Bono’s voice: the definitive comparison

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And in my second post I did compare 360 and ZooTV so I am not sure why you are stating this again, other than to be difficult.

Ahh, yes. The guy who said anyone who doesn't agree with him is full of shit is having a hard time dealing with someone who doesn't agree with him.

Bono sounded better in the 1980s, and people who suggest he sounds better now are full of it.

With attitude like that I can see how things might be difficult for you.

Who could've seen that coming.

Your best bet would be to go back to talking about me with your buddies:

http://www.u2interference.com/forum...h-we-did-not-let-cobbler-title-214214-32.html
 
1984 was Bono's peak IMHO. In the early 80s he was still a diamond in the rough. Lots of raw talent but his voice came off as a bit raw and unpolished at times. I think he sounds simply amazing on TUF. His voice is still young and undamaged but he's developed his more mature sound. Even as early as the late 80s the cracks begin to show...


1984-1995.
 
pcfitz80 said:
1984 was Bono's peak IMHO. In the early 80s he was still a diamond in the rough. Lots of raw talent but his voice came off as a bit raw and unpolished at times. I think he sounds simply amazing on TUF. His voice is still young and undamaged but he's developed his more mature sound. Even as early as the late 80s the cracks begin to show...

84-87 were the perfect years. That scene on the unforgettable fire movie when Bono's trying some vocals (when some guy is moving a chair or something away) is a perfect example of Bono "flying" with his voice.
 
Von Schloopen said:
Ahh, yes. The guy who said anyone who doesn't agree with him is full of shit is having a hard time dealing with someone who doesn't agree with him.

With attitude like that I can see how things might be difficult for you.

Who could've seen that coming.

Your best bet would be to go back to talking about me with your buddies:

http://www.u2interference.com/forums/f221/random-music-thread-lxii-which-we-did-not-let-cobbler-title-214214-32.html

Oh, nevermind that mate. They do it all the time. They call this part of the forum "the other place" or something like that. They are sure ppl here are borderline idiots and they are too cool for here.
 
gvox said:
Ah! A new Bono (not)singing technique, defined: the "moan"!!

You guys crack me up.

Haha...and don't forget Bono's "heavy breathing" technique. See the end of Helter Skelter in Rattle & Hum for a prime example.
 
silkensky said:
Haha...and don't forget Bono's "heavy breathing" technique. See the end of Helter Skelter in Rattle & Hum for a prime example.

Jim Kerr and Bono shared this heavy breathing technique in the 80's.
 
I used to try and participate in threads like this and separate the objective from the subjective, but soon realized it's just not possible in a venue like this. The human voice is a unique instrument in the sense that I think there are more subjective qualities that draw someone in, moreso than say a piano or guitar.

Plus there's just a huge communication breakdown because everyone is throwing out terms and are using different definitions associated with them.

Just enjoy what you enjoy...
 
This is down to personal taste. Some prefer 80's vocals, some prefer 00's vocals.

The irony of fans of "technique" that almost ruined his career accusing non 80's Bono singing as screaming never gets old.

edit : the comparison of a 50 year old, smoker, with the 20 years younger singer is off base. However, consider the difference between Vertigo-360 with something more recent like Elevation or Popmart. Why the complaints ? If he can stay at this level, with the occasional peak a la Union Chapel vocals, bring it on.

I agree - Bono sounds really great now, compared to his mid-90's/early 00's version.

I became a "super fan" of U2 in the 80's thanks to Bono's vocals, especially on TUF (and that, of course continued on JT and R&H). And I will also state that after I first heard AB, while I was thrilled that U2 had some faster pace "fun" songs (as few of those were on TUF, JT and R&H), I was disappointed not to hear at least some Bono's "belting out moments". There were glimpses, like on "Ultraviolet" and "Wild Horses", but nothing like there were on the prior three albums.

