What was your impression of Rattle and Hum when it was first released?

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Loved it. It was a big night for my friends and I - we were probably 16 at the time.

Another, almost more vivid memory is being in the theaters to see some dumb 80's kid movie when the trailer for R&H came on. That red screen, the Streets organ, the silhouettes moving across the stage. Holy shit.

YouTube - U2 - Rattle And Hum - trailer - 1988 - HQ
 
I loved R&H - still do. I always appreciated the album for what I believed it to be: the band's tribute to artists like The Beatles & BB King - not (as some of their critics did) as U2 trying to hold themselves up as equals of those artists. They were (and still seem to be) fascinated with American culture and R&H was born of that infatuation.

Specifically:
When Love Comes to Town :heart:
Hawkmoon :drool: :heart:
All I Want is You :love: :love: :love:
Desire (especially that "Yeah" at the beginning) :combust:
Live version of ISHFWILF w/choir :faint: (It gave me chills bumps the first 500 times I listened to it... matter of fact, it STILL does! :D )
 
I am the bringer of bad news (rereading this post: what the hell), and thus most confess that the movie temporarily put me off the band completely. I only saw it for the first time relatively recently - I think maybe three or so years ago? - with my sister, and had been really looking forward to it, I had waited way too long to watch it, so I had pretty high expectations. Instead, I got something so boring, so pretentious, something I had overestimated so much, that it completely deflated my U2 fandom for, well, months. The performances at the time struck me as nothing special (now, I do really like a few tracks from it) and really, the only highlight in it for me at the time were the dreadful cut-ins during When Love Comes To Town with BB King and Bono. Those bits are just so bad, it still cracks me up. Really, I've only watched the movie in full twice, if that (I'm sure I skipped a bunch the second time), and as for the album, it still comes off as a clusterfuck despite some great songs in Hawkmoon, Heartland and AIWIY.

It was only learning about U2 coming to Australia in '06 that made me interested again.
 
believer75 said:
Yes, the footage from the studios is classic. I love the bit where they are rehearsing/recording Angel of Harlem along with the Memphis Horns in Sun Studios. I went to Sun Studios in Memphis not just because I am a huge Elvis fan but because I wanted to be in the place where U2 recorded these songs from this album. It is a place where worlds collide. There was a picture of Bono (and maybe Larry? can't remember) in the studio gift shop and the tour guide even played When Love Comes to Town for the crowd at the end of the tour. And of course, got to pretend to sing into THE microphone. Oh and yes, Elvis was still in the building :sexywink:
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Wow that sounds like such a cool experience:D
 
I've always liked both the album and movie, but not enough to consider either one among U2's finest moments. The album has some truly fantastic songs (Hawkmoon and All I Want Is You are particularly brilliant :drool: ), but the live performances are a disappointment, and the sequencing is horrific. Not sure it could have been much better, but still.

I actually find the movie considerably more entertaining. The live performances are so much better than they are on the album, and the actual quality of the footage is marvelous. OK, everything else is an abomination, but I find it amusing just the same.

So, in short, I could definitely live without the album or movie, but I suppose I just never took the project seriously enough to actually hate either of them. They're a good time, if misguided.
 
BluRmGrl said:
I loved R&H - still do. I always appreciated the album for what I believed it to be: the band's tribute to artists like The Beatles & BB King - not (as some of their critics did) as U2 trying to hold themselves up as equals of those artists. They were (and still seem to be) fascinated with American culture and R&H was born of that infatuation.

Specifically:
When Love Comes to Town :heart:
Hawkmoon :drool: :heart:
All I Want is You :love: :love: :love:
Desire (especially that "Yeah" at the beginning) :combust:
Live version of ISHFWILF w/choir :faint: (It gave me chills bumps the first 500 times I listened to it... matter of fact, it STILL does! :D )
Click to expand...


Yeah, see, what I got from it was that U2 are fans of these other artists and was using that opportunity to celebrate not just their music, but music in general. It worked for me because I became bigger fans of other artist's music as a result. The band said it themselves: "It's a Musical Journey."
 
Loved it. First U2 album I bought on day of release. I think I still have my original CD. I got a free movie poster with the CD that hung in my room for years.

I also remember being totally taken by surprise the first time the movie trailer rolled. I saw the film the day it opened, too. I remember enjoying the live performances and Larry acting like a little kid at Graceland.
 
I saw it in 1992, about three weeks after seeing them on the ZOOTV tour in Philadelphia. Having only been familiar with Achtung Baby and a few earlier albums and singles, I must say, R&H deflated a lot of the mystery surrounding the band, for me at least.

I never knew they had this whole sincere air about them.

But as the years have gone by, I actually like R&H, the album and the movie. Nowhere near my favorite thing of theirs, though. Bottom of the barrel.
 
indra said:
The album I loved. It was sprawling and not at all cohesive, but that didn't really matter to me because there was a lot of it -- both new studio work and older live songs, and that was just very, very exciting. While it's not nearly as strong an album as most of the ones before it (for me), there are still songs I adore on R&H.

