with the old Jovi music 20 yrs ago when I heard a bootleg tape. I didnt see their faces for another 2mths after I had started listening to their music.

Dawn

My thoughts exactly.

That was a long blablabla until you wrote that:


What about Robert Plant?What about Ian Gillan? What about Syd Barret?
What about Bono?I could go on...

They'd get more respect from critics if they grew their hair back.

Look at Richie...he has reasonable hair. His critic is pretty good!!!

Or what about Dave who has even longer hair. Did you readd what ALL MUSIC GUIDE says about LUNAR ECLIPSE?Damn,not even Beethoven has such a good critic!

Number of record sales will DEFINITELY be different. I am sure that Polygram wouldn't even try to hook Jon and the boys up with Desmond Child if they were ugly. In some way, they (and Def Leppard, and Poison et al) were the 'boy band' of the old days. Obviously this kind of 'boy band' require more talent since they had to be able to both sing live decently and play their instruments. But the point is, good looks helped those band getting a record deal. This can't be denied. The recording industry is a business and if you want to make it in the mainstream, you gotta have 'the whole package' (at least in back in the days, for some reason now the musical talent aspect is often ignored).

As for respect, I think critics' silly problem with Bon Jovi and the whole 80s melodic rock movement is due to the 'commercial' nature of the music. By this, I mean the irresistible pop hooks that they have. For some reason, critics think it's easy to write memorable hooks. So I guess if Jon had looked like Meatloaf but was lucky enough to secure a good record deal and sold a reasonable amount of records with pop hooks, critics will still 'hate' him and the band to a certain degree. Don't listen to critics. Listen to the music and support bands whose music you enjoy. Listen to music for YOUR own enjoyment. That's the greatest thing about music.

hang on a second here, lets not underestimate Meatloaf here. Yes he was overweight, ugly whatever, but what he had didn't come through an ability to write songs, or even to an extenet an ability to sing. His energy, his unique character is what makes the music what it is. Everytime you see him on anything, interviews or playing live he's larger than life. Anybody in england who's seen the Graham Norton show will know that to sit with him for 40 mins, and to have Norton sat in silance is no small tast! Then the part in the park thing... Last time Bon Jovi were a little rock and roll, not playing their new songs and just sticking to the classics. But Meatloaf had his 3 song slot and left after doing 6, being more or less dragged offstage.
What Meatloaf has which has made him what he is is his increadible energy, character...... The songs are great of course, but he's just so unique, and that's what's made him. Jon, or Richie doesn't have the same over the top character, no more than any other rock band really

Have you heard of Serge Gainsbourg ?

no. should I have?

I have a friend who has supported the band, along with myself for the past 20 years and she has never seen them, not even a picture, due to the fact that she is blind so she sees things in a different way to us. She has taught me alot about how to appreciate music without seeing the band. I actually went to a jovi concert with her in the early days and wore a blind fold, her idea not mine, throughout the show just to experience the concert from her perspective and belive me what an experience that was.

Speaking for myself, yes the guys are blessed with good looks etc but in my honest opinion it is the music that does it for me.

Jim Steinman writes the songs for Meatloaf. Meatloaf just sings em!
And I wouldn't say he was ugly either. I would agree that Lemmy is tho!

Anyhow, yes, maybe BJ would have gotten more respect if Jon wasn't a "pretty boy" for want of a better phrase. A lot of crtitics can't get past that and are too bloody ignorant to see the real talent that is there.
It's a shame but they will realise one day.
Like Jon once said in an interview for Classic Rock magazine back in 2000, "We tried to kill you but you didn't die, now we're getting some kind of respect."