That said, I too recognized a need for a change. U2 were now in their 30's. They were changing their image and sound. I have my share of ZOO TV era boots where Bono does belt out a song (even using his "Kermit voice" a few times). And then there are times where he substitutes a falsetto for a scream (like in "Bad"). To this day, I wonder - was this intentional? That is, did Bono do this to match U2's new "image"? Or was this from a man who learned not to belt out every song and save his voice?

Regardless, I stand by my earlier comment. If Bono could grow his JT era hair, I wouldn't want to see it. It would look ridiculous for a 52 year old man to whip his hair around like he did 25 years ago. I don't want to see him shirtless or in suspenders either. Likewise, I don't want to hear him try to sing like his 26 year old self when he recorded JT.

NLOTH proved to me that Bono can still belt it out. But he has the experience to work ALL of his range. Maybe he has lost a bit of his upper range or high falsetto, but he's gained experience in actually singing a high note as opposed to using his "Kermit" voice or almost screaming it. I get that people might like the power and passion of his 80's voice - I sure did. But I also know I don't want to go back there again. I like the Bono voice we have now. Both eras work well.

I admit, some performances now sound a bit "lackluster" compared to the 80's. However, I also realize it all depends on the performance. Just the other day, I listened to some Love Town performances on YouTube - and I wasn't impressed. Gone was the range and power for even songs like "Bad". Instead, Bono just got his way through the song. This tells me that on any given song on any given day, you may get sheer brilliance, or you may get a solid, but not spectacular performance. And since Bono is not on any type of singing competition, usually "solid" is more than good enough, regardless of the era.

I guess the best way to summarize is that while we won't be getting any more "Red Hill Mining Town" type of vocals, we won't have Kermit singing "Bullet the Blue Sky" either.
 
Oh, nevermind that mate. They do it all the time. They call this part of the forum "the other place" or something like that. They are sure ppl here are borderline idiots and they are too cool for here.

I'm getting that.

The whole "my opinion is right and anyone who thinks otherwise is full of shit" met very little resistance. High school on the internet.
 
This doesn't address what I said at all, does it?

For me? It certainly does.

Would you get into specifics of an argument with someone who said this?

Bono sounded better in the 1980s, and people who suggest he sounds better now are full of it.

and then ran away to whine to his buddies like this:

http://www.u2interference.com/forum...h-we-did-not-let-cobbler-title-214214-32.html

Rather childish way to engage another person/persons in debate. No? How would you engage someone who just said everyone with an opinion counter to his is full of shit? Or couldn't speak the language properly?
 
For crissakes, he doesn't even sing a good portion of the song on 360!!

Which portions did he skip in 360? A verse? chorus? bridge? "Good Portion" tells me there's quite a bit he left off.

Which bits were they?

I'm insanely curious.
 
For me? It certainly does.

Would you get into specifics of an argument with someone who said this?



and then ran away to whine to his buddies like this:

http://www.u2interference.com/forum...h-we-did-not-let-cobbler-title-214214-32.html

Rather childish way to engage another person/persons in debate. No? How would you engage someone who just said everyone with an opinion counter to his is full of shit? Or couldn't speak the language properly?
I questioned your reading comprehension and just assumed you were foreign because of your username. There is no debate over the fact that you misunderstood some of the things I was saying though. I certainly apologize about that, I simply was trying to come to an understanding over why you had such trouble understanding things I was saying.

You keep obsessing over that one particular quote in which I said a segment of people were "full of it." As you have noted multiple times, we seemed to be talking about different things when we were talking about this. I feel as though there has been a ton of confusion in this thread because everyone's using different terminology.

Now, I am perfectly willing to discuss some things with you so long as you are willing to stop acting so offended by a couple of things I said pages ago in this thread. I do not think you are "full of it," but I do think you have become irrational in addressing me because you were hypersensitive about me saying such a thing.
 
