... Every Breaking Wave was already released to radio.
Song For Someone - Song Discussion
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... Every Breaking Wave was already released to radio.
Nick66
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
I don't see why people get so worked up about what the next "single" will be. Everyone who wants to hear those songs, and a lot of people who don't, has heard them. No song they could release could make any dent in this record's fortunes, or the even the perception of the band. EBW or SFS or TCB would have no more or less "success" as a single than Volcano, RBW or Cedarwood. What difference does it make which of these songs gets ignored?
Once the public has tuned something out, it's all background noise. No one cares about U2's "singles" other than the hard core fans, and in their case it doesn't matter anyway.
Once the public has tuned something out, it's all background noise. No one cares about U2's "singles" other than the hard core fans, and in their case it doesn't matter anyway.
LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
The biggest U2 single since Magnificent, everybody.
I agree mostly but disagree with Crystal Ballroom, and not just because I really like the song.
It's different, it's catchy, and more importantly, nobody but hardcore fans had heard it yet, as it wasn't in the original album offering.
Not that I think it would be a Top 40 hit. That ship hath sailed.
But it could do well on other formats because it will make people go "wait, THAT'S U2??"
Mrs. Garrison
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
Gotta agree with you here.
If Top 40 is what they keep striving for they really need to stop because it aint happening.
A song like Crystal Ballroom or Troubles might have done well in the Alternative charts and given them a new audience or at least made them successful
womanfish
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
pretty much gotta agree all around here with this post and with Headache. I think that while they seem to strive for radio relevance, they are in a tough spot. I love EBW, but bono's injury and lack of promo, and just scattered, odd release of it, really killed it.
I think their best songs would play better on alternative radio or Adult Alternative - like TCB, The Troubles and maybe even RBW or Volcano...
Unfortunately U2 is often a band stuck adrift in the middle of genres.
Not cool and trendy enough to be "alternative", not pop enough to be top 40, not rock enough to be on straight rock stations...
Obviously they are shooting for adult contemporary, which EBW, SFS, and California would work well on, but their approach during this whole release seems haphazard and vague. Even hard core fans have trouble knowing if something is actually a singe, or if there will be video, etc...
Guy O' has to GOOOO
Danny Boy
Rock n' Roll Doggie FOB
have you seen the link to the cover art posted lower down?
Ha. They should just go with this cover. Might actually create some buzz around who the song is about.
corianderstem
Blue Crack Distributor
Didn't they do a similar "film yourself" thing for something on 360? Was it Unknown Caller? How many shows did that stick around for?
Danny Boy
Rock n' Roll Doggie FOB
Film yourself talking to God on a smart phone? I have no memory of that.
Galeongirl
Galeonbroad
They wanted audio messages, questions. Also written was good too. That became the intro to Zooropa on the 2011 leg.
Nick66
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
I don't know, I think there's a bit of Mercy Derangement Syndrome going on around here with The Crystal Ballroom.
Flying FuManchu
New Yorker
Mercy sucked and sounded incomplete, Crystal Ballroom is awesome.
Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference
Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference
Hewson
Blue Crack Supplier
Agreed. Its a nice little B side, nothing more.
gvox
Ghost of Love
LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
Mercy, in its original incarnation, is a far better song than The Crystal Ballroom.
That being said, I'm on board with TCB being a focal point of the album because fuck at least it sounds fresh. That's one reason I was so irritated by Invisible being left off the record; it was sonically unusual for the band, even if the ingredients were familiar. I could tell that there was a producer change.
Lucifer's Hands was rightfully left off though. That song sucks.
djerdap
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
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The Crystal Ballroom is musically very interesting. It does sound fresh.
But there's always Bono. The cheap slogans are there ("every human life begins with a kiss"... sure, fine, whatever), backed up by silly rhyming, while the vocals are excruciating in those verses.
But there's always Bono. The cheap slogans are there ("every human life begins with a kiss"... sure, fine, whatever), backed up by silly rhyming, while the vocals are excruciating in those verses.
Mrs. Garrison
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
suddenly im imagining this monster of a live song with a huge bass explosion around the lines "every human life begins with a kiss"
yeah that right there is a song for someone, crystal ballroom, that is.
yeah that right there is a song for someone, crystal ballroom, that is.
gvox
Ghost of Love
Horribly Inaccurate Opinion Alert.
Ok, you are redeemed. All is forgiven.
Sent from my ass crack
Edit: I had written a negative post about TCB, but I also hadn't listened to it in months. I just listened to it again and realized that I liked it more than I had remembered, so I'll retract the post. No need to sound like the latest Interference troll who is negative for the sake of being negative.
Although I still prefer Mercy to TCB.
Although I still prefer Mercy to TCB.
bobsaget77
Rock n' Roll Doggie
Nick66
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
It's a fine song, and I like it quite a bit, and perhaps it should have been on the record and been the first single, that was up to the band. But I think the suggestion that making TCB (or any other song on that record) the first single would have somehow changed the fortunes of SOI is a bit of wishful thinking. Of course, we'll never know, just as we'll never know whether choosing something other than Boots would have changed NLOTH's reception. It's just fanboy speculating.
That said, if U2 thinks TCB is a good “single”, there's nothing to stop them from making it one.
I know there were several people here who hoped/predicted this would be the case, but I was humbled and gratified to say the tour would be called "Innocence and Experience" shortly after the record was released. Thank you.
Try not to hurt yourself there. Unnecessary patting on the back can be dangerous.
As a subscriber to the "people love Mercy because we never actually got a polished version and thus it has a mythical quality to it" theory, I will acknowledge that there maybe some of that... but the main difference is that Crystal Ballroom is actually a finished, mixed and released product; whereas Mercy was a leak, and a poor one at that, so we don't really know for sure if the song just hadn't been mastered yet or if the person who leaked it just made a piss poor transfer.
That said... I hate Mercy and I adore Crystal Ballroom.
Reggie Thee Dog
Blue Crack Addict
U2 have to get over the 'old' practice of dropping a 'Rawk' song as the first single, and go with the 'best' song period. I like TCB, but I like other songs much more on the SOI. I'm interested to see what happens if SFS is the next single...
Nick66
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
Yeah...the songs are apples and oranges. One is finished, the other isn't. They sound different and they are different (like you I prefer TCB). My point is that I think that at times, non-album tracks can attain a mythical "if ONLY this had been on the record" quality about them among some fans. It's a very convenient argument, actually, because there's no way to disprove it..i.e. the absence of a song made the record under perform, and its inclusion would have made it do better. The same goes for the "If only X had been the first single" speculation. The only evidence to the contrary is that U2, who presumably knows their music better and what will work than anyone here, made different decisions than bloggers on Interference would (though U2 does tend to second guess themselves quite a bit). There's also the conceit that just b/c Interference loves a song, the general public will as well. And while I like TCB, I'm not convinced it, or any song from this record, would have set the charts or social media on fire.
I'm interested to see what happens if SFS is the next single...
Honestly....what you think would happen?
BVS
Blue Crack Supplier
Actually, in the 'any guess what the tour will be called' thread it went down like this:
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Nick66
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
Well BVS, that makes two of us! I never said I was the only one to make the call. Though admittedly I was wrong about the Apple bit, but that was just having a bit of fun.
And if memory serves, I believe you also joined me in being right about the AB "remaster" as well!
All the credit goes to BVS.
And if memory serves, I believe you also joined me in being right about the AB "remaster" as well!
All the credit goes to BVS.
Doesn't fit sonically or lyrically and The Crystal Ballroom Tour sounds like a Celine Dion-ish Vegas residency.
But mostly, horribly overrated song like Mercy.
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