Metal Sludge Gossip Board

For me personally Bon Jovi was the complete workhorse for their genre. When you look at a band and their tour schedule’s now, it isn’t even a fraction of the gigs BJ did on the Slippery/New Jersey tours. The band was disciplined and dedicated no matter the circumstance.

I lost interest in the band when Jon started adding a fiddle player and an extra percussion player. Doing CMT Crossover material was sad from a once rocking band.

Plus, Richie being forced out (certainly he was warned dozens of times) was a tremendous blow as well.

What are your official thoughts on the band all these years later?

Totally agree. They were the gold standard of the genre. Had a huge hit “Always” in 1994 for gods sake! Came back strong with “Its My Life” in the 2000s.
Really lost the plot since then, but they kept it going strong for decades.

I heard "In and Out of Love" on the radio last week. It was a better song than I'd remembered. Sambora rips.

Great in the 80s, good in the 90s, awful after 2000

I never got into them They seemed like a band for girls. And the only people I knew who liked them were girls.

I can tell you I LOVED Bon Jovi’s solo album when it came out.. had all these great people like Jeff Beck, Aldo Nova, Robbin Crosby, Benmont from The Heartbreakers, Little Richard… killer production… just everything I would want to hear at the time.

Couldn’t tell you how a single song goes now.

That’s how I feel about Bon Jovi - perfect for the time, but for me, not much of it holds up.

The guitar solo on Wanted Dead or Alive justifies their existence. The most expressive use of pinch harmonics I've ever heard.

In my mind, Bon Jovi released two albums, Slippery When Wet and New Jersey,
They died in an airplane crash after that.

They were great until Jon started calling the band “employees”, that was around 2009.

Officially I think they should keep touring but let the band sing the songs and Jon should just shake his ass and smile.

David and Phil X sounded great a few weeks ago performing Bon Jovi songs, the best those songs have sounded in years.

Richie is never coming back, maybe a song or two one night on the last tour but a reunion tour will never happen … btw his Richie’s new song released a few days ago suuuuucks!

Jon - the "trading card" in the 7800 cassette called him a "powerful young rock vocalist." He was never powerful. In fact, he had a pretty awful tone to his voice. He was "passable." Had a good business sense and led the band to stardom. Had the look, certainly.

Richie - my favorite band member. His WDOAlive solo is a classic, and he's strong elsewhere. Seemed most talented although when he fronted his own albums, they were sort of cases of "almost." They just didn't quite work and the songs didn't quite get over. It's a shame he fell into the alcoholism hole.

David Bryan - competent, but I never heard much from him that stuck for me. Not an exciting player, and not a great "in the groove" rock rhythm keyboardist like Benmont Tench. He's more "just good enough." Seems like a solid guy.

Alec John Such - now we know he didn't even really play on that stuff. Pretty inconsequential.

Huey McDonald - I think least "pretty good" but not many memorable parts.

Tico Torres - not one of my favorite drummers from that era. Solid enough, I suppose, but his parts were never all that interesting to me. Meh.

All in all - I consider them to be really mediocre, but you can make an outstanding album of their 10-15 best songs. I tend to like them a little more in rock/metal mode than their later "songwriter" mode. Jon just wasn't a good enough singer to pull that off. His solo album is boring as hell. They do have a few genuine era-classics like "Livin' On a Prayer." My memory is that they were one of the earliest to use Desmond Child.

Superior: Ratt, Dokken, Night Ranger, Triumph, Cinderella, Mr. Big, Badlands, anything with John Sykes, King's X, the best tunes of Motley Crue (but not the worst), Van Halen for sure, and Krokus on Headhunter.

Worse: Warrant, Slaughter, Twisted Sister, WASP, and more.

The first 4 albums all have their moments.

The only thing they’ve done since that did anything for me was “Dry County.”

Sambora is their MVP, despite his faults.

They could have been like the band Train, which somehow keeps putting out a hit song every 5 or so years to keep them relevant. Instead, they kept putting out forgettable crap.

One of the best. Better than most of the rest. Even with Jon’s throat problems during Slippery, they were unf*ckable with in the 80s


I was a big fan and enjoyed their run from 1984 thru 2008. Not a bad run

My only criticisms are:

Jon should have taken his voice more seriously over the years, found and stuck with a classical voice teacher. He most likely did irreparable damage on the Slippery tour.

They wrote more as a band or atleast let Dave contribute more. I liked the band better in the early days when Dave was allowed to contribute more.

Jon and Richie didn’t move so far away from their arena rock roots in favor a trendy pop music. Def Leppard are just as guilty of this.

They should’ve gotten Hugh from the beginning since he’s the one on the recordings.

They should’ve gotten Phil sooner.

One good album and a couple good songs here and there. I still remember hearing It's My Life at the gym for the 1st time and honestly thinking it was one of the boy bands like The Backstreet Boys.

BJ are shite

At school in the mid to late 80s (in the UK) it was Bon Jovi vs Europe. Everyone else went for Jovi, I went for Europe.

Jovi were mediocre at best, never like any of their stuff and I'm a real hair metal head. Richie's first solo album slays the BJ catalogue, except for one song, funnily enough the one written by JBJ. lol

roxxxtar wrote: ↑Sun Jul 13, 2025 8:35 pm In my mind, Bon Jovi released two albums, Slippery When Wet and New Jersey,
They died in an airplane crash after that.

This ^.......

Good songs in the beginning but by the New Jersey album they started to sound pretty contrived.

They were my favorite band from about 11-13. They still had some good creative stuff through These Days. After that, the use of outside writers increased to chase hits. I still like some songs here and there.