The real reason U2 isn't releasing any of this material

[JimmyChicken]

U2 currently has at least 4 unfinished album projects - possibly upto 8 depending upon how you look at it.

But they don't seem to be releasing the new material commercially.

Why is this?

It seems they suffer from perfectionism and ego! And perfectionism is form of procrastination.

They're striving to create hit singles that will top the global mainstream* charts yet realise the material won't hit the mark and consequentially not release it commerically... Well, till they feel they really have to.

But we're now at a point in time where the global mainstream* doesn't care how good U2's material is. So they're chasing their own tails in this futile quest to relive past Top 10 glory.

An unfortunate circumstance for a band who once claimed not to care what the mainstream thought... And unfortunate for the fans who would love for some of this newer material to be released.

*By "global mainstream" I mean all regions, not discrediting the possibility a new U2 single may have commercial success in certain regions or demographs. Just not commercial success worldwide like in the past.

 

[BVS]

Yes this has been mentioned exactly 1,069 times in previous album speculation threads.

 

[Niceman]

Why exactly did this need its own thread?

 

[topplehatU2]

Why exactly did this need its own thread?

So we can have another place to spew mindless speculation and useless discussion.

 

[JimmyChicken]

Why exactly did this need its own thread?

Seems I don't visit this forum much and wasn't aware how often this had been mentioned elsewhere.

The moderators might as well close this thread if people are only going to moan and groan about it.

 

[Rachel D.]

They're scared, they have OCD, they're hoarders, they're perfectionists, they're insecure...

 

[Steved1998]

So we can have another place to spew mindless speculation and useless discussion.

U2 is going SciFi!

 

[corianderstem]

The moderators might as well close this thread if people are only going to moan and groan about it.

We'd never have any open threads if every thread with moaning and groaning got locked.

 

[ozeeko]

I think (I think) the real reason is that they actually DON'T have anything close to being finished. Remember about Bono. He hears two chords and hears 10 songs in his head, then blabs about how much material they have, while Edge and Eno and Larry and whoever else may be around thinks "Bono's bonkers. We have a couple interesting jams, things that could be fleshed out into full length songs, but we're not quite there yet. Wish he would shut his trap for once in 30 years." And I think (I think) McGuinnes tends to be misled by Bono while Edge doesn't help matters with his cryptic fortune cookie responses in interviews.

 

[josh82]

I tend to agree with JimmyChicken, they've got a lot of material, a lot of songs, probably finished, but not as polished as they would've liked, and they are not satisfied with the final result.

 

[Jive Turkey]

quick, everyone shit all over the guy who opened a thread you don't feel is necessary!

 

[LPU2]

As an aging creative myself, I think U2 are getting strangled by fear and self doubt in an industry dominated by youth.

They need to recapture the attitude that allowed them to record a song like Elvis Presley and America.

 

[Salome]

U2 currently has at least 4 unfinished album projects - possibly upto 8 depending upon how you look at it.

But they don't seem to be releasing the new material commercially.

as you rightfully point out, the projects are unfinished
hence they haven't been released

once they finish one of the projects, they most likely will release something

yes

 

[Mrs. Garrison]

i thought "The 2" were just fucking with us

 

[indra]

Maybe the stuff just isn't very good. That's a happy thought, isn't it?

 

[lemonfly]

Edge keeps losing the CDs which is why they haven't released anything.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

I blame Superman

 

[iota]

OH NO! Someone made a thread!!! OMG!

 

[iota]

The real reason U2 are making mediocre music this last decade: they have to use the album to promote the big bloated super-tour. When they stop doing the ridiculously huge tours, they will regain their creative edge. Hopefully they won't all die of old age before that happens or break up.

 

[LemonMelon]

Since the world revolves around me, I just assumed U2 were trying to screw me over.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

Mediocre? And I was thinking that NLOTH was actually very good.

 

[iota]

It's the best of the decade But this is probably U2's worst decade as a band

 

[Vlad n U 2]

Agreed.

 

[digitize]

Mediocre? And I was thinking that NLOTH was actually very good.

WRONG. Just plain fucking WRONG. You have no fucking musical sense, do you? Sellout.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

Yeah, this is what I get for liking Coldplay.

 

[ozeeko]

I think it's a hell of a lot more interesting than BOMB, but it's got nothing (not even close) on ATYCLB...and I don't even rank ATYCLB in my top 7

 

[AndrewCowley]

They need to rethink. At the moment, their studio releases are at risk of achieving both maintstream and artistic irrelevance. You simply can't sit on the fence trying to achieve both. Screw the mainstream I say (they have conquered it many times over) and just make the best damn album they can, without changing themes and producers. Follow through on the initial concept and don't be drawn off course by second guessing what the mainstream will think.

 

[lemonfly]

They need to deconstruct the dream, then dream it all up again. Then they need to an Inception-style spinning top to navigate the dreams within dreams.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

I'd say that a pretty safe guess for why they didn't release anything in May is probably that the little window there went from being a near perfect time to release an album, and near perfect time to have a new album as part of the story (wild SA leg for a single, solid time off for promotion, NA leg for an album and an album for an NA leg needing a re-fresh, Glastonbury for an orgy of U2 love, European leg to bring it all home, finishing at home) to possibly having Spider-man and some issue crashing the whole Euro leg making it all just that much less appealing to them, or unworkable, or just not so brilliant/perfect.

I would think that it's still an open story. I don't mean 'open' as in, I do think there's no chance of getting anything soon, but if it was outside the studio forces that crashed the May idea, with otherwise a great confidence in what they have from the studio, it might still be a bit of a question mark for them. A lack of straight answers simply because they might have none. When Edge says they'll get back to all of this later, it's probably many things and ideas and possibilities that they have to come back to and look at, not just what they've done in the studio. The quality of ideas are as important as the quality of material. A lack of confidence in 'what' may or may not exist, but 'how', 'where', 'when' and 'why' are always just as important to them.

 

[Niceman]

I also wonder if we're all underplaying the spring album issue? The last two albums they released in the springs were NLOTH and POP. Both underperformed. They are guaranteed to make more money with a fall release.