[Thomas Anderson]

I was thinking today about the overall sound of each album, and here's what I was thinking:

Bon Jovi and 7800 Fahrenheit sound fairly similar, with the latter being slightly more mature in writing than the first. Then the writing style and overall music sound changed for Slippery When Wet, and stayed similar for New Jersey, but again, slightly more mature.

Then we got Keep The Faith, which was quite a change again. These Days then followed, and was again a more mature album than the predacessor. We then got Crush, which had a totally new style, followed by Bounce, which sounds a little like Crush, but yet again more mature.

This would indicate that a new album would sound totally new and fresh, and then the next one after that would be similar, but more mature.

(Hate to keep using the word mature, but couldn't find a better word. I use it in the sense of more mature lyrics)

[Ballad of Youth]

Personally, I can't see that happening. The main reason why their styles evolved was because they grew up as a band i.e. from Bon Jovi to 7800 their lyrics 'matured', from Keep the Faith to These Days they became more sentimental etc. However, I think when you get to a certain point you perhaps stop growing up as much. I think Tico's over 50, they're all well into their 40s. I think their current style is what they feel suits them, and I can't see them developing much more.

Certainly not in a drastic change of style like we've seen before. Perhaps just a small tweaking of their style on Bounce i.e. slightly faster tempo?

[Stranger]

I agree with most of your points except that SWW and NJ are soundig similar. But read my view:
There's a nice development within the first four albums:

Bon Jovi:
The base, they didn't re-invent hard rock on this record, but a good start.

7800:
Take the sound of "BJ", make it harder and add dark lyrics. The hard-rock record.

SWW:
The only real hair-metal record. Lighter sound, "easier" to listen to than 7800. the commercial record.

NJ:
Take the best from 7800 and SWW and make on of the best hard rock records ever. Harder than SWW, but not as hard as 7800. The result of the albums from the 80ies.

KTF:
From Hard-Rock to AOR. Take some guitar work away from some songs(Sleep,Blame it on the love,Bed of roses) and concentrate it on some others(Mother,fear). Still Hard, but IMO not as good as the 80ies

TD:
AOR finally, concentrated on the lyrics,remembers only a few times of the old days(hey God,Damned)

Crush:
Most of the good is gone, Hard rock almost complety gone(only OWN), not really AOR, more pop-rock(I hate this term but it really fits here). A modest,light mainstream record.

Bounce:
Surprise,surprise, Hard rock's back. 1/2 of the record is really good. But the other half.......OMG, Pop-shit.

[Martin]

referring to the new album i think it will be awesome but a quite big bunch of ppl will hate it- coz it's the songs you loved in a totally new dress and it will be difficult for many to get into that (imagine iml with harps ) but for my part: 2003 is the year of the kick-ass records- sting's new songs sound great, dave matthews solo sounds great and bon jovi's unplugged will also be a masterpiece again (at least i hope for it )

[Jag]

Originally Posted by Martin2000

referring to the new album i think it will be awesome but a quite big bunch of ppl will hate it- coz it's the songs you loved in a totally new dress and it will be difficult for many to get into that (imagine iml with harps ) but for my part: 2003 is the year of the kick-ass records- sting's new songs sound great, dave matthews solo sounds great and bon jovi's unplugged will also be a masterpiece again (at least i hope for it )

im really looking forward to hearing its my life in its balladey form, i love variation...

albums always had the different sounds...i think bounce is very different from crush...the rockier edge would have worked better if it wasnt so simplistic, crush has actually more guitar work then alot of the songs on bounce, just that the guitars are loads watered down on crush. i really cant wait for the new studio album, whenever it will be, i just hope for more solos...i dont really care if the sound is really 'hard' rock...if its the song itself has a good vibe with decent solos im happy.

[Keba]

Originally Posted by Ballad of Youth

I think Tico's over 50

He's 49. Almost 50. It's sad that I know that, really.

[DevilsSon]

Originally Posted by Stranger

I agree with most of your points except that SWW and NJ are soundig similar. But read my view:
There's a nice development within the first four albums:

Bon Jovi:
The base, they re-invent hard rock on this record, but a good start.

7800:
Take the sound of "BJ", make it harder and add dark lyrics. The hard-rock record.

SWW:
The only real hair-metal record. Lighter sound, "easier" to listen to than 7800. the commercial record.

NJ:
Take the best from 7800 and SWW and make on of the best hard rock records ever. Harder than SWW, but not as hard as 7800. The result of the albums from the 80ies.

KTF:
From Hard-Rock to AOR. Take some guitar work away from some songs(Sleep,Blame it on the love,Bed of roses) and concentrate it on some others(Mother,fear). Still Hard, but IMO not as good as the 80ies

TD:
AOR finally, concentrated on the lyrics,remembers only a few times of the old days(hey God,Damned)

Crush:
Most of the good is gone, Hard rock almost complety gone(only OWN), not really AOR, more pop-rock(I hate this term but it really fits here). A modest,light mainstream record.

Bounce:
Surprise,surprise, Hard rock's back. 1/2 of the record is really good. But the other half.......OMG, Pop-****.

I pretty much agree with you on this one.

BUT: BOUNCE is more POP than Crush ever was. What do you think is Hard Rock on that album? Undivided? Yeah maybe? Hook Me up...possibly,NO REGRETS - for sure(only in Europe) but what else?
I really think CRUSH is a better record than Bounce just like ONE WILD NIGHT is better than Hook Me Up.

