Bands that used that 90's U2 sound

[The Scientist]

Achtung Baby has been referred to as their "rock meets electronic album" (and continued with Zooropa and Pop) but really it includes a lot more influence then just that. There's also the shoegaze influence of bands like MBV (Loveless) with the massive guitar pedal production effects that further thickened the sound and was an influence to their sound.

Clearly many albums also reflected U2's approach. There's Depeche Mode's Songs of Faith & Devotion that had the band use a lot of the same album production team and also included darker sound, guitar meets electronic sounds, and a dramatic image change as well. If electronic and rock met in the middle, DM met U2 coming from the other side (purely electronic) at the same destination. Clearly Alan Moulder and Flood own some of credit for this approach.

Then there's bands like Garbage that did the same thing (with Curve as influence before them doing a similar approach). Radiohead following their path with OKC but going more towards an IDM sound with Kid A. And of course Primal Scream that truly did a great similar job of combining both and even using Kevin Shields (from MBV in the studio). Even Smashing Pumpkins who adored MBV's Loveless and basically "remade" it with Siamese Dream eventually added electronics to the mix several albums after (like w/Adore). Spiritualized may also be a good example that took a similar approach in the late 90's as well. Hell even NIN with Flood's help reached a bigger audience and sound than traditional Industrial Rock had ever reached.

In the 00's Bands like Muse, Coldplay, Keane, Bloc Party, The Killers, and Snow Patrol, and Stereophonics may have added electronics to their own alternative rock to amplify their sound on follow-up albums but they rarely thickened up the songs in quite the same way. Certainly these bands were seeing u2's 90's era as a source of inspiration (Coldplay constantly name checking U2 during X+Y) and these bands were clearly going in that direction (with mixed results). And why not... clearly U2 was one of the few remaining examples of a band that was taking a mainstream alternative rock (and with thick electronic sounds) in an indie rock world.

So is this U2's 90's period net affect (i think yes but hey its just a theory) and did I miss out on any great examples to this?

Thoughts............

 

[YBORCITY]

Wow! I never noticed how much Colplay really sounds like U2

 

[Jive Turkey]

Clearly many albums also reflected U2's approach. There's Depeche Mode's Songs of Faith & Devotion that had the band use a lot of the same album production team and also included darker sound, guitar meets electronic sounds, and a dramatic image change as well. If electronic and rock met in the middle, DM met U2 coming from the other side (purely electronic) at the same destination. Clearly Alan Moulder and Flood own some of credit for this approach.

I think you should listen to Violator

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

u2 hardly invented this sound.

I think you should listen to Violator

for real. sofad was a bit of a departure for them, but violator was already hinting at this direction.

 

[BVS]

Jimmy Gnecco of the band Ours has said that Achtung Baby is his "musical Bible".

The influence is there, but not obvious.

 

[The Scientist]

u2 hardly invented this sound.

for real. sofad was a bit of a departure for them, but violator was already hinting at this direction.

Well i think Violator is a much cleaner album then SOFAD and still very electronic. I'm not saying that DM copied them but I think that U2 and DM were heading from opposite directions and met in the middle. Dm were headed that way but Dave wasn't laden with tatoos, long hair, and heroin chic before it either.

So if Achtung Baby (Alt Rock+Electronics+Shoegaze+Industrial Rock) didnt "invent" this sound who do you think did?

 

[Jive Turkey]

Dm were headed that way but Dave wasn't laden with tatoos, long hair, and heroin chic before it either.

I dont know if I'd call hardcore drug addiction and the and the related aesthetic changes a 'style'.. I mean, i guess to some degree it was, but I dont think it was a premeditated choice "for our next album, I'll develop a crippling heroin addiction, get some cool tattoos, and grow my hair long. I think it will help our image"

That said, U2 dont have any of that, so I don't really understand the reference

I'm not being a dick, I just really dont think Depeche Mode were influenced by U2's sound at all

I'm not saying that DM copied them but I think that U2 and DM were heading from opposite directions and met in the middle.

I can get behind this, I just think it was more coincidental than anything. But I'd also say that Achtung Baby isnt really all that electronic

 

[No spoken words]

I'm not being a dick

I'm not being a dick

I'm not being a dick

Sure you're not.

 

[Jive Turkey]

a growing dick. very Freudian of you, NSW

 

[lazarus]

I thought DM was following a similar script myself back in the early 90's, so I have to agree with that part of the original post. When you consider the Flood and Corbijn connection there's no way some of those ideas (sonically and image-wise) didn't get passed around.

You can also see the influence on Metallica's Load album (Lars has been a vocal fan for a while now), and here's a direct quote from James Hetfield:

"Lars and Kirk drove on those records. The whole 'We need to reinvent ourselves' topic was up. Image is not an evil thing for me, but if the image is not you, then it doesn't make much sense. I think they were really after a U2 kind of vibe, Bono doing his alter ego. I couldn't get into it. The whole, 'Okay, now in this photoshoot we're going to be '70s glam rockers.' Like, what? I would say half — at least half — the pictures that were to be in the booklet, I yanked out. The whole cover thing, it went against what I was feeling."

 

[Salome]

Bon Jovi and Inxs
that's about it

the influence on live shows and the way bands create their image was huge though

 

[Jive Turkey]

I think it would make more sense to say U2 were influenced by Depeche Mode

 

[iron yuppie]

So if Achtung Baby (Alt Rock+Electronics+Shoegaze+Industrial Rock) didnt "invent" this sound who do you think did?

I think that this question does not have an answer, because these categories are all arbitrary. Achtung Baby was an amalgam of influences rather than an "invention" of a particular sound, much the same as a supposedly genre-defining album like DM's Black Celebration.

