What were U2's 'Jump the Shark' moments?

[Oregoropa]

There are probably many instances ranging from minor to major jumping incidents.

- SOI auto download error is a big one


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[Hewson]

Answering Larry's ad in school.

 

[corianderstem]

When Bono jumped over a shark on waterskis.

Oh shit, sorry. That was the Fonz.

 

[BVS]

 

[Oregoropa]

Nice Pull BVS


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[zoopop]

Playing 'In A Little While' on the 360 Tour


'LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, THE BIGGEST ROCK BAND IN THE WORLD WITH THE BIGGEST STADIUM PRODUCTION OF ALL TIME'

 

[Oregoropa]

IALW in a stadium show is definitely one of their dumber moves.

The Rattle and Hum movie had some Jump the Shark moments. They had such a head of steam after JT they thought they could cover everything flawlessly. I think 'Rock and Roll stops the traffic' is a shark jumping moment.


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[Axver]

The iPod commercial.

Yes, sure, there were shark jumps earlier, but they bounced back in the public perception. A lesser band might've been doomed by the reception of Rattle & Hum or Discotheque. But Achtung Baby and Beautiful Day respectively restored the band's popular perception.

Now, sure, Vertigo was massively successful. But that ad got a "sellouts!" response from some quarters, it was ubiquitous, and it was never followed by anything else nearly as successful, let alone acclaimed. I'd say the current perception of U2 as painfully uncool stems in a major part from that commercial and built a head of steam with other subsequent missteps.

 

[MrPryck2U]

The term Jump the Shark is a misnomer. 30 million people tuned in to watch The Fonz jump that shark and Happy Days continued on for another 7 seasons. But, fuck it, I'll play your game. A jump the shark moment for U2 was when they got stuck in the lemon.

 

[BVS]

A jump the shark moment for U2 was when they got stuck in the lemon.

In order for something to be a jump the shark moment it has to be seen or heard by other than those "in the know".


The Discotheque video would qualify, if not define a jts moment.


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[MrPryck2U]

In order for something to be a jump the shark moment it has to be seen or heard by other than those "in the know".


The Discotheque video would qualify, if not define a jts moment.

Yeah, begrudgingly, I would have to agree. But,... I did enjoy the Pop era. The only thing I wasn't too crazy about was one of Bono's outfits for the tour.

I've always liked the song and the video is fine too. Then we're reverting back to basic U2 101- People didn't "get" the video/song/album/outfits/vibe/blah/blah.

My guess says that the Pop era could arguably be one of the most polarizing eras in U2 history.

 

[Y2K]

Emerging from a giant lemon

 

[david]

Emerging from a giant lemon

Or, getting trapped in one.


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[digitize]

Get On Your Boots at the Grammys (even though I quite like the song).


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[Axver]

Was that one of the cringeworthy eyeliner performances?

 

[Hewson]

The term Jump the Shark is a misnomer. 30 million people tuned in to watch The Fonz jump that shark and Happy Days continued on for another 7 seasons. .

The term isn't because ratings were bad for Fonz jumping the shark, the term is because the quality of the show went way downhill from that point forward. Sure they did 7 more seasons, but the show started to suck, I mean they did the last 4 seasons without Richie Cunningham on the show, it got really pathetic at the end.

 

[U2girl]

Rattle and Hum and Popmart early tour dates. But they bounced back both times so...

If anything from the last 15 years, the Spiderman thing in terms of backlash.

Musically speaking, the stupid choices for the lead single for the last two albums.

 

[digitize]

Was that one of the cringeworthy eyeliner performances?

Yup.


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[corianderstem]

When they added Cousin Oliver as a permanent auxiliary keyboard player.

 

[corianderstem]

When Bono and Edge finally consummated their ongoing unresolved sexual tension. It was never the same after that.

 

[zoopop]

Get On Your Boots at the Grammys (even though I quite like the song).


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Can you imagine if they came out and did 'MOS' instead...........


U2 would have been the talk of the town

 

[BEAL]

I don't know if it's jump the shark, but releasing GYOB was probably their worst lead single choice. Discotheque still made it to a top 10 hit, but mainly based on U2 name at the time (riding the success of AB and Zooropa).

Didn't help it sounded similar to Vertigo (the guitar riff, scratching guitar in versus, and Bono's delivery in verses were similar)

 

[Hewson]

When they added Cousin Oliver as a permanent auxiliary keyboard player.

 

[mikal]

Their whole career has been a Jump The Shark moment, yet they've been one of the most popular acts in music history.

 

[BVS]

Their whole career has been a Jump The Shark moment, yet they've been one of the most popular acts in music history.

They're reapplying for the biggest jump in the world.

So many sharks. The best sharks, with the biggest lasers. It will be great. No one can out jump them, not even Trump.


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[brooklynmike]

Heh. Perhaps "Jumping the Shark" should have been defined at the start of the thread.

According to Mr. Google, it refers to when a TV series or movie reach a point at which far-fetched events are included merely for the sake of novelty, indicative of a decline in quality.

I take that as, the Happy Days writers ran out of ideas and did some whacky shit out of desperation to boost ratings, but the decline was inevitable. In hindsight, the last ditch effort is now seen like a bad toupee or combover.

Applying that sentiment to the career of U2, I'd bet the majority of this forum would consider the space between POP and ATYCLB as the shark tank, and 4 Fonzies got in a 40 ft. lemon on water ski's, cleared the tank with plenty of Elevation and landed smoothly in some Wild Honey.

 

[MrPryck2U]

The term isn't because ratings were bad for Fonz jumping the shark, the term is because the quality of the show went way downhill from that point forward. Sure they did 7 more seasons, but the show started to suck, I mean they did the last 4 seasons without Richie Cunningham on the show, it got really pathetic at the end.

Yeah, there's that. I actually loved when The Fonz jumped the shark. I hated that shitbag The California Kid. Nobody disses The Fonz! But, yes the series did decline after that. Shit, The Fonz even started to wear sweaters.

I don't really see U2 as being in decline. I thought SOI was a better album than No Line and I thought the last 2 tours were an improvement from Vertigo. Their big Spinal Tap moment was when the Lemon malfunctioned.

 

[dan_smee]

I think they jumped the shark when Bono finally got to date the slutty pumpkin.


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[blueskies]

Heh. Perhaps "Jumping the Shark" should have been defined at the start of the thread.

According to Mr. Google, it refers to when a TV series or movie reach a point at which far-fetched events are included merely for the sake of novelty, indicative of a decline in quality.

I take that as, the Happy Days writers ran out of ideas and did some whacky shit out of desperation to boost ratings, but the decline was inevitable. In hindsight, the last ditch effort is now seen like a bad toupee or combover.

Applying that sentiment to the career of U2, I'd bet the majority of this forum would consider the space between POP and ATYCLB as the shark tank, and 4 Fonzies got in a 40 ft. lemon on water ski's, cleared the tank with plenty of Elevation and landed smoothly in some Wild Honey.

Thanks for posting a definition. Based on that, the one moment would be not Pop (which was actually a statement, not a desperate move at all since they had many successful years to boost their self-esteem), but the Apple release. They said themselves they did it because they were scared to death that nobody would take notice of this album which they consider very personal.

 

[cobl04]

Hard to say definitively. There's been so many. And my interest has just waned/I've been frustrated by their decisions