Great Topic:

If you discovered these albums in more recent times, you can't appreciate it in the same light as someone who grew up during that time period. Once Slippery broke and made it big, there was nothing left after you played out those quick 10 songs. Before New Jersey, you had no choice but to go back to the first two albums and in 1987, those songs were not too far off from the current music scene. They were our B-Sides, Box Set, Demos to Slippery. That's how we viewed them. They weren't as great as the songs on Slippery but they were still pretty darn good and enjoyable.

Fahrenheit is such an underated album in my opinion. Yeah, the production was weird but Jon's voice alone makes up for that. Silent Night is the first of the classic Jovi ballad, there are also some great guitar riffs, and the album contains some really get lyrical hooks.... I love lyrics like "You're Just a Pawn in a Losing Game"

The album is definitely dated, unlike the other albums, but it wasn't bad for 1985 either. Bands like Ratt, Quiet Riot, and Motley were starting to pave the way for Glam Metal so this album wasn't too far off.

Back in the 80's and even early 90's, most bands had a few albums out before making it big. That was the norm. It was about creating a name for yourself and touring like crazy to create that following, unlike today where the record companies control all that... So it didn't bomb because it sucked. It just wasn't ready to part of that evolutionary cycle yet. The record company did a horrible job promoting it too.

It's obvious why Jon hates that time period. He was rushed into an album, the record company controlled most of it including the rights I'm sure, and Jon didn't have the overall control that he wanted. They made him make mini movies for each video.

More demos do exist as Jon noted in the Box Set DVD and I'm sure it was painful for him to be pressured into including We Rule The Night by Obie.

For me, those two albums are more Bon Jovi then anything I've heard since 1995. Even though I enjoy the DA album and IML the song, it's still not as Bon Jovi as those first two albums. I'd love to get more Demos from those time periods including more Power Station recordings.