Songs of Experience vol. 29: No More Acronyms

[Airseven]

It doesn’t sound anything like The Fly. Why does every new track/album need to get the AB comparison treatment? It sounds kinda cool I guess. Nothing overly encouraging.

 

[dabiggestu2fan]

It doesn’t sound anything like The Fly. Why does every new track/album need to get the AB comparison treatment? It sounds kinda cool I guess. Nothing overly encouraging.

I agree with you that I don't quite hear the AB here. Maybe just a little in the intro. But I like what I'm hearing! U2 wil never ever make another album as good as JT or AB so I don't like to compare myself or if I do I'll set myself up for dissapointment! I'm just a happy guy who appreciates the fact that my favorite band is still making music! Soon enought unfortunately we will be wishing they made another album even if it's subpar as compared to AB. Soon enough they will no longer make any music at all. Let's cherish the fact that we are still getting music from them after so many years.

Btw I just listened to pop for the first time in ages! Damn what an awesome album! Mofo and please are still sounding as awesome as the first time I heard them!

 

[kiwilad]

Btw I just listened to pop for the first time in ages! Damn what an awesome album! Mofo and please are still sounding as awesome as the first time I heard them!

It is huh. Wasn't a fan on its release. But it's awesome. Velvet Dress and Dead Man. The heaviest end to an album ever.

 

[CosmoKramer]

I feel the same way about the Best Thing...progression from “wtf is this” to “meh” to “love it”....I honestly don’t get tired of listening to it.

This is exactly what happened to me too. I kept hearing new sounds or vocals "underneath" the track and they enhanced the song. I really like it.

 

[Axver]

Thanks for the link! Too bad none of the links seems to work on iPhone so I'll wait till I get home tonight and dl on the computer.

Ps: Back to the discussion that TBT is the worst ever song u2 ever made in the last 20 years. I would disagree, Grace for me IS the worst song u2 ever made. Period. That song puts me to sleep lol. And I can think of quite a few other songs worse than the best thing or the new songs we've heard. Again to each their own and I can only really comment on the best thing really since it's the only studio quality one we have. I'll reserve final judgement on ththe other 3 until we hear the album versions BUT they do sound promising. I wouldn't call them the worst ever or garbage, not by a long shot.

The Best Thing is definitely not U2's worst song ever - that's Elvis Ate America, or if we don't count Passengers (which is otherwise brilliant, the person who derided it earlier in the thread mustn't have ears to hear the beauty of Slug, Your Blue Room, Beach Sequence, etc.), then it's Stand Up Comedy or A Room at the Heartbreak Hotel. But Best Thing is definitely in the bottom thirty. I can't believe a band with such experience as U2 would write a song that is so utterly clumsy. It's amateur hour. Even most of the pre-Boy demos have a better structure (we won't speak about Tonight).

And the pre-album hype of "as good as/better than Achtung" is just daft, and looks even more daft a year or two down the track. Recall all the dumb shit said talking up HTDAAB and NLOTH.

 

[lazarus]

If we're talking official album tracks, there are a handful of songs I dislike more than TBT. And mostly they are songs I will literally not listen to and skip every time. Before No Line there wasn't a single U2 album where I would actually skip a song; not saying I love everything but nothing that really offended me.

1. Stand Up Comedy (debatably the band's absolute nadir)
2. Crazy Tonight (Bono's faltering falsetto on "haven't hearrrrd" is the worst moment of any U2 song, testicle-crushing embarrassment)
3. Every Breaking Wave (the dee-dee-dee-dee-dee keyboard on the chorus replacing the electric guitar from the demo is an Adult Alternative radio choice that I can't endure)
4. Iris (great verses, but the presence of Chris Martin and that "whoo whoo" stuff just torpedoes the song and fails to move me on a subject that usually does)
5. SYCMIOYO (this is one I don't actually skip, but it's more adult contemporary Coldplay stuff, maybe the band's most anemic, musically uninteresting song to date. Bono saves it with his passionate delivery but it bores the fuck out of me)

As for post-2000 non-album tracks, I'd put Ordinary Love, Window in the Skies, The Hands That Built America, and Electrical Storm below TBT, but those are all disposable outtakes not even good enough to be deluxe edition bonus songs on an album.

