It happens to all bands but it's really just a combination of things... I think ultimately what happens is, they just run out of ideas and dry up... You could only make the same albums so many times before it's time to try something different... And then that only takes you so far until it's time to change again. In the meantime, you start to lose talents, like vocals, and tend to take shortcuts...

Do you think Jon will ever go to Vancouver with the band for two months and record an album again? Hell No!!! Now the time is spent in front of a PC trying to add effects to cover Jon's vocals... I don't care how many times Jon tells the 'Hey Popeye' story, that's only a small fraction of how this new album came together...

It's more than just writing... You need a singer to bring these songs to life with higher keys and vocal elements... How many times have you heard other artists butcher cover songs because they can't sing them? It's the same with original songs too... Give Adele THINFS and allow her to apply her own arrangements. It won't even sound like the same album... And then you finally need a producer who can bring out the bands sound... That's what Bob Rock was so good at back in the 80's / early 90's... Plus and engineer, etc...

Jon's voice was so good back then (until '97ish), he could sing anything... He would turn water into wine. I do enjoy this new album but I listen to it as if I was listening to a new artist... It's like Bon Jovi meets Bob Dylan or something

In a similar sense, I really liked the movie Rogue One as a stand alone movie... I actually thought it was a great movie but it's not even comparable to any of the movies in the original trilogy. Times change, the world changes, movie making has changed and although effects are better, an element is lost when an actor is faced to act with something that's not even in front of him... I apply that logic with everything from Crush forward...

BTY, 8 great albums... Don't forget the first two, plus Blaze and Stranger