HelloAngel
ONE love, blood, life
By Carrie Alison, Chief Editor
2004.11
Despite all efforts to prevent it, U2’s feverishly anticipated new album “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb” leaked onto the Internet on November 5, via peer-2-peer sharing services much to the dismay of the band’s record label who had thus far orchestrated an extremely tight wall of security around the album.
When the album went missing in Nice during a Blender photo shoot this summer, lead singer Bono was quick to state that if the album leaked, it would be released immediately to Apple’s iTunes—a notion no longer surprising given the band’s recently announced partnership with the million-selling download service and a special edition U2 iPod. On November 9, however, press reports indicated that U2 would not release the album early.
While some fans dug in their heels and refused to download the critically-praised “Atomic Bomb” out of respect for U2, curiosity and adrenaline got the best of thousands of fans who simply could not wait any longer for its November 22 worldwide release date.
Widely hailed by critics as an explosive return to form for U2, “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb” has had a long gestation period with an ever-evolving list of top producers, song lists, rumored re-recordings, breaks due to Bono’s charity work for AIDS, and the aforementioned “lost” copy of the album in France.
Given the frequent radio airplay and Billboard chart success of first single “Vertigo,” emotions among fans elevated to a fever pitch for what “Atomic Bomb” would bring—would it be the “punk rock on Venus” album Bono promised, or would it be a misstep greatly influenced by the overwhelming need to remain relevant in an increasingly short term memory-influenced industry.
“It's a tough music market these days. Sure, there's a lot of crap out, but there's some great new fresh bands—Franz Ferdinand, The Killers, Coldplay and Interpol to name a few. The fact is some guys in their mid-40s shouldn't be able to compete,” said Interference.com member AtomicBono. “Instead, they went and created ‘How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.’ And thank God they did.”
It’s official—U2 have a fiery ace in their pocket, and their fans couldn’t be happier.
Early favorites from “Atomic Bomb” include a soaring “Miracle Drug,” the emotional ballad “Sometimes You Cant Make It On Your Own” and the Who-ish “All Because Of You.” “Miracle Drug” in particular elicited the most worshipful reaction from fans, drawing such praise that many anointed it U2’s next super-love song on the level of “One” from 1991’s “Achtung Baby.” “This is what U2 does that no one else can do. Take a story and make it bigger —that is, universalize human emotions and take them to the sky for everyone to understand and relate to. This is U2 performing its magic—the art of the impossible,” said member Aaron.
From the moment “Atomic Bomb” leaked, fans spent their waking hours mulling over the new melodies U2 had created for them, listening to the album on repeat, dreaming about what the tour might be like, opening songs, closing songs—the possibilities were endless. After all, these fans have waited four years for U2 to release a new album; and in these four years, the world has seen the worst of times—how would U2 interpret the changing world and its new realities? How indeed do you dismantle an atomic bomb?
“With love,” Bono says.
Bono and the boys need not look far for all the love in the world—with over 100 million records sold to date, they have no shortage of eager hearts and minds willing to embrace them—no matter how big the venue, no matter how high the cost.
“As a whole, this album represents one of U2's best efforts. The lyrics are a perfect combination of ‘Joshua Tree’s visions of the Kingdom Come, ‘Achtung Baby's dark introspection, and ‘All That You Can’t Leave Behind's wise sentimentality,” said member nicholsfornixon. "Musically, ‘How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb’ rivals ‘Achtung Baby’ for the title of U2's best. The Edge has simply never played guitar better [and] Bono's voice sounds as good as it ever has before.”
2004.11
Despite all efforts to prevent it, U2’s feverishly anticipated new album “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb” leaked onto the Internet on November 5, via peer-2-peer sharing services much to the dismay of the band’s record label who had thus far orchestrated an extremely tight wall of security around the album.
When the album went missing in Nice during a Blender photo shoot this summer, lead singer Bono was quick to state that if the album leaked, it would be released immediately to Apple’s iTunes—a notion no longer surprising given the band’s recently announced partnership with the million-selling download service and a special edition U2 iPod. On November 9, however, press reports indicated that U2 would not release the album early.
While some fans dug in their heels and refused to download the critically-praised “Atomic Bomb” out of respect for U2, curiosity and adrenaline got the best of thousands of fans who simply could not wait any longer for its November 22 worldwide release date.
Widely hailed by critics as an explosive return to form for U2, “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb” has had a long gestation period with an ever-evolving list of top producers, song lists, rumored re-recordings, breaks due to Bono’s charity work for AIDS, and the aforementioned “lost” copy of the album in France.
Given the frequent radio airplay and Billboard chart success of first single “Vertigo,” emotions among fans elevated to a fever pitch for what “Atomic Bomb” would bring—would it be the “punk rock on Venus” album Bono promised, or would it be a misstep greatly influenced by the overwhelming need to remain relevant in an increasingly short term memory-influenced industry.
“It's a tough music market these days. Sure, there's a lot of crap out, but there's some great new fresh bands—Franz Ferdinand, The Killers, Coldplay and Interpol to name a few. The fact is some guys in their mid-40s shouldn't be able to compete,” said Interference.com member AtomicBono. “Instead, they went and created ‘How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.’ And thank God they did.”
It’s official—U2 have a fiery ace in their pocket, and their fans couldn’t be happier.
Early favorites from “Atomic Bomb” include a soaring “Miracle Drug,” the emotional ballad “Sometimes You Cant Make It On Your Own” and the Who-ish “All Because Of You.” “Miracle Drug” in particular elicited the most worshipful reaction from fans, drawing such praise that many anointed it U2’s next super-love song on the level of “One” from 1991’s “Achtung Baby.” “This is what U2 does that no one else can do. Take a story and make it bigger —that is, universalize human emotions and take them to the sky for everyone to understand and relate to. This is U2 performing its magic—the art of the impossible,” said member Aaron.
From the moment “Atomic Bomb” leaked, fans spent their waking hours mulling over the new melodies U2 had created for them, listening to the album on repeat, dreaming about what the tour might be like, opening songs, closing songs—the possibilities were endless. After all, these fans have waited four years for U2 to release a new album; and in these four years, the world has seen the worst of times—how would U2 interpret the changing world and its new realities? How indeed do you dismantle an atomic bomb?
“With love,” Bono says.
Bono and the boys need not look far for all the love in the world—with over 100 million records sold to date, they have no shortage of eager hearts and minds willing to embrace them—no matter how big the venue, no matter how high the cost.
“As a whole, this album represents one of U2's best efforts. The lyrics are a perfect combination of ‘Joshua Tree’s visions of the Kingdom Come, ‘Achtung Baby's dark introspection, and ‘All That You Can’t Leave Behind's wise sentimentality,” said member nicholsfornixon. "Musically, ‘How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb’ rivals ‘Achtung Baby’ for the title of U2's best. The Edge has simply never played guitar better [and] Bono's voice sounds as good as it ever has before.”
