Richie's music is better than Bon Jovi these days. That's why I won't be disappointed if he doesn't come back to the band, as long as he continues to do more solo music on a regular basis.
What About Now was the last straw for me. I'm also quite certain future band albums won't be any better. So, I'm just not interested in the band's music anymore.

Not only that, it was all for cameras. Listen to what he's singing along to, the vocals were already recorded. He was singing along to the, presumably, already finished track. I see the point Rolo is making but it's a poor example to use to prove it.

Who said it was about agreeing or not? Once again, really slowly:

1.Bon Jovi can go on with Phil X and no one will feel any difference. Hell, the level that they are at now, they could go on with me on guitar really. There is no need for Sambora in Bon Jovi.

2. Sambora's solo stuff, no mater how you look at it, is technically a lot more demanding than Bon Jovi. Both vocally and guitar-wise. Whether people like it or not, is a different question, but fact is a song like 7 years gone is outside the realm of the possible for Bon Jovi the band. Live it's again at a different level. Richie has an outro-jam at the end of every damn song during his solo gigs - by that I mean moments like Keep The Faith in the Jovi set. Again - having the opportunity to see that is worth a lot more to me than seeing Jon swing his guitar and shout all right for 10 minutes (yes, Richie does it too, but fingers crossed, with this whole mess he'll stick to Jovi songs he actually wrote himself. Like Wanted. Like I'll Be There For You).

3. Once he is out of Bon Jovi - a whole world will open up for him. No more contractual obligations. No more 'stink-eye' from the boss. No more unwanted touring. Then I can see Richie actually do a lot more of the stuff he did say with Ted Nugent, Steven Tyler, BB King, Les Paul, Heaven and Earth....and bloody hell, unlike Jon, Richie is a well respected musician in the rock community. Maybe join a G3 tour? Play some biker festivals, or some smaller scale ones - say High Voltage in London. Jump on stage at a Steel Panther gig...you know, all the stuff that I got into rock 'n' roll music in the first place.

And you disagreeing with me on the fact that Aftermath is a real album, whereas all Bon Jovi have done in the past 15 years was targeting sales doesn't change anything about the 3 points above.

I quite agree with what you've said about Richie, although Tico and David are somewhat constrained when it comes to the direction BJ albums take, so it's unfair to blame them for the pop that is BJ at the moment. David has shown what he can do out of BJ - he's really talented, but hardly gets the chance to shine in the band. It's no secret that he doesn't "allow" David to play a bigger part in the creative process.
Let's hope this whole issue shakes the band up and they get back to making less safe and generic music or Richie leaves and does his own music. I for one won't be interested in purchasing any more BJ music, because frankly, as it is at the moment, it is not BJ. Eventually, it'll be like the Sugarbabes. Same band label but hardly any original members! ;)

Well, I never said we should agree. I just pointed out that that's where I don't share your opinion, so you could see why I think the way I do. You can like Richie solo stuff more than the post-2000 Jovi stuff and it's ok, everyone can drink of their cup of tea.

About what you said:

1. Most people won't feel any difference, I don't know if it's worse or better, it's different with Phil up there, I still like it though.
With Sambora being like a hired gun there's no need for it in Bon Jovi, maybe he should have the balls like he had in 1986 and say to Jon "we're putting Prayer in Slippery", or like he had in 2003 "let's do the acoustic record", some good choices, some bad, but back then he did care about the band. What About Now is Sambora applying the laissez-faire principle to the band.

2. I'm guessing that here you're speaking of the post-2000 stuff, because there's no way Stranger In This Town is more demanding than Blaze of Glory or the '90s band records. If you're indeed talking about the post-2000 stuff, I don't know, clearly Aftermath is more demanding than What About Now, but I don't know if it's more demanding than all the other stuff.
Seven Years Gone is a song the band could do if they want to... if Richie wanted to. I love that songs (though the solo and the "time time, time time ticking, time time ticking away" ruins it for me, the change of style was totally unnecessary IMO).
Live speaking I can't talk as I've never seen Richie as a solo act. But the Bon Jovi concert is by far the best I've attended in my life, so I really doubt he can top the band as a live act.
Sambora's setlists showed us that he's no different to Jon in that way, if he wanted to play other stuff live, they could do it, still, he did Who Says You Can't Go Home in a solo tour; he did a pop-rock record when he could have done a heavy one or a bluesy one with a clear mixing. I'm not saying "Sambora sucks, Jon rules", I'm just saying that they aren't that different deep inside.

