Screw experimental - I just want a "dark" album...

[LemonMelon]

I'd say Kite is one of Bono's best lyrics. It's definitely more direct than earlier lyrics, but equally poetic and powerful.

I'm also a big fan of Grace.

Agreed. Kite is amazing, right up there with So Cruel, Wild Horses, etc.

Grace does have some good lyrics, but it doesn't work in song form. As a seperate poem it was probably pretty great.

 

[Zoots]

Ultraviolet is a pop song, plain and simple. No more or less so than WITS.

WITS is like fat free cheese compared to Ultraviolet. Ultraviolet has a lot of darkness in it, it's just not apparent until closer review. If I understand right, the song could be about a guy who has been unfaithful to his wife and is now trying to win her love back.

There is a silence that comes to the house
where no one can sleep
I guess it's the price of love
I know it's not cheap

When I was so messed up
I had opera in my head
Your love was a lightbulb
hangin over my bed

 

[Zoots]

Kite is beautiful and heartwrenching for the most part, agreed... but the last few verses kinda ruin it for me. Bad rhyming.

And it's not really poetic, pretty direct.

 

[Lancemc]

Yeah, well you can't argue against Ultraviolet. It just kicks ass in every way.

 

[LemonMelon]

Yeah, well you can't argue against Ultraviolet. It just kicks ass in every way.

Ultraviolet is great.

It just doesn't fit next to Acrobat and Love Is Blindness.

I personally dislike the

When I was so messed up
I had opera in my head
Your love was a lightbulb
hangin over my bed

line. Lightbulb just sounds off to me. It's better live when he changes "messed up" to "f***ed up".

 

[Zoots]

Or when Bono forgets the lyrics and sings "but your love is like a lightbulb that gets passed around".

 

[AaronMcKie]

Or when Bono forgets the lyrics and sings "but your love is like a lightbulb that gets passed around".

His reaction to what he just said made the flub classic.

 

[Zoots]

His reaction to what he just said made the flub classic.

What was his reaction?

 

[ozeeko]

My advice for the boys from Dublin: stop with the "love is all u need cumbaya save the world" songs. Instead of writing about the Africa problem being solved if we could only love, write about what's actually happening. Be graphic. And write about characters again. And, Goddammit, be pissed off! I'm not saying scream your head off (which would be cool tho), but just channel ure anger in an interesting way, without resorting to LOVE again.

 

[roy]

Instead of writing about the Africa problem being solved if we could only love

How many of these songs have U2 written in the 00s?

 

[Lancemc]

How many of these songs have U2 written in the 00s?

I think I could count 1??? maaayyybbbeeee....?

 

[ozeeko]

How many of these songs have U2 written in the 00s?

That was just one example, and that was Window In The Skies. Other than that, just take a look at the last album for the love themes. Even Bono said it himself, the bomb can only be dismantled with love. In Love and Peace or Else, he's asking where is the love? The Miracle Drug will be found through love. A Man and A Woman will stay together as long as they accept love on its terms and don't go searching for romance. Yahweh is all about praising God's love and love's ability to fix things. Mercy is all about finding love again. Original of the Species is all about loving yourself.

Yes, the world would be a much better place if everyone just loved one another. But...come on...enough already. Love is a great concept in moderation. That's why my two favorite songs off the album are the ones that sidestep love to embrace other emotions, whether it be paranoia (Fast Cars) and bitterness (Crumbs- not great lyrically, but sort of affecting in its passive-agressiveness).

These are just my opinions on it. I would personally like to see U2 go down a darker road on the next album.

 

[powerhour24]

Acrobat, Love is Blindness, Crumbs, etc

 

[powerhour24]

Zoo Station is an upbeat song about the attitude of people in reunited Berlin really, apprehensive perhaps, but not dark.

 

[U2girl]

My advice for the boys from Dublin: stop with the "love is all u need cumbaya save the world" songs. Instead of writing about the Africa problem being solved if we could only love, write about what's actually happening. Be graphic. And write about characters again. And, Goddammit, be pissed off! I'm not saying scream your head off (which would be cool tho), but just channel ure anger in an interesting way, without resorting to LOVE again.

