THINFS - Video Reactions

Yes, Yoda; I, in fact, DO know how long it takes to watch a video. But I have sense enough to also know, based on what I HAVE read from people much like yourself, approximately how long it might take for something to turn my stomach if what I've read from others turns out to be accurate; and I don't feel like losing my supper right now. So you may want to inform your logical mind that time wasn't the issue!

I stated clearly that it was my initial reaction to the video, which was based on those comments and that I might feel differently after I do watch it.

ONE of the paragraphs in that "book" as you call it was about the song. ONE, RDK. Which, again, you would know if you would ever bother to read something before you started posting reactive shit! And THAT single paragraph was included to explain why I felt such cognitive dissonance between the song itself and the subject of this thread!

I'll be perfectly honest with you, RDK. I'm not in a real good place right now, so if you really want to go another 12 rounds with me, bring it. Otherwise, STFU about what people should and should not post on a thread in a ****ing public forum. I WAS on topic. It's your moderator-wannabe policing of the thread that's taking it off course - as it does with any thread where you don't like the direction or the content of a post.

Now. On topic - again! Did you have some comment you wanted to make about what I actually posted about the video? Or did you just want to bitch? Come back when you make up that logical mind of yours and actually have a comment that IS on topic!

Until then, perhaps one of the real mods would be so kind as to set up a Rdkopper's Bitch Thread! Because I, for one, am getting damned sick and tired of you dragging people into slanging matches over what YOU think they should or should not post!!

Since they didn't alter the for-sale sign when Jon is driving in the beginning of the video, I figured I'd try to see where that street is located. It's South 6th Street in Allentown, PA, and that particular house is actually not for sale, as it sold on July 31st.

I think when u see the video in full, u will be pleasantly surprised. As far as your post, I think I understand your point. But I think what Jon was trying to do was to show everyone that yeah, the band had issues before, especially with Richie, and yeah it may have seen chaotic in the beginning, but at the end of the day, everyone survived and now are focused on the future and has excepted the loss of Richie and are moving forward with a new attitude and feel good about it. You can see it in the video, even David looks more into it now than in the past. Before, when the video BWC came out, David didn't seem to into it, as well as Richie, but now you in the video you see the interaction of Jon and David, both look like they are enjoying themselves, and Phil X looks comfortable with the band and the band has welcomed him in. Now as I said in an earlier post, do I think the song is the greatest BJ song ever? No, but do I think it's the perfect song for 2016? Yes. And the video shows the band's unity that is different now than before, its more real. At least that is what I saw in the new video.

I actually lurked here for a couple years before I ever posted that first time. I was a little intimidated because I'd had a couple of bad experiences posting on fan boards before - primarily because of their clique-ish natures. I thought long and hard before I posted that first time here on JT but, as you all have probably realized by now, I felt very strongly that people were making a mistake in jumping to premature conclusions about what happened in Calgary - or before - and that it would set them irreversibly against Richie before they heard what he had to say. Which, unfortunately, I've watched play out in spades over the last 3 years, just as I feared it might. Some of the people here despise him, even though we still don't know the whole story. And that was confirmed for me again when I went to LA this past weekend - by people who know and like both Jon and Richie. Richie's a good man with a good heart who has been woefully misjudged - primarily by people who once counted themselves among his strongest fans.

But that doesn't answer your question. I just said that to explain that while my first post occurred at that time and subsequent posts seem to be Richie-centered, my interest in this board, and the things we discuss, is the band, although Richie was, and still is, my favorite member of Bon Jovi - past, present, or in all likelihood, future.

But I like all the members and the band as a unit, too. Even Phil - although I'll admit to a certain resistance to the idea of him being an "official" member of the band after Jon saying for so long that Alec would never be replaced - yet seems to be replacing his partner and wingman on the first album following his departure. But that's the Jon we know and love. It's never been a secret that he plays by the rules he makes until they don't meet his needs anymore. *shrug*

I'm sure a huge part of me not being able to stomach the video right now is because I DON'T want to physically see that Richie isn't there. I DON'T want to see Jon pointing at Phil during a guitar solo as if welcoming him to the band - because it seems like a slap in the face not only to Richie, but also to the fans who have hung in with the band despite the fact that some of us feel like there's a huge ****ing hole to Jon's right that Phil will never compensate for, no matter how good he is. I also think it's disrespectful as the dickens to Hugh, who's been standing in the shadows all these years, because Alec wouldn't be replaced, yet now - for whatever reason - he's brought into the light, to justify them doing for Phil what they wouldn't do for Hugh for 20 years. It's been discussed to death at different times on the board - about whether Hugh was okay with his status or not. But how he felt about being considered a member isn't the point to me. It's that it's only being done now, in conjunction with Phil, that makes it seem disrespectful.

