Archive for June, 2010

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Hotness from the O2

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010

Monsters and Critics has a photo gallery from the shows at the O2.

All I can say is how come we didn’t get that hot black leather shirt at the Wachovia Center back in March? Sheesh. Those pix hit all of my weaknesses when it comes to Jon. Black leather. Bare arms. Hairy chest. Floppy blond hair. Tight pants. That picture is almost as hot as my Keep the Faith poster. (Maybe even a little better–the KTF poster doesn’t have the chest on display.)

Plus, they’ve got a few good shots of Jon’s grin. The fourth shot of Jon in the gallery is great–I’m not sure what’s going on there, but it looks like he’s laughing. Makes me wish I knew what was getting that reaction. (So does the facial expression in the one where he’s holding up the guitar. He’s definitely looking at something-or someone.)

There’s also a picture of Jon and Richie playing their guitars that I just love. Those are classic Bon Jovi ‘solo faces’ on them both–Jon’s got the lip stuck out so far it’s blatantly visible in profile!

And the shot of Kid Rock sitting at the piano and sticking out his tongue is a great shot. Whoever got that one was definitely a good photographer–moments like that are tough to catch on film, but great when you do get them.

If you haven’t seen these already, they’re totally worth checking out.

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Guilty or Proud?

Monday, June 28th, 2010

The media has a bad habit of referring to Bon Jovi as a ‘guilty pleasure’. (So do fans, sometimes.)

Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t consider Bon Jovi to be a guilty pleasure, and to be perfectly honest, the term annoys me. I firmly maintain that the band’s work is superior to a lot of other groups, especially on a technical level.

Bon Jovi was one of the bands that made me like music. During most of my teen years, I flatly didn’t understand how it was that people could be so fanatically devoted to music.

Guess what bands it was that turned me off to music? The critical darlings–Nirvana, Green Day, Melissa Etheridge… the list goes on and on.

It was Bon Jovi that really introduced me to what music could be. They were the band that taught me what music could make you feel. They showed me that there was an experience there. That music could be more than just depressing.

Guilty pleasure? Not hardly. I’m proud to be their fan.

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Exploring Dave’s Work

Friday, June 25th, 2010

After Memphis racked up such big wins at the Tony Awards, I went back through my music collection with an eye to songs that Dave had written or co-written. And I compiled a list of my favorites. (These all came from Bon Jovi albums or Stranger In This Town, as I don’t actually have any of his solo stuff.)

Rest In Peace
This song makes an excellent first track for Stranger In This Town, and really sets the tone for the whole album. I really can’t think of another word to describe this piece other than ‘haunting’. I know it’s been used before, but I can’t think of a better one. It’s amazingly subtle, and incredibly beautiful, and it’s the composition of the instrumental parts that really makes it.

In These Arms
This is one of Bon Jovi’s better ‘power ballads’. It’s more balanced than some of their other ones and it definitely has better lyrics. To be honest, I really like this one better than ‘Always’, which I find to be a tad melodramatic.

The Hardest Part Is The Night
Okay, this one you could call cheesy. It sounds like a product of its time. But it’s got a good melody, and I like it. And it wouldn’t have its personality without Dave’s synthesizer work.

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Paint it Black at the O2

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

Who would’ve thought that Bon Jovi would do a cover of ‘Paint it Black’ during one of their shows at the O2 right after I did a Random Song pick for it?

Anyway, a couple of days ago I was checking out the latest videos over at Blame it on the Love from the shows at the O2 in London, and one of them just happened to be a clip of Bon Jovi doing one of my all time favorite songs–’Paint it Black’.

Now I did get to see the band do ‘Sympathy for the Devil’ during the Lost Highway tour–they did it mixed in with ‘Keep the Faith’ during that tour. And for some reason, Bon Jovi seems to do a pretty good job when they’re covering the Stones. Now, don’t get me wrong–’Sympathy for the Devil’ is a great song, and it certainly beats a lot of others that I’ve heard. But it doesn’t quite hold the same place in my heart as ‘Paint it Black’. There’s just something about that pounding riff that ‘Paint it Black’ is built on.

Now, as for the Bon Jovi version, the video that I saw sounds a little funky. I suspect that it’s the addition of Dave’s keyboards that give it that odd edge. In the Bon Jovi performance though, it’s Jon’s vocals that really make the song.

This is one song where the more gravelly aspects of Jon’s voice really play into the bluesy, dark vibe of the song. Plus, Jon really puts his all into it. He really makes you feel it, and that makes for a good performance. Plus, for some reason, the Bon Jovi performance really changes the focus of the song over to center on the lyrics. In the Stones versions of it (I have both the studio version and a live version) the emphasis seemed to be more on the riff than on the vocals.

All together though, it sounds like the fans at the O2 that night really got a treat.

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Random Song: Pour Some Sugar on Me

Monday, June 21st, 2010

Artist: Def Leppard
Album: Hysteria

This is a sleaze rock classic if there ever was one. Not only are the lyrics delightfully trashy, even the sound of the song is sleazy. And they mix it up perfectly with a big, arena-rock hook. This kind of in-your-face swagger is what finally truly got me interested in music.

And it sticks in your head. This is not a song that goes quietly out of your mind–but at least in my case, I never want it to. I sometimes wake up with a song stuck in my head–at least if it’s ‘Pour Some Sugar on Me’, it’s a good one. (Hey, it beats some of my brain’s other choices–”100 Years” or “Diamond As Big As The Ritz” tend to just drive me nuts.)

This might well be the ultimate arena-rock anthem. It’s not deep, but the lyrics of the song are rhythmically well chosen–the way the words fit together and flow is amazing. (I have to admit, I had to look up the words the first time.) But once you’ve got them, it’s fun to sing along with this one. This is one of the songs that I always keep on my car playlist.

