Rolling Stone reviewer says Brian Fallon Aims for Bruce, but Hits Bon Jovi

Jerseyrain wrote:

StitchesOnTheRadio wrote:

Daire wrote:

What's wrong with Bon Jovi...?

Nothing, unless you compare him to Springsteen (in terms of depth not commercial success). That's what makes it an insult.

Also, considering TGA are a band with depth as their main selling point, it's like saying "Brian Fallon shoots for meaningful storytelling and ends up writing dance music." (not sayin' Bon Jovi is dance music, he's just very pop).

I think it shows how much you know about Bon Jovi when you refer to them as 'he' when they're a band of unbelievably talented musicians. And the fact that you consider them as pop means you likely only know the more recent singles such as Its My Life, or the overplayed songs like Livin on a prayer (which is a rock song at the end of the day). I know my tone sounds like Im having a go. Im not meaning to sound nasty Im just trying to make the opposing point. Im obviously a fan of Bon Jovi and if you imagine someone providing an uninformed opinion about Gaslight Id imagine you'd have something to say so thats all Im doing here. if Bon Jovi aren't for you then fair enough. Just do your research first and give an informed opinion. I'd take Klown's advice and go and listen to the 'New Jersey' album. If you're not pleasantly surprised Im not sure if theres any help for you. Like I said its the more recent singles which touch upon pop rock but anything before 1997 is genius.

Ok fine. I'm not trying to turn this into a thing. Let me start by saying "pop" was the wrong term. I apologize if I've offended you guys with that. I DO know more than just Bon Jovi's greatest hits but I don't know THEIR entire catalog (seriously, the pronoun thing isn't necessary, getting a technicality wrong doesn't mean I know nothing. Other points are fair though.) You're a fan, I'm not. I never said they were bad, I'm saying from what I've heard, which isn't by any means the majority of their music but considering I watched all 2 hours of their set at Bamboozle and knew every song it's a lot, I don't consider them to have the amount of depth that some other artists have, AGAIN not saying they're bad, not saying they don't have more depth than most artists or that depth is the be all end all, not saying they don't have some great albums. They write better than 80% of the artists I listen to and I'm aware they're very talented musicians. It's all the comparison that the reviewer was talking about. Do you seriously think the reviewer was going for a compliment when he/she made that statement? I was merely commenting on what I took from that statement. Pop was the wrong term I guess. I just didn't have a better word for what I was getting at. Maybe "appeals to a wider audience".

I'm not trying to have a go either. I wouldn't comment if I only knew like 10 Bon Jovi songs. (I do know about half the New Jersey album by the way). I can't invest the amount of time required to make extremely informed statements in an artist that I'm no more than a casual fan of. If a casual Gaslight fan said something similar, you're right I would have a strong reaction too but I wouldn't assume that means they know nothing because they haven't listened to every album start to finish. Am I as informed as you? absolutely not. Am I a complete idiot on the subject? you might think so but I'm not I just have a different opinion and used the wrong word to express it.

And I know you're probably gonna get pissed about the depth thing so I'll say this: difference of opinion. You see something in their music that I don't. I like to hear it on the radio, I don't sit down in a quiet room and just take it in. The songs don't stay with me. That's personal preference.

what makes Bon Jovi music genius?

Their songwriting is genius. You may not like the songs but if you take the lyrics and the music at face value I think you'd say they were good.

Shelby, I wasn't meaning it as a personal attack on you. As I said I didn't mean to come acoross nasty. It just sounded like you were kind of pigeon holing them without knowing the full story. Ive read your response and I see what you're saying as you say perhaps your choice of word was what set me off on my rant.

Also with the pronoun, Ive found that a lot of people who know that I like Bon Jovi but dont necessarilly themselves have referred to them as he, so where Im from its a common mistake for people to make so thats the reason why I made that point. I accept that your not a Bon Jovi newbie though so Im sorry if I was a little pedantic. No hard feelings I hope.

Saying that, he did release a cracker solo album with the Young Guns 2 soundtrack, still think that has some of the best material he has ever done solo or band on it.

Klown wrote:

Saying that, he did release a cracker solo album with the Young Guns 2 soundtrack, still think that has some of the best material he has ever done solo or band on it.

He did that. Blaze of Glory is a great album. To be honest I though Destination Anywhere was good too. Only a couple of skippers out of about 13!
Nice to see another Bon Jovi appreciator out there Klown. I know you mostly prefer the earlier stuff but still.

I wouldn't say agree with the statement on this thread. Lyrically and imagery wise they still liken more to Bruce than BJ if given the choice, but I may kind of see what theyre getting at.

What I would say though is that Bruce writes about specific locations and characters (real or that he has invented). Gaslight did this in their earlier days and but Brian has said himself that Handwritten doesn't include characters, its more personal but its kind of more general as well with specifics left out.

I think Bon Jovi's writing is awesome but their songs are more general. theyve never really written too much about New Jersey specifically and other than Tommy and Gina their songs can be quite devoid of any detail when it comes to characters.

Could this be the angle that the article is coming from.

I think The Gaslight Anthem are sounding like The Gaslight Anthem if Im honest.

Imagine if Gaslight experimented with a horn section sometime I guarantee the Southside Johnny comparisons will come out saying theyre becoming more of a swing band or something.

It's all good Jerseyrain. No hard feelings whatsover. I just wanted to clarify where I was coming from. I know I ranted I just wanted to be clear. I think it really did come down to my word choice causing the whole problem. Sorry about that.

You're totally right about the changes in Brian's writing. He's gone away from the characters like you said and in some ways it's more general and in others it's more specific. Like Keepsake is more specific, whereas Desire is more general. That could be what they're getting at. I just feel like they meant it as a negative thing (which isn't necessarily fair) either way.

And I agree 100% TGA are sounding like TGA. Of course anyone can draw comparisons but I think they're distant enough now that it's pointless to mention these comparisons. Like it serves a purpose but we (and by we I mean fans and the media) need to start moving away from that.

It really amazes me how much of an obsession there is over comparisons with this band considering there are a lot of bands out there, with way more attention on them, who all sound similar to one another and don't get compared. These guys however, stand out. They really dug themselves into that whole though because they were so open about who their influences were and they referenced them so much (really glad he's gotten away from that).

Haha why would I not be surprised if that happened. Both the experimenting with horns and the comparisons. They've made it clear they're not afraid to experiment with strings so why not.

dont agree with the bon jovi thing, nothing wrong with a bit of jovi but i DEFINATELY dont see it haha

Klown wrote:

Saying that, he did release a cracker solo album with the Young Guns 2 soundtrack, still think that has some of the best material he has ever done solo or band on it.

The Destination Anywhere solo album is also terrific and extremely underrated. If folks gave that record a chance, many would be hooked by the first three songs (Queen of New Orleans, Janey Don't You Take Your Love to Town, and Midnight in Chelsea).

I've also always said that Gaslight should cover Wild In the Streets. I think they would absolutely kill it.