Happy 22nd Birthday These Days....
 

Released this day in 1995

Thought???

Love it love it love it but don't like Diamond Ring and not keen on SFTP.

Was disappointed with TAALS as first single. Should've been Hey God

Hearts Breakin Even should've been 2nd single.

My favorite Bon Jovi album. Dark album indeed. SFTP is my favorite though. Not a fan of Diamond Ring either. Bitter Wine is great, as well as Hearts Breaking Even, Hey God, etc.

One of the best albums of all time, not just by Bon Jovi. I can't adequately explain just how much this album means to me, and how much it inspires me to this day. Just incredible.

By my calculations it came out on 19th June though, at least in the UK?

Very dark but my fave alongside New Jersey <3

I've actually been on a These Days kick this past week lol

When I was 13 and still getting into the band, this was the only album I didn't have. When I got around to getting it, I didn't really like it, but it began to grow on me over time. These days (no pun intended) it's one of my favorite albums. I'm not a fan of Something to Believe In or Diamond Ring though. Not sure what my favorite song is, because like half the album is in the running lol

At the time, this certainly seemed like a darker album the most Bon Jovi albums. I remember that during Bounce promo Richie was asked about the darker feel of These Days said that Jon was working out his demons on this record. I was absolutely shocked to read that because it sounded like "airing the dirty laundry." I even call my best friend to read what he had said. I think it does go to show that "the poet needs the pain." It seems like this album has touched Bon Jovi fans more deeply than most of the others. I've wondered since reading that statement if one reason Jon doesn't play much from this album is that he doesn't want to revisit those demons, whatever they were.

I'm usually not a fan of ballads, at least not in the 2000s, but I really loved a lot of this album and it was ballad heavy. Highlights are Letting You Go, Lie to Me, Love Song, My Guitar Lies Bleeding, and Something to Believe In. I'm not so crazy about SFTP and Damned. The demos from this album were all awesome too.

Thank you Becky for providing this info, I didn't know that!

As well as it being absolutely awesome, These Days was the first BJ record I got to experience the release of live - Always drew me in with Crossroad and got me hunting the back catalogue, but TD was the first proper release as a fan.

It was great, I got it on tape and I remember doing my paper round listening to it on the Walkman over and over. Wasn't a huge fan of Diamond Ring, but the rest really hooked me in, and confirmed me as a fan of the band going forward for the next 22 years.

Being a Bon Jovi fan was great then - they were everywhere on TV, radio and the media, playing Wembley, busking in Covent Garden & in other record stores, the album and it's promotion absolutely massive here. Being a bit of a collector, I remember getting all the singles, firstly tapes as I remember only getting a CD player well into 1995. It was great getting all the live B-sides from Wembley, the postcards with the These Days single , getting the CD1 and CD2 versions of everything, and very soon after discovering record fairs and getting foreign versions and promo CDs. Great times, great album.

Brilliant album, but I'd take Slippery, New Jersey or Keep the Faith over it any day.

Damed is a great song. So is all I want is everything. Some real classics in guitar bleeding, something to believe in, these days and hey god.
Always skip SFTP & DR.

I really feel this is the last consistent album the band made.