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U2 Amongst Paste's Best Living Songwriters
The June/July issue of Paste, on newsstands now, features the magazine's listing of the 100 Best Living Songwriters and includes U2. The band placed a respectable 18 on the list and got the following nod from Paste president and film editor Tim Porter:
From the postpunk of "I Will Follow" to the political anthem "Sunday Bloody Sunday" to the atmospheric textures of "Bad" to the chiming guitar-pop of "With or Without You" to the distortion of "Zoo Station" to the dance drone of "Numb" and back to the personal anthem "Beautiful Day," the biggest band in the world has an uncanny knack for significantly tweaking or wholly reinventing its sound at precisely the time when the band--and rock music--most need it. Led by Bono, these rock 'n' roll messiahs not only risk but invite aspersions of pretension, hypocrisy and silliness as they rush headlong into the arenas of love, politics and religion. More often than not, these changes have paid off as the band has built a catalog of memorable, meaningful songs rivaling that of any act in popular music. Stadium-filling, anthem-belting masters of bombast, U2 invites us to sing along to the carnage of id v. superego. And their songs remind us that the frustrations with changing ourselves are never an excuse to stop seeking peace and justice for all.
The magazine selected lyrics from "The Fly" ("It's no secret that a conscience can sometimes be a pest/ It's not secret ambition bites the nails of success/ Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief/ All kill their inspiration and sing about their grief") to represent U2's canon. The songs "With or Without You," "One" and "Veritgo" are recommended "gets" by Paste.
Many U2 heroes and contemporaries are also included on the list. Collaborator Bob Dylan tops the list, with Bruce Springsteen at No. 3, Paul McCartney at No. 5, Leonard Cohen 6, Elvis Costello 8, Willie Nelson 15, Van Morrison 20, Lou Reed 21, REM 26, Pete Townshend 33, Public Enemy 50, Sting 62, Frank Black 66, Patti Smith 95 and T Bone Burnett 100.
Paste readers ranked U2 8th on their list of the Best Living Songwriters and again chose Bob Dylan best of them all.
For more on Paste, visit www.pastemagazine.com.
The June/July issue of Paste, on newsstands now, features the magazine's listing of the 100 Best Living Songwriters and includes U2. The band placed a respectable 18 on the list and got the following nod from Paste president and film editor Tim Porter:
From the postpunk of "I Will Follow" to the political anthem "Sunday Bloody Sunday" to the atmospheric textures of "Bad" to the chiming guitar-pop of "With or Without You" to the distortion of "Zoo Station" to the dance drone of "Numb" and back to the personal anthem "Beautiful Day," the biggest band in the world has an uncanny knack for significantly tweaking or wholly reinventing its sound at precisely the time when the band--and rock music--most need it. Led by Bono, these rock 'n' roll messiahs not only risk but invite aspersions of pretension, hypocrisy and silliness as they rush headlong into the arenas of love, politics and religion. More often than not, these changes have paid off as the band has built a catalog of memorable, meaningful songs rivaling that of any act in popular music. Stadium-filling, anthem-belting masters of bombast, U2 invites us to sing along to the carnage of id v. superego. And their songs remind us that the frustrations with changing ourselves are never an excuse to stop seeking peace and justice for all.
The magazine selected lyrics from "The Fly" ("It's no secret that a conscience can sometimes be a pest/ It's not secret ambition bites the nails of success/ Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief/ All kill their inspiration and sing about their grief") to represent U2's canon. The songs "With or Without You," "One" and "Veritgo" are recommended "gets" by Paste.
Many U2 heroes and contemporaries are also included on the list. Collaborator Bob Dylan tops the list, with Bruce Springsteen at No. 3, Paul McCartney at No. 5, Leonard Cohen 6, Elvis Costello 8, Willie Nelson 15, Van Morrison 20, Lou Reed 21, REM 26, Pete Townshend 33, Public Enemy 50, Sting 62, Frank Black 66, Patti Smith 95 and T Bone Burnett 100.
Paste readers ranked U2 8th on their list of the Best Living Songwriters and again chose Bob Dylan best of them all.
For more on Paste, visit www.pastemagazine.com.