So yeah, I likely won't skip TBT on the album but it doesn't really excite me. Hopefully it's the worst thing on there.

 

[dabiggestu2fan]

The Best Thing is definitely not U2's worst song ever - that's Elvis Ate America, or if we don't count Passengers (which is otherwise brilliant, the person who derided it earlier in the thread mustn't have ears to hear the beauty of Slug, Your Blue Room, Beach Sequence, etc.), then it's Stand Up Comedy or A Room at the Heartbreak Hotel. But Best Thing is definitely in the bottom thirty. I can't believe a band with such experience as U2 would write a song that is so utterly clumsy. It's amateur hour. Even most of the pre-Boy demos have a better structure (we won't speak about Tonight).

And the pre-album hype of "as good as/better than Achtung" is just daft, and looks even more daft a year or two down the track. Recall all the dumb shit said talking up HTDAAB and NLOTH.

I'de put TBT somewhere in the middle for me! Not brilliant but not bad. An enjoyable song that I may forget about or not listen to as often in years to come but I enjoy it none the less. I agree though with the fact that with every past album release since ATTCLB I always read the comparisons and people saying it's the best since AB. A lot of that has to do with the excitement of new u2 music which will surely bias opinions. Only time will tell if an album holds up to the AB standard.for me it's the albums I don't enjoy at first listen that tend to grow on me and stand the test of time. The ones I enjoy the most at first listen are the ones that typically don't do much for me years down the road. As for u2 I just refuse to compare their newest albums to their best because I know it's almost an impossibility that they will ever reach such greatness again. This way I actually enjoy their albums more without comparing them. I still enjoy u2 2000's very much but they will never reach the greatness of U2 90's and I don't expect them to this late in their career. I am totally fine with that as long as I can enjoy their new music which luckily I still do.

 

[dabiggestu2fan]

It is huh. Wasn't a fan on its release. But it's awesome. Velvet Dress and Dead Man. The heaviest end to an album ever.

Yes wake up dead man is one of my favorite closers! Such a heavy song indeed!

 

[CosmoKramer]

If we're talking official album tracks, there are a handful of songs I dislike more than TBT. And mostly they are songs I will literally not listen to and skip every time. Before No Line there wasn't a single U2 album where I would actually skip a song; not saying I love everything but nothing that really offended me.


2. Crazy Tonight (Bono's faltering falsetto on "haven't hearrrrd" is the worst moment of any U2 song, testicle-crushing embarrassment)

While I consider EBW a U2 classic and I enjoy Crazy Tonight....there is no arguing that perhaps the worst moment in a U2 studio track is not just the fact that his voice clearly cracks in the lyric you quote but it also cracks a 2nd time! FFS who thought it was a good idea to leave that in the song. I really enjoy the song as a whole but those two moments (and the sweet tooth line to a lesser extent) bug the shit out of me.

 

[the tourist]

Hey look, another thread that's turned into a "let's shit on U2" thread with a bunch of people repeating themselves again and again. How original.

 

[kiwilad]

Hey look, another thread that's turned into a "let's shit on U2" thread with a bunch of people repeating themselves again and again. How original.

But there's some great material there. Lazarus's 'testicle crushing' line was good.

And to be fair, while a bit enthusiatic they're not really wrong...

 

[the tourist]

But there's some great material there. Lazarus's 'testicle crushing' line was good.

And to be fair, while a bit enthusiatic they're not really wrong...

The seemingly constant repetition though. For years.

 

[david]

I hope we get something tomorrow.

 

[lazarus]

 

[RoKKeR]

The Best Thing is definitely not U2's worst song ever - that's Elvis Ate America, or if we don't count Passengers (which is otherwise brilliant, the person who derided it earlier in the thread mustn't have ears to hear the beauty of Slug, Your Blue Room, Beach Sequence, etc.), then it's Stand Up Comedy or A Room at the Heartbreak Hotel.

