SOE 31: Yes, we have no bananas

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The "this is the worst thing ever created" posts are equally as bad as the "this is the greatest thing ever, ehhhrmagad U2 can do no wrong" posts.

Both are nauseating in their own special way.


As I said before, after one listen of Get Out (which admittedly, was not on headphones but in my car when BBC 2 Radio premiered it), I'd rank it below Boots and Miracle but above SUC and Cock Crazy. I'd say the same for Best Thing. So perhaps that's not "worst thing EVAR" but in the bottom 5 of official album tracks along with a couple disposable October songs that I couldn't even hum for you if you named the titles.
 
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It's hard not to mock people who post (or tweet) about openly weeping at the beauty and majesty of Get Out the day it's released, or whatever.

Sorry not sorry.
 
Somehow I keep missing these "This is the worst thing ever created posts".



So you missed COBLs post in the GOOYOW thread where he congratulated TBT for no longer being the worst song ever now that GOOYOW has come around?

There were also a couple others who made similar statements. That’s not to say their opinion is wrong as it’s their opinion but rather that there are posts(several) about this song or that song or SOE being the worst since or ever.
 
It feesl like a lot of people would like U2 to go in the studio with 1 mantra "No compromise"

Just like Zooropa.
 
Well, I would just like them to go into the studio with one producer or team and stick with it. Don't use talented artists like Eno/Lanois or Danger Mouse and then replace them with hitmakers to butcher finished tracks or write newer, more accessible ones. I don't think that equals "no compromise".
 
So you missed COBLs post in the GOOYOW thread where he congratulated TBT for no longer being the worst song ever now that GOOYOW has come around?

There were also a couple others who made similar statements. That’s not to say their opinion is wrong as it’s their opinion but rather that there are posts(several) about this song or that song or SOE being the worst since or ever.

I've seen a lot of "U2's worst single" or "worst first single" ever stuff (which isn't an unreasonable opinion frankly). Even people who just flat out can't stand the songs. But I haven't seen anyone say that these songs are the worst things ever created....and obviously if they did, that's hyperbole.
 
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You're responding to strawman arguments that no one is making.



No, you don't. If you did, you wouldn't have posted this rant. You would have just respected that other people have different opinions than you, and not questioned their reasoning or suggested that they've "lost perspective" because they don't like songs that you do.

Not a straw man argument when i see post after post saying that they just aren't the band they were in 80's or the 90's, they need their old producers, etc...

And I never said people have lost perspective because they "don't like the songs that i do". I'm saying there needs to be perspective of how the band has changed over 4 decades. You can't say - But BAD! But One! But WOWY! But Streets! etc... these aren't anywhere near those!!!
Which is my whole point. We are 30-35 years on and to compare them like apples to apples is foolish.

I apologize if my post came off too one sided. Just trying to remind everyone why we are all here in the first place. The band means something to us and we may have to wade through some shit, to get to the pearls.
 
It feesl like a lot of people would like U2 to go in the studio with 1 mantra "No compromise"

Just like Zooropa.
This is propably where a lot of the dissapointment comes from, because they propably do not compromise, but this is propably just the kind of songs they want to make.
In a lot of the interviews they are always telling that they want to be writing 'happy' pop songs, songs they can play at an campfire on an acoustic guitar etc.
Adams favorite song is back to life for fuck sake if i remember correctly. They just love popsongs a lot.
And bad for an example is propably unplayable or not interesting on just an acoustic guitar.
If we want to blame anybody for this..we propably have to blame Rick Rubin..Who told them they havent written 'real songs' and they have to try to come in the studio with finished songs etc.
And ryan redder isnt really helping neither [emoji4]

I do not mind Gooyow..its really not a bad pop song. The best thing is debatable [emoji4]
 
Not sure how you can say they're not compromising when they have a merry go round of producers tinkering with the work of others.

As for Womanfish's assertion about people wanting them to go back to old producers, I think most of us here thought that Danger Mouse was a refreshing and great choice. But they couldn't resist messing with the results. That's the problem. Not "do it like you used to" but "let your producer see a project through to the end".
 
It's hard not to mock people who post (or tweet) about openly weeping at the beauty and majesty of Get Out the day it's released, or whatever.

Sorry not sorry.

Not sure why so many people here seem to specifically target: "There's someone happy, let's tear them down."

