EVERY Billboard #1 hit discussion thread 1958-Present

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by alphanguy, Jan 29, 2016.

  1. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus

    I don't think that my disdain from Bon Jovi ever came from the fact that they were popular among women. That would be weird. Which rock band isn't popular among women?

    But That assertion has been made and I'm not sure where it came from on this thread. Certainly not from any of the posts I've read. None of the women I was ever into have been into Bon Jovi. I prefer hair that doesn't frighten me.

    My personal disdain is probably rooted in culture. In 1987, I was a teenager. The others around me who listened to this were mostly people who simply weren't in my tribe, so to speak. It wasn't until recently (by which I mean about twenty years ago) that I was able to look beyond that to see the genuine craft and melodicism in the music. I would not turn it off if it came on the radio, I would enjoy it while it was on.

    But I still think that though it is well-crafted, it's just a little too slickly produced and sterile for my liking (like so much from that time) and, while earlier I wrote about the lyrics being dumb, to be clear, I think that Bon Jovi is not dumb but he definitely panders with his lyrics.

    To be honest I'd rather hear this song than, say Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald screeching/moaning (respectively) "On My Own", or any other of the boring adult contemporary pop that was huge the year before, but the bottom line my tastes in 1986-1987 were just a world from this and still are.

    Jon Bon Jovi was hugely popular and he is set for life; I think he can withstand some guys poking fun at his cheesy image on the Internet 35 years later.
     
  2. Honey Bunches of Sadness

    Honey Bunches of Sadness Forum Resident

    Location:
    SF Bay Area
    Uh.... doesn't this describe most rock musicians?
     
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  3. Probably so, but some hide it better than others. Some don’t flaunt it. For example, I don’t get that vibe initially from Bob Seger, John Mellencamp, Bruce Springsteen, U2, Pink Floyd, Rush, The Cure, REO Speedwagon, Journey, Styx, The Moody Blues, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Judas Priest, etc., etc. Behind the scenes many are seduced by the same things, but some seem more interested in the artistry than others.
     
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  4. 1983

    1983 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Appleton, WI (USA)
    @Fritha71 I always really enjoy reading your posts! Very well-written and I like hearing about these songs from your own, uniquely Finnish perspective.

    I as well really liked LOAP when I first heard it, but over the years as it started getting increasingly overplayed on oldies stations, and even turning into a meme song for a while among the younger generation, I got sick of it, to the point I can stomach it a few times a year now and that's about it. With that kind of synthesizer-and-talk-box introduction and the key changes in the final chorus, the song is practically begging for the "cheesy" label. And it seems like the demographic on here who likes 60s-70s classic rock as a whole has a much lower opinion of this song than the general public, especially the 45-year-old housewives who thought Jon was sooo dreamy at the time!
     
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  5. The Slug Man

    The Slug Man Forum Resident

    Location:
    North Carolina
    "Living On A Prayer"

    This got so overplayed, but I grudgingly respected it. It showed that "You Give Love A Bad Name" was no fluke; Bon Jovi were now major players for the rest of the decade, and MTV had fully transitioned over to the glam metal/hard rock at this point (early '87).
     
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  6. Hey Vinyl Man

    Hey Vinyl Man Another bloody Yank down under...

    There are a lot of late-'80s songs I love to hate for that very reason. I know just what you mean and I could do without any reminder of those days. That's one reason why I'm not more fond of Bon Jovi (whom I liked a lot at the time) for sentimental reasons.

    It's 25 years after their first recording. If it were their last, hardly anyone in the Hall would be eligible, at least not at the time they were inducted.
     
  7. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    Much of the disdain for Bon Jovi what I got "at the time" was from "serious" rock critics. The Worst Rock & Roll Records Of All Time book (even allowing for some factual and lyrical errors in their critiques, of which there seemed plenty) noted that even for what their music was about, his backing musicians were "barely functional" and even put in a snide word about one part of guitarist Richie Sambora's personal life I will obviously not get into. A few other choice quotes:
    - "Nobody listens to Bon Jovi's brand of pop for its lyrics; they listen because they want to bang their heads lightly."
    - "A grafting of hard-rock style onto safe-as-milk teenybopper fluff."
    - "The guitar solos . . . sound like afterthoughts, the bass lines whine like spoiled children . . . " (you sure they confused the bass with some of the guitar solos? If so, reminds me of Roy Clark's deliberate mangling of one line of one verse of Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" as he performed it on Hee Haw: "They're probably smoking coffee / And drinking a big cigar . . . ")
    The book even expressed credulity that "Livin' On A Prayer" and the other hits from the Slippery When Wet album "were taken to reflect Jon's newfound ability to be a spokesman for a generation of young, working-class kids" (leading to the Springsteen comparison). Of this song, they especially were hard on the lyrics, and ended with this observation: "Forget for a moment that we never get a concrete clue as to what they're trying to do."
    - "Bon Jovi sounds like bad fourth-generation soft metal, a smudgy Xerox of Quiet Riot, [name kept out, in deference to some posters, but initials P.B.] in leather."

