Could WAN have faired better under a different name?
 

To me there are only two songs that could be considered political on the album (What's Left of Me & What About Now) and I just thought that naming giving the album the name WAN and marketing it as a "post-Obama first term Presidency" record seems a bit strange. I'm all for having both the songs on the record (WAN is one of my favourite Bon Jovi songs).

The WAN album cover is without a doubt the best the band has produced. I just think the album could have faired better as "Beautiful World." The record could have been marketed as fresh and edgy.

I also feel The Circle whilst again a fantastic record could have been better without Working Man and being branded as a "signs of the times" album. I don't think Bon Jovi needed to talk about Obama's Presidency being about hope & change as a way to promote Born to Follow. IMO the record could have been marketed as dark and anthemic which most of the record is. The atmosphere when listening to the album is amazing - bar Working Man and the government taking Jon's pencil and ice cream.

What do you guys think?

Anyway it's 4.21AM and I'm pretty drunk. Time to go to bed, 'night.

While I agree with the first two sentences, how do you want to market something as fresh and edgy when it's pretty much the opposite?

Beautiful World would be an awful title for the album. Because We Can or Army Of One would have worked IMO

Army of One would have worked well I think. But Jon would have gone for Because We Can since recently he is all about "we".

It's a fair question though, the album might have done a little better with an edgier title. There are a few tracks that might be called edgy, Water, What's Left of Me, Army of One. I like the album but I just don't love it like I loved The Circle (and I know I'm in the minority there).

It wouldn't make a difference as the album which comes out while the band celebrates 30 years of their foundation isn't anywhere close to their standards. This isn't the Bon Jovi sound, the album was bad as regards the production (Shanks sucks, that's a well known fact), as well as it lacks Richie's soul & spirit. The only good song that this album got is I'm With You... Because We Can is catchy, arena song, indeed but it hasn't nothing to do with Rock and it has nothing to do with Bon Jovi. Bon Jovi should return with a real rock/hard rock album this time as it comes to their 30th anniversary. After all they can still produce hits that will bring younger fans into their fanbase, if they want too.
So different sound of the album & better production could work. Richie's album was far better than WAN.

I think the album would have done better if it wasn't sold as anything related to Obama. If you associate it with Obama, right off the bat, you turn off about half your potential customers in the USA. (Just as you would if you associated your lyrical content it with ANY president.) I think they would do better if they, especially Jon, just kept their mouths shut about politics and let universal themes speak for themselves. Jon call still be all about "we" without associating the music with any politician.

I'm With You :)

I don't think the title made a lick of difference in sales.

Now that's a good title for the record to suck in all those desperate housewives. Change the single to that song and you're good to go.

I'm not a housewife and I'll never be a housewife, but why are housewives always referred to in such a derogatory manner around here? I see nothing wrong with a woman staying home and raising her kids instead of letting a daycare center raise them.