3. David Bryan is the keyboard playing for Bon Jovi, he's been since the very beginning of the band and guess what, he has a lot of open doors: he collaborated in some classic music records, he writes soundtracks and Broadway plays and he even joined Steel Panther on stage! If Richie wants to do all that, he could, so we should stop blaming Jon for what Richie is doing or isn't doing and start to blame him, on contract or not, it's his life and he makes the calls.
And I'm not excited at all of Richie joining a supergroup, I'd rather hear his solo stuff. All supergroups end up the same: one record, one tour, bye bye. They have no continuity like Bon Jovi, and that's what made me love this band, the fact that 30 years had passed by and they still there doing number one tours and records.

I apologize for using this as my go to "Jon ain't holding Richie back" reason but: http://youtu.be/zlmA1ujpcsY?t=3m16s

Focus on what Richie is saying. "I don't know, should we try the movement? It might make the melody more poppy". He's on the same page as Jon. Richie's solo stuff after Crush is just as poppy as BJ's (One Last Goodbye, Take Me On). AOTL was a huge step in the right direction.

Him going solo will open up his freedom but America just doesn't care about him as much as the band.

I do think the fact that Richie willingly played Who Says on his solo tour might have blown the holding back theory out a bit.

We all know that the truth is that Jon threatened Richie with 1.000 years of stinky eyes if he didn't do that song on his solo tour.

Not really. He played what he thought people wanted to hear. For ****'s sake, he even played an Oasis cover. Who the **** would want to hear an Oasis song at a Richie Sambora gig. The toilet was packed with guys wearing Guns n' Roses or Skid Row t-shirts during that one :D.

Again, it doesn't matter really. The point is that Richie in Bon Jovi is/ has been as USELESS as a massage to Oscar Pistorius lower legs. With him, without him - same shit. Most people don't even seem to notice the difference live (somebody was saying in the another thread that Phil X nailed the intro to Wild is the Wind...cough cough). So, why would anyone want the current un-motivated, lacklustre Sambora in Bon Jovi anyway? There is no reason? If what they feed us is What about Now and The Circle and that kind of shit, well I don't care who plays on it.

Now whether you agree or not, I do think Richie is the most talented member of Bon Jovi. Whether it's a theory only or a fact we can agree or disagree. However, whoever thinks that Aftermath is as 'poppy' or 'unsubstantiated' as the last 2 Bon Jovi records is absolutely deluded...

What I think is that Richie could easily do a lot more if there was no contract, no obligations, no nothing. As about ezearis point around how David joined Metal Skool on stage....that was f*ckin' 10 years ago. It's not like Richie did nothing in this time. I just want MORE! MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE!!!!

Playing at RONNIE SCOTT's last time he wa sin London:

http://www.tednugent.de/bm200.jpg


Anyway - this is all irrelevant, side-conversations, missing the actual point. Which is that Sambora has nothing more to give to Bon Jovi (whether by choice or whatever). As a guitar player, he is long from finished though. Bon Jovi have disappointed me (and most people who loved the band for what they were in the 80s and 90s) for the last 10 years. I don't believe there is a way they come back and do a proper album or proper tour. Those days are over. Yet with Aftermath, even if far from the best album ever, I have seen PASSION! The one thing I hadn't seen in Sambora in years. Now if he can have that passion as a solo artist, give it to me. Have Phil X replace him, and let Richie do his thing. That's all I hope for.

Richie is too great to let him go, he has to return to Bon Jovi. JBJ-fangirls should not win the war.

I'll also bring some of those RS ****ing great moments.

1-
2-
3-
4-
5- Great performance in Tv.


Jon can keep Bobby and do what they want with their stale "The King of Suburbians". But Bon Jovi are Jon, Richie, David and Tico. No Phil, No Bobby.