    Of course, these comments do not necessarily represent the views of this individual or of this forum.
     
  8. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    Must be. That book I quoted seems to have been written by those of the "60s-70s classic rock" demographic. (To be sure, they didn't care much for The Moody Blues' Days Of Future Passed album or Blood, Sweat & Tears' S/T second LP either, so . . . )
     
  9. AppleBonker

    AppleBonker Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle
    Runaway is NOT annoying, unless 'annoying' is a new, hip way of saying 'iconic and brilliant'. Geez Louise, who started this line of thinking? You aren't helping your argument by being silly! :shake::laugh:

    You are aware that an act cannot be admitted until 25 years after their first release, right? The Eurythmics weren't even eligible until around 2005. The "white guy Boomer nostalgia acts" had a ten-twenty year head start, so of course there are more of them in the Hall. But I do agree, now that those 80s acts are eligible, that they should also be in there. That's a no-brainer to anyone who doesn't write for Rolling Stone.
     
  10. AppleBonker

    AppleBonker Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle
    No. No no no. :unhunh: I'm not a big Carpenters fan, but uh... No. :shake::p
     
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  11. KJTC

    KJTC Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    I am as big a fan of Madonna’s music as they come, and this whole Karen Carpenter thing is bizarre to me. I’ve heard her talk about Motown, Nina Simone, Blondie, and especially David Bowie. It’s entirely possible, but it seems pretty disconnected from the music that she’s made and the way she sings.

    But then again…

     
  12. AppleBonker

    AppleBonker Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle
    I was going to bring this up, too. So does it matter if you "make it", or doesn't it? An all-time classic messed up lyric. :agree:
     
  13. AppleBonker

    AppleBonker Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle
    "dickhead idiocy" is almost the perfect description for Bon Jovi's entire oeuvre.
     
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  14. AppleBonker

    AppleBonker Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle
    Fortunately, the Venn diagram of women I have ever dated and women who like Bon Jovi is an empty circle, so this has not been an issue.

    Radiohead? Yeah, might have lost one or two there. But not Bon Jovi.
     
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  15. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    I believe John Mellencamp is a rare exception. I believe he meant every word of his hit "Pop Singer", and more.
     
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  16. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    No cognitive dissonance there. I think it's a slick lyric representing the mind of an impatient, passionate youth. And, the the other song, creating a song of nothing but cliches was probably a lot harder than you might think. It seems deliberate. Methinks that book was too harsh on Bon Jovi.

    There are a lot of rockers who just can't wrap their head around fun, good-time rock music aimed at a certain audience.
     
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  17. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    Same thing goes for certain rock critics, evidently. They have to take everything seriously and literally, don't they?
     
    Grant likes this.
  18. F-Stop Fitzgerald

    F-Stop Fitzgerald Full Fathom Five

    Location:
    La Crosse, WI
    But enough about Christgau, heh.

    The majority of pop music is built on cliches; people find comfort in them. A well deployed cliche can be quite enjoyable. But occasionally they reach the point of being so lame and ubiquitous that become weaponized. I'm looking at you, anyone who rhymes fire with desire.
     
  19. Solitaire1

    Solitaire1 Carpenters Fan

    I faintly remember The Beatles song "Rain", mainly from the Petula Clark cover of the song. Dream 6 (the precursor of the group Concrete Blonde) released a song named "Rain."
     
  20. W.B.

    W.B. The Collector's Collector

    Location:
    New York, NY, USA
    Or "Red China" with "Selma, Alabama."
     
  21. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    Listen to the first verse. She sounds just like Carpenter.
     
  22. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    Well @Grant is the one who brought it up, but I sorta agree with him - "Runaway" is kind of annoying. Still one of my faves from my youth, but...

    :shrug:
     
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  23. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    (Note: is is possible for a song to be both "innovative" and "annoying". Indeed, some songs appear to exist to "innovate" new ways of being "annoying"...)
     
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  24. rfkavanagh

    rfkavanagh Unashamedly Pop!

    Location:
    New York
    I love both Carpenters and Madonna, but I'm not hearing that at all! Yes, Madonna's singing in a much lower register than usual and has a nice richness to her voice, but their vocal timbres are very different.

    Oh well, we all hear things differently!
     
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  25. SITKOL'76

    SITKOL'76 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Colombia, SC
    Billboard is taking it's time with this week's chart and I'm getting anxious because if everything goes as planned Dua Lipa should score her first #1 single this week, which would be justice after 'Don't Start Now' had to peak at #2. :cry:
     

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