Anyone think they took the safe option?

[Michael Griffiths]

That said, I think it would rule if U2 did something experimental next album (Pop rivals Achtung as my favourite album...but right now HTDAAB is ahead of JT as my 3rd fave.) People are suggesting they do some like Zooropa during the tour, or even have it just be an EP instead of an LP... like I've said in other threads I want White Light White Heat U2-style raw rock 'n roll. They could easily afford to do it with the millions they're about to make on HTDAAB...what a bloody brilliant album.

Something that everyone seems to be missing is this: U2 have to make a BIG album right now. Why? Too much is at stake. Bono has recently said that his celebrity is currency, and he wants to spend his wisely. There are Africans dying of AIDS, and Bono needs celebrity in order to have that currency. In order to have that currency, U2 has to put out big, blockbuster albums. So don't expect U2 to make experimental albums for a while....because if you think about it in this way, people's lives are at stake. As sad as it is, the masses will not listen to Bono in the same quantity unless he maintains his fame. Of course, Bono would love to get even more famous and thus have more currency to spend for the cause. This is why we will not be getting any kind of avant-garde record anytime soon.

 

[Sleep Over Jack]

Yeah, I'm all for constructive criticism, but repetitive crap like "teh pAsst WUZ 8ettEr!! " just has no merit. U2 definitely do need to make an album of more experimentally-orientated music, because I think they thrive in trying new things, but there is also definitely room for a powerful anthemic U2 album in the current music climate.

 

[sue4u2]

The music world respects U2. Look at some of today's popular bands - Coldplay and The Killers, for example. Guess who is a HUGE obvious influence on both? U2. Tons of bands acknowledge love and/or respect for U2 even if there doesn't seem to be much of an influence... U2 is the model for every band, 25 years in and still relevant, same 4 guys that started out, still making great music.

U2 is the band every other band wish they could be, at the top of the music biz. U2 have proven themselves to be the greatest rock band again and again.

That said, I think it would rule if U2 did something experimental next album (Pop rivals Achtung as my favourite album...but right now HTDAAB is ahead of JT as my 3rd fave.)

Fucking well said AtomicBono

 

[starsgoblue]

Atomic Bono is my girl!!! Yeah! Well said!

 

[LiveFire]

Maybe with the next album it can be the sound of four guys setting off the atomic bomb.

 

[If you shout...]

Bow down at the altar of White Light/White Heat !!!!!

If U2 could push themselves in a direction even 1/10 as forward-thinking as that record was, I'd be back in heaven. Maybe they could even snag Reed, Cale, or Tucker for a "guest" spot on a song--THAT would be hilariously fun...!

U2 is the best straight-up rock band in the world, and they definitely fill that anthemic niche market. But, yes, I'd REALLY like to see them try something totally/mostly new on their next effort. A big-on-energy album or EP in the vein of Zooropa would fucking thrill me.

Strip down the production, and don't TRY to save the world...just DO it, you know? Make that music and MAKE us listen--don't tell us to.

 

[Shaizari]

Sheesh, u cant put two cents in some of these forums without catching back a fistload of dilapidated Russian roubles in the mouth.

I like HTDAAB but I prefer ATYCLB more, Pop was great, it was my first U2 album in terms of getting hooked on U2.

I did get the impression from Bono that it was gonna be, in his own words, a 'DRAGON" so I expected a dragon. So while I got a bit of dragon (Vertigo, ABOY), I was deflated by the tone of the new album, and I repeat just in case someone wants to impale me with polemical "fansmack", I like HTDAAB, just a bit deflated from initial impressions from Bono.

I agree with people who said, HTDAAB might be a bit safe. U2 has their reasons. But I hope they lose a reason one day and go all out and do something dangerously psychotic on a new album.

fast cars, mercy, AYGWF are indicators and samples of the U2 we've been told to expect. Perhaps, we might get a white hot album next time that will kill our ears.

 

[AtomicBono]

Bow down at the altar of White Light/White Heat !!!!!

If U2 could push themselves in a direction even 1/10 as forward-thinking as that record was, I'd be back in heaven. Maybe they could even snag Reed, Cale, or Tucker for a "guest" spot on a song--THAT would be hilariously fun...!

U2 is the best straight-up rock band in the world, and they definitely fill that anthemic niche market. But, yes, I'd REALLY like to see them try something totally/mostly new on their next effort. A big-on-energy album or EP in the vein of Zooropa would fucking thrill me.

Strip down the production, and don't TRY to save the world...just DO it, you know? Make that music and MAKE us listen--don't tell us to.

Aww hell yeah! Pull out the electric viola, boys! it'd be so fuckin boss if they did something with ANY of the VU members... has Bono ever recorded with Lou Reed before? I know the two are friends or at least acquaintences (two of the coolest people ever, yea!) and of course U2 covered Satellite of Love, and Lou Reed was projected on the screen (was that live or did they just record that and use it for every show or what?) , but I don't think the two have ever actually collaborated on anything...I'm probably wrong though...still, it'd be interesting to have Reed sing a song on a U2 album like Johnny Cash did - or better yet, have a Bono/Reed duet

I'd LOVE to have a raw, experimental album next time around, but I'm pretty damn easy to please. As long as U2 is still making music I'm liable to love it. Though HTDAAB may not be the most innovative album ever, it still has U2 trying new things (Love and Peace or Else, anyone?) and I love it... if the next album had songs in the same vein as the HTDAAB tracks I'd be perfectly happy, because I love these songs! Meanwhile, if U2 did something completely different, I'd be joyous too! Fact is U2 has never made a bad album in my eyes and I don't think they ever will...but I think if they WANT to be more experimental they can for next album - ATYCLB was a huge success and I'm certain HTDAAB will be as well. They can afford another Pop now, so to speak.

