Shuttlecock XX - Laz Is All You Have Left

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So why is there hate for the megaphone? Has it become synonymous with Bono shitting on Trump, or do people just not like it in general?
 
It was a pretty natural progression over the course of the IE tour that it became a loud/obnoxious part of the Bullet bit. I had always loved that it went from something fairly improvised to a fully fledged protest bit by the end of the tour. It was *supposed* to be obnoxious, in a way to draw attention. I was bummed that we in LA *just* missed out on the megaphone.

It just seems like the people in the RFD thread that are hoping it doesn't show up at the Grammys are among the people that also don't want U2 to talk about politics (read: TRUMP) at all.
 
I agree re: Bullet, I think it’s a great idea to funnel that anger into that device.

With Get Out, not so much. The song being a festering pile of cotton candy poop to begin with doesn’t help.
 
lazarus said:
I agree re: Bullet, I think it’s a great idea to funnel that anger into that device.

With Get Out, not so much. The song being a festering pile of cotton candy poop to begin with doesn’t help.
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There we go, it looks like I was OOTL on this one. He's been using it on Get Out?


(Incidentally, I hate the name of that song because I don't think there's any good natural way to abbreviate it. Get Out has such a different connotation than what the song's title actually is, that I can't immediately connect the two together when someone uses it. And I'm not going to call it Your Own Way either. Or Own Way, for that matter. So, at least out loud, I *keep* calling it Get Out of Your Own Way, which is annoying. Best not to talk about the song altogether.)
 
Well, I just finished listening to this. I can't believe I've only heard a new U2 album 3 times +onemonth after its release.

I still really *enjoy* it, but it's not what I wanted, I'm sad. That's strictly my feeling on the thing. If you love it, that's great, I have no interest in disparaging any opinions about it. I just still can't hear whatever this deep meaning behind everything is that I'm supposed to have gleaned from the interview before the album came out. Maybe I should spend some time with the lyrics. IDK.
 
I feel you to an extent; it’s not what I wanted either. But I already gave up on the band making a legitimately great album with no major missteps. The question for me really is how many standout tracks are there and how much I enjoy the listen in general.

To that end, it’s still a minor miracle to me that 35+ years on we can still get a run of songs as good and eclectic as Red Flag Day, Summer Of Love, The Blackout, The Showman, The Little Things (I’m sure most people would substitute one or two titles). Same goes for the back half of SOI. If you’re a fan of another band this old that can still deliver even that much, I’d be surprised. In addition, of the 14 new songs only 2 bother me and only 1 of those do I find outright offensive. It’s tough to ask for much more than that, even if the ways this band could avoid making bad moves seem so clear and easy.
 
lazarus said:
I feel you to an extent; it’s not what I wanted either. But I already gave up on the band making a legitimately great album with no major missteps. The question for me really is how many standout tracks are there and how much I enjoy the listen in general.

To that end, it’s still a minor miracle to me that 35+ years on we can still get a run of songs as good and eclectic as Red Flag Day, Summer Of Love, The Blackout, The Showman, The Little Things (I’m sure most people would substitute one or two titles). Same goes for the back half of SOI. If you’re a fan of another band this old that can still deliver even that much, I’d be surprised. In addition, of the 14 new songs only 2 bother me and only 1 of those do I find outright offensive. It’s tough to ask for much more than that, even if the ways this band could avoid making bad moves seem so clear and easy.
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I agree, and was actually saying something similar to Travis the other day. I was listening to some stuff from Working on a Dream and I really realized we've never had much of a misstep album from U2. Springsteen had one as early as the 90s, but even when I don't love a U2 album, they're still quality music, and they mostly don't sound like old guys trying to hard.
 
He uses the megaphone for the Kendrick bit at the end of Get Out. And for the chorus of American Soul.

I don't get the hate for it, either.
 
namkcuR said:
Speaking of album rankings....doing LN7's survey shook a few things up for me, and now that I've refreshed my thoughts on SOE, I'm gonna do one for New Year's Eve. I'll make it a little more interesting by giving each album an award(or awards)...

