Blueshadow's Bon Jovi Blog » awards

Alice Cooper got into the Hall of Fame

admin — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 03:50:18 +0000

Well, they announced the list of who got into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Bon Jovi wasn’t on the list, which to be honest, I kind of expected.

(I will admit that I was hoping for Bon Jovi to make it in.)

However, I am glad to see that Alice Cooper did get in. You want to talk about influence? Alice has got it in spades–not only when it comes to other artists, but even when it comes to ordinary people. Like me.

Alice Cooper was one of my ‘revelation’ artists. If you follow this blog, you know that when I was young, I listened to a lot of pop music and showtunes, and it was only when I got older and really started to think about what I truly liked for myself, that I began to discover hard rock and heavy metal.

The first time I encountered Alice Cooper was on one of my parents’ old records. My stereo had a turntable, and I went poking around in the basement looking for records. An old copy of Alice Cooper’s Greatest Hits happened to be one of the records that I brought back to my room to listen to.

By that time, I was starting to discover rock music and had already branched out into Meat Loaf and Led Zeppelin. But Alice Cooper was something entirely different again. Listening to that album was like a bolt from the blue–it was so completely different from what I had been listening to before, and I liked it.

This was right around my senior year of high school, so both ‘I’m Eighteen’ and ‘School’s Out’ both spoke a language that I understood. I liked those songs right away, and that led me to get into the other songs on the album, and from there to branch out even further.

Alice Cooper was one of the artists that introduced me to hard rock, which is now my favorite style of music. I can vouch for the fact that his work certainly influenced my taste in music, if nothing else.

Review: Bon Jovi on the American Music Awards

admin — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 13:26:33 +0000

I saw Bon Jovi’s performance on the American Music Awards last night.

I thought that the mix of songs selected was pretty good. Since they were promoting the Greatest Hits, pulling the current single (‘What Do You Got’), a hit from the band’s big years during the 80′s (‘You Give Love a Bad Name’) and a hit from their post-2000 era (‘It’s My Life’) made their set a tidy summary of the album.

The more that I hear ‘What Do You Got’, the more I like it. I started out thinking that it was OK, but I wasn’t particularly impressed. But now I’ve heard the song many times since I got my copy of the Greatest Hits, and I’ve seen them perform it a bunch of times, and I’m really starting to get into the melody.

My only gripe would be that they wore all black again, though that might have been deliberate. It looked like the part where they were doing ‘What Do You Got’ was meant to look like the performance segments from the video, and they were all in black for the video.

I usually don’t enjoy these awards shows, but this one was pretty good. Not only did it have Bon Jovi, but I really liked the song that Kid Rock performed as well. I think he did a really good job of telling the story of Detroit, and I liked the song.

Year of the Award

admin — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 00:55:33 +0000

It seems like lately Bon Jovi has been nominated for a lot of big awards. First the nomination for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Billboard touring award nomination and then the announcement about the Global Icon award from MTV.

It seems like a switch has finally clicked somewhere and Jon and the rest of the guys have started getting the respect that they deserve. I’m used to people dismissing them (unfairly, in my opinion) as just another hair band. But now Bon Jovi is getting a lot of recognition for their achievements and influence.

They have gotten big awards before–I did catch the ceremony when the were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame a few years ago. But now they’ve gotten two big nominations and a big award in a short space of time.

Maybe, just maybe, awards like this will lead to the band getting the respect that I’ve always thought that they deserve from more people. As a fan, I have to say that I find it quite satisfying to see others finally seeing and recognizing the same outstanding qualities that I found in my favorite band.

Bon Jovi is my favorite band for a reason. They’re good. And they deserve recognition for that.

New Video of Dave

admin — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 16:51:23 +0000

I’ve really got to remember to check the news on Bing more often. It turns up stuff that hasn’t been showing up in Google News. Anyway, I used Bing on a whim today and found out about the Broadway.com 2010 Audience Awards and the fact that Dave got one of them for his work on Memphis.

There’s a video on Broadway.com of Dave and Joe DiPietro accepting their award. It’s a really cute video that even includes the two guys singing (or trying to, at any rate).

You know, (and I’ve said this before), I didn’t always pay a ton of attention to Dave. He was just kind of there, and his keyboards did bring a certain extra dimension to the music of Bon Jovi. But with all of the awards and attention that he’s picked up from his work on Memphis, I’ve really started to notice just how talented he really is.

Thoughts on the Tony Awards

admin — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 23:41:46 +0000

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.)

