Name that U2 tune, please help

[BernardM50]

Hi All

Can I ask a favour on the "Star Stories" "Bono" episode. Can you name the U2 tune.

I know this aired a while ago, and please take it tongue in cheek.

Can you help name the U2 song. Towards the start of the episode, just after their first gig, and it plays whilst they are showing a newspaper headline. Its about 4m 30s in

Thanks for you help.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/star-stories/4od#3107150

Possibly the link is for UK viewers only.

 

[Galeongirl]

I can't view it, indeed UK only. Can you describe the song, name any lyric?

 

[Ronnie269]

Hi

Its not actually a U2 song, Its "Waterfront" by Simple Minds
An easy enough mistake to make, I always thought Charlie Burchill and The Edge had similar styles, and also Jim Kerr is pretty close to Bono Vocally,

Here is the tune.......

YouTube - Simple Minds Waterfront

 

[corianderstem]

Ha. At least it wasn't a Coldplay song, which would have been really funny.

 

[Inner El Guapo]

I remember having a conversation with my dad one day that lasted about five solid minutes and the gist of it was:

"What was that U2 song that you used to play all the time when you were a kid?" Then me listing a litany of U2 songs "uh, WOWY?" "New Year Day?". etc.
Then he tried to sing the melody + poorly tried to remember the lyrics, etc.
I must have named 50 U2 songs because it was bugging the hell out of me.

And then it finally dawned on me. And I got it right.

Alive and Kicking' by Simple Minds

Great song BTW.

 

[cobl04]

can't blame you. i thought Don't Forget About Me was a U2 song for ages, and i was pretty shattered when i found out it wasn't.

come in come out of the rain

 

[lemonfly]

^ ^ ^ Me too! And the first time I heard Movin On Up by Primal Scream I mistaked it for U2. There's something Bono-esque about the lyrics and it has an early 90s U2 vibe.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

Hi

Its not actually a U2 song, Its "Waterfront" by Simple Minds
An easy enough mistake to make, I always thought Charlie Burchill and The Edge had similar styles, and also Jim Kerr is pretty close to Bono Vocally,

Here is the tune.......

YouTube - Simple Minds Waterfront

In Waterfront in particular, it is almost identical to Bono. I completely understand that mistake.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

can't blame you. I thought don't forget about me was a u2 song for ages, and i was pretty shattered when i found out it wasn't.

Come in come out of the rain

oh and btw...

EVERYTHING YOU KNOW IS WRONG.

 

[bono_212]

Once I spent an entire afternoon trying to figure out who sang "Alive and Kicking" (didn't know the name of the song or any of the lyrics, just that there was a woman singing on it).

The best part is, the very first song I tried WAS "Alive and Kicking", but I didn't wait long enough into the song to realize it was

 

[KEVIN051269]

Never really got the why people couldn't tell the difference between the two bands

The most 'U2ish' song to my ears was 'Theme For Great Cities' an instrumental track by Simple Minds. But get this kids this was released before U2 started copying Simple Minds.

For all the bad press SM got, especially from the UK media, from the mid 80's onwards, don't underestimate how influential some of their earlier music has become. Fans of The Killers, Kings of Leon etc etc should really check out albums such as 'Sons and Fascinations' and 'New Gold Dream'

'Fez Being Born', musically, always reminds me of early 80's Simple Minds

 

[rivergoat]

I never confused U2 and Simple Minds, but for quite a while I thought "Red Skies" from the Fixx was a U2 song and couldn't figure out why I couldn't find it in the record store. Now I can't see any similarity.

YouTube - The Fixx - Red Skies

 

[TheEdge25]

Yes, I never, ever confused any of these bands with U2 so now when you guys are all posting these "U2" songs by Simple Minds, I'm like, "What are you talking about? That doesn't sound at all like U2".

To me, the only one posted so far in this thread that is even remotely similar is The Fixx. But not the singer's voice at all. Only the music - the drums, the guitar.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

Yes, I never, ever confused any of these bands with U2 so now when you guys are all posting these "U2" songs by Simple Minds, I'm like, "What are you talking about? That doesn't sound at all like U2".

To me, the only one posted so far in this thread that is even remotely similar is The Fixx. But not the singer's voice at all. Only the music - the drums, the guitar.

Simple Minds doesn't sound anything like U2, but Jim Kerr's singing 'Waterfront' sounds exactly like Bono.

 

[KEVIN051269]

Interestingly Bono said in, I think, the Elevation Tour programme that a Simple Minds gig was amongst the best he had ever seen. It was possibly the 1984 tour. The 'New Gold Dream' album then became a big influence on the sound they were trying to create for 'The Unforgettable Fire'.

As previously mentioned this is a great instrumental/intro music and I hear some of Fez/Being Born in it


YouTube - Simple Minds - Theme For Great Cities (Dexbam-Video)

 

[corianderstem]

I always thought the Simple Minds hit that sounded like U2 was See the Lights. The first few lines that Jim Kerr sings could easily pass for Bono singing in his lower register.

- he even pulls a few Bono-ish moves at the start of the video.

YouTube - Simple Minds - See The Lights

 

[greety]

Cori, I think Jim has always been even more Messiah-like than Bono, even in the 80's.
But then they were not so much around anymore and the press found a new godlike frontman