Top of the Pops BBC4

[Vasilios]

Scream is just noise. I've warmed up to it the past decade mainly because I see how younger audiences love it.

 

[InkedDoll]

Yes, I think he had bleached blonde hair by 1996ish. Like Joshua Kadison, once he had his hair cut he looked completely different - and Curtis Stigers to a degree.

As soon as Curtis appeared on screen my husband said "WHAT HAPPENED TO HIS HAIR?" I had no idea he'd ever had it cut, you just always picture him with the long hair. Jon Bon, on the other hand, seems to have been slowly growing his luscious mane back out at this point. It looked very bouffy.

 

[Booers]

Bon Jovi seemed so naff to me by this point. They were stuck in 1986 and that poodle perm leather waistcoat look which the UK music scene had long moved on from.

 

[Vasilios]

Bon Jovi seemed so naff to me by this point. They were stuck in 1986 and that poodle perm leather waistcoat look which the UK music scene had long moved on from.

But they kept releasing bop after bop!

 

[Booers]

Did they though?

 

[WhatKindOfKylie?]

Bon Jovi seemed so naff to me by this point. They were stuck in 1986 and that poodle perm leather waistcoat look which the UK music scene had long moved on from.

Yes, there music just felt rather dated by the mid 90s I think personally.

 

[Hairycub1969]

Keep the faith
Bed of roses
Are still top tunes and my fave 90's BJ tracks

 

[CDMCLP]

I don't remember thinking of Bon Jovi as dated at this point - they'd just had a huge hit with Always after all and Jon was regularly featured in magazines, TV shows and such - but by the time of It's My Life in 2000 I certainly did think of them as old hat.

 

[Eric Generic]

The success of Cross Road really did baffle me...they were popular, of course, but to be the biggest seller of 1994 was weird. I suppose they tapped into the Bryan Adams market, which Aerosmith did as well after them.

 

[Servalan]

I don't remember thinking of Bon Jovi as dated at this point - they'd just had a huge hit with Always after all and Jon was regularly featured in magazines, TV shows and such - but by the time of It's My Life in 2000 I certainly did think of them as old hat.

I would guess someone at the record company was worried about them being old hat – hence them being paired with Max Martin, of all producers …?

 

[beautyneverlies]

For me, Bon Jovi had the same kind of trajectory as Wet Wet Wet - they both morphed into their own sales-universe, and had hits and radio play in the nineties, yet I simultaneously screened them out as having any relevance. They were a kind of white noise to me.
Not sure if I'm making sense here!

 

[Servalan]

For me, Bon Jovi had the same kind of trajectory as Wet Wet Wet - they both morphed into their own sales-universe, and had hits and radio play in the nineties, yet I simultaneously screened them out as having any relevance. They were a kind of white noise to me.
Not sure if I'm making sense here!

I agree – I would say those early hits that Desmond Child co-wrote have a real hunger and attitude to them and then, rather like WWW (good comparison), they just coasted within their own bubble, having found an audience. Which may have got them a steady stream of income but it wasn't really what I'd call creatively stimulating or challenging …

 

[Eric Generic]

Bon Jovi probably should have stopped at the point Jon went solo in 97.

Kind of like how WWW completely ran out of steam after 1996.

 

[Servalan]

Bon Jovi probably should have stopped at the point Jon went solo in 97.

Kind of like how WWW completely ran out of steam after 1996.

One thing I will give Wet Wet Wet is that they somehow managed to transform themselves from Smash Hits darlings into an efficient hit making group that could appeal to a much wider audience than the demographic they were originally targeted at – which is more than can be said for Curiosity Killed The Cat, Johnny Hates Jazz and others ploughing the same furrow at the time WWW emerged.

 

[heartmightmelt]

Didn't they have one last big hit around late 2000? And then after that he disappeared into movie roles?

 

[Eric Generic]

Didn't they have one last big hit around late 2000? And then after that he disappeared into movie roles?

Jon started the acting in the mid-90s (I remember one with Gwyneth Paltrow) but BJ kept churning out the albums all through the 00s and 10s - almost more than they'd done before. Have A Nice Day was maybe the last actual hit?

 

[heartmightmelt]

"It's My Life" is the last one I remember.

 

[WhatKindOfKylie?]

"It's My Life" is the last one I remember.

Probably the best thing they ever did personally. Very 2000 sounding in the best way.

 

[AcerBenII]

"It's My Life" is the last one I remember.

Apparently they scored a further 6 top tenners after that and I'm drawing a blank on all of them.

 

[WhatKindOfKylie?]

Apparently they scored a further 6 top tenners after that and I'm drawing a blank on all of them.

They did?? I always thought this was their last hit. Seems to have been their last big hit anyway.