On U2 being experimental and the fools

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U2_Guy

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who keep saying "how much more experimental can U2 be those days? Make a country album? Make a Polka album?" bla bla bla...

Who said that in order to be experimental and to make brave, edgy music, U2 has to make a "country, polka or bla bla bla" album?

AB-Zooropa-Passengers-Pop were brilliant magnificent pieces that were both experimental and well succeeded commercial music.

On ATYCLB U2 WASN'T U2. U2 was a boring adult contemporary band trying to be big again in "America". Pop was a big hit all over the world but not in "America". I guess U2 felt the need to be big in the USA again... And they felt they could only make it by producing a boring album... So they gave life to ATYCLB and the experimental days were over...

But U2 was always about being experimental. Boy is experimental. The way Edge played the guitar on that album with all those harmonics and unusual chords were experimental. Nobody did that b4. Not even Television, who had great influence on The Edge. October and War were experimental too. U2 was alone in the 80's. Nobody was making the kind of music they were creating.

You don't need to make a country or polka album to be experimental, ok all you cynics? Just push things to the limit, try harder and create music that is fresh. And don't worry about sales. If it's not big in "America" so be it. The rest of the world will get it.
 
ATYCLB was different for the band. Stuck? What other U2 song sounds like Stuck? In a Little While? Wild Honey? Not necessarily their best, but nevertheless unique to their catalog. U2 have always been influenced by their contemporaries, be it the Manchester scene or early punk/new wave. This is new for them, their take on a style. I dig.
 
Like i said, on ATYCLB U2 was not U2. They made a very conscious move towards boredom. You say Stuck, IALW and WH doesn't sound like anything they have done b4. So what? They sound like songs done to the extension by other bands. It's called adult contemporary.

Just because it's new to their catalogue doen't mean it's experimental. It was only safe playing.
 
To ME, U2 WAS U2 on the last album & on every album the band has released. Maybe to you, that's not the case. I take every album by itself instead of constantly comparing it to what the band did in 83' or 92' or 00' In a Little While is AC? What AC do you listen to?
 
i agree. because of all the negative press in America after POP, U2 felt they must make music that is very mainstream so they would get some fans and positive attention back. ATYCLB was boring to me, although there were some great songs (Beautiful Day, Walk On, etc.). From the clips I've heard of the new songs it sounds like they may be continuing the bland style, The repetitivness of All Because of You makes it weak, but the break and solo makes it better. COBL sounds like it will be good. I just hope the new album has some new sounds like Achtung Baby did.
 
Well, U2's music is played on AC along with Phil Collins, Five For Fighting, & Michael McDonald but it's usually JT songs. :ohmy:

For the most part, hardcore U2 fans will be disappointed with the new album. I'm a fanatic as well but I don't consider POP to be a masterpiece like some people here or think NY is a great song. My friends are more casual fans & love Vertigo as well as the last album so I really don't think the band can "win" again with fans. One group of fans will usually be alienated. :shrug:

I'm very positive at this point that GibsonExplorer and U2Guy won't like the new album, even if it is a great album.
 
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riteshbhatt1 said:
I'm very positive at this point that GibsonExplorer and U2Guy won't like the new album, even if it is a great album.

Why do you think i won't like the new album?
 
U2_Guy said:
who keep saying "how much more experimental can U2 be those days? Make a country album? Make a Polka album?" bla bla bla...

Who said that in order to be experimental and to make brave, edgy music, U2 has to make a "country, polka or bla bla bla" album?

AB-Zooropa-Passengers-Pop were brilliant magnificent pieces that were both experimental and well succeeded commercial music.

On ATYCLB U2 WASN'T U2. U2 was a boring adult contemporary band trying to be big again in "America". Pop was a big hit all over the world but not in "America". I guess U2 felt the need to be big in the USA again... And they felt they could only make it by producing a boring album... So they gave life to ATYCLB and the experimental days were over...

But U2 was always about being experimental. Boy is experimental. The way Edge played the guitar on that album with all those harmonics and unusual chords were experimental. Nobody did that b4. Not even Television, who had great influence on The Edge. October and War were experimental too. U2 was alone in the 80's. Nobody was making the kind of music they were creating.

