In hindsight was Richie leaving the tour the right decision?

And the poll doesn't have an option for people who think there's not enough time passed to tell yet. Also, the options are limiting. For instance, I don't think that Richie leaving Bon Jovi would be the end of Bon Jovi at all. This year proves they can go on successfully without him as a touring band and Jon is more than capable of writing great songs without him. In fact, Richie's leaving might be what Jon needs to write some great tunes by himself again.

You're right. But even so, lots of people thing it was the right thing which I find surprising...

Aloha !

Yeah, there's loads and loads of great songs Jon wrote without Sambora...Loads...Like...erm...

Really. What was the last great song Jon wrote without Richie Sambora's help? If anything, the lack of Sambora's input over the past 10 years (whatever reason it may be) is one of the reasons Bon Jovi have drifted towards the mediocrity it is today, with What About Now being the prime example of that.

I find it more surprising how people, much like you, can draw such a conclusion after seeing him perform 2 small, sloppy performances.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

I still can't believe that these few decent shows have made everybody forget the bullshit he was doing during the tour. I can't fault him as much if he wanted to spend time with his family, but he spent a lot of time gallivanting around the globe, jamming with fabric and calling for horsies.

Something to Believe In - so it's been 20 years. Dry County before that.

More recently, JBJ has given us such gems as "Wildflower", "I Got The Girl" and "Right Side of Wrong"

I think The Fighter and Not Running Anymore are both great songs. Jon's still got it IMO.

Aloha !

But neither song was actually really written by him. I can't remember what Not Running Anymore was stolen from, but The Fighter was a blatant rip off from To Whom It May Concern by The Civil Wars.

http://grooveshark.com/#!/s/To+Whom+...n/3FUftL?src=5

If anything, your examples prove that Jon's completely lost it, considering how one of your examples wasn't actually completely written by himself.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

But lyrically The Fighter is Jon's song. Melody wise you have a point, but The Fighter still proves he can write a competent lyric. I don't recall hearing Not Running Anymore was from a different song though.

This is where it becomes opinionated and can't be argued but for Jon has written crap alone and greatness. He's also written gold with Richie and turds too.

Aloha !

It is, I just can't remember what it's stolen from. The chorus lifts half the melody of Cohen's Hallelujah, but there's more to it that's copied from another song. Sure, the lyrics might be his, but they're not exactly great now, are they?

I've seen you mention the lyrics to The Fighter as them being good lyrics, but, and you're right it becomes opiniated, because I completely disagree with that. To me it's drivel, meant to be deep but never achieving it quite yet, and one of the prime examples as to why Jon shouldn't try to write "deep" stuff as he lacks the talent for it.

Jon has written turds with Richie indeed, but to say Jon's capable of writing something decent without Sambora that equals something, anything, he has written with Sambora is nonsense. Even a song like Always, that was solely written by Jon, still sounds like a band effort.

Plenty of songs Jon has a solo credit on, were in fact written partially by other band members. The mid section to Dry County being the prime example to that. I have no doubt some of the stuff in the nineties was solely written by him, but when looking at songwriting credits I feel Richie has been a lot more honest with them than Jon has been.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

Exactly. Jon and Richie may have written Wanted, but they also wrote We Weren't Born to Follow. Jon has shown himself to be a competent lyricist through the years and he's still got it. I think he would step up to the challenge if he didn't have Richie to write with. Look at Keep the Faith. He wrote about half that CD by himself while Richie was doing other things and it's great. He wrote Blaze of Glory by himself and the majority of Destination Anywhere by himself and they were phenomenal albums. I would love to see Jon writing on his own again. I think if he felt challenged, he would meet the challenge head on and I'd love to see that. Many of the songs Jon and Richie have written together the past few years haven't been that great anyway. I think The Circle is the worst album in their collection. It has very few good songs on it.