Jon Bon Jovi is being a little bitch

[the G-man]

Bon Jovi blames Apple CEO Steve Jobs for killing the music business:

• Rocker Jon Bon Jovi spoke to the Sunday Times Magazine about his days as a kid in New Jersey and falling in love with music.
  
  He blames Apple CEO Steve Jobs for taking that opportunity away from a new generation of listeners.
  
  "Kids today have missed the whole experience of putting the headphones on, turning it up to 10, holding the jacket, closing their eyes and getting lost in an album; and the beauty of taking your allowance money and making a decision based on the jacket, not knowing what the record sounded like, and looking at a couple of still pictures and imagining it," Jon Bon Jovi said.
  
  He added, "God, it was a magical, magical time. I hate to sound like an old man now, but I am, and you mark my words, in a generation from now people are going to say: 'What happened?' Steve Jobs is personally responsible for killing the music business."
  
  His criticism isn't about illegal downloading or any skewed road to success. Bon Jovi is complaining about the actual experience of listening to music, which he thinks has been downgraded by iTunes downloads and iPods.

Translation: He's butt hurt because people no longer have to buy an entire album at wildly inflated prices to get the one or two good songs on it.

 

[marillion]

I think he's right to a certain extent.. There was nothing I loved more as a kid, than coming home with a new Rush album, throwing on my headphones and pouring over the lyrics and the album notes. Add to that, there was just something about the way a new album smelled.. Probably just the ink used to print the cover, but it was pretty cool...

Same thing with CDs... Marillion continues to put out fabulous artwork with their CDs... I didn't miss vinyl at all.. Yes, the artwork was smaller and the notes a bit harder to read, but the music quality was better, to my untrained ears.. I know many here will deride digital music in favor of the warmer sound of analog, but that arguement can go on and on

Now, usually, when I buy a whole CD on Itunes, it comes with a digital book, but I rarely, if ever look at it.

That said, when my 13 year old daughter REALLY gets into a band, she wants the CD because she wants to have as much material as possible. Sure, she downloads it onto her ipod, but she too, loves to pour over the material as much as I did/do. She is like that now with "My Chemical Romance"...

As far as Mr. Bongjovi is concerned, you're probably right to great extent.. I never really cared for his music anyway...

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

I kind of get what he's saying, to a degree, but what you say is true, too.

The good thing about iTunes and similar services is that it's easier to find new stuff you'll like, based on recommendations and just plain searching.

In the '80s and '90s, I was much more likely to sit back for a while and focus on the music. I'd just sit back and listen to an entire album. I rarely do that these days, using the iPod mostly for background music while multitasking. But I think that's just priorities shifting as I get older, more than the change in technology.

 

[BlobVanDam]

He has both good and bad points. There is a big nostalgia factor of listening to albums the way he mentions, but modern digital only files do cheapen music to the point that the modern generation doesn't really respect music like older generations do (I'm the younger generation, but even though I only listen to mp3s, if I'm paying, I want a real product). But ultimately the format of the music doesn't matter.

The digital era is great for discovering music if you're so inclined, but it also promotes lazy listening habits for music listeners who won't give music a chance beyond a quick 10 second listen. People who don't listen to full albums ARE missing out on an experience, whether it's done on vinyl, or on an mp3 player. All in all, it's not a bad thing though. It's just an extra convenience of format.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Things change and Bon Jovi needs to realise that. Albums only became popular with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Before that, pop and rock music were a singles' market.

In the 1980s, people bemoaned that CDs and tapes meant no more wonderful gatefold sleeves. I miss those but that's life. I don't download music, I still like having a tangible CD and reading the liner notes etc but if younger people don't, well, fair enough.

The thing to remember is that young 'uns now have access to infinitely more forms of music, via infinitely more tv and radio channels, not to mention the internet, so they're certainly not losing out on that front. I only wish we'd had anywhere near that choice in my day.

 

[bigdaddy]

Young people don't want to listen to his garbage anyways, so he has nothing to worry about.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

I can sympathize with the nostalgia, but if one is so inclined you could always just blind buy an entire album based on the cover art and track listings alone without listening to any music samples first. There's no requirement that you cherry pick or preview songs to download to your iPod.

I guess you lose the sensation of lovingly caressing an album jacket and the remarkable adventure of actually traveling to the record store, but I think I can live with that.

 

[Pingfah]

Progress isn't Steve Jobs' fault.