Wait wait wait.

You put Room at the Heartbreak Hotel among U2’s WORST songs. Like, absolute worse. Axver you madman! I was on board with your list until then!

 

[zoocarolina]

Well, there's also this... while it lasts:







And yes, the double-backed the vocals on "Fred", Fred

This sounds incredible, real hybrid of dance/rock.

 

[david]

 

[CosmoKramer]

This sounds incredible, real hybrid of dance/rock.

So I just listened to this and, yeah, it sounds really promising...but it's too short of a clip to really pass judgment. I'm very excited to hear the full album cut.

 

[kiwilad]

I'm very excited to hear the full album cut.

Still nearly 6 weeks to wait.

SIX WEEKS!!!

41 days!

984 hours!

And every hour is a chance for Edge to back out.
984 chances.

2018 if we're lucky

 

[hasin73]

Blackout already sound great in that 30 second clip. I am playing it on repeats for the last 30 minutes.

 

[hasin73]

Fair enough, everyone's entitled to their own opinion

No poster with any HOLLOW comment should be entitled to give any opinion.

 

[Rachel D.]

Hey look, another thread that's turned into a "let's shit on U2" thread with a bunch of people repeating themselves again and again. How original.

Yeah, I get really tired of that, too. New material comes out, I come here to share enthusiasm with my fellow fans, only to find everyone complaining about it. It's depressing. I can't wait to hear how much everyone hates SOE when it's finally released!

 

[LuckyNumber7]

If you can get past the cringe, TBT is the best thing that ever happened a song.

Blackout doesn't sound nice at all to me.

GOO Your Own Way excites me.

 

[lazarus]

Yeah, I get really tired of that, too. New material comes out, I come here to share enthusiasm with my fellow fans, only to find everyone complaining about it. It's depressing. I can't wait to hear how much everyone hates SOE when it's finally released!

Or maybe people are excited for the music but are more interested in the deeper cuts instead of ones that are meant to appeal to the lowest common denominator and were being changed at the last minute in keeping with the band's worst second-guessing habits?

I'm also an enthusiastic fan who had nothing but praise for The Blackout. If you only want to hang out with Mouseketeers you're in the wrong place.

 

[Axver]

Wait wait wait.

You put Room at the Heartbreak Hotel among U2’s WORST songs. Like, absolute worse. Axver you madman! I was on board with your list until then!

Without those awful backing vocals it's boring. With them, it makes me want to punch myself in the face for every second I don't turn it off. We're all fortunate it was only a b-side.

So call me a madman all you like.

 

[Axver]

Or maybe people are excited for the music but are more interested in the deeper cuts instead of ones that are meant to appeal to the lowest common denominator and were being changed at the last minute in keeping with the band's worst second-guessing habits?

I'm also an enthusiastic fan who had nothing but praise for The Blackout. If you only want to hang out with Mouseketeers you're in the wrong place.

I liked The Blackout too, but apparently that's just not enough for people who demand relentless positivity and get dragged down by other people not liking the things they like.

 

[Rachel D.]

people who demand relentless positivity

That's a major exaggeration.

 

[Rachel D.]

Or maybe people are excited for the music but are more interested in the deeper cuts instead of ones that are meant to appeal to the lowest common denominator and were being changed at the last minute in keeping with the band's worst second-guessing habits?

I'm also an enthusiastic fan who had nothing but praise for The Blackout. If you only want to hang out with Mouseketeers you're in the wrong place.

Hey, I like U2 and I like their music. So sue me, Debbie Downer.

And you know people here are still going to hate the "deeper cuts."

 

[Axver]

That's a major exaggeration.

Well it seems to be what all the complaints of negativity want. I know I'm grouped in as one of the serial detractors. Yet I like The Blackout. Apparently that's not good enough because I don't also like The Best Thing.

 

[Axver]

And you know people here are still going to hate the "deeper cuts."

People on the Internet have varied opinions. More at eleven.