U2 A Guilty Pleasure?!

[asr]

According to Brian Eno, they are as embarrassing as ABBA:

Brian Eno: 'It's simply not my temperament to look back' - Features - Music - The Independent


I've always been loud and proud about listening to U2 in public.

 

[corianderstem]

I don't exactly think he's saying it's embarrassing to like U2. It's kind of weirdly written - is he talking about Coldplay being "embarrassing" like Abba? (Even though Abba was really great and everyone liked them, albeit secretly.)

I guess he's equating them because he got flak for working with U2, because it's uncool to like them, but that's a stretch. Was it uncool to like them in the '80s?

I don't know what he's trying to say, exactly, or if it's Eno or the author who's making it confusing.

Either way, who the fuck cares? Abba is awesome. So is U2. And I don't care, I love Coldplay, too.

Fuck it. Don't feel guilty about any of your pleasures.

 

[cobl04]

According to Brian Eno, they are as embarrassing as ABBA:

Brian Eno: 'It's simply not my temperament to look back' - Features - Music - The Independent


I've always been loud and proud about listening to U2 in public.

Wow, that's not what I took from the article at all.

And it's pretty common knowledge that U2 aren't all cool, no? Aside from a brief period in the early 90s were they ever cool?

Great read though.

 

[occlith]

I think its funny when the interviewer writes that Brian has "one, possibly two, gold teeth glinting from inside his mouth".

 

[Axver]

I'm with cori about not feeling guilty about your pleasures, but it sure as hell isn't cool to go admitting that you love U2, at least not amongst the Melbourne music scene. It's not like anyone really gives a serious shit, though.

 

[LemonMelon]

Fuck it. Don't feel guilty about any of your pleasures.

Unless you're making lampshades out of human flesh or annoying people with U2/Rush comparisons. I mean, jeez, let it go.

 

[bono_212]

Spoiler tag that shit, Travis.

 

[intedomine]

Fuck it. Don't feel guilty about any of your pleasures.

Exactly. Anyone who denies that they enjoy certain music is weak-minded and/or probably a genre warrior.

We like what we like, we hate what we hate.

 

[mama cass]

hey ABBA are cool!

U2 though - that's a different matter altogether!

 

[The_acrobat]

It's always such a conumdrum to me. It's so "uncool" to like U2. I've noticed this since the late 90s when I was in high school, and started to become wise to the music scene as a whole. They don't get much radio play. Classic rock ignores them cause their music is considered "wussy" among the typical meathead classic rock fans. Modern radio ignores them cause they're old. Yet they sell loads of albums, and sell even more loads of tickets. Their shows are always sold out or pretty close. I always wonder "where are all these U2 fans hiding in the day to day world?"

 

[mikal]

To be honest, U2 has actually become a guilty pleasure of mine over time. Maybe I've become a snob, I don't know. Fuck me.

 

[Cactus Annie]

I dislike snobs. I'm working class me. I'm probably the only WC U2 fan.

It's peculiar how Eno should mention ABBA, because the other night I missed out on a potentially excellent and very exciting YT video, all because the uploader included music from Universal Music by ABBA in the video. I never even went on there to listen to ABBA. The ABBA thing was completely irrelevent to the video. He should left the ABBA off the clip. All his other video's worked. It just said that the video was not available in my country because it contained content from UMG.

U2 are part of Universal. Isn't it funny how everything seems to be connected lately? Or is that just me? At the moment I've got about 10 or more different topics on my mind, which at first they all seem unconnected until you start researching online by typing phrases into google and using my trusted memory library.

But I do like guilty pleasures though!

 

[Von Schloopen]

Either way, who the fuck cares? Abba is awesome. So is U2. And I don't care, I love Coldplay, too.

Fuck it. Don't feel guilty about any of your pleasures.

I've never understood the idea of guilty pleasures. Am I supposed to hold back my opinion on something because the group I'm with has an opinion that runs counter?

Really?

How fake.

 

[U2DMfan]

I'm with you, Brau.

 

[BlueSilkenSky]

It's always such a conumdrum to me. It's so "uncool" to like U2. I've noticed this since the late 90s when I was in high school, and started to become wise to the music scene as a whole. They don't get much radio play. Classic rock ignores them cause their music is considered "wussy" among the typical meathead classic rock fans. Modern radio ignores them cause they're old. Yet they sell loads of albums, and sell even more loads of tickets. Their shows are always sold out or pretty close. I always wonder "where are all these U2 fans hiding in the day to day world?"

Maybe... on this forum? But yeah, I hardly ever meet U2 fans, or at least U2 fans who seem to know so much about the band as I do and as most of the U2 fans I've met online do. But their concerts sell out, and their music gets played on the radio fairly often.

I noticed the thing about classic rock and modern radio... I usually expect to hear U2 on classic rock stations, but I never do, which surprises me because I would assume they're old enough to be considered "classic" now. And I don't expect them to be played on modern radio because their most recent music hasn't been very popular (I'm thinking of NLOTH). I do hear them on alternative stations, though. I'm starting to wonder where exactly U2's music fits in the music of today, as it's apparently too young to be "classic rock" and too old to be popular.

As far as I can tell, U2 has been a popular band (and judging from radio airplay/album sales/concerts, they still are), but I've never felt like they're exactly "cool" to like. Which is okay, because I love listening to them and it doesn't matter what other people think of it, because it makes me happy. I tend to disagree with the music taste of a lot of people I know anyway.

 

[LadySpinHead]

I know a lot of people who are U2 fans- not of the actively-posting-on-interference variety, but fans, nonetheless. Maybe it's my age group- mid-30's-40's.

 

[Vlaco]

One of my friends told me:''U2? I don't like them. The only U2 song I like is Discotheque.''

 

[LemonMelon]

The only U2 song I like is Elvis Ate America.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

The only America song I like is Bono Ate Elvis.

 

[BlueSilkenSky]

I know a lot of people who are U2 fans- not of the actively-posting-on-interference variety, but fans, nonetheless. Maybe it's my age group- mid-30's-40's.

Seems more likely for that age group to like them than mine- late teens. (I'm 16.) Come to think of it, the few U2 fans I've met have all been adults.