Possible Directions for U2

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Make good music.

I'd be okay with sell-out pop music or whatever if it sounds like ATYCLB. SOI's songs are just weak.


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Anything, only not ATYCLB type of record!!! That was the biggest, most shameful moment in U2 history. It is absolutely OK to have commercial flops like Passengers, Pop or NLOTH, but ATYCLB - submissive, radio friendly oportunistic kind of record intended to please the pop kids NEVR AGAIN PLEASE.
I´m happy and proud of the band with their latest record. I hope they will enjoy the tour and they will find inspiration for recording new material, despite the reactions to the last one is not what they expected. I hope they feel inside that the way they did the last record was the right one, the critics with their instant under the influence of the itunes scandal reviews were wrong and the band will follow their instincts in their music.
 
Between Bono and the band wishing to be hugely relevant again (which is not going to happen) and the fans wishing that U2 somehow become either some sort of a hipsterish underground respected band (which is not going to happen) or a huge massive popular act (which is not going to happen), the whole U2 community lives in constant frustration instead of enjoying what imho are really good songs that enriches the already great catalog of a great band like U2.

This should be written into a stone and repeated as a prayer by all the band memebers and the fans, too. :)
 
Of course maybe these guys really enjoy writing songs for someone or about Volcanoes or whatever. If that's the case, well fine, guess its better than writing about .

:) :) :) Funny you saying this. Band I was playing in had a song inspired by one of the themes of Battlestar Galactica - holocaust. So, you´ll never know :)
 
Honestly, I'd rather they just embraced being a nostalgia act. No new albums, just tours, performing the songs they're proud of, that they enjoy, that are fan favourites. I don't need new U2 in my life and I wouldn't be fussed if they never released another new song, but I'd love to go to a gig and hear 11 O'clock Tick Tock or A Sort of Homecoming or Love Is Blindness or Exit or whatever. U2 have always been a better band live than in studio anyway.

That is the worst possibility to think of. U2 becoming a true revival of themselves, only living from past like Rolling Stones. I pray this will never happen.
 
But what it they want to make 'hits' or songs that people might actually like? Why should we assume that they would automatically make songs that either don't have vocal hooks or prominent guitars on them if the commercial factor were no longer factored in?

I guess that's why, in the very post you quoted, i also said this:

Of course maybe these guys really enjoy writing songs for someone or about Volcanoes or whatever. If that's the case, well fine, guess its better than writing about Battlestar Galactica.

:hug:
 
Hey, nobody thinks more Edge solos will make future U2 albums awesome....?


More solos here and there sure, but more instrumentals? Feck no, the only instrumental I've ever found interesting in all of U2's career is Alex Descends :shrug:


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I was kinda pissed that I missed this, if it actually happened. Is Bono saying 'art fag' kind of like internalized self loathing for uncool performance artists?
 
'Art Fag' single to debut with a new video/commercial during Super Bowl XLIX. To accompany the commerical there will be a automatic free download available immediately on itunes. For every download, the New England Patriots organization will donate an official underinflated football, autographed by Tom Brady, to a high school chosen by Indianapolis Colts fans.
 
'Art Fag' single to debut with a new video/commercial during Super Bowl XLIX. To accompany the commerical there will be a automatic free download available immediately on itunes. For every download, the New England Patriots organization will donate an official underinflated football, autographed by Tom Brady, to a high school chosen by Indianapolis Colts fans.
:love:
 
For me, it would be something akin to the Million Dollar Hotel Soundtrack. I pretty much love all of the songs on that, and all of the songs credited to Bono or U2, I feel like they're in their wheelhouse, and would be wildly popular, albeit maybe to a niche audience.

Thanks for reminding me about that soundtrack. Hadn't listened to it for years. Really great.
 
They need to be U2. This whole thing about other people being able to play their songs is sending them on a disingenuous path. I love Zooropa, The Fly, EBTTRT, Streets, DYFL, Mofo, Unforgettable Fire, ASOH and many other of their songs bc they are distinctly U2 songs! I love their soundscapes and experimentalism. That makes up the best part of their catalog. The other part of their catalog which is mostly songs that they aimed at the pop market is good but not great and that's what they need to avoid. I love the new album but you can sense how precious they were in the studio. Don't follow the trends boys, SET them. WOWY wasn't copying everything else on the radio. They didn't bring in Duran Duran or Madonna's producers to make it. Achtung Baby was a ballsy move. Zooropa and Passengers was a FU moment where they threw caution to the wind and followed their creative drive wherever it led them. You're 50 yrs old and as a band you should not be worried about what others think. High School is over and so is my rant.
 
Double sadly, I'm afraid this is largely true.

I personally think the recent album is quite good, and is overall a better recording from a musical/artistic standpoint than anything since Zooropa. Unfortunately, it's only going to be remembered for the iTunes P.R.-disaster.

It's hard to understand how U2 jumped the shark in terms of public perception. They were once the poster-boys for musical integrity and non-commercial (non-corporate sponsored) popular music with integrity and passion. They have somehow become the poster-boys for the exact opposite.

Maybe. But the world has changed. This started right around the time when the internet started to explode (late 90's). Artists have to find a way to say, "Hey, I released something!" It used to be touring and radio and MTV were the answer. Now, if it isn't a hit immediately, that's that. Even those American Idol kids are dumped after one album, despite the immense exposure they received from the show.

So rather than wallow in this "we are so anti-everything" stance, U2 went with the flow. And that's not shocking. IMO, U2 have always kind of gone with the flow, but in their own unique way. As for sponsorship, well, U2 are one of the few acts that still sell rather inexpensive concert tickets for up close seats or views. And sponsors help with that.

As for retirement, I believe it isn't far off. So enjoy while you can.
 
Here's a 1997 article where he uses that phrase, it's interesting reading: U2′s Mega-Million Dollar Trash Fest - MTV

i really miss that band. Then again, i miss the guy who missed that band as well.
Getting older has it's moments and its not so moments. If time were frozen still we'd be looking at an ice age of the soul.
Enjoy the sunshine while you can.
 
Guys be realistic. Every musician and writer only has a certain amount of songs in them then the well begins to dry up. After 30+ years of great U2 music, what more can you expect. SOI is a fantastic album for a group of mid 50 year old rock stars who have virtually done it all and seen it all before. Be happy with what we got.
 
SOI is a fantastic album
I don't think that that statement needs anything else to be true.

I've used the "for a 50 year old guys" line before, but I think that that applies more in terms of popularity and music style than in terms of quality or creativity.
 
Here's a 1997 article where he uses that phrase, it's interesting reading: U2′s Mega-Million Dollar Trash Fest - MTV


This is even more funny than I thought; not that they are getting in touch with the inner art fag, but that Brian Eno is 'the art fag in us'-- perfectly right for deconstruction. I love that Bono is really a self-aware smartass dork in rock star clothes.
 
Oh, I wasn't sure if he'd actually said it. Thanks for the link.

I'm not thrilled to see people I dig saying "fag," but in all fairness, I do still laugh at the Dead Milkmen's "You'll Dance to Anything" with the line "you know what you are? You're all a bunch of art fags" and then the two words are repeated electronically.

I must now go flay myself for being a hypocrite. :(
 
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