Justin Hawkins of The Darkness comments on Bon Jovi’s voice: “The people around him need to tell him to stop”

Jon Bon Jovi, the vocalist of rock legends Bon Jovi, has drawn some criticism for his recent vocal performances. Bon Jovi’s vocals have been mocked as “shockingly bad” and “impossible to listen to”.

Now Justin Hawkins, lead singer of British hard rock band The Darkness, has also commented on Bon Jovi’s vocals. Hawkins said the following in his own YouTube video:

“My career is not as long as Jon Bon Jovi’s, and not as big as well. Even at the level that we’ve experienced, if you’re in a situation like that and you can’t deliver the goods and you can’t give your audience what they deserve, that’s horrible — it’s a horrible feeling — and you don’t enjoy touring in that condition; you just wanna go home. And I expect he’s feeling the same way, really. But there must be a huge machine around Bon Jovi that stops him from being able to pull the plug on it, really, which is what needs to happen, I think. I mean, I’m not talking about pull the plug forever.”

“It’s not fun to watch this and it isn’t fun to regard one of the greats. He’s a great singer — he always has been — but this sounds like something is eating away at him from the inside. And I don’t think it’s a voice injury; I think it’s more of something like a manifestation of performance anxiety that’s stopping him from delivering his trademark Gale Force 10 mega vocal that you need on these huge tracks, these anthemic mega hits. And I feel like the people around him need to tell him to stop. It must be difficult when… I suppose if you’re afraid of getting the sack, I suppose it’s difficult to talk to a singer in that way. I don’t know what the dynamic is in their organization, but I think if I was working for Jon Bon Jovi and I cared about the ‘brand,’ I would ask him to consider canceling the tour and getting some medical attention. It saddens me to see it. I’m sure we’re all disappointed.”