Sometimes It’s a Bitch question

[bwboy]

I took a road trip and brought lots of music, including TimeSpace. While listening to it I had a thought. Here’s my question:

Would the single Sometimes It’s a Bitch have charted higher if Jon Bon Jovi had sang on it with Stevie?

Curious what folks think. I believe the single was released in 1992, but please correct me if I’m wrong.

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by bwboy

I took a road trip and brought lots of music, including TimeSpace. While listening to it I had a thought. Here’s my question:

Would the single Sometimes It’s a Bitch have charted higher if Jon Bon Jovi had sang on it with Stevie?

Curious what folks think. I believe the single was released in 1992, but please correct me if I’m wrong.

It was released in the late summer of 1991.
It's not really a duet but the song may have gotten more traction if Jon sang on the song too. Bon Jovi was still really popular but not selling the HUGE albums they did with Slippery When Wet and Bad Medicine in the late 80s. Bon Jovi gave Cher a big musical comeback. I think if the song was the lead single off OSOTM it would have been a big hit because Bon Jovi made everything turn to gold back then. He was also responsible for giving Cinderella their big break too. By the time 1991 came around Stevie was considered washed up and Bon Jovi was still a massive concert grossing band but was not selling the millions of albums they did in the late 80s.
Timespace was a very odd time for Stevie. She did not want to do the album. The album was majorly delayed by the Mac's tour delay in 1990. She toured before the album was even released so it was a hugely missed opportunity to promote the new songs. She wrote a dedication to the Desert Angel troops and by the time it was released the war was way over. Without the album's release, radio stations could not even play or promote the song as Stevie was coming to town.
It just was a messed up time and klonopin did not help. I think it really hurt her that her own record company pretty much said that she was washed up and she needed the big stars to write songs for her. However, those stars had their hey day years earlier. She was chasing a train that left the station years earlier. Her summer 1991 tour was not even called the Timespace tour since it was not released yet. She sung no new songs from Timespace on the tour either. The tour was called "The Whole Lotta Trouble" tour.

[Jondalar]

Originally Posted by bwboy

I took a road trip and brought lots of music, including TimeSpace. While listening to it I had a thought. Here’s my question:

Would the single Sometimes It’s a Bitch have charted higher if Jon Bon Jovi had sang on it with Stevie?

Curious what folks think. I believe the single was released in 1992, but please correct me if I’m wrong.

Bon Jovi wasn't happy with Stevie's vocal on it and I agree. Her vocal sucks. She blew it off. I think if she put a better vocal on it that would of made a difference.

[bwboy]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

It was released in the late summer of 1991.
It's not really a duet but the song may have gotten more traction if Jon sang on the song too. Bon Jovi was still really popular but not selling the HUGE albums they did with Slippery When Wet and Bad Medicine in the late 80s. Bon Jovi gave Cher a big musical comeback. I think if the song was the lead single off OSOTM it would have been a big hit because Bon Jovi made everything turn to gold back then. He was also responsible for giving Cinderella their big break too. By the time 1991 came around Stevie was considered washed up and Bon Jovi was still a massive concert grossing band but was not selling the millions of albums they did in the late 80s.

She was chasing a train that left the station years earlier.

Love the train analogy!

Thanks for the correction about the release date. In 1991, I think the song would have charted better if Bon Jovi had sang on it, especially if he had been featured in the video, too. More so than 1992, anyway. I kind of remember what radio was playing then, I mean pop was still pretty prominent, and the year before when Save Me by FM came out, radio was also playing Roxette Listen to Your Heart, Nelson Love and Affection, Heart All I Want to Do is Make Love to You, etc. In 1991, grunge hadn’t taken over yet.

Even if the song had charted higher, it seems unlikely it would have made the top 10. And the album did pretty well anyway, selling 1.5 million. I like the song, I love the helicopter intro, and I think Bon Jovi and Billy Falcon did at job writing it. It’s cliche, but it fits Stevie.

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by bwboy

Love the train analogy!

Thanks for the correction about the release date. In 1991, I think the song would have charted better if Bon Jovi had sang on it, especially if he had been featured in the video, too. More so than 1992, anyway. I kind of remember what radio was playing then, I mean pop was still pretty prominent, and the year before when Save Me by FM came out, radio was also playing Roxette Listen to Your Heart, Nelson Love and Affection, Heart All I Want to Do is Make Love to You, etc. In 1991, grunge hadn’t taken over yet.

Even if the song had charted higher, it seems unlikely it would have made the top 10. And the album did pretty well anyway, selling 1.5 million. I like the song, I love the helicopter intro, and I think Bon Jovi and Billy Falcon did at job writing it. It’s cliche, but it fits Stevie.

I like it too. I also think Love Is A Hard Game To Play is a great song too. Poison also had their hey day years earlier. IMHO had these songs been on OSOTM it all would have been relevant having her writers being the biggest stars on the charts in real time.
Bruce Hornsby was also huge in 1987. She was on tour with Mac and fell in love with Kenny G and Songbird and Bruce Hornsby's piano playing. She used them on her next solo album but they too were no longer current. That train too left the station.
Jon did not have to sing on Cher's late 80s song for it to be a big hit. I think if SIAB was released in 1988 or 1989 it would have charted far better.

[Tusky]

I like both songs BUT in the UK especially Bon Jovi were definitely cheesy. In interviews she spoke as if the record company thought it would make her cool but by the time it was released it was absolutely not cool

[BLY]

1990-1994 was definitely not Stevie’s best years but I was still supporting her concerts and releases. I will say it was a great call on Mick’s part to hold Silver Springs for the Mac’s 1992 Chain box set. It wasn’t a solo song of hers and if she would have re recorded it for Timespace it could have been a disaster.

[aleuzzi]

I always dug her vocal on this, especially on the chorus. Not sure what Jon Bon Jovi didn't like about it.

I've never dug the arrangement (very 80s). Otherwise, I was and remain impressed by it.

[Nathan]

This song is one of my favorites.

My only gripe is "sometimes it's rose, and sometimes it's weeds," could have been "sometimes it stays and sometimes it leaves?" I never cared for the "weeds" metaphor.

I always thought this song would be great with just her and a piano player.

[Villavic]

I wonder what she thought about the lyrics. Probably she felt identified, partially. Cause she should not have agreed with "And if I could...I'd do it all over again".

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by Villavic

I wonder what she thought about the lyrics. Probably she felt identified, partially. Cause she should not have agreed with "And if I could...I'd do it all over again".

In 1991 she said many times in interviews that she would do everything in her life exactly the same and had no regrets. Cocaine got out of control and led to bad times but she had far more good times in that era. She routinely said she never regretted a thing.
Today she would not say that because the klonopin era she would definitely go back and change. But in 1991 when the song came out she had no regrets.

[Villavic]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

In 1991 she said many times in interviews that she would do everything in her life exactly the same and had no regrets.

She is not the only person who says that. I have heard it from many artists, public figures, common people, and not under some substance effect. And with all respect, IMHO, it's the most silly thing I hear or read. Usually the point of saying that is we learn from our mistakes. And yes, that's the positive side of mistakes, as long as we learn. But please, we all have done things that we would rather not have done, even if we learn something from it. Have we never done something, at some point in our lives, probably unintentionally, that has offended someone? out of immaturity, impulse, etc. Wouldn't we rather not have done it? I have.

And Stevie, well, say no more. It's ok to say that within a song. In fact, Non, je ne regrette rien is my favorite Edith Piaf song. But saying that in a seroius context, no.