Classic or Dud: U2

and achtung is a precursor to OK Computer. hmm, come to think of it Zoo Station and Airbag are similar in a lot of ways. never thought of that till now.

not that I love u2 by any means, I just love that album. it's that "ham-fisted attempt at soul or gospel whose title ends in a preposition" that's probably what gets me more than anything. and the pompousness that goes with it.

"You can't forget or cancel something you genuinely liked at some point", I was told. But for U2, I could. DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUD

20+ years later, I'd change that to "they *could* be one of the greatest bands ever, but post-Zooropa (which is the only other U2 album I listen to all the way through) they seem to be content just doing the same thing and load up the albums with one song for the old fans, one oddball song, and another overblown ballad which is their equivalent to an Aerosmith soundtrack theme.

Anyway, both classic AND dud simultaneously.

This is probably the closest to the truth of all of the responses to this question.

I'll always love "I Will Follow."

Ah well, fuck you 15 yr old Tom, you're too skinny anyway. DUD.

I heard "Gloria" subsequently, and went off them.

As for Bono's political activism, personally I find him annoying, but I'm easily able to put that annoyance aside because his efforts certainly have helped many people around the world, and my personal opinions are pretty tiny and selfish compared to that. I can't stand Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt either, but they're still doing great things, even if it's partially to improve their image (which I'm not claiming, but is certainly possible). We do have to remember that despite the fact that these folks have lived pampered lives, they've also had the opportunity to see horrible things that most of us haven't, and that's bound to affect anyone who still has the smallest degree of humanity.

No Line On The Horizon

http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/music/newsid_7832000/7832748.stm

album track titles:

The full track listing is:

1. No Line On The Horizon

2. Magnificent

3. Moment of Surrender

4. Unknown Caller

5. I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight

6. Get On Your Boots

7. Stand Up Comedy

8. Fez - Being Born

9. White As Snow

10. Breathe

11. Cedars Of Lebanon

"Cedars of Lebanon" Bono's contribution to peace in the Middle East?

I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight

^^^ Must be the Garth Brooks collab.

bono has compared the U2 sound as being influenced by trance, Led Zep and Moroccan music

back in december 2007

People will “feel the difference” when they hear the new U2 album, Bono tells The Independent. The album will find the Irish rockers taking on trance, metal and Moroccan influences. “Normally when you play a U2 tune, it clears the dance floor. And that may not be true of this. There’s some trance influences,” says Bono, forgetting his band’s own Pop album. “It’s not like anything we’ve ever done before, and we don’t think it sounds like anything anyone else has done either.” According to Bono, guitarist The Edge has “real molten metal” coming from his guitar, and that the band has recorded enough material to fit two CDs.

2009

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/a140783/u2-album-inspired-by-led-zep-jack-white.html

Speaking to Rolling Stone, the guitarist said that he is a big fan of Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page and recently contributed to the documentary It Might Get Loud with the legendary musician.

"I was just fascinated with seeing how Jimmy played those riffs so simply, and with Jack as well," said The Edge.

The new album is said to include blues rock tracks, with the first single expected to be 'Get On Your Boots'.

Bono commented: "There's some very hardcore guitar coming out of The Edge. Real molten metal."

Please tell me that 'Stand Up Comedy' is a spoken word interlude.

At last Larry gets to shine!

Fez - Being Born - this must be the Moroccan track

Fez

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fes
is the fourth largest city in Morocco, after Casablanca, Rabat and Marrakech with a population of 946,815 (2004 census). It is the capital of the Fès-Boulemane Region.

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee305/azou7/TommyCooper-1.jpg

just like that

Just when I thought our cherished Martian comedy was gone for good, it's back. Incongruous painstaking revival of a U2 thread, with pasted information about North Africa? What next?

jesus this album sounds bad. trance blues....shudder.

tho haven't u2 always been influenced by trance?? or indeed influencing it? it's no coincidence that Paul Oakenfold used to play "Where The Streets Have No Name" or that that "Take Me To The Skies" above record used the bassline from "With Or Without You"

the new single gets premiered on alex zanes xfm show this monday apparently.

