Soe 26 - ?

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So Best Thing is catchy. But seriously I wish the boys would come around to the fact that most fans don't want this style of song. When you see the excitement of The Blackout. You'd think they would get it that we...maybe I want them pushing the envelope. Push the envelope guys and stop with with bubble gum catchy shit that none of us will be taking about other than trashing years from now. I simply don't get it!!
 
Irvine said it better, I miss the sonic magic of the 80/90s of this band.

Not that 2000s U2 is bad, but they have lost the essence about them that made them unique in search of the perfect single / pop song.

Maybe it's cause they've gotten better at writing music that the magic that was U2 was lost as they got better technically.

Don't know, but we have Bono and Edge trying to be the Beatles.

TBT could be the greatest pop song ever written but it stands no chance of being a hit. U2 isn't going to win over the teenager crowd

So wish they would stop trying so hard. Maybe that would get them the relevancy they so need
 
The production on Best Thing is so muffled, somehow even worse than Bomb.

Utter garbage.

2018 it is.
 
TBT could be the greatest pop song ever written but it stands no chance of being a hit. U2 isn't going to win over the teenager crowd

I disagree. I think they can win over a younger crowd. But it'd have to be absolutely perfect, and I don't think a four piece band can necessarily do it.


So wish they would stop trying so hard. Maybe that would get them the relevancy they so need


This 10000%. JT30 was the most relevant thing they've done in a long time. Doing something that's a fan-pleaser and focusing on the fans is the best way to preserve their legacy.
 
Just to beat a dead horse while we have a few days of downtime:

Does anyone else still harbor occasional suspicions that this must be the last/next to last U2 record?

I feel like there's a conscious closure to the whole thing, not just the "Experience" theme but the apparent album cover echoing Boy+War and highlighting the next, post-U2 generation (E and B's kids). I also wonder about the following things from the songs we have:

1. The Blackout -- a song people seem to think will come early on in the record, introducing the "dinosaur wonders why it still walks the earth" sort of 'why carry on?' theme and the sense that the meteor is on its way/has already come, i.e. U2 can't be what they once were no matter what they do (I think the political reading is totally there, but I think the self-referential one is also undeniably there)
2. The Best Thing -- "the best thing that ever happened to boy" ties in with that album cover, suggesting a kind of retrospective stance toward U2's whole career, reaching back to the beginning
3. The Little Things -- this one is the most obvious, probably: a sense that "the little things" give away that U2, especially Bono, just can't be what they once were. In this context, the outro serves as a kind of angry, longing-drenched admission that even U2 has to come to an end, hence "sometimes, the end is not coming / it's not coming / the end is here." This would make the outro a kind of callback to "Boy" era, 'Electric Co'-style U2: a return to the start as an ending.

To be clear, I don't think this is the last U2 record. My personal fantasy is that they really have held onto a bunch of "Songs of Ascent" material, and they'll release a ghostly, zero-radio-interest spiritual record after this one, around age 60, "ascending" off stage -- produced by, of course, Eno and Lanois, who are, I think without a doubt, basically members of the version of U2 that means the most.

On a "what would U2 do?" level: I do think it likely they'll announce their last album as their last, so as to get the enormous media/marketing attention said announcement would receive. And I do think they'll want, if at all possible, to go out on their own terms -- that is, to make their last full U2 as U2 album AS a last album, on purpose. Which is part of why I wonder if what we're witnessing -- a revived JT tour and a highly self-conscious, Boy-gesturing album of "experience" -- isn't the beginnings of U2 going out on their own terms.

So, just a time-killing thought experiment. Anyone interested?
 
So Best Thing is catchy. But seriously I wish the boys would come around to the fact that most fans don't want this style of song. When you see the excitement of The Blackout. You'd think they would get it that we...maybe I want them pushing the envelope. Push the envelope guys and stop with with bubble gum catchy shit that none of us will be taking about other than trashing years from now. I simply don't get it!!


Who made you the spokesman of all U2 fans?

Speak for yourself please. I'd much rather have a good pop song than a cool but ultimately forgettable rocker, and I know many people who feel the same way...
 
Just to beat a dead horse while we have a few days of downtime:

Does anyone else still harbor occasional suspicions that this must be the last/next to last U2 record?

