I don't think Jon ever said he's the mastermind behind anything! He credits Richie all the time.

Well... he has used terms like CEO and quarterback, which I think kind of points towards the same direction. However, for every interview I have seen him be cocky, I have seen one where he is humble... often in the same interview. He does both well and neither bother me at all.

My biggest complaint that pertains to this subject is the whole, "we don't cater to fads" nonsense. In the 80s they did pop/metal... the biggest fad in rock music at the time. In the 90s, Always, SFTP, TAALS, HBE sounded an awful lot like something that might make it on an Aerosmith album, which a year or two prior had quite a bit of success... however I am thankful that, with the exception of Prostitute, they didn't try grunge. Bounce had the Distance and LMBTL which sounded ridiculously similar to Creed... also on their way out, but still big at the time. Then, after Kid Rock proved that you could get a whole lot of airplay by going country, they went country. So that statement makes me cringe every time I hear them use it.

Noel Gallagher and Oasis have stolen a bunch of songs too. I love Noel but he’s been successfully sued twice that I know of and has a bunch of other songs that aren’t completely his.

Whatever – How Sweet to be an Idiot by Neil Innes
Cigarettes and Alcohol – T-Rex Get it on
Don’t Look Back in Anger – opening piano bit is Imagine by John Lennon and he also lifted some of the lyrics from Lennon.
Shakermaker – Stolen from a Coke ad
Fade in out – the start is very similar to Wanted Dead or Alive by Bon Jovi (commented on a lot upon release as I recall)
Hindu Times – Same Size Feet by Stereophonics

I’m sure someone more musically knowledgeable than me could come up with more Noel examples.

Robbie Williams has had to acknowledge twice that he’s stolen songs (Angels and Jesus in a Camper Van) and even someone like U2 are guilty of it (didn’t they steal the beginning of Angel of Harlem from Bob Dylan).

Every major artist does it. A lot have been sued. Jon or Bon Jovi have never been successfully sued.

I don’t doubt that Jon is very selective when it comes to writing credits and don’t doubt that he has used ghost writers for a lot of songs because there is that much smoke that there has to be fire. Naively, I believed in the 90s (maybe coz of my age) that Jon had the “unless I write it, it doesn’t go on the record” policy as an artistic statement whereas the last decade has shown that undoubtedly it’s a business decision. He’s still a supremely talented guy though and to say otherwise, or question that, is a little bit pathetic.

I'm talking strictly song writing......

Jon is cocky as a heck when it comes to everything else but he's extremely successful and a Rock Star.

I don't agree with the Aerosmith reference above. I think those songs sound like Bon Jovi. Bon Jovi and Aerosmith used a lot of the same people back in the late 80's early 90's.... AKA Desmond... so their sound could be somewhat similar.

Let me sum this up:

Bon Jovi are a "Commercial Band". One of their biggest accolade’s is the fact that they somewhat change with the times however balance it with their Bon Jovi sound. I believe that's the key to their longevity. Most 80's bands couldn't do that and that's why they are all becoming extinct.

Bon Jovi do NOT produce their albums. I've heard Jon say in interviews that they are more than capable but don't do it.

If someone says a song sounds like Creed for example, it's not that the song sounds like Creed, it sounds like what was happening in 2002! And I wouldn't blame (or credit) Jon for that. It's the Producer Jon hired!

In '05 /' 06 Jon probably scanned all the different "IN" sounds and selected the best one that fits their style. He saw the future. He's not going to make an "Emo" or "Rap" album.... He saw country music crossing over and said this is the direction I want to go in because this best fits our style and it can open doors to a bigger audience. He saw a band like "Big and Rich" make it in county without sounding like county. (LH is not a county album in any way. There is no twang in Jon's voice and take out the violin & pedal steel, and you have a straight-up rock album. Memory is not a country song and neither are a handful of others). Anyway, Jon hired a producer and said I want to sound like Bon Jovi but give me the bare minimum to get into that door to that audience. Who Says was the experimental song and LH was the album. IMO, Jon is brilliant for that. As far as what the songs sound like are completely up to the producer. Jon probably doesn’t have the first clue about a county sound. So if someone says that Lost Highway the song sounds like a Big and Rich song, that’s not Jon stealing the sound, it’s the producer going after the trend.

