When Bon Jovi started in '83 they were seen as one of the pioneers of the 80's hair metal style along with Ratt, Quiet Riot, Twisted Sister, Motley, Def Leppard and few others. At that time they constantly cited Aerosmith, the Stones and Thin Lizzy among their influences but they had a sound of their own. When they did "Slippery", they weren't copying anyone, they were actually being themselves. There is a big difference between Bon Jovi and bands that followed like Poison, Warrant, Cinderella etc...

In the 90's, they were still minding their own stuff and evern though their sales weren't all that great in the States, they were respected as a maturing band who didn't get on the grunge bandwagon. I think they remained true to their own style for the most part with the big exceptions being "Who Says" and "Lost Highway". No one sounds like Bon Jovi out there and they should work on THAT, and not try to be something else. That's my biggest problem with them today, they are trying to be something else and in process they've watered themselves down quite a bit. Listen to the last two albums... that's what the water's made them :)

My issue with the country remix is 100% down to knowing Jon/the band weren't involved with it. Just sent it to Dan Huff who did all the work recording and arranging the parts. To me that's what made it cheap and see through.

Yep, but that's a completely different thing than doing it to launch an album. It brought them to a different fanbase but it had no country-family album to promote, just the current album. For everyone mad at the song for being too country, it's not. It's such a Bon Jovi song just with fiddles and banjos and what not.

I heard the "regular" version of "Who Says" on the radio not too long ago... It blew my mind that they would play it.

I fail to see the difference between the scenario you painted for the '80s and the the one you painted for nowadays. I mean, pick any song from the last two albums. Can you really see anyone but Bon Jovi writing or playing "What About Now" or "Love's The Only Rule" or whatever? I can't. We might agree on the fact it would be good for them to spice things up, bring some passion back along with the orgasmic big solos, take their time to do things... But I can't say that I listen to their latest two albums and hear someone else in them.

Go play the album to Nashville-crowd, they might come up with things similar. I doubt that anyone here even listens to that kind of music in general.

Have you even heard Love's The Only Rule? It goes back far more to their 80's roots than any other recent song they've done. You seem to be on this country-hating kick but Bon Jovi don't even sound that country on Lost Highway. The only song that sounds a little country on What About Now is What's Left Of Me, but it owes more to songs that could be on These Days.

Back then they were leading the pack, so to speak. Today, they are blending in with the new(er) talent. It is true that you don't see anyone but Bon Jovi writing or playing "What About Now" or "Love's The Only Rule", but they are polishing up their sound to match the radio friendly modern pop-rock.

But their songs fit in just fine when played back to back with today's polished pop rock like Maroon 5, Nickelback and countless other bands you hear on the radio.

And that's what I'm saying - this image of Jovi as a hard rock band was never what they were - it was just what was played at the time. They've changed their sound just slightly to reflect what's modern yet still distinctly sounding like Bon Jovi, its something their actually very, very good at.

One could say that most of the hate for Lost Highway comes from its production. It's BJ sound peppered with fiddles and steel guitars that feel like they were added in post-production just to create an artificial nu-country sound. It's cheesy as hell!!!

I think that some of their songs that have a natural country sound are far better, only because they are slightly more honest I guess. I mentioned "Little City" as an example earlier.