Bon Jovi is more than just a blue-collar champion and an outspoken opponent of those who would give love a bad name—his traditionalist streak runs to defending the music industry’s lawn from the devastating encroachment of kids and their damned iPods. In an interview with The Sunday Times Magazine, Bon Jovi blamed the increasing popularity of digital downloads for the sad state of music-buying today, saying, “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. God, it was a magical, magical time.”
Of course, when you put this in the context of the original cover for Slippery When Wet, he’s sort of got a point, but perhaps realizing that his nostalgic reverie was bordering on bitterness, Bon Jovi admitted, “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." Considering Bon Jovi serves on the same White House council as Steve Jobs’ wife, that next meeting is going to be slightly awkward.