What is the stupidest decision U2 has ever made?

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2) "Forcing" SOI on people. (I know, it wasn't really forced, but they should have seen the bad publicity coming.)

They should've had the good sense to realise there were heaps of much better ways to do it, ways that wouldn't piss off people, e.g. making it opt-in where people get a prompt to download a free new U2 album.

4) Crumbs From Your Table

Jesus, if the second-best song on HTDAAB is one of U2's stupidest decisions, what does that make the rest of the album?

Oh wait, it's HTDAAB. Its second-best song could still be a big blunder.
 
This K-Mart thing is so grossly overstated around here, especially from the perspective of somebody who isn't American.

Well, out of all the dopey things that people have posted here about their "stupidest decision ever", the K-Mart situation had the largest impact. That first leg of the US tour had plenty of empty seats. It didn't affect me, though. I still bought the tickets and enjoyed the show. I was fortunate. My show was sold out.


But, saying shit like releasing Crumbs From Your Table or having Helter Skelter start off Rattle and Hum. Or even Bono's guyliner. That's just nonsense.
 
Well, out of all the dopey things that people have posted here about their "stupidest decision ever", the K-Mart situation had the largest impact. That first leg of the US tour had plenty of empty seats. It didn't affect me, though. I still bought the tickets and enjoyed the show. I was fortunate. My show was sold out.


But, saying shit like releasing Crumbs From Your Table or having Helter Skelter start off Rattle and Hum. Or even Bono's guyliner. That's just nonsense.

I'd say the Discotheque single affected US ticket sales more than anything else. What's more likely to affect somebody's decision to go to a gig - a song they don't like being played often on the radio (and with a ridiculous video on MTV) or a one-off conference that would've fallen out of the media within days?

And Helter Skelter opening RAH was a pretty stupid decision that affected the band's career, especially with the "we're stealing it back" comment. It played into - indeed was a central part - of the "who do these U2 egomaniacs think they are?" backlash that prompted a lot of negative press, soulsearching by the band, and ultimately the Achtung reinvention.
 
Stop being a Pryck to people's nominations. This is a democracy, motherfucker. I haven't listened to Rattle and Hum in a looooooong time and I can't imagine ever wanting to sit through that mess of a record ever again.

Ditching Dik Evans and also DAY-VID may have been one of the all time mistakes.

Hahaha I was going to make an allusion to Dik Evans in the first post. Obviously wasn't drunk enough. Good work :up:
 
Rattle & Hum is about as cohesive as HTDAAB, only with radically superior material.

I'd make a custom version and return to that before listening to the original again, but if I had the choice of listening to it over the newer records, I would do so.
 
You honestly think one song has that kind of power? Please...


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It did here in the uk,it was the last u2 song to be played regularly on bbc radio one. It killed the sales of nloth and boots was the last straw for the radio channels.

Boots was played to death on radio one but none of the other singles off nloth got played once.

The song gave u2 alot of bad press here,it was their lowest ranked lead single since october. It was the song that alot of people came to the assumption that u2 are past it.
 
I'd say the Discotheque single affected US ticket sales more than anything else. What's more likely to affect somebody's decision to go to a gig - a song they don't like being played often on the radio or a one-off conference that would've fallen out of the media within days?

And Helter Skelter opening RAH was a pretty stupid decision that affected the band's career, especially with the "we're stealing it back" comment. It played into - indeed was a central part - of the "who do these U2 egomaniacs think they are?" backlash that prompted a lot of negative press, soulsearching by the band, and ultimately the Achtung reinvention.

Oh, I agree with you about Discoteque. It did affect US ticket sales. It was a good one-two punch with the K-Mart Press conference. I knew plenty of people that liked Disco but were turned off by the press conference.

I don't agree with you about Helter Skelter, though. The album still sold plenty well and the tour still sold out. The press are gonna nitpick about everything. In the end, they don't know jack shit. But, by 1988/9, folks were getting tired of the U2 overload. I know plenty of people who had no problem with Helter Skelter, but aside from the musical performances, they didn't really like Rattle and Hum the movie. There was lots of soul searching because U2 had reached the end of a creative path and they needed time to find another one. Turned out pretty well because a whopping two years later (Yes, two whole years! Can you believe that?) we got Achtung Baby. So if it wasn't for their soul searching, we wouldn't have gotten Achtung Baby and all of its glory.
 
Yeah, color me skeptical that a random press conference could affect tour sales to the extent claimed here.
 
Oh, I agree with you about Discoteque. It did affect US ticket sales. It was a good one-two punch with the K-Mart Press conference. I knew plenty of people that liked Disco but were turned off by the press conference.

I don't agree with you about Helter Skelter, though. The album still sold plenty well and the tour still sold out. The press are gonna nitpick about everything. In the end, they don't know jack shit. But, by 1988/9, folks were getting tired of the U2 overload. I know plenty of people who had no problem with Helter Skelter, but aside from the musical performances, they didn't really like Rattle and Hum the movie. There was lots of soul searching because U2 had reached the end of a creative path and they needed time to find another one. Turned out pretty well because a whopping two years later (Yes, two whole years! Can you believe that?) we got Achtung Baby. So if it wasn't for their soul searching, we wouldn't have gotten Achtung Baby and all of its glory.

This is all well and good but it is getting far too serious and deep. Let's leave the debates to the seven trillion other EYKIW threads which go on and on despite there being no interesting basis for argument.