Bon Jovi’s Performance at the Grammys

admin — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:16:49 +0000

I just caught Bon Jovi’s performance at the Grammys. It was good, but it raised a lot of questions for me. I’m not sure why they left Jennifer Nettles onstage after Who Says was over; it’s not like she really has any relationship with Livin’ on a Prayer. Also, they could have totally cut Who Says out. I suspect that it was included because it was Bon Jovi’s only prior Grammy win. But it could have been cut out and then they could have done all of ‘We Weren’t Born to Follow’ — you know, the song that they were actually nominated for this year.

That being said, I was totally envious of Jennifer Nettles at the end of Who Says. The lucky woman totally got to be in the middle of a Bon Jovi sandwich there. How many of us female fans would do just about anything to be in that position?

Also, Jon totally needs more highlights. Still. And he needs to comb his hair before he goes out onstage. His hair was just horrible. (I think he’s been hanging around too many politicians lately; it’s starting to look like politician hair.) Of course, that could partially be because I need to get a new cable box that supports HD. I was watching the Grammys in standard def and my TV defaults to stretch mode, which makes everybody look fat (and didn’t do Jon’s hair any favors).

In terms of fashion, I’m not sure what was up with the guys. I was reminded of the loading screen from Guitar Hero that says “You are not the first band to wear all black on stage”. It’s especially not a good choice when most of the stage is black as well. It left Jon and Richie blending right into the background. A little splash of color would have really made things pop a bit more. In this case, I would have argued in favor of using black and white footage on the video screens behind the band and having them wear color. The black was especially offputting when the camera zoomed out at the beginning of Prayer and the screens showed the white-on-black heart and dagger. The band almost vanished.

Bon Jovi will do not one, not two, but THREE songs at the Grammys

admin — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:40:00 +0000

So I was totally wrong about how many songs Bon Jovi would be doing at the Grammys, according to Entertainment Weekly.

I had been puzzled about the omission of the song that they were actually nominated for–but it turns out that ‘We Weren’t Born to Follow’ will be the first one up, followed by (probably) Who Says (why else bring in Jennifer Nettles?), and then the song that they’re holding the voting for. This makes more sense, but I’m still surprised that they’re bringing them on for such a large set when they’re only nominated for a minor award.

Pick Bon Jovi’s Grammy performance

admin — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:19:05 +0000

CBS has a poll set up for fans to vote on what song they would like to see Bon Jovi perform. The choices are quite standard, though it does seem odd that they don’t include any songs from The Circle. I would have expected that ‘We Weren’t Born to Follow’ would at least be one of the choices, since that’s the song that they’re nominated for.

I did see some speculation that the band might perform two songs. Personally, I don’t think that’s likely. If they were up for one of the big awards, I’d say that it was a possibility. But they’re nominated for “Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals”, which usually doesn’t seem to be one of the ones that gets discussed at work the morning after the Grammys.

Seeing as how I’m not much into pop music these days at all, I’ve never even heard the other nominated songs in this category. So, I have no way of making any kind of educated guess as to whether Jon and the boys stand even a remote chance of winning this award. (I suppose this illustrates how far Bon Jovi has strayed from their hard rock roots.) Lately the music industry has shown more willingness to hand out awards to Bon Jovi, so maybe there’s a chance. I suppose I need to wait and watch the awards to find out.

The bad part about this is that if Jon wins his first “real” Grammy for “We Weren’t Born to Follow”, we’re just going to get more songs just like it and the rest of The Circle.

Def Leppard to appear on CMT awards

admin — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:47:10 +0000

So, evidently this year Def Leppard will be appearing on the CMT awards show.

I’m honestly not sure what to make of this. I realize that country music is the latest goldmine for rock acts, so it’s kind of understandable that everybody is jumping on the bandwagon. Especially with the success of Who Says You Can’t Go Home, it makes sense for rock acts to put out one or two country songs. It’s a very viable way for bands to gain new fans who otherwise might be biased against them. Especially if the band has a milder sound, like Bon Jovi, or Def Leppard.

But it seems like lately it’s more CMT that has lost its way. Aren’t they supposed to be Country Music Television? And yet they invite every rockstar to come along and perform on their awards. One, it doesn’t seem fair to the musicians who really are making country music. Two, it just reinforces the prejudice that most rock fans have that country is a lesser form of music. If country was really so great, why do they want rock stars so bad?

And in the same vein, why is it that most new country doesn’t really sound like country at all? It’s the same syndrome–in trying for pop legitimacy, the new generation of country singers has become more rock than country. I remember once overhearing a comment–”New country music sounds more like Wanted Dead or Alive than Ring of Fire.”

And it definitely seems true. Not only are former hair metal bands like Bon Jovi and Def Leppard creating country music, supposed country musicians are covering hair metal songs. If this continues, country may become nothing more than a subgenre of rock.