Aloha !
I'm voting Crush. Crush sounded the way it did because it's what they wanted it to sound like. It's just as all over the place as Bounce is, but it sounds a lot more natural because of them being in touch with the current music scene and thus it doesn't sound as forced as Bounce.
I've a feeling how, after Crush was released, they just stopped listening to whatever was out there and were fed the latest hit albums by Ebbin. During the recording of Crush, Britpop had died and boy and girlbands showed up. And instead of trying to take something decent out of it, all they could do was just copy things, thus drum loops were incorporated and so were the extra layers of guitars in drop D.
There's a reason why a lot of music fans couldn't take bands like Linkin Park, Kid Rock and Creed seriously as it's all just dumbed down from whatever was out there in the nineties, it really was more of the same. It's also why HAND sounds more inspired and consistent. Somehow, once nu metal died and a small resurrection of real guitar bands took place in America, it resurrected Jon's interest in nowadays music as well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bonjovi90
Yeah, it still amuses me how in the "VH-1 Ultimate
Albums" broadcast (ca. 2001/02) Jon says:
And from that period on that's exactly what they were doing  |
No it's what they've always been doing. It's just that back in the nineties, rock was still popular so fewer pop elements were incorporated to make it to the charts.
Keep the Faith has a drastic change in sound exactly because the eighties sound was done. These Days sounds a lot more organic due to grunge and britpop influences. Once you start listening to the big albums from 1993 and 1994 you'll hear where These Days came from. There's influences from Tori Amos, Aerosmith, Stone Temple Pilots, Oasis and the Cranberries on These Days as much as the Backstreet Boys and Alanis Morisette inspired them during Crush. It's just that most who've grown up with These Days never cared for the other bands out there and have never listened to most albums released at the same time. But 'ey, try to piss on These Days and tell a Bon Jovi fan here it's not very original either and you'll be crucified on this board.
Although I do think their creative river slowly started to run dry, the idea that Bon Jovi's only just now started to copy bands is an illusion. It's always been that way.
Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan