REVIEW: Bon Jovi – “This House is Not For Sale” (single)

BON JOVI – “This House is Not For Sale” (2016 Island single)

THE GOOD: Decent song, a little bit of rock, some tasty guitar work from Phil X, very much another Bon Jovi singalong for the working man.

THE BAD: More of the same. We’ve heard Bon Jovi do this exact kind of song many times over the last 15 years. Apparently the addition of Phil X hasn’t injected much new into the sound.

THE UGLY: It’s nice to see Phil X and Hugh McDonald on the cover art…but why did it take 20 years to finally put a picture of Hugh on the cover?

The new Bon Jovi album This House is Not For Sale will be out October 21. It’s far too early to judge, but the lead single doesn’t indicate that much has changed in Jovi Land. If you liked their last bunch of albums (basically everything from Have a Nice Day to Burning Bridges) then you’ll enjoy “This House is Not For Sale”.

3/5 stars

THIS HOUSE

41 comments

  3. I would say you could have plugged any amazing guitar player in and the sound would not change. Phil X would have been honoured to be included. If he had said boo about trying to change the direction, he would be on the next bus home in my opinion.

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    1. Phil X said at the time he joined that he wouldn’t leave his porch for $10,000 a month when the rumour was floating around that Sambora quit over money..
      Nice….!

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      1. Filling in for Sambora on the tour is Phil Xenidis, a Toronto native who, according to RumorFix, is earning about $10,000 per month – far less than Sambora’s estimated $2 million haul.

        On Twitter, Xenidis said the website is “full of s***” because “I wouldn’t even leave my house for that salary.”

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  6. This has nothing whatsoever to do with the band that released great albums like New Jersey and Keep The Faith. Boring mainstream pop that doesn’t move me one bit.

    What JBJ needs to do is to bring back Alec and Richie and run back to Sambora’s parents garage and forget about the last 20 years and write music for the love of writing music instead of thinking with his wallet.

    I find so sad that a band that was once so amazingly good, that wrote straight from the heart, that only wanted to have fun and rock out has turned into this mediocre bunch of musical couch potatoes that only plays on routine and that just don’t seem to give a crap anymore as long as they make another million.

    Dah! I just puked some in my mouth…

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    1. If Richie came back that would be incredible but I don’t think that’ll happen for at least 5 years or so. At least until Jon realizes the band is better with its original guitarist.

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        1. Sadly yes. And if you look at the writing credits, I’ll boldly success that Sambora was choked out by all the Billy Falcons and other songwriters. His style wasn’t being heard in the songs anymore.

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  7. Sounds just like Bon Jovi. Or at least what I expected it to sound like. Can he not just give it up? Means there’d be more recording time, mastering time, listening time, etc. for decent bands.

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  10. Hey, maybe the album title is a preemptive strike, ya know? Like, if this doesn’t sell well, they might have to sell the house. But then he can say “look, I already told you ain’t for sale nyah nyah!”

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    1. I think Jon is gambling that this will be as big as the last couple Bon Jovi albums, and I think it will be. His tours have not sagged at all since Richie left. Jon always said “fans just know Richie from his cowboy hat” and now he’s about to prove that he’s the only one that matters in Bon Jovi (commercially).

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      1. Well, I’m happy for them that they’ve kept going, I guess. But as for actually listening, I can’t say I’ve gone out of my way for these guys in a long, long while! Good on you for keeping us up to date, though!

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