Quote:
Originally Posted by Supersonic
Aloha !
The reason why this works for other bands is that other bands understand the admiration people have for their work. It's a pride both the band and its fanbase share. So bands are willing to share their passion by releasing things they feel is worthy of releasing. They understand why people love the old stuff because they feel the same pride.
Meanwhile Jon Bon Jovi's sole purpose of releasing music is to be able to go on tour to make money to buy a football team or be important at other stuff. Jon Bon Jovi doesn't care for the music he releases anymore. He says he's proud of it but once it tanks his opinion on it changes radically.
Fans from the eighties music are seen as a nuisance. Fans of the other stuff are seen as people who are "wrong" as they're not longing for the supposedly culturally relevant albums like The Circle or 2020. Jon Bon Jovi isn't proud of These Days. Doesn't really understand the music he's made as he's completely cancelled out the band effort that made the band big. He's all about his "Vision". He pats himself on the back for completely different reasons that fans feel are things to be proud of (A Grammy for Who Says, a cross-over hit, selling out stadiums, being inducted in the hall of fame).
Jon Bon Jovi wants to brag about the 150.000.000 album he's sold but ultimately really cares about the 1.000.000 no one cares for nowadays. The fanbase and its opinion on the band are polar opposites of what Jon thinks the band is about. So you're getting live versions of hits and re-releases of albums you rarely listen. And as long as Jon Bon Jovi will look down on past efforts and refuses to talk to fans who do follow his career in the great detail he wishes critics do there's no chance he'll ever release something interesting for die hards.
Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan
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Nothing else I can say here, this is pretty bang-on. You can hear him in that recent Songwriters interview he gets so giddy someone is asking him questions about the songs when he's curated this reality himself. By answering questions the same way about Richie not wanting Sinatra, how Do What You Can was written and being a witness to history, It's My Life was about him wanting to act and sing, he never wanted Prayer on the album....It's really hard to listen to him be dissatisfied no one talks about the songs when he's been so focussed on the polar opposite site of the spectrum that are so happy to get a hat with the band's name on it or a bottle of wine.
Put in the effort, massage the fan base a little, it was an entire year you couldn't promote the album...imagine if the time had been used to to hire a video production team. Put old stuff out, get people talking, start conversations. He got really close with the video of him rediscovering old footage. That's a thimble of what the Experience could have and should have been. If one side of the fan base is happy to get pretty much anything, imagine how psyched WE'D be to get some cool, rare insights. A demo for a song, a studio outtake, whatever it is.