Mercy gives me hope for the future of U2...

[Zoocoustic]

Marcy gives me hope for the future of U2...

First of all, don't get me wrong, I like HTDAAB. And I like ATYCLB. But I am in the group that finds these albums much less exciting and challenging than anything else U2 has ever done in the past. I do believe they are pandering to the Top 40 radio crowd, and intentionally doing whatever they can to stay relevant in pop culture. And to their credit, it has worked...BD and ATYCLB were truly the "third coming" of U2...they came back from being labeled as "has-beens" after Popmart, and secured their legacy. But there is no doubt that the music since 2000 has been (by U2's standards) very, very safe.

Then I heard Mercy.

I'm not sure what it is about this song, specifically, but it gives me a whole lotta' hope for the future of my favorite band. Something about that song is so unique, so different, so...not what they've been doing. It isn't a throwback to the old days, but it feels to me like it comes from a whole new place U2 hasn't been before. If they could just tap into that place, wherever it is, and let it spawn some new material with the same feel...now THAT would be something.

I will not concede that the U2 that made brilliant, unique albums such as AB and Zooropa is dead when I hear a song like Mercy. This song is proof to me that the band can still push ALL the boundaries - even those that they've somewhat created with the past two albums. I think, if they are brave enough to venture into this new uncharted territory, we could hear some amazing music in the near future.

Here's to hoping...

 

[Zoocoustic]

Wish I could change the thread title...MERCY gives me hope for the future of U2.... (ugh!)...

 

[indra]

I was wondering who Marcy was.....

 

[Axver]

Mercy gives me a headache, not hope for the future of U2.

Things like COBL give me hope for the future. Knowing U2 are again able to make songs as good as they made in the eighties makes me extremely excited.

 

[Palace_Hero]

With a bid of polish, I think Mercy can become a modern day 'Bad'.

The structure of the songs are similar, and so is the feeling I get from both (though with Mercy it is more of a 'potential' feeling).

 

[Aardvark747]

Marcy rocks!!!

 

[U2girl]

I wonder if some of the same people that keep shouting "ATYCLB and HTDAAB are too much like 80's" realize Mercy is a lot like 90's U2. But I guess repeating a certain era is ok.

 

[jcool]

Mercy is great!
I prefer Fast Cars......for the future!
More zooropa and wake up dead man style....
Reduce the electronic sound...just a bit like radiohead's Bends
Give me more Edge achtung baby guitar heavily distorted like "my bloody valentine sound"
And less Bono straight to the heart lyrics but more joshua tree poetic lyrics .
errr.....and another passangers ...please...

 

[Aygo]

Marcy rules! Marcy! Marcy! Marcy!

No, really, I think too that the band did not include Mercy too in HTDAAB for some especulation about the future... But in a certain way, it can be seen as a clue for U2's future...

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

 

[Aardvark747]

Great post!

 

[boystupidboy]

Marcy teehee , can i give a thread title 5 stars? If so i.....

"The nominations for the best thread title are...
...Marcy"

"and the winner is .................................MARCY!"



Funny as fuck,thanks Zoocoustic

 

[boystupidboy]

Am Interference classic

 

[boystupidboy]

lol still laughing

 

[Irishteen]

Will someonbe send me Mercy, I want to make a new HTDAAB, with more songs, and a new running order. Shorty11857@hotmail.com

 

[Numbology]

What about Marcy D'Arcy?

 

[Layton]

Re: Marcy gives me hope for the future of U2...

I do believe they are pandering to the Top 40 radio crowd, and intentionally doing whatever they can to stay relevant in pop culture.

U2 has no chance with the top 40 radio crowd. If they're pandering they're failing miserably. Plus, U2 makes middle aged man songs. If they were pandering they'd pull an Aerosmith and pretend to be 21, oogle over young girls and put hot young chicks in their videos. U2 does almost the exact opposite. U2 still believe in their new music and want to prove that rock can still compete with other "hipper" genres in the marketplace. U2 knows that rock is dying and they are fighting hard to prevent that. I think it'd be great if U2 did a '90's thing again, too. Problem is, the Radiohead's of the world are a luxury. They don't sustain the health of the genre. They add dimension to it, but without a center there is nothing to add dimension to. U2 loves rock too much just to move to the fringe and let a dead horse lie down. Bottom line, U2 is not doing whatever they can to stay relevant in pop culture they are doing whatever they can to demonstrate that rock is still relevant in pop culture, but they are being very true to themselves in the process. Hence, the top 40 inaccessabilty of every song on 'Bomb'.

It's amazing Vertigo got to 35 or whatever, but that was only because of the million IPod ads. That's what you have to do to keep rock out there. Now you see "cool" songs like 'Take Me Out' and 'Jerk it Out' all over the TV. U2 has made it easier for young alternative bands like Franz Ferdinand to feel comfortable taking their rock to the masses in the way you have to today. The traditional notion of selling out is an alternative old fogey notion. U2 are pushing forward as much as they ever have been.

 

[U2girl]

Re: Re: Marcy gives me hope for the future of U2...

U2 has no chance with the top 40 radio crowd. If they're pandering they're failing miserably. Plus, U2 makes middle aged man songs. If they were pandering they'd pull an Aerosmith and pretend to be 21, oogle over young girls and put hot young chicks in their videos.