The songs now couldn't be further from "love will save the world", nor are they about Africa (save from Crumbs). Far less universal than that, which seems to be the capital crime - they're too direct and personal.

 

[roy]

The songs now couldn't be further from "love will save the world", nor are they about Africa (save from Crumbs).

That was just one example of his relentless mis-directed criticism apparently.

 

[Salome]

U2 and dark????

maybe you can call some songs dark compared to the rest of their catalogue, but that's about it

if I want to hear something dark then U2 is not the first thing I think off, or the second thing, or the third

otherwise, the line of reasoning some decide to follow in this thread is indeed the usual bollocks again

 

[ozeeko]

U2 and dark????

maybe you can call some songs dark compared to the rest of their catalogue, but that's about it

if I want to hear something dark then U2 is not the first thing I think off, or the second thing, or the third

otherwise, the line of reasoning some decide to follow in this thread is indeed the usual bollocks again

Well I guess it boils down to personal taste, but my favorite U2 songs have always been the darker ones. And if you looked through U2's back catalog, you'd find a lot of darkness. Even on Joshua Tree, songs like With Or Without You, Bullet, Running to stand still, Red Hill Mining Town, Exit, Mothers of the Disappeared. There's a subtle dark undercurrent running thru those songs. Achtung Baby was a real dark album. So was War, Zooropa and POP. Especially POP.

 

[LemonMelon]

Achtung Baby was a real dark album. So was War, Zooropa and POP. Especially POP.

Pop is much darker than Achtung Baby.

People are naturally led to dark things. It fascinates them, and I suppose that's part of the reason why Pop, AB, and 90's U2 in general is so alluring to people, and why the idea for "darker" songs is being pushed.

The Velvet Underground was a dark band. Plastic Ono Band is a dark album. Compared to those, AB is a walk through a field of flowers on a sunny spring afternoon.

 

[ozeeko]

Pop is much darker than Achtung Baby.

People are naturally led to dark things. It fascinates them, and I suppose that's part of the reason why Pop, AB, and 90's U2 in general is so alluring to people, and why the idea for "darker" songs is being pushed.

The Velvet Underground was a dark band. Plastic Ono Band is a dark album. Compared to those, AB is a walk through a field of flowers on a sunny spring afternoon.

I agree POP is the darkest album. And ure right, people are naturally drawn to the dark side.

They are also sometimes drawn to the light, too. I love U2's uplifting tunes. I think Pride, Where the Streets, Angel of Harlem, Mysterious Ways, Elevation and Beautiful Day (among many others) are all great anthems that I will probably never tire of hearing. Lately tho, after songs like Miracle Drug, Window in the Skies and Vertigo..I'm left thinking...I dunno..been there, heard that. Anyone else feel that?

 

[LemonMelon]

I agree POP is the darkest album. And ure right, people are naturally drawn to the dark side.

They are also sometimes drawn to the light, too. I love U2's uplifting tunes. I think Pride, Where the Streets, Angel of Harlem, Mysterious Ways, Elevation and Beautiful Day (among many others) are all great anthems that I will probably never tire of hearing. Lately tho, after songs like Miracle Drug, Window in the Skies and Vertigo..I'm left thinking...I dunno..been there, heard that. Anyone else feel that?

I agree. Miracle Drug is a good example of the classic U2 formula getting wrung out. WITS is just slightly eccentric of what we've seen...it may be the tempo/rhythm, the new production sound, whatever, but something is a bit different about that one.

Vertigo actually surprised me and struck me as very different when it came out. The Spanish, the garage rock feel, it was just strange, so I disagree that it was some sort of retread. That's the hardest rocking U2 song of the new millennium thus far.

Regardless, a change would certainly do them good, but I don't expect that change this time out...look for it in the record after this, but don't expect something as jarring as All I Want Is You----> Zoo Station.

 

[Salome]

and God only Knows is darker than Sloop John B
and Until I Die would probably be darker than anything U2 has ever written,
but that didn't make the Beach Boys a band with a dark side that begged exploration

 

[the tourist]

Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me!

