*Wonders if Bono was referencing Interference*
He said check the internet, U2 fan sites, "they're brutal."
namkcuR said:
Listen, the person that complains about feeling 'let down' because U2 have gone so nausiatingly commercial but still tries to like HTDAAB, playing it 100 times but still not seeing and feeling within it what was in War or The Unforgettable Fire or The Joshua Tree or Achtung Baby etc, harbors a great deal more love for U2 than the person that thought Joshua Tree was good, Achtung was ok, and then abandoned the band for the better part of a decade until they started making easily digestable music again(that was a hell of a run-on setence 
). If you love a band, you don't just leave them the minute they start making music you're not crazy about. I'm not very crazy about HTDAAB but I will still go out and buy the next record.
However that's just one fans' opinion. To say U2 is nauseatingly commercial, maybe to that fan they are.
In my opinion, I think U2 has never been truly commercial, large following, yes, but a commercial band would not put a song like "Grace" on an album. Their catalog of songs is not like most rock bands, they defy what it is to be a rock band, certainly for their longevity.
"Yahweh" is the last song on Atomic Bomb. What other rock band, hip hop act, pop star, would do that? Certainly not if their reason was to increase sales.
All that you can't leave behind, is ATYCLB among most of us.
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb is HTDAAB among many of us.
That's not very commercial. You want quick, to the point titles, nothing that makes you think.
I draw the line at HTDAAB, I abbreviate it to "Atomic Bomb."
Granted, maybe for
U2, the songs might seem easy to digest, but ask the non-U2 fans what they think of Atomic Bomb, or "All that", do they like it, or is it too unusual to what most of what is popular in music right now.
U2 fans are biased, most know their back catalog, and maybe they're not up to past standards, whatever that is to each fan, but among what is going on in music, they're not making easy listening.
I listen to the radio at work, especially to a station that plays a lot of adult contemporary, whatever you call Kelly Clarkson, Green Day, some of U2's 80's contemporaries, like Duran Duran, newer acts like John Mayer, somewhat varied, and U2.
"Sometimes you can't make it on your own", feels really out of place when it comes on. "When I look at the World", sounds out of place right now.
U2 compose what they want, how they want, and when they want, just as they always have.
If Bono wants to really be commercial, really push albums, increase sales, he should probably stop singing about God in his lyrics. When U2 do an album with none of that, nor nothing political, then it's safe and commercial, cos there's nothing really unsafe about writing love songs. A department which U2 really lacks in, but that's fine.
You sing about how lame, stupid Bush is, okay, that's daring to maybe conservative republicans, but it's not exactly going against the grain is it?
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to listen to top 40 radio for a 3 hours, then play All that and Atomic Bomb. Then report back and tell me how safe and trendy those albums are alright. How commercial they are.
You must not listen to any other U2 albums, just top 40 radio for 3 hours, if a U2 song comes on, turn down the volume.
Yelling at you 
)
