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Then on Saturday April 12, 2003, the band made what was possibly the biggest blunder in their twenty-year career. The band made the decision to sell a limited edition DVD along with their most recent album, Bounce on the QVC shopping network.
On paper, you sit back and wonder what the big deal is...does it really matter? In my mind it did. First, off, why isn't it just a concert DVD or an official bootleg from one of the shows tours? Instead we were getting mini movies of the songs off of Bounce. More disturbing was that QVC and the band's official web site would not give detailed outline of what the DVD entailed. This made me suspicious. You see I'm what you call a die-hard fan aka a fanatic. Not only do I buy every album, but I'll buy each and every CD single released around the world, just so I can get those extra tracks, demos and goodies that the band has been so gracious and wonderful in giving their fans throughout their career. The band reissued their 1995 masterpiece, These Days so many times around the world I lost count of how many copies I bought. For example, the initial overseas pressing included two extra songs (worth every cent of money I spent on a bloated import price). They then released a live EP attached to the album when the tour headed down under later that year, once again, worth every cent of my hard earned money. Then as the band was about to go on a mammoth European stadium tour in the summer of 1996, they re-released "These Days" yet again with a bonus disc of gems so rare, I would have paid triple the import price to get them. The band has a plethora of material and, at one time, was fearless in trying new material out on an unsuspecting audience.
However, with disappointing sales of Bounce the band made the decision to push the album via this TV special. The whole QVC experience just did ot sit well with me. You see...I've always loved this band. They were one of my first experiences in the world of music back in 1987. I remember being 10 years old and seeing the video for "Wanted Dead Or Alive" and immediately knowing..."that's not what I want to do when I grow up...that's what I want to do right now!" Over the years, I dealt with a fair amount of abuse, you know, the typical, "Bon Jovi sucks", "Bon Jovi is a sell out"...the typical things someone will say of any artist who reaches stratospheric commercial heights. I always stood by them, and even took a few of these nay Sayers to the one thing that could convert them...the live experience that is Bon Jovi. They always walked out, being blown away, even if they would not admit it days and weeks later, I could tell, the Jersey boys went above and beyond their expectations and made the person a closet fan.
While I watched the QVC broadcast, I could not help but feel this was a faux pas of gargantuan proportions. Sure, I'm a guy and getting a few videos of Jon Bon Jovi swooning to lip synched songs and a bunch of mini movies, just do not appeal to me, especially when it is going to cost me $30. It was the first commercial Bon Jovi item I have not bought, why? I truly and honestly felt that the material was pathetic. In the years before, we would be treated to live EP's, unreleased studio tracks, even un-releasable Prince-like sex songs that showed the band was willing to go above and beyond for their fanatical fans. Why would we get this? Bon Jovi knew their audience and gave them what they wanted. However, I can honestly say the DVD of vignettes attached to the CD was a poor ploy to ignite sales of the Bounce CD and to get the band closer to the 100 million records sales plateau. I saw it as being desperate. It was as pathetic as watching a drunk guy, in a bar, hit on a girl and have him truly believe that he has the magic to get her to come home with him. However, the band sold 30,000 copies of the DVD that evening, so what does my opinion matter?
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amen
obviously Derek wont agree with you Becky because the writer agrees with me