A thought about Vertigo(The song)

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LuvandPeace1980

LuvandPeace1980

War Child
Joined
Nov 17, 2004
Messages
727
Location
Australia
I personally think this should have been a 2nd single.
It would have been just as big but it seemed to just drown out the songs that were released after it. Like with ATCLB they could have released Elevation first and it would have been a similar vibe I feel but they didn't they released Beautiful Day.
Anyone ever thought this?
 
what song do you think they should've released first then?

Love and Peace might've been deemed too preachy
COBL would be too old-school U2
Sometimes would've been an ill-placed first single
Fast Cars wasn't even on all of the albums released
and ABOY is par at best
 
vertigo was like the declaration to the world that they were still the best rock band.
 
Vertigo definitely screams 'single' all over! The quirky spanish intro, the almost rap-along verses, the catchy-as-hell guitar riff that is the backbone of the song and the listener-friendly yeah yeah finale. It was a fine choice for first single IMO... which is not the same as saying it's a fine song, of course. :p
 
But I don't understand, why couldn't they leave it for the 2nd single?
It could still be a declaration even then couldn't it?
I just see the first single as always being big no matter what, being U2 and all.
Vertigo was going to be huge no matter what IMO, so why not put a little bit of risk into it? I think vertigo got the album off to a sour start in the US and was thinking maybe OOTS might have been a little sweeter for them :wink:
 
Look at their past first singles! They've all been explosive and catchy as hell like Vertigo...

Beautiful Day
Discotheque
Numb... okay, this is not exactly explosive but Zooropa is an oddity anyway!
The Fly
etc..

So I guess they wanted to stick with that formula.
 
yeah but OOTS is a little explosive isn't it? You go back a bit further With Or Without You wasn't explosivealthough it is a bit.. Desire was I spose.. was NYD? I spose it was.. but I dunno.. how can the other singles live up to the first one.. it's basically one hit wonders now.. I miss the Days of where there were like 4 big hits per album.. AB JT RH etc..
 
LuvandPeace1980 said:
yeah but OOTS is a little explosive isn't it? You go back a bit further With Or Without You wasn't explosivealthough it is a bit.. Desire was I spose.. was NYD? I spose it was.. but I dunno.. how can the other singles live up to the first one.. it's basically one hit wonders now.. I miss the Days of where there were like 4 big hits per album.. AB JT RH etc..
Click to expand...

Back in 1987 U2 could afford to go with a song with a slow build-up like WOWY for their first single because the listening public still had something resembling an attention span. Now the culture has been dumbed down so far that you have to grab people's attention right away with a catchy first single.

OOTS doesn't get "explosive" until halfway or three-quarters of the way through the song, kind of like WOWY. That's probably why they didn't release it as a first single.

Actually, I think U2 should just release whatever the hell they want as their first single, radio audience be hanged, but they want to the the Biggest Band in the World so they play by the rules.
 
Bono's shades said:


Back in 1987 U2 could afford to go with a song with a slow build-up like WOWY for their first single because the listening public still had something resembling an attention span. Now the culture has been dumbed down so far that you have to grab people's attention right away with a catchy first single.

OOTS doesn't get "explosive" until halfway or three-quarters of the way through the song, kind of like WOWY. That's probably why they didn't release it as a first single.

Actually, I think U2 should just release whatever the hell they want as their first single, radio audience be hanged, but they want to the the Biggest Band in the World so they play by the rules.
Click to expand...

I am in agreeance* with everything everyone has said and thats my point. It's a predicitive music world we live in right now.
But I think with a first single you can take advantage of it. I mean The Fly was not single worthy. U2 basically put that out to fuck with people's head. But it worked.
I think U2 should release whatever they want to as the first single then back it up with the big radio song.
 
Bono's shades said:

Actually, I think U2 should just release whatever the hell they want as their first single, radio audience be hanged, but they want to the the Biggest Band in the World so they play by the rules.
Click to expand...

Yeah Exactly! As much as I cringe hearing a bunch of drunk college girls screaming yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah when Vertigo is played by some cover band at a local bar, I suppose U2 had to do it! They had to make this catchy and bouncy first single to compete with all the hip-hop out there! Sad, really.
 
LuvandPeace1980 said:

I mean The Fly was not single worthy. U2 basically put that out to fuck with people's head. But it worked.
Click to expand...

I think they did that due to one of the following reasons:

1. Either back then, they actually had the balls to release something as listener-unfriendly as The Fly as first single and come out of it not only unscathed but with one of the most popular albums of our time, under their belt!

2. Or back then, they didn't have to compete with the limited attention span crowd that listens mostly to hip-hop. Back then, mainstream rock wasn't a dying art form. Back then, they didn't have to struggle to be the biggest band in the world. They just were with seemingly effortless ease.

