Bon Jovi has admitted they hated being described as a "hair band".
The rockers were famous for their long permed mullet hairstyles in the 80s but now wish they'd stuck with a short back and sides look. Frontman Jon Bon Jovi and guitarist Richie Sambora are convinced less daring hairdos would have forced critics to take them more seriously.
"We've never been the critics' darling," Richie said. "Because we were labelled with that 'hair band' thing when we came up."
The group claim their image is the reason they were snubbed by the Rock 'N' Roll Hall Of Fame when they became eligible for induction earlier this year.
While Richie, David Bryan and Tico Torres insist they're happy to be a "people's band", Jon was devastated by the rebuff. "It bothers me a lot," he fumed to the USA Today newspaper. "Yeah, I'll tell you that it bothers me. It disappointed me greatly. Who wouldn't want to be in a club along with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones?"
Bon Jovi have not just been punished because they were a hairband but also because their singer has a very powerful sex appeal and never really downplayed it. Granted at the start of Bon Jovi's career Jon Bon Jovi's sex appeal was a factor in their meteoric rise to stardom. However, as the years went by his sex appeal became less of a factor, and in some cases it actually worked against him in terms of musical credibility. Bon Jovi are one of those bands that inspire incredible devotion or hatred (ala Kiss, Journey). The main issue with the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame is that the voters (in general) have a homogeneous point of view of what good music is; ie artists who have made contributions that appeal to a wide audience and cover many demographics are considered a problem and not respectable. I understand that it is very important to give (relatively)unheralded musical pioneers their just due, however that does not negate the fact that writing a hit song is perhaps the hardest feat that any recording artist can hope for and do it repeatedly over a long career is an accomplishment reserved for the very few. Additionally, people forget the intense backlash that 80s hard rock bands had to endure during the 90's due to the rise of grunge. The only group in recent memory who had to endure a similar backlash and survived were the Bee Gees, and it would be hard to find many who question their musical legacy. Shame on you rock and roll hall of fame for having such a biased pompous view of what music should mean to people.