Mp3s and massive online downloading rather than physical purchasing was going to happen whatever, Apple or no Apple. You may as well blame Charles Babbage over Steve Jobs.

 

[Aragorn]

I heard someone say air conditioning is the reason neighborhoods aren't as friendly and fuzzy as they used to be, since once upon a time everyone would hang out on their front porch when it was hot and interact with the neighbors next door and people who pass by. So who's to blame for that?

 

[Professor Zoom]

I heard someone say air conditioning is the reason neighborhoods aren't as friendly and fuzzy as they used to be, since once upon a time everyone would hang out on their front porch when it was hot and interact with the neighbors next door and people who pass by. So who's to blame for that?

Duh. Steve Jobs.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Shot through the heart, and Jon's to blame,
He gives music a bad name.

 

[bigdaddy]

Shot through the heart, and Jon's to blame,
He gives music a bad name.

I like something a Yankee fan said. I'm going to hell.

 

[Kirby]

Bon Jovi is wrong, Steve Jobs had nothing to do with it. The music industry has always been a progression of technology since the first player was invented. It went from playing those cylindrical things, to records, to tape (reel to reel, 8 track, cassette tapes), CDs, and now MP3s.
The time gaps between technology improvements have decreased, but that can be said of all technology.

I'm sure Wolfgang Amadeus Bon Jovi complained that his bitchin' lute solo was compromised when the first recording of it was ever made, and I'm sure Jon Bon Jovi's great grandson Myron will complain when his MP23 format is done away with when they can just beam music directly into his synapses.

I do agree with him that it was great to have the big artwork and cool liner notes on a record sleeve. Styx Paradise Theater always comes to mind as an example of this, but then again you can't play a record in your car or at the gym. Cassette players and CD players were more portable, but still big, and if you want to listen to something else then you have to lug it along. MP3 players can hold a ton of music and more, and are extremely portable. Experts will complain about the digital sound of the music, but I guess my ear isn't as sophisticated since it really doesn't matter to me.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I'm sure Wolfgang Amadeus Bon Jovi complained that his bitchin' lute solo was compromised when the first recording of it was ever made

Wolfgang was hardcore.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXs93KbBCgY[/yt]

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

You live for the fight when that's all that you've got.

 

[the G-man]

Mp3s and massive online downloading rather than physical purchasing was going to happen whatever, Apple or no Apple.

Yep. Steve Jobs came up with a legal downloading platform that sold music at a price point where people didn't mind paying for it and didn't want to bother with illegal free stuff for the most part. People were going to download no matter what. Jobs was the guy who found a way for them to willingly pay the artists for the ability to do so.

If anything Steve Jobs saved the music business.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

I can sympathize with the nostalgia, but if one is so inclined you could always just blind buy an entire album based on the cover art and track listings alone without listening to any music samples first. There's no requirement that you cherry pick or preview songs to download to your iPod.

I guess you lose the sensation of lovingly caressing an album jacket and the remarkable adventure of actually traveling to the record store, but I think I can live with that.

I bought a few cassette albums in the early 90's based on the cover art alone.

It went about 50/50 as to whether the music was any good or not. At the time I wasn't so into death metal and Celtic Frost's first album had an awesome cover.

I still buy CD's every time I want a full album (then rip the thing into mp3's) and download a single from Amazon when I just want a song or two.

 

[DeafPoet]

He's right that some of the mystique in buying music has been lost, but it's the future. What are ya gonna do? It hasn't really changed the way I consume music. I'll buy an album (hard copy or online, whatever) and sit down and listen to it front to back. I've never used the shuffle feature on my iPod or computer and I never will.

Kids these days grow up in a very much single oriented culture and that's fine for them I guess. Not going to change the way I've been doing things my whole life, no matter how the music actually finds its way into my hands.

 

[Velocity]

Gee, who would miss the days of vinyl when you spent money for a record (loved the smell of a new vinyl record--almost as good as a fresh mimeograph page) and then it skipped when you played it. Used to tape a penny on the arm to stop the skips. Kids could afford the small 45's easier than the albums, of course. I really believe it's all better today, the sound and the package and the portability.

 

[the G-man]

I'm almost 47 years old. I grew up on vinyl. I was already in my twenties when I got my first CD and nearly 40 by the time I'd downloaded music to an iPod.

I own about a over 2000 albums, cassettes and CDs. They're all in storage and ripped to MP3, etc.

And I don't miss vinyl one bit.