The Band

I'm bored, and McFly's comment on the last entry had me thinking about writing about how I feel about the band, so I'm going to. Consider this like a special feature on a dvd, or something.

My favorite switches between David and Tico. They're both extremely talented musicians who are sorely underrated. It's too bad, because both are much better than "that drummer dude and the keyboard guy in Bon Jovi", but they don't get that attention.

David just has this way of making me feel what he wants me to feel. I listen to his "In These Arms" and even if I don't have anyone to miss I just settle right in to the emotion of the song, I listen to "Memphis Lives in Me" and Hell if I've ever been to Memphis but it just resonates with me. He's an extremely passionate musician, it comes across in his voice and in his playing, and I like that. He feels it, he makes me feel it, and I love it.

With Tico, once I started really paying attention to the drum work in Bon Jovi songs I was floored. I'm consistently impressed with what he does and how much he does. There are times where I feel like if I turned down the keyboard and guitar and vocals I would be listening to a totally different song, but it always works. I find that a lot of my "I don't know why, I just do" kind of liking about a song comes from an overall mood, and that's Tico who brings up the pace and sets that mood. He's their backbone, really.

I like Jon better than Richie for one reason - I would have no idea who any of these people are without Jon. If it weren't for Jon, David would have gone to Juilliard, he'd be a classical pianist, and I wouldn't have any idea who he is. At best he'd be like Jim Brickman, who I'm aware of but I'm probably never going to seek out any of his music. I have no idea what Tico would be doing, but I bet I wouldn't know who he is. And as talented as Richie is, I don't think he could have gotten big on his own. He's not as willing to bend a little for commercial appeal as Jon, and that would have worked against him. I do think Jon is the least talented member of Bon Jovi, which is why it really bothers me that so many people say "Bon Jovi" when they mean "Jon". He's a good singer, but there are better - in his own band. He's an okay guitarist. Jon's got a cute butt, a nice face, and he's extremely charismatic, so he's an excellent frontman. Just not the most talented musician.

Richie's kind of my least favorite by default. To continue the jeans metaphor, it's like I have four pairs of jeans laid out on my bed. There's the most comfortable pair, the best-looking pair, the pair that matches my favorite shirt best. The fourth pair isn't a bad pair of pants, it just isn't the most anything. Richie's an excellent guitarist, and his voice made me literally drop my spoon (and splash soup all over myself) the first time I heard him on "If I Can't Have Your Love". But I've never been a big Richie person, for no concrete reason. Maybe it's subliminal, and my brain is just like "Richie gets plenty of attention so it's cool if you ignore him. Tico and David can't afford to have anyone else ignore them." Haha. Something like that. But for the record, I've listened to "Stranger" significantly more than David's "Lunar Eclipse" (except "In These Arms").

So there's how I feel about the band in a nutshell.

Now scroll down one entry and vote, dammit. It's tied one vote each for STFP and Hey God, and if it's a tie that means I have to pick.