There's so many awful things in the world...seems like the bare minimum of decency and humanity would be, if you see someone who's happy, who's enjoying something, even if it's something you actively, profoundly dislike, the human response should be, "Well, it's not for me, but I'm glad for you that you found something new to bring a bit of joy into your life and make it just a bit better than it was before."

Maybe that's a hard thing to do...though I doubt it.

I know you don't like the new songs, at least not to the level of some of the other people on here...but I don't know what kind of person sees someone happy and thinks, "My first goal is to mock them and make them feel foolish for feeling happy. That's clearly the best thing I could do with my time today."
 
Not sure how you can say they're not compromising when they have a merry go round of producers tinkering with the work of others.

As for Womanfish's assertion about people wanting them to go back to old producers, I think most of us here thought that Danger Mouse was a refreshing and great choice. But they couldn't resist messing with the results. That's the problem. Not "do it like you used to" but "let your producer see a project through to the end".

Has any production person or duo/whatever seen a project through to the very end in recent memory though? I know Lillywhite is known for helping out at the end, etc. Maybe ATYCLB was somewhat close to that, but that's about it for the more current albums.

As for Danger Mouse, I seem to remember a bit of "Who is he?" and skepticism about him not too long after the initial announcement. Or at least a lot of unknown opinions re: him. Not saying there wasn't anyone saying otherwise, but I don't really think people were that excited about him until he was listed as a sole production credit on stuff like SLABT and The Troubles, and thereafter had the street cred around here.
 
Not sure how you can say they're not compromising when they have a merry go round of producers tinkering with the work of others.

As for Womanfish's assertion about people wanting them to go back to old producers, I think most of us here thought that Danger Mouse was a refreshing and great choice. But they couldn't resist messing with the results. That's the problem. Not "do it like you used to" but "let your producer see a project through to the end".

very good point.

I was really hoping it was just gonna be Thomas, Barlow and maybe Lillywhite or Lee (one or the other) on this one. Better yet, just Thomas and Barlow and let them take a band to a new and interesting place.

And yes for Dangermouse as well. I for one love the album version of EBW, so i'm happy for the changes there. But for the most part, it would have been amazing to see a full DM produced album.
 
I find Get Out Of Your Own Way to be pleasant if not unremarkable. It's got some cool stuff going on there, but it doesn't get all the way there for me.

I like Edge's little solo/riff whatever you want to call it. but I wish it took us somewhere besides the chorus - again. Too much chorus.

that said, I still find it enjoyable. is it going to go down in the annals of the big U2 songs? nah.

part that bothers me the most: the "ooohahhh" feels like it's Taylor Swift in Wildest Dreams.
 
Not sure why so many people here seem to specifically target: "There's someone happy, let's tear them down."

There's so many awful things in the world...seems like the bare minimum of decency and humanity would be, if you see someone who's happy, who's enjoying something, even if it's something you actively, profoundly dislike, the human response should be, "Well, it's not for me, but I'm glad for you that you found something new to bring a bit of joy into your life and make it just a bit better than it was before."

Maybe that's a hard thing to do...though I doubt it.

I know you don't like the new songs, at least not to the level of some of the other people on here...but I don't know what kind of person sees someone happy and thinks, "My first goal is to mock them and make them feel foolish for feeling happy. That's clearly the best thing I could do with my time today."

You'd be surprised how much one can accomplish in one day. Some things, like making fun of an overzealous try-hard, don't take long at all or require much effort.

I know we have a lot of whitebread goody-goodys in here, but I imagine most of us have rolled our eyes at someone being a little "extra" over something that may not seem deserving of such instant adulation, either here or outside the forum. So yeah, one could keep it to one's self, but I see this forum as part discussion, part entertainment.

Has any production person or duo/whatever seen a project through to the very end in recent memory though? I know Lillywhite is known for helping out at the end, etc. Maybe ATYCLB was somewhat close to that, but that's about it for the more current albums.

As for Danger Mouse, I seem to remember a bit of "Who is he?" and skepticism about him not too long after the initial announcement. Or at least a lot of unknown opinions re: him. Not saying there wasn't anyone saying otherwise, but I don't really think people were that excited about him until he was listed as a sole production credit on stuff like SLABT and The Troubles, and thereafter had the street cred around here.

You hit the nail on the head; every album since ATYCLB has had issues of compromise with producers and vision. That's the whole point in criticizing this whole era of the band.

