Best Song Survivor: 1990s/2000s Semifinal, Round Two

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What is your least favorite song?

  • Total voters
    54
  • Poll closed .
lov12113 said:
it seems a lot of people on interference are into that "I only like U2 deep cuts or not-very-well-known by the general public songs."
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This is complete and utter bullshit. Beautiful Day made the final, for god's sake. If that statement was true then we'd be voting out In a Little While and Grace right now.

I love Beautiful Day but it wouldn't be in my top 20 U2 songs. Streets and WOWY are both in my top five... And they're pretty popular
 
lov12113 said:
I'm not saying you're doing that, but it seems a lot of people on interference are into that "I only like U2 deep cuts or not-very-well-known by the general public songs."
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Name one.
 
I'm just making a personal observation about people's statements on all kinds of posts on this forum for the last 8 years since I've been here. I see it all the time: lots of people get all worked up over how great lesser known songs like God Part II and Mofo are, and seem to have some hate for a lot of the big hits, like BD, etc. My remark was in general: not just about the voting on the polls here. And it was what I have observed. Obviously, this does not apply to everyone. But it definitely does apply to a very vocal group on interference.
 
One member of that very vocal group who only likes the deeper cuts and doesn't like hits because they are hits.
 
djerdap said:
One member of that very vocal group who only likes the deeper cuts and doesn't like hits because they are hits.
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1. I'm making a general observation about trends I see on interference, not about any particular interference member's tastes. There are thousands of interference member's posts I have read over the years, and I do not keep notes about particular people's posts.

2. I don't call out specific interference members who I think have different taste than I, or who i think prefer lesser known songs over the popular ones.

3.. I don't keep a list of members on interference who do or do not have similar taste in U2 songs.

4. I'm also not trying to piss off anyone. I'm just making an observation about trends that I have noticed, and discussing my theory behind those trends. You are free to like or not like whatever. I'm just making an observation.
 
OK, then give me one example of one thread and one discussion, since this is an obvious trend, where this very vocal group that is dominating this forum states that they only like deeper cuts and don't like hits because they are hits.

Don't bother because you won't find any.

Maybe there are some people on this planet that don't feel about a song like Beautiful Day like you do. And maybe there are some people who are more vocal about some songs because they feel those songs deserve more recognition. Ranting about how amazing a song like With or Without You is won't get that much discussion - most people on a U2 forum are in agreement over that. Discussing something that might be more polarizing, such as Mofo, might prove to be more interesting and maybe some people will go back to the song and listen to it and maybe they'll like it more. Or they'll hate it even more. Which is far more interesting to me than gushing over how fucking great a U2 classic is over and over again.
 
djerdap said:
OK, then give me one example of one thread and one discussion, since this is an obvious trend, where this very vocal group that is dominating this forum states that they only like deeper cuts and don't like hits because they are hits.

Don't bother because you won't find any.

Maybe there are some people on this planet that don't feel about a song like Beautiful Day like you do. And maybe there are some people who are more vocal about some songs because they feel those songs deserve more recognition. Ranting about how amazing a song like With or Without You is won't get that much discussion - most people on a U2 forum are in agreement over that. Discussing something that might be more polarizing, such as Mofo, might prove to be more interesting and maybe some people will go back to the song and listen to it and maybe they'll like it more. Or they'll hate it even more. Which is far more interesting to me than gushing over how fucking great a U2 classic is over and over again.
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Again, I don't surf interference in order to make notes of threads or users who seem to love deep cuts verses hits. And, as I've said about 4 times in the last couple pages of this thread, you are free to like or not like any song you wish. I'm merely making a general observation about a chunk of interference members who tend to be very vocal about how much they love some lesser known songs, and how superior those songs are to the "hits." And, I merely offered my own theory that this trend is because liking the hits isn't "cool" with some people on interference. I believe that this probably doesn't apply to the majority of interference users. I also believe it does apply to a very vocal minority of interference members. I'm not trying to make you angry or anything, but you seem pretty worked up. You can take my statement at face value or not. But I say what I mean. I am not saying anything about your music tastes (and I have no idea what they are).
 
djerdap said:
Discussing something that might be more polarizing, such as Mofo, might prove to be more interesting and maybe some people will go back to the song and listen to it and maybe they'll like it more. Or they'll hate it even more. Which is far more interesting to me than gushing over how fucking great a U2 classic is over and over again.
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I'm all for inspiring new listens and appreciation of U2 songs and U2 does have an immense back catalogue of lesser know songs to find and appreciate. I'm not dissing the lesser known songs. Some of my favorite U2 songs are lesser known songs. I'm just sharing an observation. Take it or leave it. Have a nice day
 
I love Beautiful Day. Easily one of U2's best over the past 20 years.
 
lov12113 said:
Again, I don't surf interference in order to make notes of threads or users who seem to love deep cuts verses hits. And, as I've said about 4 times in the last couple pages of this thread, you are free to like or not like any song you wish. I'm merely making a general observation about a chunk of interference members who tend to be very vocal about how much they love some lesser known songs, and how superior those songs are to the "hits." And, I merely offered my own theory that this trend is because liking the hits isn't "cool" with some people on interference. I believe that this probably doesn't apply to the majority of interference users. I also believe it does apply to a very vocal minority of interference members. I'm not trying to make you angry or anything, but you seem pretty worked up. You can take my statement at face value or not. But I say what I mean. I am not saying anything about your music tastes (and I have no idea what they are).
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Oh I'm not worked up, I'm just bored. Silly opinions on an Internet forum tend to do something to alleviate some of that boredom.

