Why are U2 so hated?

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I'm really not sure. Did anyone read the Guardian article on Bono's accident? about 500 comments of hate, vitriol and celebrating as if the guy is Hitler Why? The guy has done so much good in this world, more than what they have I'm sure.

As a U2 fan, it's generally a good idea to NOT read any comments. :)

It's UK media, they are usually not nice towards the band and Bono in particular, but their readers are even worse. The internet is bringing out the worst in people. It really is a virtual toilet wall and many people just love being miserable and destructive.

The problem is exactly this. Most of them are losers who haven't done anything constructive in their lives to make other peoples' live worthwhile, that's why they're hating on someone like Bono who's so self-conscious about what he and his band are doing and who doesn't go with the media mainstream or the good old rock'n'roll clichés. He just continues to do and say what he wants and what he feels is right. The number of enemies usually shows a man's greatness, so I guess Bono and U2 must have done something right.
 
I'm really not sure. Did anyone read the Guardian article on Bono's accident? about 500 comments of hate, vitriol and celebrating as if the guy is Hitler Why? The guy has done so much good in this world, more than what they have I'm sure.

The good Bono has done is likely a big part why. Bono didn't stay in his rock band box and uses his celebrity to get done what he deems important. Narrow minded people like things boxed with a bow on it.

This and the entire band all are well over 33 and still very much here. Too bad for those who dislike them. There will be no getting your money back, folks.
 
As a U2 fan, it's generally a good idea to NOT read any comments. :)

It's UK media, they are usually not nice towards the band and Bono in particular, but their readers are even worse. The internet is bringing out the worst in people. It really is a virtual toilet wall and many people just love being miserable and destructive.

The problem is exactly this. Most of them are losers who haven't done anything constructive in their lives to make other peoples' live worthwhile, that's why they're hating on someone like Bono who's so self-conscious about what he and his band are doing and who doesn't go with the media mainstream or the good old rock'n'roll clichés. He just continues to do and say what he wants and what he feels is right. The number of enemies usually shows a man's greatness, so I guess Bono and U2 must have done something right.

Damn. Good stuff! If someone asks me why everyone shits on U2/Bono, I'll just paraphrase this.
 
As a U2 fan, it's generally a good idea to NOT read any comments. :)

It's UK media, they are usually not nice towards the band and Bono in particular, but their readers are even worse. The internet is bringing out the worst in people. It really is a virtual toilet wall and many people just love being miserable and destructive.

The problem is exactly this. Most of them are losers who haven't done anything constructive in their lives to make other peoples' live worthwhile, that's why they're hating on someone like Bono who's so self-conscious about what he and his band are doing and who doesn't go with the media mainstream or the good old rock'n'roll clichés. He just continues to do and say what he wants and what he feels is right. The number of enemies usually shows a man's greatness, so I guess Bono and U2 must have done something right.

Well said and I agree. Everyone's points about all the U2 hate are pretty bang on IMO. I remember back in the early 80's when they were the darlings of the alternative scene. By the late 80's U2 were practically the saviors of rock and roll.

I think ageism comes into play and the general population is infatuated with the idea of rock stars being young and full of life is what makes them appealing. Take a look at the popularity curve of any music act and you will generally (not the rule) see them at the peak in their 20's.

Rock, Pop etc are largely a young persons game. You seriously loose cool with the next generation when you become viewed as "old" or "passed your prime"

sad but true.
 
The internet is truly a double edged sword. Anyone can basically be whoever they wish and say whatever they want and get away with it, for the most part.

The same thing could probably be said for success. If you look at someone like The Biebs, he has done so much stupid BS and still many people under age 25 think he is great, just being a kid, etc.

And then you have Bono. Even people i know who love u2 seem to hate him, or at least are tired of him. It can't possibly be all about taxes or sunglasses or hanging out with world leaders. There are a lot of people in this world who are jealous of success, so much so that it enrages them.

Bono should stop apologizing for things and just tell the haters to Fk off.
 
Beiber's done some juvenile shit, but he's a saint compared to the Stones, Zep, Scott Weiland, Kurt Cobain...the list goes on. He's kid. A dumb kid who's been raised in a bubble with too much money and fame, and who came from a rough background. He never really had a chance to be a decent guy. Or make music that isn't aural poison.

