You've Gone And Summed Up Exactly How I Am Feeling A Bit It All Right Now. Yep It's Gonna Be Weird But

You've gone and summed up exactly how I am feeling a bit it all right now. Yep it's gonna be weird but also there'll be some typical Jon gems in there as always. For me Burning Bridges was waaaay better than What About Now. There was only a couple of songs on that one I liked. The last three official albums I could make one great album outta some of those songs. Whatever will be will be.

OMJOVI!

I am so excited about new music from Jon and Bon Jovi.

At the same time I am terrified.

Will it live up to the expectations of us loyal fans or will it reopen the horrible wounds caused by Richie leaving the band? 

What About Now was received with mixed reviews by the always nasty critics and fans alike even with Richie contributing. Burning Bridges doesn’t even really count as it was Jon just rehashing tracks that had already been written and not necessarily found worthy of being on a Bon Jovi album. 

Personally, I liked several of the songs on both albums but it once again reminded us that the music style of the band has matured and changed from a Rock edge to more Pop. It disappointed and even enraged many. 

I expect more of the same. Jon says he’s taking it back but I don’t know if that can be true. He is a different person now than he was in his twenties. As he’s said before and I paraphrase “if I was writing You Give Love A Bad Name” now it would seem silly. 

Putting all that aside there is the lack of Richie and his influence on the music. I think with his departure from the band and the tone of the last two albums, we all realize now that his input had been decreasing for awhile. He has made comments to that effect and it probably contributed to why he left. 

I read a comment a fan made about “Bon Jovi will never be the same without Richie.” It brought back all the sadness I felt when that all went down. How the brotherhood was broken. One of the things that made our band seem so special. 

I agree it will never be the same. I will always miss seeing those two joking around. Sharing their wicked grins. The incredible library of songs they created together that have become our anthems and soundtracks to our lives. Their beautiful harmonies. How they complimented one another on stage. The sad knowledge that when they sang “There’s secrets that we’ll take to the grave, standing here shoulder to shoulder…” now holds a different meaning to all of us… 

Sigh.

And after all that I still can’t help but want to jump around the room like an idiot over the news of a new album.

I have complete faith in Jon writing great music with or without Richie and that I will once again love some if not all of the songs.

It is just another step in this journey that began for me over 30 years ago when I fell in love with this band and their music.

And I can hardly wait!