What's the worst song on Bounce?

OH my god. I will not be able to un-notice that now.

Welcome to my life; I noticed it the first time I heard I Kissed A Girl.

Are you all hellbent on disproving my theory? How dare you??? *runs to find her detailed notes on how HAND was created to trick BJ fans into thinking they are cool and edgy, errr I seem to have lost them*

In a serious note, I profoundly dislike artists that try hard. Especially those who try to be OH.SO.EDGY. I'm not saying it is the case here, but the video was clearly marketed at young-ins instead of letting the art speak for itself, if the music is good it's going to attract all sort of listeners. I have absolutely no problem with the performance part of the video, but the rest of it... they shouldn't be trying to prove they are cool with those silly gimmicks, be who you are or you risk looking ridiculous, which I thought they did. IML was pushing it, but I have to admit that the video felt iconic even back then. HAND is all "look, we know your language, aren't we cool? are you going to buy my album????"

And before anybody accuses me of ageism, I felt the same in the 90s with the Hey God video. I can't watch it without rolling my eyes. They tinged it with an unnecessary grunge-y vibe

I find it funny that I really like Max Martin, the guy is a genius, he's wicked creative and the songs are for the most part awesome, but I dislike 90% of the artists he works for. The only time he worked with somebody I really love and I ended up hating the songs (well, I ended up warming up to Complicated, but not thanks to Martin's production). His style is simply no match for BJ. It feels horribly out of place.

He didn't produce Complicated.

And yeah, Martin's fingerprints are all over Complicated. I don't mind him writing with BJ, but much like Desmond Child, you can pretty much tell when he was involved with the writing (Desmond recycled the rhythm structure of Bad Name so often it's not even funny - so most of the points raised in the video aren't exactly new). Not so much with Taylor Swift, who always hires a dozen of other writing doctors as well, but that's hardly an accomplishment.

I like his writing for/with Pink, though. It almost sounds like his least diluted work (which makes sense, she tends to use less cowriters), but her attitude and voice makes it work.

You are right, I meant involvement not production. But it's obvious they got him for his style, not for his lyrical sensibilities. He couldn't have possibly written more than one line *wink*wink*

I also agre that Martin's level of influence varies according to the involvement and "authenticness" of the artist he's working for. Which is why I think it sounds so out of place in Bon Jovi, the styles don't gel together.

Speaking of producers, I didn't realize for many years that Rick Parashar had worked for Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains and Blind Melon. He produced Ten!! And then produced the poppiest Bon Jovi songs to that date (not *then* chronologically of course)

This is the clearest example to rebuke all the "fire Shanks! hire new blood! work with a real rock producer" outcry

The first thing that would help a lot would be to replace Joey with Postcards From The Wastelands.

I'd also like to replace All About Lovin' You with Another Reason To Believe and Misunderstood with We Can Dance.

Great pick. I believe Postcards from the Wasteland is the best song from the Bounce era. Joey is probably the worst. Still a decent vibe, but just too weak musically.
All about lovin you needs a proper solo after the bridge rather than the lame copy of what Aerosmith were doing back then. Misunderstood is just a great catchy song.

all about lovin you is a little too saccharine for me. Agree about misunderstood except for that IIIIIII which has worn thin for me.

I kind of agree, but then again, I think it's bias towards the solid songs they didn't put on album. But if it was opposite, would we then say that leaving Misunderstood and All About Loving You is grave mistake, as they have evident single potential?
Though for me, three songs that would vastly improve their albums are Stay for Crush, Nothing for HAND and Walk Like a Man for Lost Highway