Taking Sides: Def Leppard vs. Bon Jovi

I think not.

Some of Bon Jovi's tunes were catchy, but none of them had quite the glam-metal punch of classic Def Leppard. Not to mention how Jon Bon Jovi is so smug and smarmy, he's the Damon Albarn of glam metal.

"Wanted: Dead or Alive" anyone? (Bon Jovi: "I'm a cowboy." A smart-ass teenaged Tadeusz: "No, you're not.") That drag queen guy from Dead or Alive was a more credible cowboy (remember the "Brand New Lover" video?) than Jon Bon Jovi.

That said, I don't care for either one.

I'll have to take yer word for it, Tracer. I switched the fucking thing off after Jon's first "I'm a cowboy" (a lyrical conceit neither Zappa nor Syd Barrett could touch in its sheer absurdity).

I've spent the past 15 seconds trying to figure out which Dead or Alive song had a guitar solo in it. I feel foolish.

bon jovi was my favourite band in grade 5. either def leppard or aerosmith was second. richie sambora was responsible for my taking up guitar and ultimately committing myself to a life of unemployability.

pyromania contains both the best song ("photograph") and the best guitar solo ("die hard the hunter") by either band. (i didn't know pyromania in grade 5. if i did, dl may have been my favourite.) dl went for a spacey ethereal quality, fully realized by the incredible electronic production on hysteria (which probably rivals loveless for combining samples, tweaked beats, and processed guitar textures).

bon jovi went for a cliched sort of earthy blue-collar romanticism, which, while obviously preferable to springsteen's, seems less resonant than it used to. jbj's voice is also somewhat less appealing than it used to be. while both bands probably had mostly bollocks lyrics, dl's are easier to ignore. about 60% of sww is enjoyable on some level, especially the rushing "i'll die for you." there is unfortunately also some lame bar-rock ("social disease") and soft-rock schmaltz ("never say goodbye"). bon jovi gets extra points for discovering cinderella, however.

ultimately, i would have to agree with kris.

luptune: jbj is good-looking?

Bon Jovi also was capable of realizing when the big poofy hair was no longer fashionable. I bet Joe Elliot still has his mullet.

kris is right about the pre-choruses, etc. both are equally strong in this category and are among the best EVER. BUT! but! whereas bon jovi's pre-chorus set you up perfectly for the chorus, which takes the intensity of the pre- up to 11, def leppard seem to peter out after the pre-chorus, usually just chanting or singing one word, as if they expended all of their creative on the pre-chorus -- obviously mutt lange steered them wrong. (one exception: "armageddon it.")

besides: "wanted dead or alive." that solo. "i've seen a million faces and i've rocked them all." the best, the only road song ever. for that alone, bon jovi take it, no doubt.

Because he's from New Jersey, therefore all he can sing about is being miserable and wanting to escape and how much everyone dogs on him and don't understand that it's his life man. C.f. Bruce Springsteen.

That's because there's no better songwriting topic on earth (except possibly pouring sugar on one another.) Btw, Springsteen hasn't done a song like that since at least 1980...

Leppard were a real band. They weren't hair metal. Pyromania and Hysteria are 2 of the greatest rock albums ever made. Excellent songs for the most part with the brilliant Mutt Lange producing. There's no comparison really. Leps rule.

Bon Jovi, on the other hand, certainly improved in their 90s guise, while Def Leppard went all downhill.

So I'd say Def Leppard wins the 80s match here while Bon Jovi wins the 90s one. Hard to tell who is better overall.

There is a Matt Aitken guitar solo in the extended version of "My Heart Goes Bang" :)

Def Leppard - started off dubiously, turned into something great, and then turned to shit.

Bon Jovi - started off as shit, turned into smellier shit, and then turned into the smelliest shit of all.

Def Lep wins.

Bon Jovi violated one important commandment: Thou Shalt Not Have a Talking Guitar. For that alone, dud.
-- Tadeusz Suchodolski (llamasfu...), July 22nd, 2001.

No? Try "Bed of Roses". How about "Bed of Roses" in SPANISH? I've never heard anything as excruciatingly disgustingly bad as that.

Bon Jovi = Not As Good As Jukebox Hero

Pyromania and Hysteria, awesome.

Bon Jovi, not awesome.

That is all.

Bon Jovi didn't offer anything new by the time they entered the picture. In fact, Aldo Nova had already covered more sonic territory within the hair-band-super-ballad genre before Bon Jovi even got together. But then, history is written by the victors... I had a certain disdain for BJ because a lot of empty-shell-type-of-people where all googly about them -- g.damn pretty boy.

(sob) It's beautiful

I don't know what the heck Lep is up to these days. Probably as commercially calculated as ever but hopefully as lacking in socially redeeming value as ever. I bet they still have strikingly DUM titles and lyrics which are infinitely preferable to platitudinous titles and lyrics.