14. No Line On The Horizon
Award: Most Compromised

Could've been brilliant, but instead is one of the great what-ifs in the U2 catalogue. Still, contains a handful of really great tracks.

13. How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
Award: Most Safe, Most Unambitious

12. SOI/SOE(Tie)
Award: Most Unfairly Maligned, Most Poorly Promoted

Bad single choices all around in both cases, and the former was savaged for reasons having nothing to do with the music.

11. All That You Can't Leave Behind
Award: Most Soulful, Most Easy-Listening, Most Stripped-down

10. October
Award: Most Raw, Most Desperate

By desperate, I mean desperate for inner peace, desperate for understanding of themselves and the world, desperate for reconciliation between their spirituality/faith and being in a rock band.

9. Passengers
Award: Most Avant-garde, Most Out-There

8. Pop
Award: Most Hard, Most Dark, Most Dense, Most Misunderstood

Pop was once in my top 5. The fact that it's down here now doesn't at all mean that my positive opinion of it has changed, but rather that other albums have risen in my estimation. Pop is still awesome.

7. Rattle And Hum(studio stuff only)
Award: Most Bluesy, Most Reverent, Most Underappreciated(for its studio tracks)

I'll be honest, listening to Hawkmoon and Heartland and Van Diemen's Land for the survey allowed this one to move up a little, and it very nearly overtook War. Those tracks, God Part II, the singles...good shit.

6. War
Award: Most Energetic, Most Fiery

5. Boy
Award: Most Cohesive, Most Wide-eyed, Most Euphoric

I've gone back and forth a lot between this and War, but for me, the cohesiveness here wins. War is tremendous and exciting, it's more sophisticated and stylistically diverse, and it's got several tracks that are better than anything here - SBS, NYD, even Drowning Man - but this record has an incredible cohesiveness to it. I suppose it is easy to be cohesive when it's your first record and you really only have one musical color on your palette, but still, it results in a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts, and its parts are pretty damn good more often than not. It is a wide-eyed, innocent, euphoric record, and the Lord Of The Flies reference in Shadows fits well because the whole album seems to have an almost fairy-tale like quality to it, imo.

4. Zooropa
Award: Most Bold, Most Confident, Most "Fuck Up The Mainstream"

I used to have Pop higher, but it has fallen a bit whereas Zooropa has stayed high up. Pop is largely brilliant, but there is a sense that it sags a little under its own weight. Zooropa has a leanness, a buoyancy to it. It floats. They've never sounded more sure of themselves.

3. Joshua Tree
Award: Most Iconic, Most Cinematic, Most Anthemic

Absolutely iconic, beautiful, epic album. Just suffers a bit from being overplayed. Just a bit though.

2. Unforgettable Fire
Award: Most Atmospheric, Most Symphonic, Most Transportative, Most Inspired

Has steadily climbed my rankings over the years, has been top 5 for awhile, and has now risen all the way to #2. Probably will never overtake Achtung, but #2 isn't bad. Takes me to another place like few other records do.

1. Achtung Baby
Award: Most Everything

Still my #1 album of all time.
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110% Agree! :up:
 
I, for one, can't stand the megaphone, for two reasons: first, it's a schtick he's done before, and much better (i.e. Bullet), so it feels like lazy recycling; and more importantly, second, it sounds like absolute shit in GOOYOW.
 
Axver said:
I, for one, can't stand the megaphone, for two reasons: first, it's a schtick he's done before, and much better (i.e. Bullet), so it feels like lazy recycling; and more importantly, second, it sounds like absolute shit in GOOYOW.
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Come on now, a 40 year old career and using something for one song in that career doesn’t qualify as a “schtick he’s done before”.
 
I took the Cock Force advice and used a Target gift card to buy the deluxe version. Most of those bonus tracks really are pretty good.

Overall, I like this album quite a bit. Red Flag Day rolls around in my head for days after hearing it. These songs will sound great live.
 
I'd thought one of the new tracks was titled "The Snowman" until watching that liner notes video this weekend...
 
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