Sorry, I don't mean to divert this thread or anything.
 
Last edited:
LuvandPeace1980 said:
But I don't understand, why couldn't they leave it for the 2nd single?
It could still be a declaration even then couldn't it?
Click to expand...
No.

And I think it's cute people still think there was ever a chance "Love and Peace or Else" could have been a single (much less the first).
 
nah you right
I always agree with your post's man
But they had the chance to do that this time
I mean ATCLB won 7 Grammy's, Elevation was huge. Beautiful day is the most played song of the decade.
OOTS would have been a huge single I feel, but it's being served up as left overs now.
 
JMScoopy said:
One step closer should've been the 1st single! :madspit:


:wink:
Click to expand...

They'll be labelled as an old fogey, evergreen band before you can say "milk on fire".

I still can't believe OSC made the album. HELLO?! They had Mercy right in front of them! Grace from ATYCLB is another slow shit. I never even got to hearing it once through
 
sorry but the idea of putting out 'Vertigo' following 'Original of the Species' is a bloody atrocity. the whole point of the first single is to announce 'here we are, this is what we're doing now buy our fucking album.' how the hell do you do that with 'Original of the Species'? As a first single it would be suicidal given the fact that compared to 'Vertigo' [despite being a better song musically] it's pretty dull as a first single and would just bore people.
 
vertigo was such an obvious choice for the first single that they kinda had to release it... but i do agree with you that it's overwellming success and over-playment thanks to the iPod ad sort of killed off the success of any other singles.

by the time the vertigo monster was laid to rest, many mainstream music listeners of the non u2 fan variety were a little sick of u2. :shrug:
 
i_love_adam said:


They'll be labelled as an old fogey, evergreen band before you can say "milk on fire".

I still can't believe OSC made the album. HELLO?! They had Mercy right in front of them! Grace from ATYCLB is another slow shit. I never even got to hearing it once through
Click to expand...

frankly i'd rather listen to one step closer or grace. mercy is the most over-rated song they've ever not released... :scratch: uhhh.. yea that's it.
 
gareth brown said:
sorry but the idea of putting out 'Vertigo' following 'Original of the Species' is a bloody atrocity. the whole point of the first single is to announce 'here we are, this is what we're doing now buy our fucking album.' how the hell do you do that with 'Original of the Species'? As a first single it would be suicidal given the fact that compared to 'Vertigo' [despite being a better song musically] it's pretty dull as a first single and would just bore people.
Click to expand...

Yeah but thats what has gotten repetitive the 'here we are' bit
I thought beautiful day was a little less in your face..
I think OOTS would have been perfect coming off ATYCLB actually.
Other bands have recently done well with songs that aren't in your face to begin with..
 
Plus, they really couldn't play OOTS very well until recently because of the piano/guitar combination. I think the fact that Vertigo could be easily played and spread also made it a great first single... Can you imagine? "Here's a half-version of our first single because we really haven't figured out how to play it yet..."

I agree though, OOTS will be a leftover now, and will be overlooked to the same degree that COBL was overlooked in North America, when in reality it is one of the best songs on the album... I think it should have taken the spot of ABOY, or even SYCMIOYO. Now it is doomed to fail...
 
At the time with 'Achtung Baby' they released The Fly as the first single but it was followed only 8 weeks later by Mysterious ways. While the Fly may be a gamble whil with Mysterious ways, there was no point of discussion that it became a big hit. Maybe this is a strategy that will work:

Oct 2004: Love and peace or else (followed quickly by catchy Vertigo) as a sort of kick off, every first u2 single will work.
Nov 2004: How to dismantle an atomic bomb
Dec 2004: Vertigo (the big hit)

Then the others:
March: Sometimes... (the ballad, like ONE)
June:City...
Sept: ABOY (or Original)
 
The Fly was released as a first single to show everybody how U2 had reinvented into a whole new sound. That Psychedelic funk was just the right sound to get the attention (of the 4 men chopping down the joshua tree)
Zoo Sation could have been another choice, but i think The Fly was the right one, and by the time the Zoo TV was getting started , 'One' was released and man, what a fucking monster it was!!:drool:

So yeah i think Vertigo was the right choice. Original Of The Spieces SHOULD have been the second single WORLDWIDE with heavy heavy promotion, as much as the Vertigo parafernalia
Then All Because of You, then City of Blinding Lights, then Sometimes and then Miracle Drug with a fucking great live video(with Bono's intro an all of that)
just a thought, thanks
 
U2 Feedback » Your Blue Room » Everything You Know Is Wrong » A thought about Vertigo(The song)

A feeling so much stronger than a thought


couldn't resist :happy:
 
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