They're up to this. Which as you can see is a covers album.

Def Lep has never stooped to such crap. Their double CD retrospec last year sounded great. I'm eager to hear and enjoy their covers record because I'm of the impression they do things they genuinely like, not things they thought they could hitch a ride on in 2006.
The craftsmanship of the British vs. the ersatz grand strategy of
Americans. In this instance, I'm with the Brits.

But with Don Powell on drums, Hill on guitar and Noddy Holder, Slade had one of the most singular hard rock singers ever, as well as a rhythm section utterly superior to almost every US band within the genre.

"Drive in Saturday" was David Bowie and not like Slade at all. And "20th Century Boy" wasn't Slade, either. You're so stupid you can't recover this post. So eat shit twice. Leave the serious business of hard rock talk to the pros. Like me.

Nothing which you believe sounds like Slade sounds like Bon Jovi. I MADE NO CONNECTION BETWEEN SLADE AND BON JOVI. I LOOKED AT THE LIST OF SONGS DEF LEPPARD IS COVERING ON THEIR NEW ALBUM AND THOUGHT SLADE WOULD BE A NATURAL CANDIDATE CONSIDERING THEIR INFLUENCES ARE EARLY 70S BRITISH METAL, HARD ROCK, AND GLAM. THEN IT DAWNED ON ME THAT SLADE HAS ALREADY BEEN FAMOUSLY COVERED BY QUIET RIOT AND THAT FACT MIGHT HAVE INFLUENCED DEF LEPPARD TO PASS ON COVERING SLADE. GOT IT? There are a couple Ami bands who sounded like Slade WHO ARE THEY?and who did it better than Quiet Riot. You don't know who they are.
But with Don Powell on drums, Hill on guitar and Noddy Holder, Slade had one of the most singular hard rock singers ever, as well as a rhythm section utterly superior to almost every US band within the genre. YOU MEAN GLAM? WHO IS THERE BESIDES THE NEW YORK DOLLS? I AGREE WITH YOU THAT NODDY HAS A UNIQUE VOICE. I LIKE SLADE. WHY DO YOU THINK I WAS LOOKING FOR 'EM ON THE DEF LEPPARD TRACK LIST?

"Drive in Saturday" was David Bowie YES, I KNOW. and not like Slade at all. TRUE And "20th Century Boy" wasn't Slade, either. YES, I KNOW You're so stupid you can't recover this post. So eat shit twice. Leave the serious business of hard rock talk to the pros. Like me. NO SUCH LUCK. BUT FEEL FREE TO SNAP INTO ME LIKE A SLIM JIM.

pyromania and high n' dry are sweet.

which may be a better song than anything else in either band's catalog

Lep sealed the victory with "Bringin' On The Heartbreak." Pyromania and Hysteria are just running up the score. They came to rock, not to be good sports.

Bon Jovi scores a couple of points thanks to slumming journeymen Sambora and Torres and one good song. Not in the same league.

I think Rick Allen is an extroidinary man... Considering what he overcame, and still manages to rock millions

I see what you did there.

What's more extraordinary is his 1995 guilty plea for spousal battery. Fookin' inspirational's what it is. Ta cripples everywhere. It really was the one-armed man!

rogermexico OTFM!

As for current status, I saw an interview with Bon Jovi recently and they were saying how It's my life was their biggest ever hit. Not too surprising. It also came accross as Bon Jovi is almost a one man band. Def Leppard are definately more of a team effort and almost certainly better live. Def Leppards current covers album is arguably the most rocking album they have had in some time and hopefully the cd they bring out next year is similar. Not too many soft songs. One can only hope. I still listen to Bon Jovi but Lep have the goods overall. Even the commercial flop of Slang is an awesome cd which was never marketed. Then I spose it also came out at a bad time.

1st link has 2 live performances from the new cd from 23May06
2nd link has some part samples from the cd
http://www.nbc.com/nbc/The_Tonight_Show_with_Jay_Leno/Toyota_Concert_Series/videos/
http://www.nbc.com/nbc/The_Tonight_Show_with_Jay_Leno/Toyota_Concert_Series/bands/def_leppard.shtml#main

Hope some of you enjoy.

I pick Def Leppard, btw.

I guess Bon Jovi have talent but I don't know any black people who enjoy them. I guess we are supposed to like them as some sort of "working man" pride, but frankly they are not good enough. Should I like something out of guilt because it's "blue-collar" and "white".

I mean Bon Jovi versus Def Leppard, who are BRILLIANT is idiocy. Believe it or not I grew up with people who prefer the former and who back it up with a serious attitude problem. I said, "where are your music lessons." Oh none, just being "blue collar" makes you right.

In making up really expansive '80s and '90s pop playlists in iTunes, I left out a ton of Bon Jovi/Jon Bon Jovi songs that I never want to hear again. I think the only Def Leppard song I omitted was "Two Steps Behind".

vote Leppard. the only diff between Bon Jovi and a fart is that a fart doesn't make me leave the room.

