How do you really feel about HTDAAB

[U2girl]

Just below top 5. In the middle.

 

[Axver]

Interesting that "comparatively in the middle" is leading the polling here, given the absolute pounding HTDAAB took in Survivor, finishing in the bottom three in both editions.

 

[U2girl]

It looks like the anti 00s jihad is not quite as convincing as it tries to be...

edit: I'm more looking forward to the atu2.com's poll with thousands of people with their opinions. In particular the responses to "favourite/best" and "worst/least favourite" album.

 

[djerdap]

Yeah, I loved it at first, but it didn't stand the test of time. Too many sugary, poppy songs with some cringe-worthy lyrics. Like many of you said, it's not an album - it is a very mixed collection of songs. Still, it does have some great songs on it and it is much better than ATYCLB, for various reasons, mainly because there is some energy on this one, unlike its utterly dull predecessor.

It is a definitely an example of a band trying way too hard.

The alternate versions are mostly better, especially Native Son. So, it is OK, it falls somewhere in the middle (a bit lower).

 

[zwervers2]

Musically weak and lyrically lazy, mechanically structured and over-produced, thematically shallow, soulless and cold, I’m not sure how people can compare with any sort of straight face the songs of this album in any reasonable fashion to those on virtually any other U2 album. Arguing that the Bomb has it’s place alongside the Unforgettable Fire or Zooropa, let alone Achtung/JT, is to me (in more ways than one) similar to putting up a fight for Phantom Menace taking a place alongside the Empire Strikes Back. And Yahweh is Jar Jar Binks.

While occasionally providing the odd brilliant example of middle of the road, adult contemporary, pop-rock construction (and one or two catchy, mindless, suburban rock radio riffs) overall this album does not even hold a candle to the one it was intended to be a bigger and brighter and louder extension of, the somewhat weak but in comparison genius, natural, warm breeze pop of ATYCLB. And lets not even embarrass those pre-00’s albums by daring to make any comparison with them. They’re demanding DNA tests to confirm a shared parentage – we do have our doubts - but for now we’ll just let them sit over on the side of the room, ignoring this black sheep in the family.

How the same fan that still gets a chill 20+ years later from Running To Stand Still can even endure more than the first 30 seconds of Sometimes You Can’t Make it On Your Own without gag reflex kicking in is beyond me. How someone who is astounded at any and all versions of Bono’s brilliant yearning lyric on Please can then listen to the comparatively amazingly moronic Love and Peace without beginning to wonder if any or all of the band have taken seriously damaging knocks to the head at some point in 2003-4 is also beyond me. How anyone can listen to Native Son and feel that door getting kicked down, the character running out into his freedom at every point that massive riff kicks in and still find any enjoyment in hearing it deployed only for it’s absolute surface level catchiness on Vertigo I don’t know. I have no idea how anyone can listen to City of Blinding Lights and say anything other than “Well, admittedly it’s pretty good (if only they got the mix right), quite striking live, but my god if they were trying for a 00’s Streets they missed the mark by a long fucking shot.” I have zero respect for people in these forums bashing Coldplay around the block while totally ignoring a song like Miracle Drug, which surely gave even the absolutely terrible X&Y-era Coldplay confidence in their goal of finally toppling their heroes. Of course the Killers hear All Because of You and think the old men have lost it and should move over for their totally surface level, party music pop rock from Vegas. Too easy for them.

*ahem* so yeah, I maybe voted for “It’s awful, I hate it”.

You have just entered my head and wrote down what I was meaning to say all along. Thank you, Earnie Shavers, Thank you

 

[Galeongirl]

In the middle for me, I love a few songs off it, some don't interest me much..

 

[rihannsu]

I love both HTDAAB and ATYCLB.

All I know is that I don't really care what kind of musical critiscm you want to apply to Bomb because ATYCLB and HTDAAB have over the last two years helped me to totally changed the emotional trajectory of my life. The impact of these two albums on my heart and soul outweigh any supposed musical or lyrical deficiencies for me. As a matter of fact most of the lyrics that get slammed here are exactly the ones that have affected me the most. I have become comfortable in my skin and developed a much healthier attitude and approach to life since diving into U2 in 2005. It's been really difficult for me at times to take the Bomb bashing that goes on here. I'm learning to let it slide because in everything I've read about the band they seem to care more about how their music affects people than the nuts and bolts of how it sounds or is constructed.

Dana

 

[last unicorn]

^

Totally agree.