Exactly, they'd also get lots of bling bling and start talking in urban slang in their songs, and get lots of cars a la hip hop/rap videos and include women degrading lyrics in their songs and collaborate with a trendy urban artist.

U2 just wants to be interesting for the masses, and that includes the young, CD buying public that helps create the charts. Where was the "pandering to top 40" comment in the 80's or 90's when they had their biggest hits?

 

[2Hearts]

I think the goal of alot of fans is to see a Billboard Top 100 (and equivalents) without ANY rock songs on it. Then we could all justly claim that our favorite bands have not sold out. It just does not get any better than that, does it??

 

[karls77]

Re: Re: Re: Marcy gives me hope for the future of U2...

Exactly, they'd also get lots of bling bling and start talking in urban slang in their songs, and get lots of cars a la hip hop/rap videos and include women degrading lyrics in their songs

I'm picturing this right now and I'm about to piss myself laughing!! I'm thinking of a 2-Live Crew inspired video with the boys in a hot tub surrounded by scantily clad "ho's", pimped out rides, guns, etc...


With respect to the original post, yeah Mercy does bode well for the future and the band would do well to release an album with songs of a similar style.

 

[namkcuR]

I am hoping beyond hope that the next record embodies the sound of mercy. And the reason is, it's the sound of U2 not trying. Now, I love HTDAAB and I like ATYCLB too, but the album version of Stuck In A Moment is the epitomy of the sound of U2 trying. Trying to fit in the billboard crowd. Now, I'm not saying all of their songs from this decade are like that, but too many of them are, especially from ATYCLB. If their aim with these last two records was to become unequivocally the biggest band in the world again, fine. I think they've succeeded. But that's reason to move on. If they've accomplished that goal, what do they have to gain from making another record in the vein of the last two? I think Clayton even said something about maybe starting to expiriment again with the next record. So here's to 'Mercy' being the sound of the next record.

 

[U2girl]

U2 is always trying, with every album, to appeal to people and to get new fans with each record. Billboard crowd could care less, it seems.

I also think Mercy has a good chance of being on the next album. It didn't appear on the Itunes set, and it hasn't been a B-side despite Bono's comment about it being "the best B-side you ever heard".

 

[namkcuR]

No, they way they've been 'trying' the last two records, and especially with ATYCLB, is not the way they were 'trying' until 2000. Songs like 'Miami', 'Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car', 'Lemon', 'Zooropa', 'Stateless', 'If You Wear That Velvet Dress', 'Mofo', 'The Wanderer', etc etc are not songs that are written with the intent of fitting into the billboard crowd. They're just not. Can anyone here honestly tell me that any of these songs tries to pander to the billboard crowd more than the album version of Stuck? BTW, I say album version because I think the acoustic version is something much different.


P.S. And with songs like 'Fast Cars', 'A Man And A Woman', 'Love And Peace Or Else', 'One Step Closer', and 'Mercy', it seems like the 'trying' I speak of is beginning to take a backseat again. Maybe.

 

[the soul waits]

Mercy gives me the reassurance that U2 still has the deep resonance with the music, that they're not thriving on old successes to make new songs turn into hits, but that they still pour their all into a song.
I love it that it's so long a track, it sounds like a jam session at times.

 

[uwwedoogie]

lets not forget about Marcy people...

 

[U2girl]

No, they way they've been 'trying' the last two records, and especially with ATYCLB, is not the way they were 'trying' until 2000. Songs like 'Miami', 'Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car', 'Lemon', 'Zooropa', 'Stateless', 'If You Wear That Velvet Dress', 'Mofo', 'The Wanderer', etc etc are not songs that are written with the intent of fitting into the billboard crowd. They're just not. Can anyone here honestly tell me that any of these songs tries to pander to the billboard crowd more than the album version of Stuck? BTW, I say album version because I think the acoustic version is something much different.


P.S. And with songs like 'Fast Cars', 'A Man And A Woman', 'Love And Peace Or Else', 'One Step Closer', and 'Mercy', it seems like the 'trying' I speak of is beginning to take a backseat again. Maybe.

I'm glad U2 doesn't limit itself on what it sounds like.

Songs on ATYCLB were influenced by pop music (and so inevitably more mainstream - though most of U2's work is not that inacessible anyway).

When has U2 not wanted to be the biggest?

 

[namkcuR]

I'm glad U2 doesn't limit itself on what it sounds like.

Songs on ATYCLB were influenced by pop music (and so inevitably more mainstream - though most of U2's work is not that inacessible anyway).

When has U2 not wanted to be the biggest?

When did I say the didn't want to be the biggest? I think you can be the biggest without being on top of the billboard charts.

 

[Sleep Over Jack]

Hmm...I'm hoping they try and make their most ambitious album yet, to try and put AB in the shade in terms of "wow" factor..failing that, I'm surprise for such a big band they never used a lot of their disparate songs for a double album.

 

[XHendrix24]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Marcy gives me hope for the future of U2...

I'm picturing this right now and I'm about to piss myself laughing!! I'm thinking of a 2-Live Crew inspired video with the boys in a hot tub surrounded by scantily clad "ho's", pimped out rides, guns, etc...

U2-Live Crew.

 

[flaxjm]

if anyone has an mp3 of mercy could they please send it to jonathanflax at comcast dot net ? i'd love to join the conversation. thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!