You don't need to make a country or polka album to be experimental, ok all you cynics? Just push things to the limit, try harder and create music that is fresh. And don't worry about sales. If it's not big in "America" so be it. The rest of the world will get it.

:applaud: :applaud: :applaud:

Very well said.

Though it's sad it's true :sad:
 
U2_Guy said:
who keep saying "how much more experimental can U2 be those days? Make a country album? Make a Polka album?" bla bla bla...

Who said that in order to be experimental and to make brave, edgy music, U2 has to make a "country, polka or bla bla bla" album?

AB-Zooropa-Passengers-Pop were brilliant magnificent pieces that were both experimental and well succeeded commercial music.

On ATYCLB U2 WASN'T U2. U2 was a boring adult contemporary band trying to be big again in "America". Pop was a big hit all over the world but not in "America". I guess U2 felt the need to be big in the USA again... And they felt they could only make it by producing a boring album... So they gave life to ATYCLB and the experimental days were over...

But U2 was always about being experimental. Boy is experimental. The way Edge played the guitar on that album with all those harmonics and unusual chords were experimental. Nobody did that b4. Not even Television, who had great influence on The Edge. October and War were experimental too. U2 was alone in the 80's. Nobody was making the kind of music they were creating.

You don't need to make a country or polka album to be experimental, ok all you cynics? Just push things to the limit, try harder and create music that is fresh. And don't worry about sales. If it's not big in "America" so be it. The rest of the world will get it.

I agree... BUT... I think U2 was U2 on ATYCLB... Walk On and Kite are IMO a "U2 songs", if you know what I mean...

...as for the rest... well, Bono is a "fan of America"... so be it... what can WE do to change it? I also think that they are giving America to much of importance.... but what can WE do?
 
U2 can be no one other than U2. they're U2 because theyre different. and ATYCLB kicked ass, kite and in a little while are two of my favorite U2 songs. :madspit:
 
The success/quality of this album doesn't hing on the band reinventing themselves. To say otherwise is rediculous. Is there another boundary for the band? Maybe, I don't know. I do know a great song is a great song.

I personally like it when the band goes somewhere new, but I don't want this happening unless the song they are making demands it. New direction for the sake of new direction buys you nothing in itself.

I'm going to borrow from another post I did:

------------------

To summarize:

Some of us love the new songs.
(well, we think we do, as the recordings aren't the real McCoy.)

Some of us hate them.

Some of us love POP, even calling it their last great album.

Some of us don't, even calling it their worst album.

Some think U2 need to expirement. If the sound ain't new, their dead!

Some think U2 are just fine being U2, and if an album sounds like War, JT, AB, TUF, etc. put together, it may just be that it's original enough that no one can pin the sound on an earlier album.

Etc.......

See the pattern? This is a band with 25 years of history and hundreds of songs. The fact it's catalog is so strong is a testiment to the non-stop debates that go on here. There's a song for every season.

Personally, I think this band will have the guts to know when they've got nothing left to say. In the mean time I'll trust them not to release a song that reaks of creative desperation... And don't get too caught up in "OH NO!!! The album sounds like U2!!!" Did anyone ever complain that Sinatra and Cash didn't reinvent themselves on every album? Vertigo sees the band having fun again, and I'm having a blast with them. Picking apart poor Mp3's doesn't interest me, and I'm quite certain none of us have heard this album.
 
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:applaud: tkramer


Do you think hardcore AC/DC fans debate like we do?:hmm:

I mean, even the kings of reinvention made a simple album like "Let it Be"; and it's kinda sorta maybe a good album... I think :)
 
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I hate the term "experimental album." It is probably some term that was invented to deal with Radiohead's Kid A. U2 have always been about pushing the envelop from day one. Every single album is fresh and offers something "new" and "experimental." If you were around in '84, you would realise that the Unforgettable Fire is as "experimental" as Pop ever was for its time. And again in '87 when With Or Without You was released as a single, that was pretty damn well off the wall compared to everything else at the time. U2 is about exploring new boundries. Thats why I am into them and they have never failed me in that.
 
Roland of Gilead said:
I hate the term "experimental album." It is probably some term that was invented to deal with Radiohead's Kid A.

The term experimental has been around since Revolver/Sgt. Peppers days.