At the risk of sounding like a snob, people who pay attention to current (post-2000) music tended to know who Danger Mouse is, and were aware of how surprising it was that U2 were working with him. And a majority of those people were optimistic about the results.

But of course you have a lot of sheltered members here who either only listen to U2 or have a very narrow taste in music, and I don't know what names they would recognize-Rick Rubin?
 
Who decides what is hyperbole, and are you saying we're not allowed to discuss any songs here that we don't like?

I am genuinely underwhelmed with what I've heard so far, that doesn't mean I still don't hold onto hope that the other tracks will be better.

No, judge away. That's what discussion boards are for. We're all generally interested in hearing the array of opinions as it often opens our eyes to things we haven't noticed.

However, hyperbole is hyperbole. Speaking in absolutes like some posters do about how categorically terrible a song is gets old. And it certainly doesn't bear repeating. Saying American Soul (which I'm not a big fan of) is their worst affront to music ever is pure hyperbole.
 
You'd be surprised how much one can accomplish in one day. Some things, like making fun of an overzealous try-hard, don't take long at all or require much effort.

I know we have a lot of whitebread goody-goodys in here, but I imagine most of us have rolled our eyes at someone being a little "extra" over something that may not seem deserving of such instant adulation, either here or outside the forum. So yeah, one could keep it to one's self, but I see this forum as part discussion, part entertainment.



You hit the nail on the head; every album since ATYCLB has had issues of compromise with producers and vision. That's the whole point in criticizing this whole era of the band.

At the risk of sounding like a snob, people who pay attention to current (post-2000) music tended to know who Danger Mouse is, and were aware of how surprising it was that U2 were working with him. And a majority of those people were optimistic about the results.

But of course you have a lot of sheltered members here who either only listen to U2 or have a very narrow taste in music, and I don't know what names they would recognize-Rick Rubin?

Yep add me to the nerdy proud "knew of DM pre SOI" mostly through the two great Broken Bells albums, the Rome album with Jack White, Daniele Luppi and Nora Jones, plus her last but one solo album and also Dark Night Of The Soul especially the song Revenge he did with The Flaming Lips which is rather great, so yeah had high hopes which were about 40% dashed and Teddered alas.
 
If anyone is interested. My link with the new songs is still up. I have also done some edits/mixes in there if you want to check them out.

The latest in an "enhanced" Blackout with a little extra punch where it needs it. Subtle but works i think. Also shortened the Easy on me bits by half.

Also, an American Soul with the most offensive lyrics removed. Community, charity, blah blah refujesus... So it that is the worst part of the song for you (as it is for me) enjoy this version!

https://spectrio.egnyte.com/fl/QyoqWm6OOA
 
You'd be surprised how much one can accomplish in one day. Some things, like making fun of an overzealous try-hard, don't take long at all or require much effort.

I know we have a lot of whitebread goody-goodys in here, but I imagine most of us have rolled our eyes at someone being a little "extra" over something that may not seem deserving of such instant adulation, either here or outside the forum. So yeah, one could keep it to one's self, but I see this forum as part discussion, part entertainment.

Ah, no point in discussing then: you fall into the category of people for whom the meme was created--"I can't argue about this with you because I don't know how to explain that you're supposed to care about other human beings."

You find enjoyment in actively making other peoples' lives worse. That's what my mute button is for.
 
Ah, no point in discussing then: you fall into the category of people for whom the meme was created--"I can't argue about this with you because I don't know how to explain that you're supposed to care about other human beings."

You find enjoyment in actively making other peoples' lives worse. That's what my mute button is for.

oh come on. i don't think there's anyone who posts here with any sort of regularity that actively makes other people's lives worse. certainly not laz.

we're talking about NOISE ffs. it just doesn't matter. if your feelings are hurt by association, you're one of the lucky ones to have such a sheltered existence
 
oh come on. i don't think there's anyone who posts here with any sort of regularity that actively makes other people's lives worse. certainly not laz.

we're talking about NOISE ffs. it just doesn't matter. if your feelings are hurt by association, you're one of the lucky ones to have such a sheltered existence

Correct!
There are very few true assholes in this forum. Laz definitely is not in that category. No one is personally out to hurt others. Zoomerang is right. Its noise that hits all of our ears differently. And sometimes we like to talk about it passionately one way or the other.
That's all.
 
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