I don't hate Bono because he's successful, but I find him annoying because he's a smug braggart. Look at how he was talking about how nobody could write songs as good as those on SOI. He's like Noel Gallagher c.1995 but without the humour. Not that he isn't funny, but he doesn't show it. He should, because he and the rest of the band are hilarious. Have you seen the Day in the Life of the Edge from 2005? It's great! People wouldn't loathe them so much if they acted a bit more human.
 
I don't think Bono is a smug douchebag as many paint him to be; and he actually has a point with the songwriting. Current mainstream musicians have atrocious, cliche lyrics with 40 producers just to make 1 hit single. While bands like U2 create an entire album of great lyrics (and music) with very few producers. The concept of albums are dying quickly, it's all about getting the singles; so artists don't have really have to craft out an entire album. I think that Bono and Co. understand that and is why they put the album on iTunes, because the album wouldn't get attention because U2 decided not to go the big single route, the only thing that would keep them relevant.
U2 is one of the last remaining true rock bands and they're trying to preserve that. So bands like the Foo Fighters can go f**k themselves because they've had no true long lasting impact on music and have done nothing to try and save it. It's easy to criticize bands for experimenting when all of your albums sound exactly the same.




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I don't hate Bono because he's successful, but I find him annoying because he's a smug braggart. Look at how he was talking about how nobody could write songs as good as those on SOI. He's like Noel Gallagher c.1995 but without the humour. Not that he isn't funny, but he doesn't show it. He should, because he and the rest of the band are hilarious. Have you seen the Day in the Life of the Edge from 2005? It's great! People wouldn't loathe them so much if they acted a bit more human.

If he cannot be proud at their own art then what can he brag about? His big house?

Everyone should be encouraged to feel pride when you think you've done a great work IMHO
 
People wouldn't loathe them so much if they acted a bit more human.

They do act human, actually more than many celebs out there. Whenever someone who knows or met someone in the band is talking about them it's always about how grounded and down the earth they are, how nice and kind. You don't hear many bad things said about Bono and the rest of the band when it comes to people who have really met them. They are very kind and generous to the fans, not arrogant asses. Bono's activism is the most "human" thing about him, he could give a shit about what's going on in the world. He's a very interesting, complex guy with a lot of soul, flaws and all. He has a good sense of humour and self-irony, he's witty and most of all he knows what he's talking about most of the time.

I think people who just hate him because they want to hate are kind of missing out because he's a really intriguing personality. However, it's so easy these days to hate someone you don't know, just because of the image the media is portraying. Stereotypes are created so easily and many people are just looking for an enemy, as ridiculous as it may seem.
 
I don't think Bono is a smug douchebag as many paint him to be; and he actually has a point with the songwriting. Current mainstream musicians have atrocious, cliche lyrics with 40 producers just to make 1 hit single. While bands like U2 create an entire album of great lyrics (and music) with very few producers. The concept of albums are dying quickly, it's all about getting the singles; so artists don't have really have to craft out an entire album. I think that Bono and Co. understand that and is why they put the album on iTunes, because the album wouldn't get attention because U2 decided not to go the big single route, the only thing that would keep them relevant.
U2 is one of the last remaining true rock bands and they're trying to preserve that. So bands like the Foo Fighters can go f**k themselves because they've had no true long lasting impact on music and have done nothing to try and save it. It's easy to criticize bands for experimenting when all of your albums sound exactly the same.




Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference

I totally agree with you - the songwriting on the album is phenomenal. But he doesn't have to tell us that. Nobody likes a braggart.
 
Beiber's done some juvenile shit, but he's a saint compared to the Stones, Zep, Scott Weiland, Kurt Cobain...the list goes on. He's kid. A dumb kid who's been raised in a bubble with too much money and fame, and who came from a rough background. He never really had a chance to be a decent guy. Or make music that isn't aural poison.

I don't hate Bono because he's successful, but I find him annoying because he's a smug braggart. Look at how he was talking about how nobody could write songs as good as those on SOI. He's like Noel Gallagher c.1995 but without the humour. Not that he isn't funny, but he doesn't show it. He should, because he and the rest of the band are hilarious. Have you seen the Day in the Life of the Edge from 2005? It's great! People wouldn't loathe them so much if they acted a bit more human.