Once, when I was with my then girlfriend, U2 came on the radio, and I said

I loathe U2

and she said

You loathe me?

lol

There are bands I love more, but I don't think there's a band I love more that's hated more by people whose opinions I respect.

That said, it took me seeing them live after the last album (my first U2 concert) for me to become a full-on, high-school-era-level believer again.

(I.e. back when I wore a "U2 - Boy" t-shirt and my classmates would go "You, too, boy!")

So I humbly retract this review:

http://www.citypages.com/2005-01-05/music/sunday-boring-sunday/

I like people who are passionate about early U2. Cheers.

The U2 effect

http://www.boredrevolution.com/?p=34

Coldplay, however, released two beautiful records of everyday heartbreak and insecurities

No.

and they were both singles...

http://www.spotify.com/go/20090223-u2-excl-preview-guardian

Coldplay, however, released two beautiful records of everyday heartbreak and insecurities

Fixed!

recent sets: http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/u2/2011/angel-stadium-anaheim-ca-63d31217.html
suggest Glastonbury is going to be amazing. they deserve it after so much bile's been aimed at them these last years. people randomly hating on U2's career just because Bono is up his own arse is just the worst criticism of music ever.

DL otm here http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jun/19/u2-headline-glastonbury-debate

"Here's the world's most successful live band moving outside their comfort zone and needing to prove themselves to an audience that could go either way. However it goes down, that should be something to see."

i'm with DL as well.

wondering if this will give them a way to cut back on the excess of the recent glass spider tour, and declare a rediscovered love of back to basics gigs ..

[i mean, surely they are not bringing the spider contraption to G ? ]

i'm american, so glastonbury doesn't mean much to me, but DL OTM. few things more tiresome than knee-jerk U2 hate.

that said, i spent years hating them for the negativland "U2" business, so...

cant figure out the thread that the recent Achtung Bay docu has been given some love on, so dropping on this one.
tis fascinating to see the band so riddled with doubt during their rattle & hum era.
i would have thought by that stage they had their thing locked down.
and the fact they believed they believed that they didn't have enough material for a stadium (as opposed to arena) shows despite the fact they were several albums into their career.
other than that, its a great watch .. loved the section re the breakdown of bands ("bought out", "snuck out" etc)
so many good quotes ..

of course : bay = baby

October is by far the best Christian rock record ever made. In all seriousness, it's an incredibly overlooked record, both in their catalog and overall. (This was brought to light in a recent discussion with a self-professed "huge U2 fan" who had never even heard it.) The urgent, devastating, soaring guitar solo in "Tomorrow"? Edge's guitar work overall? Bono is his usual strident self, but there's a lot less chest-beating than on the overrated War, and the whole band is tighter, more singular, and more focused than on Boy. It's a strange and captivating record, and I wonder if any ILMers have visited it lately.

why do I have this thread bookmarked

HE'S WATCHING YOU, DAN.

http://www.john-lee-ministries.org/Bono-Macphisto.jpg

anyway OTM re: October

I think it's a terrific record. But it's their hardest to get a handle on - I think largely down to the flat-yet-echoey production, it's of-its-time in a way that the others aren't, because they all get scooped up into the U2 sound. So while I like it, I'm more likely to consider it in another context, like if I'm thinking about Echo & The Bunnymen rather than U2 (I almost never do this btw).

I don't know if this is why I also find it slightly impenetrable - I know that personally they were wrestling with Christianity, but whether (other than a couple of obvious examples) and how that feeds in lyrically I just don't know. Is it Christian Rock? Is Tomorrow? I'm wary of categorising it as such - for one thing, anything prior to Zooropa seems equally worthy of the term.

x-post

I don't think I'll ever fully understand the vitriol spewed at Bono by so many... I mean, I get it: he's pretty douchey, he's pretty self-righteous, fine. But the dude has an amazing voice, and he's not any more over-the-top than so, so, so many other famous vocalists, neither in personality nor in vocal style/presence. I guess I should say that, while I can comprehend the vitriol, I can't inhabit it. I just can't. But that's a blind spot I'm happy to have.

think of it this way; if Jane's Addiction had released a bazillion albums, Bono would have been supplanted by Perry Farrell a long time ago