Crank It Up To Eleven!: 03.31.09: There Ain't Anybody Left But Us These Days

Posted by Sandeep Murali on 03.31.2009

The album that marked a change a significant (and positive) change in the sound of one of the most popular bands from the big hair era. These days.





Hello everyone and hope you had enjoyed the little spotlight we did on a band that on the most parts, is unknown stateside. This week though, we will be looking at a band that's VERY well known in those parts. More specifically, we'll be looking at an album they made while the music industry by and large were going through a drastic change in trends.

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I Remember You... And your music:

We all know how grunge turned the music world around and made yesterday's news out of the hair bands. The story has been told and retold several times that it has been driven into our brains pretty deep. But all that said, did the hair bands totally disappear from the face of the earth after the grunge invasion? Well, some did, some didn't. One of the top names in particular, made an amazing transition that made sure that they were on the top of the popularity list, come what may. Ladies and gentlemen, we're talking about none other than M/S Bon Jovi here. Presenting, the album that transitioned the most mainstream of hair bands to a mature bunch of rockers. These days.


Though they're on top of the hatelist for many an elitist, there's no denying that Bon Jovi is a talented band. The debut album showed this off in plenty. While 7800 was a disappointment, the massively popular Slippery when wet and to a lesser extent, New Jersey reaffirmed their place on top of the charts with tunes that arguably are popular even to this day. But something drastic happened in the meantime: Jon Bon Jovi started having problems with his voice during the Slippery when wet tour. Suffering from some serious damage to his vocal chords, Jon was forced to tone down his vocal range noticeably (Anyone who has heard a live rendition of "Runaway" pre and post the incident would recognize this in a flash). This, and the fact that they wanted to grow as musicians (After a lengthy break and solo projects, no less) led to their next album having a very different sound. This album, titled Keep the faith still had big guitars and singalong chorus lines like all good hair anthems, but a more mature sound was starting to emerge for one who looked deep. One track in particular, was proof undeniable that there was more to this band than spandex and makeup. That track was "Dry county". It had no cheesy lyrics, no euphemisms, none of the things that made hair metal uninviting to the elitist. It was a very real song about a very real situation, which featured interludes, multiple solos, change in tempo and whatnot. Personally, I rate this track on par with "November rain", with respect to song structure and hell, sheer awesomeness.




As much as a revelation that Keep the faith was, the band was only getting warmed up. The next album, the one in question here, was These days and it came out bang in the middle of the grunge invasion. When their contemporaries were struggling to see semi-decent sales figures, Bon Jovi just took a left turn and by god, it felt right!


These days was choc-a-full of meaningful lyrics, dark themes and good music in general. The first track, "Hey god" brings to light the anguish within the less fortunate amongst us. Uncharacteristically edgy for someone who is used to only the band's early material, this song captivates you with it's very "Real" nature. "Something for the pain" is in stark contrast with this though, and while still dark, brings up the tempo noticeably. "This ain't a love song" turned out to be a very popular track for the band in both the English and Spanish versions and understandably so. This track is among the best ballads the band has ever created and we're talking about the band that created "Bed of roses" and "Always" here, folks. The title track of course, is the most famous among the lot and is a bona-fide crowd pleaser for the band. "Lie to me" is yet another soft ballad that deals with the pains associated with romance. "Damned" again, is another tune that is uncharacteristically edgy and dark with respect to the band's back catalog. But the pick of the album is the track that follows in in the list. The track titled "My guitar lies bleeding in my arms".


For this track puts back to the forefront the exceptional talent the band had shown with "Dry county". While not as long as the former track and not quite as textured, this track is still every bit as impressive. The song starts off with a sparse vocal display from Jon and slowly builds up from there. With the first solo, Richie Sambora shows that he is every bit a bluesman as he is a shredder. As the song builds up to the climax, Jon throws all caution to the wind and breaks out some high notes that haven't been heard from the man since his aforementioned issues with the vocal chords. Jon and Richie put up inspired performances towards this part of the song and then as quietly as it started, the song ends.





"Hearts breaking even" loses out simply because it is in the esteemed company of such exemplary tracks, but "Something to believe in" gets things back on track. The track once again follows the theme of despair and search for hope and has very strong messages tackling religion and accepted conventions regarding faith. "If that's what it takes" lays down the template for some of the more popular ballads from the band's later albums and is a pleasant listen. "Diamond ring" is another personal favorite of mine, although I haven't seen many people hand out the same amount of love for this dreamy track. "All I want is everything" lifts the tempo up again with some nifty riffs. The track has shades of the bands back catalog in it and is perfectly placed in the tracklist to provide variety to the newer sound. "Bitter wine", another dark, melodic ballad closes things off in perfect fashion.


Several critics have acclaimed that These days is perhaps the best album from Bon Jovi till date. I tend to agree with them. At a time when music fans were embracing the stripped down approach popularized by the Seattle bands, Bon Jovi went back to the roots of bluesy rock and roll and came up with a gem that has next to no flaws in it.

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Never say goodbye:

As I played These days back in winamp to aid writing this column, I realized that the album hasn't aged a day in the thirteen plus years since its release. That's quite an achievement for a band that hails from an era whose music by and large is discarded by the average music fan these days as "Dated material". Kudos, Bon Jovi. You deserve the accolades.



Rock on and see y'all next Tuesday.