Let's compare Ultraviolet on ZooTV and Ultraviolet on 360, once and for all:

First Verse (Oh sugar, don't you cry...)
ZooTV: Bono sings in low register
360: Bono sings in low register

Second Verse (You bury your treasure...)
ZooTV: Bono sings in low register
360: Bono sings in high register

First Chorus (Ultraviolet)
ZooTV: Edge sings in high register, Bono sings in falsetto
360: Bono and Edge both sing in high register

Bridge (I remember...)
ZooTV: Bono sings in high register
360: Bono sings in high register

Second Chorus (Ultraviolet)
ZooTV: Edge sings in high register, Bono sings in falsetto
360: Bono and Edge both sing in high register

Outro (Baby, baby, baby)
ZooTV: Bono sings in high register
360: Bono sings in high register, Edge sings in middle register

You stated that you believed Edge did most of the "heavy lifting" in the ZooTV version. In the ZooTV version, Edge sang the "Ultraviolet" refrain while Bono sang the falsetto.

Here is where the confusion came in: I mentioned the fact that the reason Edge sang that and Bono sang the falsetto was because that was the way it appeared on the album. You believed that I was, thus, comparing the album version to that version, which I was not. I was responding to the idea that Edge needed to do heavy lifting because Bono could not. I am not sure if that was the implication or not, but I wanted to address it. You have now several times accused me of bringing up the album version as a comparison, which was not at all my intention.

It should also be noted that Bono sang the entire outro by himself on ZooTV, but had Edge back him up on 360. It could be argued that Bono needed Edge to help him with some of the "lifting" here.

My point was that I did not think Edge did "heavy lifting" on ZooTV by just singing his part of the song. Bono belted out that outro part very well. His voice seemed fine to me.
 
Let's compare Ultraviolet on ZooTV and Ultraviolet on 360, once and for all:

First Verse (Oh sugar, don't you cry...)
ZooTV: Bono sings in low register
360: Bono sings in low register

Second Verse (You bury your treasure...)
ZooTV: Bono sings in low register
360: Bono sings in high register

First Chorus (Ultraviolet)
ZooTV: Edge sings in high register, Bono sings in falsetto
360: Bono and Edge both sing in high register

Bridge (I remember...)
ZooTV: Bono sings in high register
360: Bono sings in high register

Second Chorus (Ultraviolet)
ZooTV: Edge sings in high register, Bono sings in falsetto
360: Bono and Edge both sing in high register

Outro (Baby, baby, baby)
ZooTV: Bono sings in high register
360: Bono sings in high register, Edge sings in middle register

You stated that you believed Edge did most of the "heavy lifting" in the ZooTV version. In the ZooTV version, Edge sang the "Ultraviolet" refrain while Bono sang the falsetto.

Here is where the confusion came in: I mentioned the fact that the reason Edge sang that and Bono sang the falsetto was because that was the way it appeared on the album. You believed that I was, thus, comparing the album version to that version, which I was not. I was responding to the idea that Edge needed to do heavy lifting because Bono could not. I am not sure if that was the implication or not, but I wanted to address it. You have now several times accused me of bringing up the album version as a comparison, which was not at all my intention.

It should also be noted that Bono sang the entire outro by himself on ZooTV, but had Edge back him up on 360. It could be argued that Bono needed Edge to help him with some of the "lifting" here.

My point was that I did not think Edge did "heavy lifting" on ZooTV by just singing his part of the song. Bono belted out that outro part very well. His voice seemed fine to me.

excellent post.
 
kane.gif
 
Doesn't Bono actually sing more on 360 since he takes over the "ultraviolet" chorus that Edge used to do on Zoo TV (as opposed to Zoo TV where Bono had the falsetto but Edge had the chorus) ? :shrug:

2009 Bono on chorus >>>>>>>>>> 1992 Edge on chorus (next to the changed guitar and mostly Bono's different vocals in the "you bury your treasure" verse, the thing that made the real difference on Ultraviolet).

The only time Edge needed to do some real "lifting" was in Sarajevo, for obvious reasons.
 
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