I mentioned the term ''real fan'' in the post below I
believe. But if not, I mentioned it plenty of times before. I've been listening
to it on replay non stop these days. So here I am throwing myself into research,
let's see what the good old google and tumblr think. What is a real fan?
Urban dictionary, top definition goes like this;
''A person that actually likes a music artist that
doesn't use illegal downloads like a a fake weirdo that spends all their time
on facebook and trying to get a good playcount, to 'boost' their social status!''
It would appear that all definitions of a real fan means,
you spend all your money on the thing you're obsessing over, lose sleep because
you're busy obsessing over it, them, her, him, whatever else floats your boat.
And clearly defending it till you die. Okay. Not at all psychotic.
Do you want me to tell you what I think a ''real fan''
is? A person that (if we talk about musicians) actually buys their music
instead of downloading it, a person that supports the musician to the best of
their ability, seeing a show, buying a shirt but without it meaning you will
skip a couple of meals or bills. A person that enjoys what this object of
adoration does but doesn't obsess over them. And most importantly a person that
is mature enough to admit their ''babies'' fucked up when they do something
bad.
Here's the deal, I can't for the life of me begin to
understand this ''competition'' and comparisons who is the biggest fan. I don't
care if you're here since last week or for 30 years, you're just as entitled to
enjoy someones music, a book, a movie, a tv show, as the rest of the ''die hard
fans'' that have been here since day one do. I find this so stupid. By those
standards I could never be a fan of 90% of my favourite musicians because
honestly when they started out I wasn't even born yet.
And I've been hearing a lot and I do mean A LOT of this
crap lately because of Bon Jovi's last tour. Here's the deal, I love Bon Jovi,
really I do. I have all their CD's, couple of vinyl records (want to get all
I'm still missing), t shirts, DVD's, other merch, you name it. But I am not
obsessed with him. I was not happy when Sambora quit, to me he was a vital
member of the band that can not be replaced but I gave the new guy a chance,
actually, thank god I did because in Milan few years ago, that was the best
concert I was at, but here's the deal, I can't pretend and blindly support
something I don't believe in no more.
The last album ''This house is not for sale'', doesn't
sound like Bon Jovi at all. And while I support musicians trying out something
new, like the Boss did with Western stars which is a stroke of genius, this one
isn't. You can literally and painfully see how badly Sambora is missing in the
band. Why? The music is just crap. Richie added soul, blues, classic rock
sounds the ones you hear on their biggest stadium hits into the songs and now…?
The songs are soulless, they sound like they came from a machine, forced to
produce music, to satisfy radio listeners who don't care about anything else but
a few catchy chords and are too lazy to swich radio chanels anyways.
I mean let's be honest, the album is a disgrace for the
band. It fell from number one on the chart to 127 in less than three weeks, I
suppose that says something too. So many people were excited for new music
after so much touring only to be super disappointed with this monstrosity, not
to mention the mixing that is just bad, bad, bad. And the lyrics? Cheesy. Not
in a good way like Always, In these arms, Born to be my baby, no those are all
amazing, beautiful songs, but cheesy in a way I wanna roll my eyes all the way
into my skull and turn off the radio.
And the last tour. Oh my god. I don't even know where to
begin. Bon Jovi today are a tiny fucking shadow of the Bon Jovi they were a few
years ago. I know what you're going to say, he's not 20 anymore, he sings all
the time. I'm sorry, but, Mick Jagger? Joe Elliot? Axl Rose? Fucking AC / DC?
And lets not even start with Bruce Springsteen, all that touring, long shows,
new album, and 236 fucking shows on Broadway. So don't even start that ''he
sings a lot'' crap with me.
Let's make one thing clear, I don't enjoy writing nasty
things about Bon Jovi, as I said I love their music, I love Jon as a person, I
am completly melted at his smile alone but so help me jesus delusional fans
emailing me all the time about ''not knowing shit'' about music really pissed
me off.