That's what Bon Jovi does. They are not out stealing from artists. They are going after the current sounds. They hire professionals to modernizing the Bon Jovi sound.

Now in some situations, Jon might try to imitate one of his influences. I see no harm in that. He admitted that he stole NSG from Hearts Of Stone. So what! They are totally different songs.

Music is an evolution. No one creates anything in music. Elvis didn't create RnR. RnR formed on its own through evolution. Elvis just added to it and made it popular.

Jon is not a Deaf & Dumb genius. He can only create music based on what he knows and what he heard in the past. It's all artists. Jon added to that evolution for the past 30 years. Another Reason To Believe doesn't sound like a Stones song from 1965, it sounds like an experimented song from 2002 that never made an album. He took something from one of his influences and tried to evolve it.

That’s The History Of Music!

So all you people letting Seb get into your head, smack your ear on one side to get him out of there.

You're being very naive with the way Jon and Richie produce albums. The producer doesn't have as much hold on it as you're saying, not for a band of that size.

Aloha !

I wouldn't call it naive, it's just very wrong. It shows how little he actually knows and how much he assumes is being true based upon a guy feeling in regards to the band. If that's the way you're experiencing things you'll only get so far but you're missing out on a lot for not hearing certain similarities or just the way things are written. And that's fine, just don't dismiss the facts that are out there for not being true simply because you fail to understand them.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

See, I think you guys put WAY too much thought into everything. Everything is Jon this and Jon that. Sure Jon is the final say for the most part but the record co has some control over that as well.

I think Jon, Richie, and who ever write songs, give them to the producer, they have a back and forth conversation on sound (I like what so and so did here, the producer says, listen to what this other band is doing now), and then Jon lets the producer run the show from there. If there is something Jon doesn't like, I'm sure he'll interject but I think for the most part, Jon will let the paid professional dictate the sound. The producer Jon hired just had 7 top ten hits for 5 different artists. I would think Jon is respectful enough to let him to run the show. After it's done, I think there is a collective conversation and Jon makes the final decisions.

I don't think Jon is out there specifically hunting down sounds. I don't even think he even listens to modern music. Certain groups are probably just recommended to him.

The last thing I think Jon is doing is jamming out to Creed with his I-Pod on. He might hear something along the way and tell his producer that he likes what this guy is doing here... should we go in this direction.... That's what Destination Anywhere was all about.

I don't think Jon lives and breathes music anymore like he once did. He's so caught up with other stuff. He wants a decent album to help promote his tour and that's it. Jon made his mark in music! He's not going for the high vocal. He's not going for the epic. He just wants the big catchy stadium anthems. He could write the best song ever and it's still going to chart the same, sell the same, and get the same airplay. I think he lets his people do the work. He'll do some tweaking afterwards and then make his decision on the best 12 out of 20 songs. If one becomes a hit, AWESOME! He probably crosses his fingers every time. If not, he'll go make 100 Million watching his fans sing those songs back to him. We Got It Going On is Jon's typical song post 2K. It's a Stadium Anthem, Easy To Sing, and Fans Eat It Up. Do you think he wants to sing Dry County Pt 2 every night? Heck No!

He said something a few years back that I thought was interesting. He didn't put Starting All Over Again on KTF because it would kill his voice to sing it every night..... So it got me thinking... he doesn't sing every song on every album (especially back then). So he probably thought that that song could be a potential hit, and purposely left it off so he wouldn't have to sing it every night. I think he would actually give up a potential hit if it was out of his live zone. I think the same applies today. I’m sure he’s got another Always or BOR in him, but doesn't want to chance singing it.

The risk is worth it.

The truth lies somewhere in the middle... while I tend to agree with you that Jon probably doesn't have the will to control every aspect when it comes to a Jovi record he has a direct line to Lucian Grainge, as does any other proven artist who could consider a few million sales a failure - as a former Universal marketing man once so eloquently put it in a lecture: "[Jon Bon Jovi] could shit in a bucket and they'd market it... and someone would buy it." (someone then immediately accused me of being that guy. I just snorted and said I already had a copy of 7800* - why would I need another? :P)