I don't really care about how people analyze everything to death, I don't read any page long essays about how bad that album (or any other u2 album or song) is, because it doesn't convince me of anything. Some people just cannot accept that different people like different music and that there are indeed fans who love and appreciate U2's latest albums. It must be hurtful spreading so much hate.

U2's last two albums have a special place in my heart and soul and some of the lyrics have been very fitting for me in different situations. The bomb bashing is so lame, especially now. I wish people were able to celebrate and appreciate the new album without at the same time bashing U2's previous albums. There is no U2 music I hate, I embrace it all as part of the work of my favourite band. There are some songs that may not appeal to me that much or certain songs that appeal to me more in certain situations, but overall, I could never feel so much hatred for any of their songs like some people here seem to feel for Bomb.

 

[zoopop]

I have HTDAAB ranked 6 just behind Zooropa. Sometimes, COBL, & OOTS are classic U2 for me. The other songs on the album are good but they just don’t flow together until the very end, which is too late to consider it an “album”

-Crumbs
-OSC
-OOTS
-Yahweh (Acoustic version should have been recorded)

is a great closing to an album. Especially compared to the B-side of ATYCLB, which is a complete mess.

I think the band had an idea/direction they wanted to go but it was scrapped for whatever reasons and U2 did the best they could to finish the songs. I think back on it and the band could never pin down what this album was about. Bono was talking about one thing, while Edge was talking about it being a collection of songs. Then the whole tour delay in which the tour was close to being cancelled. . Even the image of U2 and tour production was pretty bland. The stadium shows were so much better while the arena shows looked like Elevation part 2.

Maybe some more time or another producer would have given U2 a better chance of making another classic U2 album.

 

[Tyagu_Anaykus]

Wait a few more years. After that people will love it as it is. Just like POP

interference members are one of a kind

 

[Ellay]

a lot of the demos are better, sadly.

You said it..

I think they tried TOO hard with some of them.

I love Vertigo / Fast Cars / Love and Peace , but some/most of the others seem overproduced.

And it's true, the album doesn't gel together as an entity in itself, very well.

 

[RedRocksU2]

I love the album.
I guess it will always remind me of the time I joined Interference and met several great people here and at gatherings.
Music and songs do that to me. They bring back (for the most part) great memories in my lifetime and you should be able to enjoy them with friends.

I hold this album in my top 3.
COBL, LAPOE, OOTS. Great songs.

 

[Salome]

I think it's a good album with some very good songs
which places it below the U2 avarage for me

that being said
it is in the top 3 (probably) U2 albums I listen to the most though

 

[Purplereign]

Just below middle for me . . . I don't hate it, but its not the album I reach for most . . . tend to listen to songs individually as opposed to letting it play from go to woe . . . OOTS is lovely & COBL is gorgeous live

 

[McG]

I thought it was fantastic initially and would have rated it better than ATYCLB but now that time has passed I don't really think its that good. ATYCLB is a more coherant album and I would put it ahead of the two now. Bomb seems like a collection of potential singles. A couple of great tunes though, like COBL and Vertigo.
I'm not sure whether Bono was able to give it his full attention at the time due to his charity commitments. It really shows through now if I listen to it, the lyrics don't seem to fit well with the music a lot of the time.

 

[Addicted To Bad]

Wait a few more years. After that people will love it as it is. Just like POP






Great songs. Great album. It´s in my top 5, no doubt!

 

[catlhere]

I don't think it's as cohesive an album like a TJT or AB, but it has some really great songs, and i find myself skipping only 1 or 2 tracks on the CD while there are others I skip even up to 5 songs or more depending on my mood. The Vertigo Tour really showcased how great some of the tunes were as well. Gave me a new appreciation for tracks I may have overlooked when I first listened to the album because they were so bitchin' live. The hate for it on this site is usually pretty funny, especially when the high and mighty ones turn their nose up to others as if you must be a simpleton to enjoy HTDAAB. Why someone would act like an arrogant tool when it comes to musical preferences is beyond me. Still, It's pretty easy to ignore though since more people like it than hate it in the grand scheme of things and I think U2 realizes this as well.

Overall despite it's lesser flow than some of their previous work, the strength of the songs by themselves puts it barely in the top 5 for me, edging out October. (another truly unloved outcast )

 

[ShipOfFools]

It's my second to least favorite U2 album, but I still love it. I'm always surprised when people say it's an awful album or call it "Bomb" - it's not a bad album at all.

 

[MMP]

it's not a bad album at all.

As far as I'm concerned there's no bad U2 album. Of all their albums the lowest rate I would give is 7.0 to Boy and October.