Bieber has done a bunch of stupid shit. Egging the neighbors house so badly that $25k worth of windows would have to be replaced. Racing Ferrari's in his neighborhood, getting into fights and other various altercations, getting so high on a plane that it had to emergency land because the pilot was starting to get a contact high. Stupid stuff...yeah its kind of funny in a juvenile way...but also dangerous. Pissing in a mop bucket is one thing, but partying all the damn time and keeping your neighbors awake on work nights is another. Also i think a paparazzi was killed trying to follow the Biebs who was running from him. Thats not on Biebs its on the paparazzi...but still.

Im embarrassingly not very well versed on the stuff the Stones, Zeppelin has done. I know that STP (Weiland) had some serious drug issues, Everyone knows about Keith Richards and the Gallagher brothers of Oasis. And of course Cobain.

Call this a double standard, but its one thing to have earned your wings as a hard living rock star and then trash your image in public. Rock and roll has a long history of bad behavior, afterall. But its something else for a child to become an overnight sensation because of YouTube, and then grow up spoiled and become an enormous douche because of it. I mean, i honestly couldn't name one of Biebers songs that made him so famous. Not one. So to me, he might as well be a Kardashian, being famous for being famous. At least Ozzy created real music before he snorted ants and bit the heads off of live bats.

I don't really think Bono is that much of a smug braggart. Sure he comes off that way, people perceive him as such, but ive always thought that was just the way he comes across to people who don't understand his accent or some of the words he uses (not saying you are one of those people either).

I would be happier though if he spent less time chatting with politicians and popes and more time down to earth with the everyday real people. Not crazy people with malicious intentions, mind you, just ordinary crazy people like myself.
 
It's all about the taxes. There were always haters before, but it tipped the neutrals (vast majority) into the haters camp.

It made U2 look hypocritical and has undermined Bono's credibility as an anti poverty campaigner.
 
They do act human, actually more than many celebs out there. Whenever someone who knows or met someone in the band is talking about them it's always about how grounded and down the earth they are, how nice and kind. You don't hear many bad things said about Bono and the rest of the band when it comes to people who have really met them. They are very kind and generous to the fans, not arrogant asses. Bono's activism is the most "human" thing about him, he could give a shit about what's going on in the world. He's a very interesting, complex guy with a lot of soul, flaws and all. He has a good sense of humour and self-irony, he's witty and most of all he knows what he's talking about most of the time.

I think people who just hate him because they want to hate are kind of missing out because he's a really intriguing personality. However, it's so easy these days to hate someone you don't know, just because of the image the media is portraying. Stereotypes are created so easily and many people are just looking for an enemy, as ridiculous as it may seem.

Well said again last unicorn, I like the way you think.
 
Some of the comments about wishing Bono had fallen out of the plane instead of luggage, wow, well that's just plain evil. I'm not a fan of Bieber, he's a jerk but I wouldn't wish death on the guy.

I think a lot of the hate comes from hipsters as well. They're bitter because they know their hipsters bands such as Animal Collective are not ever going to have the success and longevity of U2, and so they have to try and bring down U2. I think that goes for people in general if they don't like U2. Deep down they know that their favourite bands of the past (beatles, floyd, Zep fell apart) but U2 are still going strong since the late 70's and it burns.

As for the rest of the haters yes it is double standards, if taxes and the sunglasses are all they have to go by.... I've see a lot of people that worship, Cobain, Lennon, Page, etc. but always bash Bono. They're the hypocrites.
 
Some of the comments about wishing Bono had fallen out of the plane instead of luggage, wow, well that's just plain evil. I'm not a fan of Bieber, he's a jerk but I wouldn't wish death on the guy.

I think a lot of the hate comes from hipsters as well. They're bitter because they know their hipsters bands such as Animal Collective are not ever going to have the success and longevity of U2, and so they have to try and bring down U2. I think that goes for people in general if they don't like U2. Deep down they know that their favourite bands of the past (beatles, floyd, Zep fell apart) but U2 are still going strong since the late 70's and it burns.

As for the rest of the haters yes it is double standards, if taxes and the sunglasses are all they have to go by.... I've see a lot of people that worship, Cobain, Lennon, Page, etc. but always bash Bono. They're the hypocrites.