Roland of Gilead said:
U2 is about exploring new boundries. Thats why I am into them and they have never failed me in that.

So you think ATYCLB explored new boundries, pushed the envelop? Man, you are happy...
 
U2_Guy, that's why I said that you won't like the new album, since you won't think it's innovative or experimental or pushing the boundries. U2 won't win you over. The Beatles realeased an album after Sgt. Pepper that wasnt' innovative or experimental. It doesn't mean that it wasn't great.
 
riteshbhatt1 said:
The Beatles realeased an album after Sgt. Pepper that wasnt' innovative or experimental. It doesn't mean that it wasn't great.

Wrong. After Sgt. Pepper's they released their most experimental album, Magical Mystery Tour. Yellow Submarine and The White Albums were experimental too (Helter Skelter was the first "Heavy Metal" song and double LPs weren't usual. That Yoko Ono song was experimental too, though it sucks). Abbey Road was experimental. Let it Bleed wasn't but... nothing much to say about an LP they were never happy with and re-released this year with another production.
 
U2_Guy said:


Wrong. After Sgt. Pepper's they released their most experimental album, Magical Mystery Tour. Yellow Submarine and The White Albums were experimental too (Helter Skelter was the first "Heavy Metal" song and double LPs weren't usual. That Yoko Ono song was experimental too, though it sucks). Abbey Road was experimental. Let it Bleed wasn't but... nothing much to say about an LP they were never happy with and re-released this year with another production.

Let it Bleed was a Stones album. :sexywink:

ATYCLB was my favorite album, but at least they didn't repeat themselves. I think there was some strong songwriting. And theres' nothing wrong with a band doing an earnest album after a decade of irony and a previous decade of ambiguity
 
U2 are being U2, but I'm sad because of that.... ATYCLB was boring borin boring.. I listend to it so many times only cause it was U2 and I'm kind of a big fan :)

but nowdays I listen only to the When I Look... and sometimes New York. And when I put AB, Zooropa, POP, JT in the cd player I can listen to it from start to end...

On ATYCLB ther is no song that is remotley close to the adventure, adrenalin rush, excitement that I get when I listen only to the first notes of UTEOTW, Zoo Station, Zooropa, Lemon, In God's Country, Acrobat...

I hope that this new CD will give me that excitement again, but after 75 listens to Vertigo I can allready see that this song willl not stuck on me for long time. What's even sadder is that Beautifull Day was a grower, I loved it more and more as the time went by, but with Vertigo it's the oposite...
 
U2_Guy said:
So you think ATYCLB explored new boundries, pushed the envelop? Man, you are happy...

Absolutely! All That... was an album that offered themes joy and acceptance at a time when the music out there was more centered on dark and shallow themes. Beautiful Day opened a door for bands to realise that it is okay to be happy and not lose an element of "coolness" doing so. U2 continue to set the mark before other bands.

I think you have listened to All That... , but you certainly are not hearing it. :wink:
 
U2_Guy said:


You are right! I think i'm thinking too much of U2 becoming the next Rolling Stones:huh:

I think that's a bit far fetched. Even if U2 are boring some people, they seem to be enjoying themselves. The Stones have seemed fake to me for a LONG time.
 
Creative wise I think it is certain that U2's best work is behind them(unfortunately), they will never reach the heights of Achtung Baby or Pop again and the clips I have heard of the two songs are not convincing me any different. But that is not to say that they are not making some good music, cos they are. I like ATYCLB but what I fear is that this new album is gonna sound too much like their 80's past, and not heavy and industrial rock, which is what we want! More of The Fly, less of the crappy Peace On Earth.:wink:
 
Peace on Earth is crappy as crappy can be... Oh my... Peace on Earth, Grace, WILATW...

What kind of ETs have possessed U2's bodies after the last gig on Popmart...:huh:
 
If anyone thinks Kite, and IALW are boring adult contemporary, they are indeed..... idiots. Void of any taste pertaining to musical and lyrical expression. that is all.
 
womanfish said:
If anyone thinks Kite, and IALW are boring adult contemporary, they are indeed..... idiots. Void of any taste pertaining to musical and lyrical expression. that is all.

That came late... the usual personal offenses...

That's all you have honey?
 
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