I feel like there's a conscious closure to the whole thing, not just the "Experience" theme but the apparent album cover echoing Boy+War and highlighting the next, post-U2 generation (E and B's kids). I also wonder about the following things from the songs we have:

1. The Blackout -- a song people seem to think will come early on in the record, introducing the "dinosaur wonders why it still walks the earth" sort of 'why carry on?' theme and the sense that the meteor is on its way/has already come, i.e. U2 can't be what they once were no matter what they do (I think the political reading is totally there, but I think the self-referential one is also undeniably there)
2. The Best Thing -- "the best thing that ever happened to boy" ties in with that album cover, suggesting a kind of retrospective stance toward U2's whole career, reaching back to the beginning
3. The Little Things -- this one is the most obvious, probably: a sense that "the little things" give away that U2, especially Bono, just can't be what they once were. In this context, the outro serves as a kind of angry, longing-drenched admission that even U2 has to come to an end, hence "sometimes, the end is not coming / it's not coming / the end is here." This would make the outro a kind of callback to "Boy" era, 'Electric Co'-style U2: a return to the start as an ending.

To be clear, I don't think this is the last U2 record. My personal fantasy is that they really have held onto a bunch of "Songs of Ascent" material, and they'll release a ghostly, zero-radio-interest spiritual record after this one, around age 60, "ascending" off stage -- produced by, of course, Eno and Lanois, who are, I think without a doubt, basically members of the version of U2 that means the most.

On a "what would U2 do?" level: I do think it likely they'll announce their last album as their last, so as to get the enormous media/marketing attention said announcement would receive. And I do think they'll want, if at all possible, to go out on their own terms -- that is, to make their last full U2 as U2 album AS a last album, on purpose. Which is part of why I wonder if what we're witnessing -- a revived JT tour and a highly self-conscious, Boy-gesturing album of "experience" -- isn't the beginnings of U2 going out on their own terms.

So, just a time-killing thought experiment. Anyone interested?

I mean, it'd be cute, but I don't think this band will quit until they're dead. Glacial pace for new material? Absolutely. A "Final Album"? Nah.
 
You gotta figure if this song doesn't register with the public the way vertigo did then this might be the last we see of them as a huge touring band. They certainly don't need any money. It's all relevancy at this point. They want to be on top 40 radio alongside Katy Perry and Taylor Swift. Sad...but probably true.
 
You gotta figure if this song doesn't register with the public the way vertigo did then this might be the last we see of them as a huge touring band. They certainly don't need any money. It's all relevancy at this point. They want to be on top 40 radio alongside Katy Perry and Taylor Swift. Sad...but probably true.


I don't think so. Bruce Springsteen, Metallica, The Who, etc. are all bands who haven't produced a "hit" in years that still do a pretty hefty touring schedule. They haven't needed the money in years. I just wish they'd focus the relevancy on the fans vs. the mass public. Like I don't care what they do musically as long as they're into it, but trying to win people over is pretty desperate.
 
Agreed both that U2 plausibly won't make a "last record" because they can't do without being U2, and also that this could be their last "big" record, especially if it has no hits -- will they really gear up for a doomed Top 40 chase for a fourth album in a row?

Which brings me back to Eno/Lanois last album no 'hit' singles "Songs of Ascent" :drool:
 
Who made you the spokesman of all U2 fans?

Speak for yourself please. I'd much rather have a good pop song than a cool but ultimately forgettable rocker, and I know many people who feel the same way...



Oh I would never be the spokesperson that's why I wrote the post the way I did. Go back and read it please.
 
I agree....but I think the band's motivation to keep going is to be relevant and not a dinosaur act like The Who. They aren't motivated by the fact that most fans would rather hear them create mofo part 2....instead of a bubble gum song I'm going to hear while shopping.
 
That album's original songs have probably evaporated into 50 other songs that we'll hear on the fifty year anniversary deluxe box set.
 
Anyway I don't want to start an argument, and if you don't mean what you wrote, fine. I just tend to get the feeling that some people don't realise how diverse U2's fanbase really is.

Edit, because my point was proven in the meantime:

They aren't motivated by the fact that most fans would rather hear them create mofo part 2....


This is not a 'fact', and even if we were to make a tally of all U2 fans in the world, you'd probably see songs like Beautiful Day and Best Thing be a lot more popular than Mofo.
 
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And I will retract that none of us will stand by the bubble gum poppy shit because some will and that's cool...I concede there!!
 
SOE looks like it will be more radio friendly then SOI and im happy about that.

ATYCLB was just like that and thats how I discovered U2. Beautiful day got my attention and have become a U2 fan ever since. TBT could be that next song that grabs another generation of fans. It comes across as a fun tune and I like it.
 
I look forward to the inevitable thread "did they make the right decision...TBT vs Blackout" and I genuinely mean that because it will be a great conversation.

I tend to prefer the rockers like Blackout vs the poppy tunes like Crazy Tonight (which I like) and TBT has that poppy vibe to it via the Kygo Mix.

The thing is, U2 aren't looking to please the U2 fans with this single, they are looking to please the masses. I really think TBT is geared to Hot AC, Triple A and I'm sure they are hoping for top 40 as well(good luck with that).
 
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