And Bon Jovi was a great instrumenatl album . You are right, DRUMS, BASS, KEYBOARD and GUITAR were some of the best ever. I do also like Jon's vocals but I simply can't listen to the lyrics. Sometimes I wish i didn't speak a word English:"Just Makin' Love On The Telephone".

7800 used to be my fave album for about 3 weeks when i listend to it on and of. My opinion changed a bit. great record but a bit boring,just a bit.
However, I said it before: I THINK IT'S THE MOST REVOLUTIONARY ALBUM THAT A "hair-band" HAS EVER RECORDED!

Slippery - the only PURE hair album they realesed,if you took replaced WNATED with 99 in the Shade. This song(Wanted)is in my opinion the best Rock song of the 80s,and it could easily be one of the top 5 songs ever written. Geniuse. After listening for about 100065734635403 times to it(hahaha)i must say it again:JUST BRILLIANT.

NEW JERSEY - my fave Jovi album. Much hevaier than Slippery but still a bit poppy/hairy. Homebound Train is probably the only led Zeppelin influenced song Bj have ever done. Wild is The Wind is one of the coolest ballads ever and rockers like Bad Medicine or Lay Your Hands on me are just NOT BEATBALE.

KEEP THE FAITH - i wish i was a Jersey Generation fan and I would hold Keep The Faith in my hands...brand new. I would probably scream out to the world: SEE YOU MORUNS: THIS IS THE BIGGEST BAND IN THE WORLD. Sh/t on Nirvana and Soundgarden. This guys perfected something that you needed to reinvent!I don't know how i would have felt hearing the Dry County solo for the first time. Great record. Again, some POP songs like Woman in Love. And some Hair influences like Blame it On The Love of Rock 'n' Roll(a song that represents me in so may ways)My 3d fave album

THESE DAYS - This is probably the only'I have nothing to do with POP-METAL album' BJ have realesed! It's my other fave record. If I loved NJ for the music, I love this one for it's poetry.This album made me a fan and I must say that no other album has influenced me as much as this one did. "But I made my last trip to those carnival lips where i bet all that i had on you!". Amazing album...I remember when Hey God aired on MTV how many metal fans had become Bon jovi fans. And they pretty much turned away from that kind of really heavy metal seeing they missed so very much all those years.

CRUSH - disappointment . I already heard It's My lIfe and I never liked it. I waited for it 5 years and then i listene d to it for about 5 times and I said this is it. Then several months later it found it's way back in my cd player and songs like SAY IT ISN'T SO or NEXT 100 YEARS started to grow on me. I came to the conclusion it's not as good as it could be but it's not as worse as it could be either. Sometimes I even prefer it to the debut but it's not very often because i prefer music to lyrics. The lyrics are not that important but the lyrics on Crush(besie It's My Life and TYFLM)are far better than the lyrics on Bon Jovi.

BOUNCE - i already said evrything about it. It sucks. it's crap. It sucks even more. i would have expected anything but this. But what shoul i have expected from an album called BOUNCE. I was really upset with it and in my opinion it had really no connection to CRUSH(beside 2 or 3 songs that sound the same)

I think BON JOVI changed very much with each album. They got better and better and better until These Days. Then they changed a lot again but it didn't get better and thenthey changed again and it got crap!

[Santa_Fe]

My theory:

When Bon Jovi just formed they were a mediocre band. Sorry but Bon Jovi and 7800 are very mediocre records. But during their next 4 records they developed so much that critics and the industry simply couldn't believe it and couldn't be objective towards them and refused to give them a fair shot. Moreover they were really mean towards the band. The band created 2 really amazing records: KTF and TD. They deserved a lot of acclaim for these records. Especially for TD. They deserved Grammys for that record and for the sonds: Hey God, TD. They deserved a whole bunch of different awards and front covers on diff. magazines and such (like for U2 and Bruce). They got nothing. In the US TD flopped. And please let's not start about Europe again. Bon Jovi is an American band. Recognition from their home country should be very important to them. I think when TD flopped in the US Jon got disheartened and sort of gave up. He figured with Bon Jovi they'd never be given acclaim they deserve no matter what they create. So let's at least earn as much money as we can. And let's leave artistism for the solo stuff. But I feel that now in the US they finally start to get recognition. People are not as mean towards them as they used to be. They got their first nominations for some serious awards. And the funny thing is that their new work is not as good as it used to be. Methinks musical climate is changing towards them. So who knows maybe they'll decide that it's worthwhile to create good records again.

[Becky]

Originally Posted by Jag

im really looking forward to hearing its my life in its balladey form, i love variation...

Me too. I would be bored if they released the same thing over and over again. I'm glad they progress and don't keep writing SWW over and over again. I'm definitely looking forward to the new takes on the old songs. I may not love or even like them all, but I like that they're willing to try something different.

Becky

[Mousebounce]

Originally Posted by Becky

Me too. I would be bored if they released the same thing over and over again. I'm glad they progress and don't keep writing SWW over and over again. I'm definitely looking forward to the new takes on the old songs. I may not love or even like them all, but I like that they're willing to try something different.

Becky

I think that if they didn't change, they would be another hair band casuality.