Both crap

NO
bon jovi only sell records for the jon bon jovi´s face, and you can´t said sold albums and quality in the same meaning, hysteria or pyromania are album that make history, so what,stanley kubrick the best director of movies in all the history dont need an award for show that he is the best, so what.
or can richi sambora play a solo like (die hard the hunter or stagefright) of def leppard? (ja ja ), or can bon jovi have a sound of guitar so excellent and melodic like def leppard ?(never), def leppard had the twin guitars or the terror twins, have a legend on the drums, can bon jovi make a tour like the hysteria massive tour (in the round)?, so what,they have an own movie, a lot of books (dude nobody can´t denied that def leppard rocked the whole world), and bon who, what they have done? if bon jovi appears on mtv(it´s most better vh1), mtv is for the fashion people, mtv is no more a music channel,
can bon jovi put out seven important hits in one albun (even thriller of michael jackson)?
as a def leppard fan, i must tell you that we are most stronger and happy than always, and believe that i know a lot of music, a have listened since britney spears to slayer or sepultura, since ub40 to cradle of filth or dimmu borgir, since andrea bocelli to therion or apocaliptica, so what.
so if any person ask me about who is better, i said with reason and proud def leppard kick jon bon jovi´s ass

otm

Def Leppard never did a DirecTV commercial

Gotta go with the Jovi on this one. I fucking LOVE "Wanted Dead or Alive."
― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Tuesday, May 23, 2006 3:03 PM (eleven years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lmao

http://archive.seattleweekly.com/music/duffmckagan/916260-129/duffmckagan

A musician has a plenty of time to ponder things--both big and small--when they're on the road. You have to hope for a good sense of shared humor when traveling and living together in cramped confines, something I call the tour bubble. If you can't make light of some of the asanine situations you meet on the road, you are gonna be toast.

Case in point:

We spent part of our last tour opening for Alice Cooper in large venues throughout the U.K. Being on a tour like this will expose a band like ours to a larger mass of people than you would get headlining your own shows. But do you rock them all? No. Of course you don't. Many of those people are there for the headliner, and begrudgingly stand cross-armed while you play. Sure, you win over some new fans--which is sort of the whole point of a tour like this--but do you rock them all? No.

Back on the tour bus one night a question started to arise about Bon Jovi. In the song "Wanted Dead Or Alive," the claim is made that "I've seen a million faces, and I've rocked them all". All? Let's ponder.

I have no doubt that Bon Jovi had played to a million people by the time "Dead or Alive" was released on Slippery When Wet in 1986. But did they rock them all? Couldn't it be that some dudes brought their girlfriends to the show and weren't neccesarily into the music of Bon Jovi? What about some parents? Or, maybe some people just didn't get rocked? Hey, it's happened to me. I've gone to gigs properly prepared to get rocked and it just didn't happen for me.

I carried this conversation forward to one of Seattle's illustrious and beloved indie-rock frontmen. He said his band had actually had this very same Bon Jovi discussion. This Seattle indie band has even wondered if they had maybe played to "a million faces." There was one thing they were sure about: they hadn't rocked them all.

But how could they even be sure? They had played a bunch of festivals, and you KNOW that not everyone there was attending to come see their band. They had probably converted some of these people into new fans, but rocking them all would be a huge overstatement. They even doubted that Bon Jovi had played to a million people by the time "Dead or Alive" was written.

And what about me? I mean, in my whole career, I have certainly played to a ton of faces (I'll let you do the math), but, HELL, I was hammered for a couple of those years, and probably wasn't concentrating on faces at all. Besides, how can you see all of the faces that you play to, hammered or not?! Lights are in your eyes! It's dark! You have shades on!

When you headline a smaller venue, with say 850 people, you can actually see all of the faces. But even if all of those people are there to see your band, and have spent their hard-earned money to come and spend the evening with you, isn't it possible a few of those people were disappointed? I guess "I've seen 48,000 faces, and I rocked close to 41,000 of them" (a good damn percentage, by the way), is not so poetic.

Yep. These are the kinds of magnetic conversations bands have on the road. The rest of you may think we're nuts. It is a tough thing for a wife or manager to suddenly come out on the road for a visit and see five grown men having a faux-intellectual conversation about something like this.

I bet it even happens to the fellas in Bon Jovi!

I've always enjoyed comparing the 2 bands, but the recent Rock & Roll Hall of Fame news for Bon Jovi kinda bugged me. So I put together a detailed "face-off" between the 2 bands to see which one is REALLY more "worthy."

I think you'll find this article interesting. Whether you agree or disagree, feel free to share it!

"Bon Jovi, but not Def Leppard? For Shame Rock & Roll Hall of Fame!"
https://www.nostalgiclogic.com/bon-jovi-not-def-leppard-shame/