There’s no pretense here. It’s just big and loud and fun, and I love it.

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Studying Ozzy’s Genes

Friday, June 18th, 2010

The Early show reported that Ozzy Osbourne’s genes are being studied by scientists.

There has to be something to this idea. It has always seemed like rock stars go one of three ways–either the band breaks up and they get out, they die young, or they hang on forever. (Just look at Alice Cooper, Motley Crue, and the Rolling Stones.) If a scientist is going to do a study of the genetics that contribute to longevity, focusing on the survivors of rock and roll is probably going to lead to some pretty interesting results.

I just wonder what conclusions that they’re going to draw from analyzing Ozzy’s genetics. It’s rather frightening to consider that the next miracle drug–perhaps the salvation of humanity during some future pandemic–could be derived from Ozzy Osbourne.

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Random Song: Two Story Town

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

Artist: Bon Jovi
Album: Crush

Crush was my second Bon Jovi album, after Cross Road. At the time, the only song from it that I was familiar with was ‘It’s My Life’. (I know, big surprise there.)

Anyway, for some reason, this particular song quickly turned out to be one of my favorites on the album. I do have a taste for the darker aspects of music–that was what eventually led me to get interested in true heavy metal. I think that played a role in my liking for this particular song. The imagery in the lyrics of this song is pretty much universally dark.

This particular song is also one of the more poetic works that Bon Jovi has produced. The band is capable of evoking some incredibly vivid imagery in their songs when they want to, and this particular song is a prime example of it. Each verse paints a distinct picture.

The intense delivery of the lyrics, coupled with the pounding bass line just reinforces the dark mood of the song. The harmonies used in the back vocals could have lightened the song and made it feel more pop-like, however even those are controlled well enough that they just keep the song from being too depressing.

Also, it’s Jon’s defiant delivery of the chorus that transforms the song from depressing to a battle cry. You can hear the resolve in his voice, and he makes you believe that he’s going to make it out.

All together, this is a very well crafted song. All of the pieces–the lyrics, the vocals, and the instrumental performances all come together perfectly here.

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Thoughts on the Tony Awards

Monday, June 14th, 2010

I’m not a big fan of awards shows. I know some people just love them, but I mostly just find them tedious. Awards shows are about the only thing that makes me wish my TV had picture-in-picture. With that one feature I could have kicked back and watched a movie or played a game on the Xbox and just kept an eye on the ceremony until Dave was up.

That being said, it’s good to see Dave get so much recognition for his work. Honestly, I had fully expected that he might pick up an award or two, but I did not expect Memphis to get ‘Best Musical’! (I was sure that Fela! or American Idiot was going to nab that spot–they were both major critics’ darlings. Especially American Idiot, which was based a pretty good album that was also a critical darling.) But sometimes it’s nice to be surprised.

This also vindicates Dave’s songwriting and composing skills. Richie and Jon may have been the members of the band that were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame–but I’d argue that Dave is at least their equal, especially when it comes to the musical composition. (Personally, I’d actually say that he’s better than Jon when it comes right down to it.)

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Rock Band: Bon Jovi?

Friday, June 11th, 2010

It’s been confirmed that Rock Band 3 will include keyboards. Cnet’s article on the game has a picture of what the new controller will look like. (Honestly, while I might get the game, I don’t see myself shelling out more money for this particular controller. It’s not like anyone that I know is ever lining up to play with the drums when we get the game out.)

But, here’s my question: does this open the way for a Bon Jovi edition of Rock Band?

Think about it.  Dave’s keys are a defining part of the Bon Jovi sound.  This development would open the way for a true Bon Jovi experience in the gameplay–and would open the way for including ‘Dry County as a playable song.  (My arm hurts just thinking about it.)

Up till now, the number of Bon Jovi songs available for Rock Band/2/Lego has been very limited.  So far, all we’ve got are the songs that come with the discs, leaving us gamers with nothing more than the Big Three from Slippery When Wet.  We’ve been arguing for a Bon Jovi DLC pack since the release of the first Rock Band, but haven’t got it so far.

At this point, with Harmonix and Activision cranking out Guitar Hero and Rock Band games for every band in the world, there’s got to be room for a Bon Jovi one. They’ve got the back catalog–and enough backstory–to fill up a game on their own.

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Random Song: Bed of Roses (TLFR)

Monday, June 7th, 2010

Artist: Bon Jovi
Album: This Left Feels Right

Like many other fans of the band, I don’t really care for This Left Feels Right. However, I do have the CD in my collection, mostly for the sake of completeness. In this case, the slowed-down and mellowed out treatment that this song received did not do it any favors, so far as I’m concerned. It lost all of the emotional power in the original song.

The chorus of this song suffers the most. This ballad-ish treatment robs the chorus of all of the anguish and passion that was invested in the vocals of the original version of the song. This version, by contrast, just seems flat. The words and the delivery don’t match at all. Also, one of the other things that is conspicuously lost in TLFR is the build of the song. The original actually doesn’t start off all that differently–but it builds gloriously to the chorus. In this version, there’s no build at all.

The third verse doesn’t fare well here either–once again, the emotion is completely lacking. I think they were trying for a more regretful tone, but it just comes off flat to me. Also, the hummed last verse of this version doesn’t work for me. It just feels like the end of the song is being dragged out past its expiration date.

All told, this is one of the reasons that I really didn’t like This Left Feels Right. The original ‘Bed of Roses’ is one of my favorite Bon Jovi songs, and I’ve always felt that this version just stripped all of the passion from the song.

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