 

[doctorwho]

I like the experimental side of U2 but to me I can live without it.

What I REALLY like and feel they do best is their more "dark" songs. Sometimes these dark songs are experimental too, but sometimes not.

Songs like Exit, Acrobat, Dirty Day, Please, etc. I think U2 do these songs very very well. They also just flat-out rock live.

With that said I realize that a darker tone doesn't fare too well with mainstream/radio crowds, which U2 are very conscious of (and have been since 2000).

So after two albums with very little "dark" feel to them (if any at all) that is what I am hoping for on the next album.

Thoughts?

I though "New York", "When I Look at the World", "Love & Peace" and "Crumbs..." were all dark songs. IMO, there are two things that make a song "dark" - harsher music (like "Bullet") and the topic (like "Acrobat"). As such, I feel these 4 songs qualify.

That said, you are correct in that the last two albums are "lighter". But perhaps "joyous" is a better word. These albums are full of hope, even in the darkest hour. I do fine HTDAAB more about being lost (and perhaps found) and desperation than I do ATYCLB, but the overall uplifting theme remains.

While I do think U2 does dark well, I don't want an album of this. Forget sales - I just don't think this is U2's style. All of their music has that sadness to it, but that glimmer of hope, of joy, always remains.

 

[phillyfan26]

If you know the story behind Miracle Drug (with Christopher Nolan), then the lyrics are actually a couple layers deeper.

U2 is in a phase where they are writing more directly (examples: SYCMIOYO, directly a description of his father, blatantly obvious; OOTS, definitely about growing up and finding yourself, very direct). Directness is essentially bluntness, lacking poetic value, for it doesn't beat around the bush. It gets right to the heart of the issue at hand. It is actually something U2 hadn't done too much before, so it is something new.

I don't mind it as long as it gets poetic again next time. I think it will to a certain extent.

 

[Bono's shades]

Light or dark, experimental or straight forward, balls out rock or more considered soundscapes - I care not, just bring back the fuckin' depth to the music, lyrics and ideas. Give me something that doesn't wash off in under a week. Thank you.

Yes! That's exactly how I feel. That's what has been missing for the past six years. If ATYCLB and HTDAAB had been filled with joyful, uplifting songs that had the depth of Streets and Pride, I would have been perfectly happy.

 

[Salome]

the depth of Streets?????

even Bono has admitted feeling a bit ashamed of
"I want to run, I want to hide ....." because he now thinks of it as bad schoolboy poetry

now, I don't necessarily agree with Bono about this cause the lyrics work for me, but to say there's more depth there than in - let's say- Stuck in a moment, Sometimes .... or Walk On is slightly odd

 

[Bono's shades]

the depth of Streets?????

even Bono has admitted feeling a bit ashamed of
"I want to run, I want to hide ....." because he now thinks of it as bad schoolboy poetry

now, I don't necessarily agree with Bono about this cause the lyrics work for me, but to say there's more depth there than in - let's say- Stuck in a moment, Sometimes .... or Walk On is slightly odd

Maybe Streets doesn't have the deepest lyrics Bono has ever written, but they are a hell of a lot better than "a house doesn't make a home" which sounds like it should be on plaque hanging on my grandma's wall. And the Stuck in a Moment lyrics sound like they are from some crappy self-help book.

Besides, there seems to more of a depth of feeling in Streets - the music itself is so powerful. And the intro is pure musical brilliance.

 

[guill]

I just want an album and less so a collection of songs, something that's been missing since Zooropa.
One producer, one mixer would be nice too.

And if they could record the album outside Dublin or London, i would be even more delighted.

 

[bgmckinney]

They LOVE the public eye to be on them and they won't do anything that they think the mainstream will be uninterested in.

"We will continue to abuse our position and fuck up the mainstream." - They were, and had been for some time, and had wanted to be for even longer, extremely popular when Bono said that beack in 93.
They may not want to make dark music any more because that may not be what they are feeling. But I don't think it's because they feel the probing gaze of the public eye.