Taking the Vinegar out of Vertigo?

[iota]

They weren't banned? They were not played on the radio = banned from the radio IMO.

Not playing an artist because they are no longer profitable and "banning" them are not the same thing.

(But rest assured the Dixie Chicks are on the radio)

(And Ronstandt never really had much of a career before she started making kooky statements...)

 

[80sU2isBest]

Is this a braver direction or are U2 getting soft? Does this perspective suit rock'n'roll or do U2 need to return to the time of more politial strife? Is U2 reaching more for pop-music angles than the wide casams of epic rock?

I love the "personal" U2.

 

[U2girl]

Never mind.

 

[Matthew_Page2000]

In 1984 Bono wrote the lyric to a barnburning anti-Ronald Reagan and America track. Then, for whatever reason he re-wrote the song as an ode to Martin Luther King. The song was called "Pride." Was this an example of Bono realizing that if U2 were ever going to really break America it would be unwise to attack their very popular President? Was U2 already selling out in 1984? Or was it just an artistic decision to take the song in a different direction?

In 1993 Bono wrote the most powerfull anti war lyric of his life to a song called "In Cold Blood." He had literally never written so direct a song in his life. There's even a line about a dead child getting fu**** in the mud. Bono's words, not mine.
The song eventually morphed into a whimsical ode to overload called "Numb." Did U2 sell out in 1993? Was it a deliberate effort NOT to be controversial? Why would U2 take such an emotional and powerful lyric and gut it?
How did Numb go from the most ferocious lyric of Bono's life to,
"don't change your shape/Have another grape"?

Were U2 already corporate whores in 1984 and 1993?

 

[U2girl]

Didn't know that about Pride's and Numb's past.

Yes, if that were true - fear of attacking the president and all that, why did Bono go on the record, on the tour, critisizing Reagan?
I thought Numb was written by Edge, on his own.

(well, Sunday bloody Sunday started "don't talk to me about the rights of the IRA" and they re-wrote it later. not that it helped them with the IRA)

 

[Matthew_Page2000]

Didn't know that about Pride's and Numb's past.

Yes, if that were true - fear of attacking the president and all that, why did Bono go on the record, on the tour, critisizing Reagan?
I thought Numb was written by Edge, on his own.

(well, Sunday bloody Sunday started "don't talk to me about the rights of the IRA" and they re-wrote it later. not that it helped them with the IRA)

I forgot about that one. So U2 didn't sell out in 1984, they sold out in 82 or 83 when SBS was written. Interesting. To think that I've wasted over twenty years of my life listening to moral wretches and corporate whores. How awful of me. I'm going to go listen to Bleach and Kid A. (Not Nevermind or Ok Computer of course. Those were sellouts).

 

[U2DMfan]

MattPage, first off I "get" the point you are making and understand you are being facetious about it, but, I have to say
anytime I see the term "sell out" or "selling out" I want to vomit.

If you are a professional musician, you are already bought and sold. After that, it's just about the integrity of the music. The rest is for the pretentious hypocritical asshole fans who can't figure it out.

So yeah, if someone believes in the whole concept of "selling out" then U2 "sold out" in 78 or 79 when they signed with Island Records.

Isnt that silly proposition? It's fucking mind blowingly idiotic, the whole conversation and debate about 'selling out'. It should be fopr high school kids who use the music they listen to as 'social statements'. When you get older you should be able to figure it out.


Bono is tempering the poltical rhetorric because MOST people even if they agree with him, don't need or want a poltical sermon in their music or when they go to concerts. I loathe GW Bush, but I also cringe when I hear people like SPringsteen run off at the mouth about this or that. "Shut the Fuck Up and rock". Have an opinion, that's fine. But when people bash back at you, take it like a man and not a spoiled rock star.

U2 is sidestepping the bullshit. Their music means more than the triteness of poltics. It took Bono about 15 years to figure this out.
I'm glad he did. Politcal rhettoric used to be constructive but anymore it's nothing but destructive bashing. EVen if you are good intentioned in making statements you are bound to piss off half your audience. Not smart.

At least not in America.

 

[80sU2isBest]

U2 is sidestepping the bullshit. Their music means more than the triteness of poltics. It took Bono about 15 years to figure this out.
I'm glad he did. Politcal rhettoric used to be constructive but anymore it's nothing but destructive bashing. EVen if you are good intentioned in making statements you are bound to piss off half your audience. Not smart.

At least not in America.

Good grief, that's excellent!

 

[sue4u2]

After that, it's just about the integrity of the music. The rest is for the pretentious hypocritical asshole fans who can't figure it out.

U2 is sidestepping the bullshit. Their music means more than the triteness of poltics. It took Bono about 15 years to figure this out.
I'm glad he did. Politcal rhettoric used to be constructive but anymore it's nothing but destructive bashing. EVen if you are good intentioned in making statements you are bound to piss off half your audience. Not smart.

At least not in America.

Well said U2DMfan
Considering the fact that the original title was changed from How To Build an Atomic Bomb to ** How to Dismantel An Atomic Bomb speaks reams on where Bono/and or U2 is coming from.
The album title says it all.
And close attention to Crumbs From Your Table which says Africa is just waiting for crumbs from the worlds table...a very sad and profound statement.

 

[Dalton]

Taking the Vinegar out of Vertigo?


A quick review show's someone who's made an enemy in of his country and is on the run. He's in a situation where bullets are flying and at least one person is dying. Maybe he killed them, maybe he refused to kill.

Combine this look, with comments by Bono that this is the Full Metal Jacket of rock songs. Looking on IMDB.com at the description of Full Metal Jacket the movie we see the plot:

A group of soldiers develop dehumanized personalities in their training and it shows in their tour of duty in Vietnam. Further one reviewer says that the movie shows the "ugliness of war and the potential for violence within almost all people"

With all these observations gathered, maybe U2 meant to make a more direct anti-war statement with this song. Why did they divert from their original direction?

Did they not want the album to be overshadowed by a political statement? Did they not want their song to feel dated after the election in Nov. 2004 like many other protest songs sound now like Eminem's "Mosh" and Green Day's "American Idiot"? Did the song just naturally change and the message restructured? Has U2 lost it's taste for making "anti" statement about what the world is doing wrong and looking to make "pro" statements of what we can do right, like pro-active involvement in Africa?

I don't know the answers to these questions. I just know Vertigo feels fun, but shallow. And even though I disagree with the politics of Native Son, I find the lyrics to be much more engaging and natural.

So did U2 take the Vinegar out of Vertigo?

I read the other day (can't remember where) that the boys were not too pleased with Bono's political rants during the studio session and may have pressured Bono off them.

It could be that the band was more irritated with all the time Bono spent on political stuff than we have heard.

 

[adam3000]

Re: Re: Taking the Vinegar out of Vertigo?

I read the other day (can't remember where) that the boys were not too pleased with Bono's political rants during the studio session and may have pressured Bono off them.

It could be that the band was more irritated with all the time Bono spent on political stuff than we have heard.

This could make sense. But then why did Edge write the political postcard to the Q endorsing Kerry. And even Larry spoke up at the end of the KROCK q&a about the Iraq war.