What would make people happiest?
 

I'm listening to WWBTF on the radio as I'm driving home today, and I'm thinking it's not the greatest song, but it's kind of catchy and enjoyable. It's not Savatage brilliant, but it's not Lil' Wayne crap either.

Which got me to thinking about all the people hating on the new record before they'd even heard it, which got me to thinking about what Bon Jovi could do that those people would like.

There seems to be a split in opinion on this site. A)Bon Jovi would be better if they returned to writing 80s rock music or B)Bon Jovi would be better if they returned to the more emotional and intelligent lyrics of Keep The Faith and These Days.

So please, pick. Which would make you happier? It'll be interesting seeing the breakdown of people who prefered the 80s music to the 90s music. Or, if you like them just the way they are now, pick that instead.

Adrian

For me I would like something a little heavier sounding showing the bands obvious talent with a deeper inteligent lyrics. But my favourite album is NJ followed closely by TD so a mix of the two would be ideal!

going back to the 80s rock music at their age and at this stage in their career would just be silly, imo. KTF/These Days should have been built upon (not copied/rehashed) instead of trying to be radio-friendly and modern with the post-2000 albums.

there are songs on the last few albums that show that they could do this if they wanted to, and that their song writing capability is not completely dead. however, they keep putting out safe, overproduced, too "live my life" generic-jovi albums that are stale and show no growth.

however you slice it, we just need something fresh - but i'd love something to be put out with more of a demo-feel to it...something that sounds like they said F-you to the radio and just wrote songs from the heart, recorded them, and that's that.

What I want is passion and power.

Since 96 we can all agree that the band has lost something, Richie has become a lot more subdued on stage and JBJ is less enthusiastic with his crowd interaction.

Maybe it's age, people mellow after all.

yep couldnt agree more. personally im a keep the faith/these days guy for reasons such as I BELIEVE, KEEP THE FAITH, IN THESE ARMS,HEY GOD,LOVE SONG, HEARTS BREAKIN EVEN ETC ETC.

I PREFER THEIR STYLE/LOOK/WRITING/FEEL ETC ETC OF THE NINETIES MUCH MORE

There's no way an 80s style would carry in 2009 but something in the vein of where the 90s were taking them would be nice. Not necessarily 'These Days' related (even though it's my fav album) but something KTF-oriented would be fantastic and much better than pop-rock, radio-friendly, throwaway songs.

Poll would be useful here. I think I'd like another TD more than anything but I can't ever see that happening again :(

A mix between the holy trinity SWW, NJ and KTF would be the best.
I don't want anything remotely close to TD. That was the album that made me realize that these guys are mortal and a string of flawless albums will eventually be broken.

Well I am a Jovi fan today because of the stuff they did in the 90s. These days, Keep the faith and even Jon and Richie solo projects.

It's not that the 90s stuff wasn't commercial, it was. But despite that the songs were so much more interesting and intricate. The drumming, the bass lines, the guitars, vocals, everything...

I think that now that they are older they probably don't have the motivation to spend as much time on the song writing process trying to create something interesting. Earlier music was their life, now they are family men.

You know what makes me happy? Taking the ride with them. It makes me happy that they don't keep producing the same album every year. It makes me happy that they try new things. I don't love every song and there are even a couple of albums that I don't feel stood the test of time. But I've loved spending the last two decades with them. They've made good decisions thus far and I'm not arrogant enough to think I could have a better vision for them than they can come up with for themselves.