1984-2004, 2005-2016 Two different eras
 

I've been listening to all the Bon Jovi albums in chronological order. I have to say that from 'Bon Jovi: Bon Jovi' through to 'Bounce' the albums really rocked. Even when they didn't their were some really good ballads. Even 'This Left Feels Right' has some original touches.

Then I listen to the John Shanks era. 'Have A Nice Day' is where it all started going wrong. Though the opening track is very strong, the rest of the album is no where near as good as the previous records. Then after that the albums get less and less rock and more pop and terrible.

For me it goes like
Bon Jovi-These Days : The Glam-Rock Years (Glam until NJ)
Crush-Bounce : The transisional period
HAND-now : The .i. years...... (Worst moment:Lost Highway.....i just can't stand this country CRAP........well i can't stand WAN too but LH just drives me crazy)

One of the biggest transitions for me was from 2000 going further. Crush was a make-or-break point for BJ in the US. Since Crush, outside writers have been used more and more.

It was These Days tanking in the US which brought about all that follows. Who knows what could have followed if it had worked out better in 95/96. Absolutely huge over here, absolute peak of their popularity.

I will always make the divide 1984 - 1995 and 2000 - 2016. What came after 2005 fits perfectly in the world of the watered down pop sound Crush brought on. It's not the big rock album everyone seems to mistake it for, it was super poppy. More organic instrumentation and a more natural drum sound though. Heck, the Shanks era was a RETURN to bigger sounding guitars if anything. The problem is the album tracks starting getting indistinguishable from each other.

Completely agree. The 1984-95/96 era of albums can be grouped together and flow very nicely. I always thought this since I really dug deep into the past albums by the end of 2001. By that time Crush seemed out of place even then. Every album after that flows seamlessly in terms of tone/quality (Obviously none of them sound the same).

I never mark the split between the pre/post Shanks eras. I doubt history would have changed much had the band never used him. Have a Nice Day sounded like a more back-to-basics album than it's two effects-driven predecessors in terms of being more organic-sounding.

Pretty much yes yes yes. Bounce had a more aggressive guitar sound but it wasn't a sound they'd really had prior. Drop D and baritone guitars were never that much part of the sound they used and it's no coincidence how much they had the sound that was big on the radio at the time (Creed especially).

For me, I enjoy most of the post 2005 collection just as much as the pre-2005 material. ...And that's an opinion coming from a 43 year old male, growing up with 80's Bon Jovi and purchasing TD in my college years on the day of its release.

In fact, my three least favorite Jovi albums are 7800* Fahrenheit, Bounce, & WAN. All happen to come from entirely different eras.

I think that Crush makes sense more as a follow up to Destination Anywhere & Undiscovered Soul than These Days, both of them went in a bit more poppy direction which they obviously extended for the next band album

Very true, and I don't think I'd heard those two albums at that point. I was still familiarising myself with the band albums. Which probably explains why Crush sounded quite jarring following on from These Days.

Plus Real Life sort of bridged the gap a little and gave a sneak peak of the sort of sound to come, as the song is definitely closer to Crush than a These Days sound

Again, I probably hadn't heard "Real Life" at that point either! It all makes sense now of course. Plus there are quite a few songs from the box set that were recorded during the late 90's which help blur the lines a bit.

I would say that Crush is the middle point - can't be placed neither with TD nor with post-Bounce era. (Bounce itself is a special case - rather disjoint from the rest).

Crush although with very blatant poppish intentions, still retains an organic sound. I am sure they made bad choices about which songs to build upon and put in the album. And they tried to sound as happy/shiny as possible. But there was still a great "band" sound then, like they were really playin music - I mean a sense of spontaneity in their playing, and each song sounding differently. Also with the b sides and demos from that era, you can see they had many interesting ideas.

After Bounce, everything seemed much more calculated. Even if there were some good songs. The liveliness was gone. Maybe LH has some songs with a bit more - - spirit - I mean in the way they are performed-produced. I dont know.

Agreed with that. Bounce was the last, documented at least, record that the whole band was there for whole process up until This House...as well. I'm not sure how This left...was recorded.

I remember that they had a Volkswagen Golf named "Golf Bon Jovi" in These Days era. Dude, that's a Rolling Stones thing. In South America absolutely their peak too and I guess we can count Asia in.

The Drop D tunning is a Goo Goo Dolls influenced move.

Jon mentioned at Bounce release that Goo Goo Dolls influenced him (along with John Mayer and Matchbox Twenty). Having The Goo Goo Dolls as "Special Guests" was not a coincidence.

Funny, Gutterflower is my favorite GGD album but it only got Gold certification (if I'm not wrong, Bounce went Gold as well). I guess the 09/11 events affected the music business a bit, mainly because - if you pay attention - both bands came from huge recent success with Dizzy Up The Girl and Crush.

Yeah, but there were also Volkswagen Gold models for Europe, Genesis and Pink Floyd during that era ;)

Well, I think it's a huge achievement for an american band have their name on a very popular european car, right?

While Goo Goo Dolls use a lot of alternate tunings I wholeheartedly disagree with that. The more pop rock songs with a rootsy twist, absolutely, I could see a GGD sound but songs like The Distance, Love me back to Life, Hook me Up...I mean just put on The Distance and Creed's My Sacrifice back to back. That was clearly the sound they were after.

I guess makes sense what you're saying.

I don't know why, back in 2002 - in my head, they're were trying to emulate Linkin Park. That Creed comparison is much better than LP.

1984-2004, 2005-2016 Two different eras
 

84-96 was the best era of the band by a mile.
I got an old skool record player for Xmas so have picked up the first 6 albums on vinyl.
They are a different class to anything released after.
Not to say I don't enjoy a lot of the newer stuff but the albums have been patchy since Crush

I'd break it down into 3 different eras

'84 to '96 - Bands Peak

'97 to '06 - More vocally conscience type albums - Although HAND / Shanks happened in '05, it's not really the divider for me...It was still all fresh and youthful to this point...

'07 to '17 - Lost Highway forward was really a pivotal change into a more mature / grown-up style Jon... This is where he stopped being a rock star and more of a guy just going through the motions...

I agree with this, yeah. HAND sounded youthful for sure.

Hmm with the drum machine angle? I think that started more so on It's My Life and even further back with Destination Anywhere but I think Bounce absolutely had LP elements though it also just sounds like that era of music.

It was the heavy guitars I guess? Or maybe some electronic elements on Everyday, but I remember thinking they're trying to get that Linkin Park feeling back at that time.

That's the problem with too many Bon Jovi albums, the memories start to fade. LOL