Best Song Survivor: Pop, Round Six

[namkcuR]

The music, to me, is very dull. The lyrics make me cringe. So those two things together make it something I don't care for. Same is true of One. I don't understand the appeal for either of them.

Really? Please contains some of my favorite lyrics:

"And you never knew, what was on the ground until they made you crawl"

"And you never knew, that the heaven you keep, you stole"

and the entire ending

"September, streets capsizing
Spilling over, down the drain
Shards of glass, splinters like rain
But you could only feel your own pain
October, talk getting nowhere
November, December
Remember, we're just starting again
Please, please, please get up off your knees
Please, please, please, please
So love is big, it's bigger than us
But love is not what you're thinking of
It's what lovers deal, it's what lovers steal
You know I found it hard to receive
'Cause you, my love, I could never believe"

As the for the music being dull...that guitar solo, the melody for 'love is bigger' etc...I don't know how you could say it was dull.

Different strokes I guess.

 

[Cactus Annie]

1. If God Will Send His Angels (or angles . I prefer the single version that's on the City Of Angels soundtrack. I played that song and watched the video on YouTube last week as part of a private celebration for Nicolas Cage's birthday last week. He was 49)
2. Staring At The Sun (I hardly ever like a song as soon as I hear it but Idid with this one)
3. Do You Feel Loved
4. MoFo
5. Discotheque (I do prefer the more funky version that I have on the single. I can't remember what it was called, but it was released alongside it as a single)
6. The Last Night On Earth (single version)
7. Gone
8. If You Wear That Velvet Dress
9. Wake Up Dead Man
10. Please
11. Miami
12. The Playboy Mansion

 

[the tourist]

Really? Please contains some of my favorite lyrics:

"And you never knew, what was on the ground until they made you crawl"

"And you never knew, that the heaven you keep, you stole"

and the entire ending

"September, streets capsizing
Spilling over, down the drain
Shards of glass, splinters like rain
But you could only feel your own pain
October, talk getting nowhere
November, December
Remember, we're just starting again
Please, please, please get up off your knees
Please, please, please, please
So love is big, it's bigger than us
But love is not what you're thinking of
It's what lovers deal, it's what lovers steal
You know I found it hard to receive
'Cause you, my love, I could never believe"

As the for the music being dull...that guitar solo, the melody for 'love is bigger' etc...I don't know how you could say it was dull.

Different strokes I guess.

See, I read those lyrics and I cringe. So yeah. And about the music being dull, I find it audibly dull, as though someone threw a blanket over my speakers or put earplugs in between my ears and headphones. Also never really cared for that smooth, filtered auto-wah guitar tone. Gimmicky and cheap. In my opinion.

 

[Galeongirl]

I don't understand this. It's one of the absolute pinnacles of their entire three-plus decade long live catalog. For many, full band Please is #1 on the list of songs desired to return to the live set.

What don't you like about it?

I don't mind the lyrics, but the music to me just meanders on. It bores me. And live the bridge is just Larry doing his Sunday Bloody Sunday patterns. It's just not going anywhere.

 

[cleazer]

Please is my favorite song on Pop.

 

[djerdap]

Sunday Bloody Sunday drum part is intentional due to the song being practically a thematic sequel to that song. I disagree it goes nowhere - the guitar solo and Bono's vocals in the live version make for a very moving climax.

 

[namkcuR]

I don't mind the lyrics, but the music to me just meanders on. It bores me. And live the bridge is just Larry doing his Sunday Bloody Sunday patterns. It's just not going anywhere.

Not going anywhere? Are you talking about the drumline under the 'streets capsizing...' part? All that leads to is one of Edge's greatest ever live solos and Bono's cathartic-sounding wailing over it.

If you're talking about a different part, then nevermind the above.

 

[Nick66]

wow, some people really don't like pretty melodies do they?

While not as pronounced a phenomena as it is at the Random Music threads, around here the general rule is the less accessible a song is, the higher its rating; the inverse being true for more accessible songs.

Bonus points if it's relatively obscure. Points are also added if it was played on that last tour, but only if that song wasn't a single or part of the regular set list. Points are taken away if it was a single or enjoyed a degree of popularity outside of U2 hard core fandom.

Once these factors are taken into account, then the songs relative musical quality is considered (if at all).

 

[Galeongirl]

Not going anywhere? Are you talking about the drumline under the 'streets capsizing...' part? All that leads to is one of Edge's greatest ever live solos and Bono's cathartic-sounding wailing over it.

If you're talking about a different part, then nevermind the above.

I mean the entire song going nowhere.

Kinda have different views on Edge's greatest solos there I guess. Just nothin' special there for me.

 

[the tourist]

Yeah. Also, I don't really listen to live U2 unless I'm at a concert.

 

[namkcuR]

I mean the entire song going nowhere.