Next time you offer a theory or a general observation, be sure to try and back it up with something concrete. Otherwise, you just leave an impression of being butt-hurt that somebody doesn't share your opinion. Which seems to be the case.
 
The Hive retaliates

hive.png
 
djerdap said:
Next time you offer a theory or a general observation, be sure to try and back it up with something concrete. Otherwise, you just leave an impression of being butt-hurt that somebody doesn't share your opinion. Which seems to be the case.
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General observations over time mean a hell of a lot. Do you really want people to sit back and document "silly opinions on an Internet forum" that "tend to do something to alleviate some of that boredom" as you say? Seems like lov12113 hit a nerve with you!!

I've been around here for about 10+ years and have seen the same thing. Popular or poppy generally equals bad among many of the Interference hardcore and people like you get your panties in a bunch when the point is raised. I think many hardcore interferencers have simply over-saturated themselves with U2 to the point where only the most obscure songs are good. Do I have concrete "evidence?" No. Would the masses agree with me? Overwhelmingly yes.
 
Nick, I agree with you... despite my lemon avatar and my seemingly "hive mentality". :p

Beautiful Day is a fantastic song and was a terrific comeback from the darkest depths of Pop. Not that I did not enjoy those dark depths. But it was a complete 180 from the desparate plea of Wake Up Dead Man to the soaring and uplifting Beautiful Day. I never expected them to do it! It was as unexpected as Rattle and Hum to Zoo Station/The Fly I guess.

I can certainly appreciate a well done pop song. BD is one of those and I won't be voting it off just yet.

I also like Vertigo for what it tried to achieve, a simple catchy pop/rock song that brought U2 back into public consciousness. But I'm not going to pretend that it is as good as BD or even half as briliant as these other songs in the poll right now.
 
lov12113 said:
My theory: most of the people who love some of the less commercial songs do so because it's "cool" to like the rarer songs and "not cool" to like the well-known songs. Screw that. BD rocks! (whether it's commercial or not)
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I don't think it has anything to do with "cool" or "not cool". We are not in high school anymore. I think it has more to do with the fact that we've all heard the big hits 735254474893723 times already. Lesser known songs like Mofo that are almost just as brilliant seem more interesting as a result.

djerdap said:
Ranting about how amazing a song like With or Without You is won't get that much discussion - most people on a U2 forum are in agreement over that. Discussing something that might be more polarizing, such as Mofo, might prove to be more interesting and maybe some people will go back to the song and listen to it and maybe they'll like it more. Or they'll hate it even more. Which is far more interesting to me than gushing over how fucking great a U2 classic is over and over again.
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Bingo!

But it also depends a lot on one's personal mood at the time I think. Right now I'm more in a Beautiful Day kind of mood, so I will not vote it off. Maybe tomorrow I'm listening to Pop and really enjoying it and will likely vote off BD. It all depends. One really shouldn't generalize and paint everyone with the same "you hate popular songs" brush.
 
I'd like to see an example. This is all new to me. I've not encountered these people. Yes we talk about some more obscure songs pretty often but go through the results of any survivor we've had here and you'll see the band's most popular songs at the top.
 
To be completely honest, I've never held the hits in terribly high esteem. Best of 1980-1990 was my first U2 "album" (about 13 years ago now) and I never really fell in love with their music until I heard the full albums. Hive 4 lyfe I guess.
 
To be fair, I wouldn't say people on Interference, even Hive members, conciously dislike some songs solely because they are "hits".

Having said that, I think it's pretty clear that some variation of this goes on, but it has nothing to do with Interference specifically and can be found among aficionados of music, film, and just about any other art form…both online and in the real world. Groups and individuals always have ways of distinguishing themselves from the herd, and for a lot of people, once they've acheived a certain level of knowledge, or appreciation, for any art form, eventually they want to demonstrate how their taste is distinguished from the general public. This is pretty normal as far as I'm concerned. As your appreciation and tastes get refined, you may start to appreciate music film, and literature, for example, that aren't necessarily generally popular. I think most popular fiction, and a lot of cinema, is garbage (but I don't mock those who enjoy that).

It only becomes ridiculous, however, when your own "sophisticated" tastes lead to mocking of the tastes of others as somehow plebeian, or, even more pathetically, refusing to enjoy a song, film, book or other piece of art simply because it has mass appeal. Something being popular doesn't make it bad any more than something being obscure makes it good. I respect those who can judge art on a case by case basis without regard to its widespread acceptance in pop culture. But someone who won't give a song a chance simply because it's popular to me is as pathetic and unimaginative as someone who only listens to popular songs. I know that everyone here will say "I don't do that" and that they just judge music on its merits, and fair enough, but since we all know there a hipster posers who choose their art solely on how obscure it is, odds are there are at least a few of those people hanging around here…but I wouldn't say its dominant at Interference, no…this is a forum after all dedicated to one of the most popular bands of all time.

Forums are full of "fans" of specific artists who think they've only achieved the requisite level of coolness once they start to hate what they once loved. I'm sure we've all seen this. In some cases, it's just taste evolving and "growing out" of a certain artist...though I'm not sure why people would hang around a forum dedicated to X artist when they've come to hate X artist, except to say that people love to bitch.

Either way, it's kind of sad to see people using the survivor series to have a go at some of U2's most beloved songs in often pretty plebeian ways.
 
Beautiful Day is very good. I used to love it, I still think it's a good song, but I'm a little bit bored by it. That's my own fault, because I've heard it too much. I understand why they decide to play it every night on tour.
 
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