The movie -- the live footage was pretty good. The rest was horrifyingly cringe-worthy. :yikes: Ugh. I've blocked much of it from my memory.
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You'll be thrilled to know I saw the movie in the cinema about 8 times :reject: The live stuff got more epic with every showing, but yep some of the other stuff....

I think also we in Oz were really starved for U2 then, they hadn't toured for 4 years, they had become world famous with JT, we were hanging out for anything!!!!!!!!!
 
Movie or album?

I thought both were great. I was initially disappointed as I thought that the R&H album would be 2 disc live album. But that said, the album is a good mix of live favorites, new songs and b-sides played live.

I always thought the movie was great fun for U2 fans but I was not surprised that the avg. Joe didn't rush to see it. Concert movies are rarely huge draws... or up until this point... Perhaps that's changed with the Hannah Montana's of the world but anywho...

IF they do a deluxe reissue of Rattle and Hum, it would be great to do one entire disc of LIVE stuff from the movie that was not on the original album. ("In God's Country", "...Streets...", "Exit"... and the do another disc of all the new (at the time) songs and the b-sides to the singles. Just a thought.
 
Edge_Orchestra said:
IF they do a deluxe reissue of Rattle and Hum, it would be great to do one entire disc of LIVE stuff from the movie that was not on the original album. ("In God's Country", "...Streets...", "Exit"... and the do another disc of all the new (at the time) songs and the b-sides to the singles. Just a thought.
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That's a brilliant idea...would love to have those live songs in good quality on disc...plus throw in the live versions of One Tree Hill and others that were not included in the film.
 
gvox said:
I went to see it every day it was at my town's single screen theatre house. I think 6 or 7 times :lol:

:up:
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That makes for a very cool memory! I was 12 when it came out and probably very distant from the world of U2. I am sure I was familiar with the hits, but do not have any recollection of Rattle and Hum playing at our theatre. I wish I had been "cool" then :(
 
My buddy and I were driving up to the local ski hill, both of us big U2 fans from the Joshua Tree days. And I put R&H in the cassette player. During Silver and Gold, when Bono said, "Am I bugging you?" my buddy said, "yes" and hit eject.
 
I thought it was good overall. I remember hoping they would put a live version of Streets on it and I was disappointed about that. I also used to fast forward the tape through Bono's rant on "Silver And Gold". I guess I already knew what he was saying and just wanted to get to Edge's solo. :shrug:

I remember some of my friends that were also U2 fans at the time complaining about it after they heard "Desire" on the radio. Basically saying U2 had sold out. I think I have heard that on almost every album since in some form by someone.
 
Blue Room said:
I thought it was good overall. I remember hoping they would put a live version of Streets on it and I was disappointed about that. I also used to fast forward the tape through Bono's rant on "Silver And Gold". I guess I already knew what he was saying and just wanted to get to Edge's solo. :shrug:

I remember some of my friends that were also U2 fans at the time complaining about it after they heard "Desire" on the radio. Basically saying U2 had sold out. I think I have heard that on almost every album since in some form by someone.
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I was also similarly disappointed that SBS, in particular was not included on the album. I love all the live tracks from the movie. Would love to have an official U2 release of these someday.

I have never thought of Desire as a sellout song. I loved that song before I even knew who sang it. It stoodout on the radio as above the rest to me. It was a rocking tune and the radio needed it at the time.
 
I was a bit disappointed with the album. I was under the impression it was going to be mainly a live album with 4 or 5 new studio tracks.
 
believer75 said:
That makes for a very cool memory! I was 12 when it came out and probably very distant from the world of U2. I am sure I was familiar with the hits, but do not have any recollection of Rattle and Hum playing at our theatre. I wish I had been "cool" then :(
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Actually it wasn't all that 'cool' to be liking them in my town :lol: I think by the third day I was the lone viewer in the theatre :reject:

:wink:
 
gvox said:
Actually it wasn't all that 'cool' to be liking them in my town :lol: I think by the third day I was the lone viewer in the theatre :reject:

:wink:
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Yeah, I'm not sure it has ever been cool where I live! I remember there were a few of us in high school that liked them...a few. And, it was a bit "progressive" to wear a ZooTV shirt to school in my town...it clashed with the Garth Brooks attire that was popular at the time. I was not progressive by any means, but I wore ZooTV proud anyway!
 
Rattle and Hum is interesting because the studio versio is decent, but not great. However, if you get rid of the covers/live songs, and replace them with the unreleased material from that period, it may be their best record.
 
imagine this album w/ cuts from the movie:

Disc 1
Helter Skelter (Live) -minus the Manson-Beatles line :wink:
Van Dieman's Land
Desire (from the movie)
Hawkmoon 269
All Along the Watchtower (live)
Angel of Harlem
Love Rescue Me
When Love Comes to Town
Heartland
God Part II
All I Want Is You

Disc 2
Streets (Live)
Trip Through Your Wires (live tempe)
ISHFWILF (live tempe)
MLK (Live)
Exit (Live)
In God's Country (Live)
Bad (Live)
Bullet the Blue Sky (Live)
Running to Stand Still (Live)
Silver and Gold (live)
Sunday Bloody Sunday (Live)
With or Without You (Live)

:drool:
 
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