A casual fan may not be too familiar with either Whole Lot of Leaving or Shot Through the Heart. My point is I don't think it matters to the casual what Jon plays outside of the hits. Still, I think the casual stands a better chance of finding a single so they may be more familiar with those songs, that's all.

If you go through Bon Jovi's album songs and compare them to some lesser known singles, the listens on Spotify are mostly the same. I think it's only die-hards listening to these songs either way.

For me, both sides of the debate are correct. There's probably a better chance a casual would know Whole Lot of Leaving more than Shot Through the Heart because it's more recent. However, I don't think the casual will hear the intro of Whole Lot of Leaving and think "Yeah, this is what I came for". Jon could just as well play Shot Through the Heart and get the same reaction from a casual... indifference.

It seems Jon stands by some songs more than others, for various reasons. One of the problems is he seems to have terrible taste in his own music.