Kinda have different views on Edge's greatest solos there I guess. Just nothin' special there for me.

It's always interesting how two people can react so differently to the same piece of music. The Please solo live always takes me to another place.

Just out of curiosity, what do you consider to be Edge's greatest solos?

Yeah. Also, I don't really listen to live U2 unless I'm at a concert.

Well, that probably puts you in a minority here. Live versions often top studio versions.

 

[the tourist]

Well, that probably puts you in a minority here. Live versions often top studio versions.

And yet, the live version is not what U2 put out. It's what some fans got to see, and other fans who didn't get to see it drool over it. It had potential to be a great track. But the album version is a swing and a miss. To me at least. And I won't see eye to eye with anyone on this who disagrees. But that's just me.

Please in the studio:

 

[No spoken words]

This whole fucking album is, TO ME, severely overrated around these parts. I see people ranking it ahead of The Joshua Tree and I am just incredulous. I'm never one to think my musical opinion means more than anyone else's, and I wholly understand that this is a subjective arena, tastes will vary, etc.....and despite all of that I still cannot bring myself to accept that some people legitimately think Pop is the better album. But they do, so I should probably just STFU.

 

[djerdap]

And yet, the live version is not what U2 put out.

Technically, they did. On various singles (live from Rotterdam) and as a concert DVD.

To keep with NSW's shtick, it's just incredulous to me that a big U2 fan would downright ignore the live aspect of the band, which is to me absolutely crucial and essential side of them, without which my U2 experience would not be even half as complete. But I guess I should just STFU as well.

 

[Salome]

01. MOFO
02. Wake Up Dead Man
03. Discotheque
04. If You Wear ...
05. Do You Feel Loved
06. Please
07. Miami
08. Gone
09. Staring At The Sun
10. Last Night on Earth
11. Playboy Mansion
12. If God ...

 

[the tourist]

Technically, they did. On various singles (live from Rotterdam) and as a concert DVD.

To keep with NSW's shtick, it's just incredulous to me that a big U2 fan would downright ignore the live aspect of the band, which is to me absolutely crucial and essential side of them, without which my U2 experience would not be even half as complete. But I guess I should just STFU as well.

First, funny you should mention the Popheart EP, as I find Please to be the weakest part of that disc.

But hey, I guess we should all judge all bands on the live bootlegs and the very few licensed live shows then. Man, I wonder how many bands people love are terrible live. Probably most of them. But people love the album, so it doesn't matter.

I'm glad, though, because I'm not jaded about great fucking songs like Pride and With Or Without You and I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For and New Year's Day and I Will Follow and Sunday Bloody Sunday and All I Want Is You, etc. simply because of how they're portrayed live and how much they've been played to death, etc. I appreciate the song that U2 put out on the album and fuck the live stuff. Or in this case, I don't appreciate the sond that U2 put out on the albu, but still, fuck the live stuff.

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

so I should probably just STFU.

 

[Salome]

And I only consider live versions when deciding between 2 songs which I feel are equal in the recorded version.

 

[djerdap]

But hey, I guess we should all judge all bands on the live bootlegs and the very few licensed live shows then. Man, I wonder how many bands people love are terrible live. Probably most of them. But people love the album, so it doesn't matter.

I'm glad, though, because I'm not jaded about great fucking songs like Pride and With Or Without You and I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For and New Year's Day and I Will Follow and Sunday Bloody Sunday and All I Want Is You, etc. simply because of how they're portrayed live and how much they've been played to death, etc.

I never said that songs should be judged based on bootlegs. And if a song is overplayed or not doesn't change my opinion on the studio version of that same track whatsoever. But I still think it's ludicrous not to at least consider massively improved songs in a live setting like Bullet the Blue Sky, Exit, Mysterious Ways, Love is Blindness, 11 O'Clock Tick Tock, Gone, One Tree Hill, Until the End of the World and so many others. These live incarnations are in my mind so much superior to their studio counterparts that I think that every U2 fan, even the casual one, should have a chance to listen to them at some point. Whatever they think of it is, of course, up to them. I know casual fans who were converted by live U2 music. My childhood memories of U2 consist of essentials such as Achtung Baby, Zooropa, The Joshua Tree, Live in Dublin 1993, Pop and Live in Sarajevo 1997.

Oh, and most of the bands I am very fond of are either very good or great live. Most of these bands are also pretty mainstream rock music and I think would fit into that vague desciption of "bands that people love". Very few exceptions in my case (only two come to mind actually). Not to mention the fact that there are some bands who have practically built their reputation by being a wonderful live band as opposed to a subpar one in the studio (Grateful Dead as a classic example).

But in the end, to each his own.

 

[Galeongirl]

It's always interesting how two people can react so differently to the same piece of music. The Please solo live always takes me to another place.

Just out of curiosity, what do you consider to be Edge's greatest solos?




