C'mon Jon, let Richie back in. He's very sorry for being a knob.

Jon Bon Jovi: I have the brand and I want your money.

https://stopthesethings.files.wordpr...he-money01.gif

Which songs off WAN, TC, LH and HAND did Jon write without Richie? Might indicate what we can expect in terms of lyrical quality.

A quick search says: Im with you, what about now, amen, thats what the water made me, beautiful world, room at the world, the fighter, whole lot of leavin, everybodys broken, last man standing, wildflower, last cigarette, complicated, novocaine, story of my life.

None from 'The Circle'? Interesting.

Some very good songs there but I wouldn't look too much into it. Look how different those songs are. Hardly any that sound too similar really.

I don't think it means a whole lot. There were some very good songs on The Circle and some stinkers.

All you need to know about Richie being a vital factor on songwriting is looking at their biggest hits.

Room at the end of the worlds is a really good lyrically I think...

Well Jon is fully capable of writing mega super duper hits himself:)

1994's Always is the most recent thing that comes to mind.

Well, to be fair, they've only had two "big" hits since then... It's My Life and Who Says... and if I'm not mistaken, Who Says was only a big hit in North America, not so much around the world. They've certainly had airplay since then and they still have songs getting played on the radio, but nothing has taken off like those two songs and certainly nothing has been an international smash since It's My Life.

He said WRITING. It's not really fair to call Always the most recent, considering there are very few songs that were released with only Jon's name on the credits.

I completely agree. I have complete confidence in Jon as a songwriter even in 2015. But recording it is where it gets tricky. His vocals and Bon Jovi sound of the last several albums will never allow to achieve the full potential of these songs. Even if it would, his age would never allow it to catch it on masses and it wouldn't be a true "hit" anyway. But my point is that writing a hit and recording/performing it in the studio are two different things. And Jon's (and to lesser extent Richie's) abilities to do the later have diminished below satisfaction.

Because We Can proves this more than anything. The melody is insanely catchy. But the finished product was very uninspiring.

I think at this stage of his career, he's better off just writing songs for other artists. If Paul McCartney can write a hit for Rihanna, then I'm sure Jon could do the same if he wanted to. And no, I'm not comparing their songwriting abilities, but point the age difference.