There are people out there who still love them. They are aware of the decline but don't care at the same time. It's a way for them to hold onto their youth. We are the minority here.

I would also think that Jon made a collective decision with the Dave and Tico. Or maybe Dave and Tico really do still enjoy playing in a band. Jon is the one who takes on all the stress. All they do is show up

wow my comment got some real/creative reaction i see...
i read many good points but imo the heart of a rock song is the combination of the singer and the guitarist 95% of the times...i may be old school but you cant just hide that the main guitarist isnt there...who are these capable players???jon,bob and shanks??? NOOOO!!! phil x is technically acomplished but i dont know if he is a capable composer...
jons solo albums are the proof he can produce great songs without a fellow guitarist co writer, but imo bj were these guys...since one of them left the honest thing to do from my perspective is to go on and play your music from a different outlet, jon,david and tico have every right to perform live these songs, the same goes for richie... i just hoped they would avoid releasing them as bj, for me bon jovi always will be jon-richie-tico-david, in that order if u like...
jon wants to prove he can pull it off creatively without richie and realises the bj brand is the safer way to go...bj ...much bigger than jbj...but i hope he releases sth solo...
i cant help but remember his statement...there is no point for a solo effort..the band record is my solo record...or sth very close, that to me is one of the problems that make bj go so downhill

I agree with you. Jon and Richie have always been the ones promoting Bon Jovi the band and the brand in the media, they're the main songwriters, they're the faces the general public identifies BJ with, they're most of the fans' favorite members, that's why it would be weird to have a BJ album without Richie. Look at Guns'n'Roses, they have become a joke (and nobody's laughing), no matter how technically qualified the new guitarists are (and some are much better than Slash), the chemistry is missing, G'n'R were mostly Axl and Slash, when one is missing, so is the magic and the public is not happy.

And don't forget that the record company has the final say on the release of records. BJ may be the top best selling tour year after year, it doesn't make Jon almighty. Remember that he had to agree on a greatest hits album to be allowed to release LH (I think it was LH but maybe it was another album? Please correct me if I'm wrong. Sorry, my memory is not what it used to be, details have been deleted over the years).

I'm not sure that Tico and David are eager to tour again. Tico seems to be wanting to retire from the road, David is very successful with his musical, he's working on a new one, he might be more interested in this second career of his than hitting the road again to be just a sidekick.

Actually - no. The main songwriter not named Axl Rose in that band was Izzy Stradlin. When Axl Rose joined the Rolling Stones on stage in 1989 (I believe?), who was the guitar player and lifelong friend by his side? Izzy Stradlin.

Slash got airtime in the videos and played the solos, but as far as the creative process and personal relationships go, he was not as important as Izzy.

Everyone knows that.

Yet when Izzy quit the band in 1991, that didn't result in GNR losing their popularity and many fans turning against Axl. Not one bit. The departure of Slash did.

Not to get off topic but I always wondered if they would have made it through the grunge era in the 90's. A lot of people say 'yes' but I say 'no'... or maybe some modest success that would have declined with each album. They definitely would have stopped ruling the world in a big way.

When I was younger, I thought UYI 1 & 2 were works of art. Now looking back, I realize that they were just overproduced pieces of garbage. Okay, that's maybe a little extreme but they don't compere to Lies or Appetite and most of the gems were written during those times in the 80's. I think one solid album would have done the trick instead of two with fillers.

I also think Axl's voice was becoming overexposed. When they released Spaghetti and then Sympathy, it wasn't grabbing me the same way when Jon released Levon for example. Axl was just doing the same screams and whines over and over again with that same overproduction.

What are you talking about dude? Slash left super late, only AFTER they did that horrendous cover of Sympathy for the Devil. When was that? 1996 maybe? At that time, the band had lost massively in popularity. The only album without Izzy was the Spaghetti Incident and by that time their popularity was at their abysmal lows compared to where they were when the Illusion albums came out. And YES! a lot of the fans were turning against Axl when Izzy left.

No matter how people look at it - losing (one of) the main songwriters is MORE important than losing the lead guitar player no matter who or how charismatic he is. When it happens to be both ...as is the case of the Jove...things don't turn out well.

One thing, Sympathy for the Devil was recorded in 1994 and included in the closing credits of film Interview with the Vampire and also was included on their Greatest Hits album.

Slash left Guns N Roses after of Spaghetti Incident in 1994, but many of the songs on the album were recorded with original guitarist Izzy Stradlin, during the sessions of Use Your Illusion I & II and then some were re-recorded by Gilby Clarke. Those songs were previously intended to be included in the album "Use Your Illusion" combined in to three discs, rather than two separate discs that ended up being.

Jon said this in the break between 1990 - 92. Basically he said " these are my solo records , it's my name on the cover, I'm the one who is signed to the label "

Ego was just as big all those years ago

Would it be possible for you to find a source?

It would be such a big quote, if he actually said that, given it was at the height of their popularity.