Well, that probably puts you in a minority here. Live versions often top studio versions.

ZooTv Bullet. No question for me. Funny because I don't really care about Bullet in any other version. Though UTEOTW is a pretty solid one too, and The Fly, I've always loved that one.

 

[the tourist]

Well anyway, back to where the conversation started: Please in the studio sucks.

 

[Galeongirl]

This whole fucking album is, TO ME, severely overrated around these parts. I see people ranking it ahead of The Joshua Tree and I am just incredulous. I'm never one to think my musical opinion means more than anyone else's, and I wholly understand that this is a subjective arena, tastes will vary, etc.....and despite all of that I still cannot bring myself to accept that some people legitimately think Pop is the better album. But they do, so I should probably just STFU.

Oh you


I don't think Pop is a better album. I just like it more than JT. I connect to it more, like more songs off it and like them better.

Well, you never really accepted me anyway.

Pfsh, JT lover. STFU.

 

[the tourist]

I never said that songs should be judged based on bootlegs. And if a song is overplayed or not doesn't change my opinion on the studio version of that same track whatsoever.

Well you seem to be one of the few who doesn't. But I was never saying you in particular did that.

 

[djerdap]

Does the majority of people here really think of the JT version of With or Without You differently if the song was utter crap on the 360 tour? I really doubt it. In terms of overplaying, that can happen precisely when listening to the same studio version over and over again. I have always avoided this by switching to live versions. It's a win-win situation. You get a new perspective on the song, especially in the case of U2 with new guitar parts and added verses, and it doesn't get overplayed. Worked for me with hundreds of songs and dozens of bands.

 

[namkcuR]

Well you seem to be one of the few who doesn't. But I was never saying you in particular did that.

I'm another of the few, I guess. While I am of the opinion that the definitive versions of many of their songs are the live ones, I also believe that they have plenty of songs for which the studio version was never topped - New Year's Day, Pride, With Or Without You, All I Want Is You, One, Mysterious Ways, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me are perfection in the studio, imo.

 

[namkcuR]

Does the majority of people here really think of the JT version of With or Without You differently if the song was utter crap on the 360 tour? I really doubt it. In terms of overplaying, that can happen precisely when listening to the same studio version over and over again. I have always avoided this by switching to live versions. It's a win-win situation. You get a new perspective on the song, especially in the case of U2 with new guitar parts and added verses, and it doesn't get overplayed. Worked for me with hundreds of songs and dozens of bands.

Also, a good way to avoid tired live versions of songs is something I've been doing lately, which is only listen to live versions of songs from their original tours(though for Boy and October I listen to UABRS, since there aren't many official releases from Boy/October). The idea is to hear these warhorses when they weren't warhorses, but just the 'new songs'. You get to hear these songs performed by a band who is excited to be playing their new material, as opposed to being performed by a band who has performed them for show after show and tour after tour for decades.

 

[the tourist]

Why do you think that certain songs, like Pride, were voted out of this competition relatively early? Do you think it's because it's an inferior song? Or because people were basing it off of shit live versions that have jaded them?

 

[cobl04]

While not as pronounced a phenomena as it is at the Random Music threads, around here the general rule is the less accessible a song is, the higher its rating; the inverse being true for more accessible songs.

Bonus points if it's relatively obscure. Points are also added if it was played on that last tour, but only if that song wasn't a single or part of the regular set list. Points are taken away if it was a single or enjoyed a degree of popularity outside of U2 hard core fandom.

Once these factors are taken into account, then the songs relative musical quality is considered (if at all).

so why does Streets win every time we do this?

I think they should just STFU.

...is what you really meant.

 

[LemonMelon]

While not as pronounced a phenomena as it is at the Random Music threads, around here the general rule is the less accessible a song is, the higher its rating; the inverse being true for more accessible songs.

Well now, that isn't condescending at all. Just speaking for myself, I consider this poppy number to be the perfect song:

Big Star - September Gurls - YouTube

I just don't like patronizing tripe like Elevation and Original of the Species is all. Sometimes it's obvious that an artist can do better.

 

[Nick66]

This whole fucking album is, TO ME, severely overrated around these parts. I see people ranking it ahead of The Joshua Tree and I am just incredulous. I'm never one to think my musical opinion means more than anyone else's, and I wholly understand that this is a subjective arena, tastes will vary, etc.....and despite all of that I still cannot bring myself to accept that some people legitimately think Pop is the better album. But they do, so I should probably just STFU.

The Joshua Tree is a superior album to Pop. That's about as non-debatable as non-debatable gets. No serious U2 fan would suggest otherwise, even if that person was a Pop fan. So in your case, if you think Joshua Tree is superior Pop, and someone else says the opposite, your opinion does mean more than that persons.

Whether Pop is a good album is debatable. Whether it's superior to Joshua Tree is not.