If you recall, however, there were TWO possible scenarios that I alluded to that would possibly give reason for the sudden return to the brotherhood band emphasis And tbh, I'm not crazy about either one. Either of them literally makes me a little queasy - which is why I haven't watched the video even though I truly like the song. The vindictive one, getting back at Richie, was the one you obviously picked up on - and that's understandable, given my history. The other one, the opportunistic one, is a concern that it's nothing more than a marketing ploy - one which worked well for them when they all put their hands in for the KTF cover - in a similar show of solidarity - when people were reporting that the band was done after the NJ tour. And call me naive, but one of the things that has appealed to me most about the band over the years has been a belief in the band of brothers. It would literally (again) almost make me sick to actually see that it's nothing more than the Emperor's New Clothes - just a reliable garment that they pull out of the wardrobe and put on when it suits them.

There is a third scenario, too, that I didn't mention because it's the one I hope to see when I watch the video. That would be the one where I get the feeling that this an honest regrouping based on the realization that for Bon Jovi to continue as a band they ARE going to have to get back to being a true band - with or without Richie. That's as real as the other possibilities - if some lessons have been truly internalized thru this whole cluster****. That option I won't have a problem with.

I just need a few days to deal with the other possibilities before I confront the reality of it, in case one of two less favorable ones is what I see. Maybe I shouldn't have posted anything until I had actually watched the video. I don't know; but I guess I was curious to know if anyone else shared the same concerns.

Sorry for another long post but you respectfully asked the question and I felt you deserved a truthful, respectful and thorough answer. So there ya go.

Thanks, Rosa3. I hope you're right because as you can see in my post to Matt, that's exactly what I'm hoping for. I just need to reconcile myself to all of it before I watch it. I truly believe in these guys and I just don't want one video, or the precarious state of my own emotions when I watch it, to do irreparable damage to that belief by rushing it.

I'd be a fool if I didn't recognize that Richie not being there and Phil being acknowledged as his replacement IS a huge part of it. But that's not all of it, by any stretch.

I know it's gonna break my heart to see them going on without Richie. But that's not what will kill my faith in the band or their music. If I see that it's all been just a sham and that The Wizard of Oz is just a little man behind a curtain, that the things they sang about all these years have been nothing but pretty words strung together to fit a bunch of notes - that's what would kill Bon Jovi for me. So I'm trying really hard to follow my own advice and be patient until the facts are in. That's all.

The video will be there whenever I can gear myself up to watch it. I just know that today's not that day.

Oh u can say a lot of things about Jon, and believe me I have read them all here, but I don't think you can say he is a sham. To me a sham is when something is fake, phony or not real, and only doing it for the wrong reasons or to satisfy someone else instead their own. Jon has always been genuine and sincere, now some people here may not agree or like his choices in songwriting and musically styles, but it has always came from sincere place, I think. Don't get me wrong, I will miss Richie, and I'm sure the band does feel his absence, but at some point you have to move on. The last thing Jon would ever do is force Richie to come back.

You are agonizing way too much over watching it. The above is exactly what it is.

I've been through this so much with other bands that I hold as close as I do Bon Jovi that I'm more prepared to deal with Richie's absence. Burning Bridges was a primer for an album sans Richie and I am still not over that album in the least. It renewed hope for the band without Richie. I accept that Richie doesn't want to be there right now and I don't want him there if he's not ready to embrace and honor his legacy as part of the band.

I wasn't ready for What About Now and I wasn't ready for seeing the band without Richie in LA. I'm ready for This House Is Not For Sale and all that follows. There are 4 of the original members present (Yes, I'm counting Hughie,) and it's time for a new cycle.

The video for THINFS does make a point of putting Phil X in the forefront. This is uncharted territory for the band, being the first band video sans Richie Sambora and it's handled quite respectfully. Jon is the only one you see for the entire first verse and chorus. The other four band members are only seen in a shadowy reflection or from the back from the waist down. David and Tico get the spotlight for exterior shots walking across the lawn for the entire second verse leading into the chorus. It is only during the second chorus do we actually see Hughie and Phil.

It's made quite clear that the original hierarchy is being respected.

More real?, I do not think so. The real thing is to have the guitarist playing all songs in the album, not the producer, the real thing was to have Richie co-writing with Jon and not a handful of songwriters paid. The real thing would have David co-writing some songs, which I rather doubt it will happen here.

But I guess for you, the appearance is more important.

Best Bon Jovi video since Its My Life

How can anyone give an opinion of something they haven't seen?