Here's the deal, if you go, for the vibe which I'm sure
is still great, if you go because you love a stadium show where people do most
of the singing then that's great, awesome for you. But for the rest of us, I
don't know, for tickets with a price tag 100 plus euros, I would expect a bit
more than listening to back vocals and the crowd, I can get that listening to
my neighbors playing Singstar on Playstation every Sunday for free. So no thank
you. It's not true that nobody sounds good on a stadium and it's not true that
it's the speakers or the sound guys who are to blame. Not by far, someone like
Bon Jovi would afford a sound mistake for about say 10 minutes of the first
show not the entire tour.
It's like he says before singing that one song ''my voice
is shot''. Yes, yes it is. It just doesn't have the power it used to, doesn't
reach the range it used to and to be honest it's painful to watch. Seven or how
many people singing now, and he parades around flirting with the crowd, and
those desperate housewives with raging hormones, who are most likely slightly
tone deaf as well all go crazy. I apologise if some of us were born with a
little thing called musical talent and actually listen with our ears not eyes.
Though not going to deny this, the Colgate commercial smile? That is damn
beautiful and would make me weak in the knees
too. And yes I did nearly lose it when he almost touched me in Milano as well,
but hell, all that, and my fawning and obsessing was soundtracked with good
music.
And the support in Austria, Skid Row? Really? Here's
another news flash, I LOVE Skid Row, but they and their music died for me when Sebastian
Bach left, so first two albums I listen to non stop, and the rest…well might as
well be. So that's that. With all that said it's fairly obvious why I opted out
of seeing Bon Jovi last week, even if, I admit, it hurts. I would love to see
one of my favourite bands again, but I don't want the perfect picture, of that
perfect night in Italy ruined by a show where he's barely struggling through.
With all that being said, don't think anything changed. I
love the band. One of my favourite bands, always was, always will be, maybe I
won't be a ''real fan'' like those desperate women are that I mentioned above
but at least I'll be a smart fan. And honestly, all I really want is for him to
sort out his voice. Not for us, not to give more pleasure to his fans, or to
make more music and money or whatever else capitalistic reason there may be. I
want him to sort it out for him, he's an artist, a singer, and what's a singer
if he can't sing no more? I honestly feel hurt and saddened watching these
recent youtube videos and I just wish and hope he gets the help for his voice
he needs, and if there's nothing to be done, then take the high road out like
Motley Crue did.
Now, this was not the point of todays post. Wanted to do
a review of an album I waited for forever. And because I'm all over the place,
I just spent 20 minutes on Bon Jovi, the post will continiue with Def Leppard,
while I listen to The Offsprings ''Want you bad'' on reply. Believe me, my mind
is even more scrambled then these posts are. Like having 50 tabs opened on a
computer, one playing comercials, one playing music and you have no idea where
it's coming from and what's happening. Kinda like that.
Leppard get a lot of shit too, people talk crap about
them, critics do, they're never happy. They say there hasn't been a good album
from them after Pyromania but you know, it's their right to feel that way. I
love Leppard, always did, always will. And yes, if Joe starts sounding like
shit I'll be here admiting that too.
Speaking from the market point of view, Def leppard hit
major success with Pyromania, it sold in over 10 million copies in US alone and
was certified diamond. Pyromania is actually a big deal from a different point
of view. You know how managers, producers, record labels, love to exploit and
use their artists? Well Leppard got nothing but major support from their label
and their producer which gave them a year and over one million dollars to
record this album. Woah huh? That meant that the album HAD to sell over a
million just to break even which is actually a big leap of faith for any record
label to take. Specially because High n' dry didn't do so well.
The entire sound of this album aint perfect that's a
fact, the snare drum is a bit ehhh and the slight AC DC vibe is just out of the
context for me, though of course, Elliot and Clark kill it on every single
song. Joe's vocals are phenomenal. Strong, powerful and completely harmonic.