 

[Tyagu_Anaykus]

 

[Serena Vox]

If 'Mercy' and 'Smile' was on the album in place of AMAAW and Crumbs then the album would have been really really good

BsB

Holy shit yes.

 

[nadie]

It's not abysmal, but I don't really listen to it. It's too happy for gloomy ol' me. The songs seem too easy; I feel the same way when I hear them as I did the first time I heard them, there's nothing there for me to uncover.

 

[Utoo]

I choose "C.5"---"It's okay, but in my bottom half."

I'm not as thrilled with it as I used to be, but I don't think it's a poor album. Still, it's in my bottom half when compared with the rest of the band's catalog. I don't think that's really a bad thing...it's just not one of their best, that's all.

 

[shart1780]

Easily one of their worst. Most of the songs aren't really bad, it's just that they don't hold up well at all. They're soooo boring to me. There's maybe two or three songs that don't bore me out of my mind on there. I think Smile is better than anything on the album by a longshot.

 

[Saracene]

It's somewhere in the middle for me. I think it's one of the most consistent U2 albums in a sense that I can enjoy it from start to finish without skipping songs. Yet at the same time it's not greater than the sum of its parts and it's missing that elusive "U2 magic" that all their other albums have, even the most flawed ones.

 

[gareth brown]

I'd not only feel bad, but I'd feel I was lying if I voted "It's Awful I Hate It" because there are some really good songs on there! Only 4 or 5 though so like some have already said it's easily one in the lower half of my 'top whatever number' list

I remember buying the album on release day, dashing to HMV straight after school to pick it up. This was the first new U2 album I'd ever experienced as I only got into them in 2000 and since then had...kinda bought them all! so yeah, they were by then my favourite band EVER and it's REALLY fucking weird to think I haven't actually experienced the excitement of a new U2 album since! For most of you it must be REALLY frustrating how they slowed down this decade.

Anyway, I remember I got home, took the CD straight out of my bag, put it on my hi-fi and...this is lame...switched off the lights and just lay down on my bed and listened to it start to finish. By the end I felt kinda disappointed but being what 15-16 and a die hard fan I didn't want to admit that I thought it was pretty bad given how much I'd loved Vertigo and the fact that this was the band who made The Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby and Zooropa!

I heard Miracle Drug when it leaked but wanted to hear the whole album so waited til it came out, after that song things didn't look too good. Overall the album is pretty weak and I thought U2 were pretty deluded saying 'This may be our best.' Every band says that surely?! But yeah...it started good, went straight down with Miracle Drug and picked up slightly with City Of Blinding Lights, then Original Of The Species which I absolutely adored and still do. A Man And A Woman I absolutely loved oddly...don't get why people hate it, when I went to Dublin for the first time it was oddly the only U2 song I overheard playing on the radio haha

Anyway, I like it, but I would NEVER go reccomending it to anyone. It's not worth saying 'Oh I like a FEW tracks but the rest of it's pretty shit.' because you're glossing over the fact that the album is mostly what some might call 'filler'. it's not even like they just made 'filler' in the usual sense...just whip up another song in the same style quickly and call the album done. I mean it's like they really tried to do something different but just fell a bit flat. It went way too far in the direction of the whole cheesy atmospheric stuff whereas The Joshua Tree and The Unforgettable Fire and even ATYCLB did it just fine.

anyway i've typed too much. ATYCLB is better to conclude. Much better.

 

[chikite]

HTDAAB is the first U2 album/release that I didn't purchase, and this from someone who has been a committed fan since the release of Boy. I agree with the oft stated idea that album lacks cohesion, but moreso this was the first time I felt that U2 were simply going through the motions, that they had lost focus or lost an idea of who they were artistically and, as a result, that they were trying too hard in some areas and not trying hard enough in others. The album conatins some very good songs, but five years on, I still detect something hollow at the heart of Bomb.

 

[Brian-C]

I wouldn't deny anyone their obvious pleasure, but this album, as well as the one which preceded it, were total snore-fests, for me. Didn't like them at all.

 

[ascender_RS]

I went for the middle of the road option. I think there's some really good songs on there, but much like ATYCLB, the presentation of those songs sometimes just seems a bit average. A bit like paint-by-numbers U2. I think maybe its because I prefer it when U2 experiment with their sound more and get out of their comfort zone a bit. For me, the most exciting time of being a U2 fan was AB, Zooropa, Pop, Passengers. I was really interested to see where they'd go next and was a bit disappointed tbh.

 

[jasonlee]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3iHXXqYulg

Version they should've went with.