That said, to me the clearest antecedent for the elements of Achtung Baby would be David Bowie's Station to Station and Low.

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

I think it would make more sense to say U2 were influenced by Depeche Mode

 

[Bunbury]

Since when this thread become Dmode/u2 comparison????????

 

[Jive Turkey]

since the very first post

 

[The Scientist]

Well no, there's a lot more to this thread then JUST being a DM / u2 comparison. If people are focusing on just that then its little sad.

I go to a U2 board and everyone points to DM as the bigger influence. I'm a little stunned.

So do you feel there's no connection between u2 and those bands after them? To me it looks like there's clear lineage(and I thought i spelled it out) but maybe the question that should be answered. Is there a net effect to U2's 90's period in the bands that followed?

 

[Jive Turkey]

very interesting. I go to a U2 board and everyone points to DM as the influence. I'm a little stunned and saddened.

Why is that such a bad thing? Just being honest and realistic

 

[cobl04]

all music is built on bricolage.

That said, to me the clearest antecedent for the elements of Achtung Baby would be David Bowie's Station to Station and Low.

i bet U2 remembers making Achtung though

 

[Jive Turkey]

Well no, there's a lot more to this thread then JUST being a DM / u2 comparison. If people are focusing on just that then its little sad.

But you cant cite a reference and not expect anyone to respond specifically.
If you want to talk about another band that shouldn't be on the list, it's Nine Inch Nails. Pretty Hate Machine came out in 1989. How could it have possibly been influenced by AB?

 

[The Scientist]

PHM was important and took "industrial/ebm" into actual song structures that mainstream alt rock. But Downward Spiral is 1994. That's industrial rock, techno, and metal music and rather groundbreaking AND much of a bigger album making NIN a mainstream alt rock artist.

"With The Downward Spiral I tried to make a record that had full range, rather than a real guitar-based record or a real synth-based record. I tried to make it something that opened the palate for NIN, so we don't get pigeon-holed. It was a conscious effort to focus more on texture and space, rather than bludgeoning you over the head for an hour with a guitar. I was really into electronic music at the time. David Bowie's Low was probably the single greatest influence on The Downward Spiral for me."~Trent.

Again I think Bowie gets another notch of credit for influence for the Berlin trilogy and I known U2 were recording in Berlin especially for that reason (Hansa Studios). Again Bowie gets way too little credit by the current for what he did do and influence.

Again Flood and Alan Moulder on production.

I'm not saying AB directly influenced Downward Spiral but I believe in chain reactions, synchronicity, and trends. I think Alt Rock ultimately was effected by U2 and Dm's 90's output. I think people here are right in pointing that DM took electronic music as big as it could go with Music for the Masses and Violator first. There's even a few point here of how much U2 may have copied off Dm's Violator tour. So maybe its best that my initial thoughts were challenged as they were if they were wrong. Still I just don't think they mixed genres like U2 until SOFD and I don't think it was as successful an experiment.

 

[Jive Turkey]

Sure, Downward Spiral explored the sound to a further extent, but it was an extension of PHM rather than any sort of U2 influence. I mean, if you're going to use the Flood reference, then it would follow that NIN influenced Achtung Baby. Flood produced PHM in '89. Nine Inch Nails were already mixing the electronic and rock elements before 1991.
I'm not saying that U2 has had no influence since then, but I think it might be a bit of revisionist history to say they influenced many of the bands that were around at the same time

 

[Dalton]

The other day, my wife (she's got a great ass) had an album by some guy named Mozart. If that fucker isn't ripping off U2, I don't know who is.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

so these similarities could be the producer, but no let's just say everyone's ripping off u2. i mean, come on.

 

[No spoken words]

The other day, my wife (she's got a great ass) had an album by some guy named Mozart. If that fucker isn't ripping off U2, I don't know who is.

THAT's MY WIFE

clf/gfy

 

[CrashedCarDriver]

Kings of Leon

 

[The Scientist]

Sure, Downward Spiral explored the sound to a further extent, but it was an extension of PHM rather than any sort of U2 influence. I mean, if you're going to use the Flood reference, then it would follow that NIN influenced Achtung Baby. Flood produced PHM in '89. Nine Inch Nails were already mixing the electronic and rock elements before 1991.
I'm not saying that U2 has had no influence since then, but I think it might be a bit of revisionist history to say they influenced many of the bands that were around at the same time

Well I'd expect an industrial rock band like NIN to be mixing rock and electronics, its kind of in the ingredients of the whole genre. I'm not dismissing that NIN and Depeche influenced U2 to go that direction. I guess I see a split in the bands that came next. For example I think its really "circumstantial" that Radiohead followed in the same direction with OKC then the Kid A+ Kid B (Amnesiac... which really had the same recipe that Zooropa did as a weaker twin to the former album). I don't think Radiohead for example were big NIN and Depeche fans while I know that Bono and Thom actually are quite aware of each other/friends. Likewise the same effect with bands like Coldplay, The Killers, Snow Patrol, Bloc Party, etc in terms of seeing u2 as a "path".

 

[cobl04]

that is a MASSIVE stretch to say that Radiohead moved from OKC to Kid A and Amnesiac because they wanted their career to reflect U2 (JT > AB > Zooropa). they chose their name to be nearer to REM in record racks and i think they learnt from their flair for reinvention.

 

[lazarus]

No, but it's not a stretch to consider that after Cockropa and Cockengers, Radiohead had a pretty nice path carved out for them, and that includes The Bends and OK Computer before we even get to the more adventurous stuff.

 

[cobl04]

but to say that Radiohead followed up OKC with Kid A and Amnesiac because of AB/Zooropa/Passengers really gives them no credit.