Richie and the songwriting
 

Okay, so I just watched the toe curling interview with Richie and "Ori" from Sound wave and was interested in what he said about the Bon Jovi songs.


Basically he says those are his songs, or songs he started the ball rolling on so to speak. Does that mean he is saying he wrote These Days or Who Says for example, or is he saying he had the genesis of those songs? I would be interested if anyone actually knows. Who Says for example comes across very JBJ for example.

Either way, that interview was painful because he is such a douche and I feel it was a cheap shot, although it is not as if Jon hasn´t been saying the same crap for years with his quarterback nonsense.

I think These Days started with richie messing around with those sus chords. In terms of melody I've always thought of These Days as a very JBJ song for the time it was written, but maybe that's just me. Either way, He's an asshole during that interview and it really hasn't taken much for him to believe and exaggerate his own hype.....

Exactly what "hits" did Richie write with Alice Cooper? He seems so full of himself it's only coming across like a joke. I enjoy Richies new found confidence, but he's going a bit far here.

Officially - only Hell Is Living Without You [which wasn't even a single but is a famous Alice song]. Unofficially - House of Fire?

He also talks about touring together and I'm WTF? Did they ever play together before this gig recently? I don't think so...Either his mind is blurry - which could well be - or he's talking out of his ass. Alice Cooper mentioned in some interview that he went and saw Bon Jovi play Jersey bars and realised they're not just a pop band but the real deal - but never anything about proper gigging together.

House of Fire always struck me as odd. The band demoed it for New Jersey but when it wound up on Alice's album none of them are credited as co-writers.

For as much as one would think Who Says is a Jon song, listen to it back to back with Hard times come easy. It's not crazy to think it's a Richie song. That being said I don't agree with his stance that he's only doing the songs he started.

It's just another example of an artist bigging themselves up/telling a few white lies. We all have done it, whether it be in job interviews or on a CV, but yeah some of the shit Richie and Jon come up with is hilarious, like they are trying to convince themselves.

Richie will be saying he sold out stadiums next on his Aftermath Tour in Europe. Little things like if he's met or jammed once with Stevie Wonder or Jimmy page turn into ''yeahhh, we go wayyy back maaaan, always jamming and doing stuff togetherrr mann''
etc.

I still remember Jon saying on that Radio2 interview on the HAND tour that he had 'heard some nickelback stuff'' and ''wanted to give them a shot as opening act'' - little did he know they were currently outselling his own band ten fold worldwide. They do live in their own little bubbles sometimes.

Since that started out as a Joan Jett song, I wonder why Richie would've been involved. Desmond Child wrote a couple of tunes with her during 1988 as well, the most famous probably being I Hate Myself For Loving You.

Regarding the songwriting, you can sorta tell with some songs. Jon's not a bad guitar player as far as riffs go (he wrote a couple catchy ones for 7800°), but the sus-chords for These Days, as well as I'll Be There For You's licks just scream Richie. I guess it's safe to say that he wrote those. Same actually goes for We Weren't Born To Follow, those hanging chords somehow seem Samboralike to me. Generally, Jon is more a melody-type of guy in his writing, whereas Richie is more about textures.

There's also stuff like Damned which is pretty damn obvious IMO (Jon couldn't play the riff at all, for one), but I have no idea regarding stuff like the piano ballads, since they're usually rather reduced in terms of harmony.

There's also stuff where you can tell neither did much, such as the Desmond Child-tracks from the 80s, or It's My Life.

Either way, these guys should just adapt the Jagger/Richards model already, where both get credited all the time either way who wrote it.

It's a good question. Had it landed on New Jersey it would have certainly been credited Jovi/ Sambora/ Child. So, naturally - there are theories that it was a Bon Jovi song. Yet - if Desmond Child and Joan Jett are credited, surely Jon & Richie would have wanted their share of royalties had they done something with/ to it....

Good topic and points...

I always though Who Says was a cross between Rockin All Over the World and I Don't Wanna Go Home so I pegged it as a Jon song aka SSJ.

House Of Fire is difficult to pin point for me because I could easily mix up a Desmond / Jon and Richie song.. esp 80s lyrics.