Vertigo will be a big hit!
I am in the unfortunate situation of being off work awaiting back surgery. That has me listening to U2 non-stop. I also have been listening to the radio for the first time in years. Here in the Mtns of East Tennessee, I do get radio stations from Knoxville to Bristol to Asheville.
One station that is in the Alternative/Rock category has been playing Vertigo a lot and singing it's praises. Yesterday, on "Electric 94.9", which plays hip-hop & bubblegum pop non-stop, they announced around mid-day that they would be playing U2's new single at 8:00 PM, and they even billed it as an "exclusive first chance" to hear it.
After they played it, they went off about it. Said they'd be putting that into heavy rotation.
I think this is happening in many more markets than the relatively small one I'm in. U2 has raced up two charts, modern rock and mainstream rock. If you look at the usual movement of songs on either chart, it's usually not very volatile, with songs moving up or down slowly. I believe U2 will hit #1 on both charts.
Then, the video comes out, as well as the single. The song will cross over into the mainstream, and I really believe this is a better single than Beautiful Day. It's perfect at just over 3 minutes, has a great hook and can appeal to the masses.
BD made it to #1 on the Dance/Club chart with the remix. I expect the same thing to happen with Vertigo.
And, don't forget, the "$10M" marketing push has not really even started. I hated the title at first, but after hearing DJ's talking about the album and the full title is spoken, I actually think the name alone will help the album get recognition. The "puns" like "Vertigo explodes onto the charts", etc., will be used in all the reviews, and most reviews will be positive and we'll have many, many catch phrases about this album.
This is the record that will truly establish U2 as one of the top 2 or 3 bands of all time...perhaps even the best ever...history will tell.