If only Graham Chapman had also played an army character who requested people to stop being serious as well as silly.
 
Yeah, color me skeptical that a random press conference could affect tour sales to the extent claimed here.


Random press conference? Sadly, this press conference was planned. Second, U2 had been inactive for 3 years. We finally hear from them again and its inside fucking K-Mart. We shouldn't color you skeptical. We should color you mistaken.
 
This is all well and good but it is getting far too serious and deep. Let's leave the debates to the seven trillion other EYKIW threads which go on and on despite there being no interesting basis for argument.

If only Graham Chapman had also played an army character who requested people to stop being serious as well as silly.

Cobbie, I didn't create this thread. Someone else did. If you don't like it, don't let the door hit you in the vagina. :wink:
 
Random press conference? Sadly, this press conference was planned. Second, U2 had been inactive for 3 years. We finally hear from them again and its inside fucking K-Mart. We shouldn't color you skeptical. We should color you mistaken.

Please. Define "we". I've heard of Pop (and Popmart) through Discotheque, like many other people on the planet. Which was Axver's point already.

Your hyperbole around this one event is absurd and nonsensical. Nobody outside of a small percentage within one single country gave a fuck.
 
Yeah, color me skeptical that a random press conference could affect tour sales to the extent claimed here.


Yeah we should stick to the more sane opinions like they should have retired or that one song made U2 irrelevant forever.


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Yeah we should stick to the more sane opinions like they should have retired or that one song made U2 irrelevant forever.

God forbid if people here are being slightly tongue-in-cheek. Especially since the OP is already plastered.
 
Please. Define "we". I've heard of Pop (and Popmart) through Discotheque, like many other people on the planet. Which was Axver's point already.

Your hyperbole around this one event is absurd and nonsensical. Nobody outside of a small percentage within one single country gave a fuck.


I was four years old when the PopMart press conference happened, so maybe take what I say with a grain of salt. But my perception is that the KMart press conference did a lot to play into the cynical image of the band that has waxed and waned in the United States over the years. It encouraged that image during PopMart in a way that took Beautiful Day to recover from. Sure, it was only in one country, but that country isn't Lithuania or something. It's a country with 300m+ people and a market for U2 comparable to the entire European continent. It also is the place where U2 have been the most obsessed with being relevant over the years, rightly or wrongly.


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I was four years old when the PopMart press conference happened, so maybe take what I say with a grain of salt. But my perception is that the KMart press conference did a lot to play into the cynical image of the band that has waxed and waned in the United States over the years. It encouraged that image during PopMart in a way that took Beautiful Day to recover from. Sure, it was only in one country, but that country isn't Lithuania or something. It's a country with 300m+ people and a market for U2 comparable to the entire European continent. It also is the place where U2 have been the most obsessed with being relevant over the years, rightly or wrongly.

Yes, I'm sure it contributed to the overall negative perception of the band at that point... for some. But to say that this is the reason tickets didn't sell is absurd. People were sick of U2 at that point. Discotheque as a single didn't work. The reception to the album wasn't good. It's not rocket science.

Oh, and Lithuania is a beautiful little country. U2 just might sell out a stadium over there... if they actually decide to visit all those countries they keep neglecting.
 
I was four years old when the PopMart press conference happened, so maybe take what I say with a grain of salt. But my perception is that the KMart press conference did a lot to play into the cynical image of the band that has waxed and waned in the United States over the years. It encouraged that image during PopMart in a way that took Beautiful Day to recover from. Sure, it was only in one country, but that country isn't Lithuania or something. It's a country with 300m+ people and a market for U2 comparable to the entire European continent. It also is the place where U2 have been the most obsessed with being relevant over the years, rightly or wrongly.

First all, Thank you! Even though you were "only" 4 (Shit, I was 24) you hit the nail on the proverbial head. Well done!
 
It wasn't the press conference by itself, it was the overall image. U2 turned themselves into cartoons; Discotheque video, the press conference, oversized cowboy hats and the overall not taking any part of what they were doing seriously. ZooTV worked because it was the right amount of sincerity, irony, and tongue in cheek. People weren't ready for cartoon U2.


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Yes, I'm sure it contributed to the overall negative perception of the band at that point... for some. But to say that this is the reason tickets didn't sell is absurd. People were sick of U2 at that point. Discotheque as a single didn't work. The reception to the album wasn't good. It's not rocket science.

Oh, and Lithuania is a beautiful little country. U2 just might sell out a stadium over there... if they actually decide to visit all those countries they keep neglecting.

If you want facts and figures, why don't you check out the Popmart "failure" thread? That might help you out as far as stats. We all know the rest of the world is cool, but those crazy Americans are a fickle bunch. And you know what? There's a lot of them. And a lot of them were turned off by U2's "random" press conference for PopMart. People weren't sick of U2. They just didn't like their 1997 incarnation. By the time U2 reached the other countries, PopMart turned into a well oiled machine.
 
The Popmart "failure" thread doesn't have any stats to support your theory.

Try harder.
 
There are a few threads on this board with all the Popmart stats you could ever want. Search.




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As far as U2s biggest mistake, I'm gonna have to say the SOI apple release. I hope they can bounce back from that, but I don't know. Time will tell. IMO they couldn't have made a worse decision. Obviously I was happy to get it, but this backlash has been severe.



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