Though of course the songs are not Springsteen brilliant lyrical vise they are
as amazing as any other hair metal from that time period.
Recording Pyromania btw began with Pete Willis but we all
know how that ended. His playing still appears on all song but sometime in the
middle of recording he was replaced by the amazing Phil Collen (have you seen
the man lately? My god!) who actually added his bit for the Stagefright as soon
as he came on board, and it's a great song but the fake live crowd is a bit
stupid to be honest.
Album actually starts with Rock! Rock! Till you drop and
that's about as perfect as it can be. I can imagine that song starting just
about any album from this genre of music. Of course that just means if I play
it a bit louder my family always complains ''can't you listen to something
nicer for a change? How about something soft? Always the yelling and that
noise''. Excuse me if I like noise…she said while Keith Urbans Blue aint your
color plays in the back for the third time and while Too late for love is
actually my favourite song off this album. Oh well. I told you I'm a mess didn't
I?
Too late for love is amazing, it's slow, it's dark, it's
sang with emotion, and it never really goes into that disgusting cheesy
territory which makes it far more tolerable than say ''I will always love
you''. shoot me please if I ever have to hear it again. This is a slow and
heavy song at it's finest and honestly it's brilliant. I remember hearing it
the first time actually, and at that point I had no idea who's song it was. We
listened to heavier stuff at home so if I didn't have a vinyl or a CD to listen
to the whole thing through it literally flew under my radar. So this song, I
heard it first in my first year of high school. A guy I went to school with had
it on his phone. A phone mind you that could keep maybe 5 songs and that was
enough to make us happy (fuck I'm getting old) and he'd listen to this song
during a break. Woah man, love on first note I'd say. I never found out what it
was though, because the idiot that I am I never asked. I heard it about a year
later again on the radio where I memorised lyrics and literally googled them
later to see what it was that I loved so much and got a huge fucking shock
seeing it's Leppard, embarrassed not to know Joe's voice as well. Man.
Die hard the hunter on side A though? Not a big fan. The
effects like that fake live crowd are a bit much and it's just...I don't know
somethings off, can't really even pin point what it is. Maybe it's a bit boring
or a bit dragged out. Or just a shot at something that really isn't them. God
knows. I just know I don't like it overly much.
You know what's a real highlight besides Too late for
love of course? Photograph! Oh my god that song. Obsessed. Nothing but love. I
loved it live with old pictures on the screen behind the stage. Amazing. And
Joe's voice really peaks there. It's nothing short of spectacular I tell you.
That's the song. Not A song but THE song. Like Bon Jovi have Living on a prayer
and others, Leppard also have others but Photograph is one of the songs. Vocals
that start out slow and grow over the song are amazing as is but then also it's
a totally catchy song that has you hooked first time you listen to it.
''So wild and free so far from me, you're all I want, my
fantasy.'' Mine too. Most days.
Side B starts with Foolin I believe. Which is some wanna
be ballad but I guess the sound works and if nothing else you can hear the bass
loud and clear, more than on other songs. And then there's of course also Rock
of Ages. The song that musical was named after. It's a good movie despite the
critics hating it. They hate everything anyways. And that allusion to Nikki and
Vince yeah that's just wild. But this song is one of the strongest moments on
the album if you ask me.
Rock of ages is great comparing to the end of the album
anyways. It ends with Comin' under fire which could be another hit but what is
that ''action not words'' about? It's like…I don't know Steel panthers mockery
to hair metal.
After Pyromania we know what's up. Band started writing
new material but then in 84' Allen lost his arm in that car accident and it
took three years for Hysteria to come out. In any case thank god things turned
out the way they did, I mean not Rick losing his arm but all the rest, because
Hysteria really is perfect just the way it is and it wouldn't be without him.
Alright that's about it, for this week anyways. I've got
a stressful week ahead and believe me vacation can't come too soon. Take it
easy guys, a bit for me too. I know I won't.