 

[U2girl]

Something that everyone seems to be missing is this: U2 have to make a BIG album right now. Why? Too much is at stake. Bono has recently said that his celebrity is currency, and he wants to spend his wisely. There are Africans dying of AIDS, and Bono needs celebrity in order to have that currency. In order to have that currency, U2 has to put out big, blockbuster albums. So don't expect U2 to make experimental albums for a while....because if you think about it in this way, people's lives are at stake. As sad as it is, the masses will not listen to Bono in the same quantity unless he maintains his fame. Of course, Bono would love to get even more famous and thus have more currency to spend for the cause. This is why we will not be getting any kind of avant-garde record anytime soon.

I'm missing the connection here. Most politicians Bono talks to probably don't care or know who U2 is. He has more than enough currency in his knowledge on the issues. He started Jubilee and Africa social work after POP and that one wasn't exactly huge.

Since they work in trilogies, the next album will be following ATYCLB/Dismantle and after that something new will come.

 

[If you shout...]

AtomicBono,

So you know, I really DON'T think that Bono and Reed have every done anything together that was just the two of them. I could be wrong, but I keep up with both artists and if something like that did happen, it somehow TOTALLY escaped me...!

I'm glad that you brought up the Velvets, because I think they're a HUGE part of why I'm sort of disappointed with U2's perceived "safeness." Allow me to explain and please understand that I might be personalizing this a bit much...it's still the way I see it all, though. I guess it's my classicism shining through, as you're about to see.

What I find disappointing about the new, calculate, safe, and very familiar U2 music is the fact that I don't see how people will get into other VERY important acts by listening to U2's new music. I know that Bono's always talking about The Ramones, The Who, and The Clash, but those are primarily the ONLY other bands that Bono's been talking about for, like, five years now. I wanna' say yet again that I REALLY DO like U2's new music a LOT. It's very well-written and enjoyable.

What scares me, though, is that the U2 music I grew up listening to led me to a WHOLE bunch of stuff. The Ramones? Yeah. The Clash? Yes, though not as much. But also a MILLION other bands: The Pixies, THE VELVET UNDERGROUND, Springsteen, Eno's solo work (AMAZING!!!!), Bowie, and countless others... It wasn't just because of interviews and sound-bites that I got into this stuff, either: I sought out these sounds to better understand where U2 was coming from from about '96-'00.

Now, I understand that U2's back-catalogue still contains all of the music that peaked my curiosity. That will NEVER be taken away or anything like that...I guess that I just find it sort of depressing that a new fan would need to look to the past in order to see a forward-thinking band. I don't see anything in this "new" U2 that would inspire me to seek out anything special like that...cuz it's just so painfully familiar and predictable, when it comes down to it.

Sorry for going on....does any of this make any sense, by the way...? Ha ha ha ha....!

Also wanna' say one thing: I think that U2Girl makes a VERY VERY VERY good point about U2's albums typically coming in groups of three. I wouldn't call them trilogies, exactly, in that Ii'm not sure the band sets out to do things that way from the start, and a true trilogy is something more like that. But I think it would totally make sense if, starting early in the next decade, we finally saw another truly new U2....sonically, lyrically, and maybe even spiritually... An excellent point.

 

[Michael Griffiths]

I'm missing the connection here. Most politicians Bono talks to probably don't care or know who U2 is. He has more than enough currency in his knowledge on the issues. He started Jubilee and Africa social work after POP and that one wasn't exactly huge.

Since they work in trilogies, the next album will be following ATYCLB/Dismantle and after that something new will come.

First part: Yes, it's the politicians who work for Bono, but as you say, it isn't the politicians who give Bono that celebrity currency which he wants to spend on those very politicians - it's the fans who give it to him (in return for blockbuster albums). Without accumulating that celebrity currency from the fans, he won't have as much to spend ("wisely") on the politicians. Sad but true.

Second part: Ah, but haven't you learned by now to expect the unexpected?

 

[Indiana Jones]

U2 did not play it safe with HTDAAB.

You never play it safe by being true to yourself.

This is the most honest U2 album to date. They're honest about their sound -- this is how they play and this is how they're gonna play it, and if you don't like it then you can f*ck off. I like this U2 attitude. They're not trying to please everyone (and the day they do will be the day they call it quits) -- they're only trying to please themselves, and like the prodigal perfectionist, they're never happy. Even now, Edge is sitting in his humvee listening to the final cut of HTDAAB and thinking, "I should move the bridge on that song, and lay an extra guitar riff to this chorus" etc. I bet you my left testicle on this.

U2 fans are so diverse in what types of songs they like and dislike -- and this is because U2's music has been so diverse. Nothing wrong with this. What is wrong is to state unequivically, as though your opinion is the be all and end all of all opinions, that somethings is crap. No U2 song is ever crap, no matter how much you hate it.

My philosophy is I don't hate any U2 song -- but there are some songs I like better than others.