Bang On Man! You hit the nail on the head. :up:
 
As was said on another thread seems "dah haterz" disease has spread from the tweens to the adults. Maybe there's an ointment.

Anyone venturing into a babbling tinfoil hatted lunatic wasteland like "Comment Is (unfortunately) Free" at The Guardian is going to encounter lots of lame lookatme pisstaking towards this band, any mainstream band almost... but hate? not really, unless in dah haterz world it has a brand new context. Mostly I see lots of going over of the same old, same old predictable Bono talking points, the urban legends and the tired jokes, but hang on... tired jokes turn up on every music forum.. :hmm: Like someone else said, had they released this album more traditionally and please, without numpties like Tedder anywhere near a U2 song (alas EBW has that sped up OneRep part in it which should have been jettisoned) then these gobshites wouldn't have much of a leg to stand on, other than to flap around which they're kinda doing anyway. They're simply using what has turned out to be a rather polarising release strategy as a vessel for their annual repetoire of 'pay yer tax', 'stop flying hats first class' and such fresh guffaws for the 100000th time...

Hate? nah.. Mocking, pisstaking and a lot of rolled out and cliched U2 2006+ talking points? Aye tons, aka new year, same old shite...
 
Most people don't really care.

Most people find Bono mildly annoying.

Most peole like at least half a dozen U2 songs. And most of those like a baker's dozen. We can all probably name those songs.

Most people own and like JT and AB.

Most people stopped paying attention around 2005. Even more around 1994. And that's ok.

U2 is very popular. Their albums will live forever. Anyone who actively hates Bono really needs a smack and an introduction to people actually worthy of hate. Ignore them.




Sent from
 
Here's some proof that U2/Bono aren't *that* hated.

The new "Do They Know It's Christmas" came out a week or two back. As you all know, Bono sang his traditional line (albeit, altered for this cause) and a few other lines.

I heard the song and felt it was TONS better than the 2004 version, but still not as good as the original. Overall, though, it was good.

I then went down to read the reviews. I figured everyone would tear apart the song and Bono, especially.

MUCH TO MY SURPRISE, all of the comments were about how the song sucked EXCEPT for Bono. These weren't the U2 fans' posts either. The U2 fans were obvious ("love U2, love Bono!"). Most people said, "thank God for Bono, otherwise this would have sucked". People felt most singers had no emotion or passion, except for Bono.

The point is, if Bono truly starts to back down from all of the charity work that has dominated his time for the last decade, people may return to realizing just how good of a singer he is. And that's a good thing, because SOI is really a good album and I hope people do give it another chance. But I'm sure the tour will instantly sell out (all those haters will be first in line).
 
I'm not a fan of Bieber, he's a jerk but I wouldn't wish death on the guy.

tumblr_lgx3wfYxz71qcz5vbo1_500.gif
 
As was said on another thread seems "dah haterz" disease has spread from the tweens to the adults. Maybe there's an ointment.

Anyone venturing into a babbling tinfoil hatted lunatic wasteland like "Comment Is (unfortunately) Free" at The Guardian is going to encounter lots of lame lookatme pisstaking towards this band, any mainstream band almost... but hate? not really, unless in dah haterz world it has a brand new context. Mostly I see lots of going over of the same old, same old predictable Bono talking points, the urban legends and the tired jokes, but hang on... tired jokes turn up on every music forum.. :hmm: Like someone else said, had they released this album more traditionally and please, without numpties like Tedder anywhere near a U2 song (alas EBW has that sped up OneRep part in it which should have been jettisoned) then these gobshites wouldn't have much of a leg to stand on, other than to flap around which they're kinda doing anyway. They're simply using what has turned out to be a rather polarising release strategy as a vessel for their annual repetoire of 'pay yer tax', 'stop flying hats first class' and such fresh guffaws for the 100000th time...

Hate? nah.. Mocking, pisstaking and a lot of rolled out and cliched U2 2006+ talking points? Aye tons, aka new year, same old shite...

I'm sorry but I couldn't quite follow what you were saying here.:hmm:
 
They are haters because they are jealous. U2 is just awesome in every way


Sent from my iPad using U2 Interference Joanne
 
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