The Fly(the song) Appreciation Thead

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discothequeLP said:
The Fly is one of the best songs in history. From the fucking chaos and bad-ass-ness of the intro and verse to the amazing chorus, with Edge's falsetto, giving a sense of reason to the whole thing, while Bono comes back with his lines. The two offset vocal lines in the chorus are just magical. And Edge's solo that goes through the same process: dark and bad-ass to a higher state at the last chorus. its so good!

No, the falsetto is Bono. It is the same falsetto he uses in Lemon. In 'The Fly,' his falsetto is overdubbed with his regular voice, so it sounds like 2 people singing at the same time.
 
bono does the falsetto in lemon and the fly. WHEN PERFORMING LIVE... edge sings most of the falsetto parts (for The Fly) for bono, as bono does the lower part. lemon live, is all bono.
 
Earnie Shavers said:
I bet if we did a poll around here we'd find that 98% of those who are less than excited about HTDAAB and ATYCLB are those who fell in love with U2 at Achtung.

Those who are younger, or simply weren't into U2 in the early-mid 90's, and are going back to those albums, not having lived with them as they were happening, probably don't understand their full meaning at the time. The Fly sounded like nothing else on the radio. Popular rock in 91 meant Guns'n'Roses, Bon Jovi and other left overs from the 80's hair band thing. It was another year till Nirvana/Pearl Jam etc would hit with their take. In the middle was Achtung and The Fly was a sonic boom across the radio. This was followed by Even Better Than The Real Thing, Mysterious Ways etc all full of sounds that couldn't be compared to much else that was out there. And on top of that, the whole thing was such an extreme and massive about turn for the band. The last the world had heard was All I Want Is You, and after a decade, everyone thought they knew the band, their sound and their image. Then, bang, Achtung hits. Bono's in shades and leather. The band are a completely, totally different animal. The whole Zoo thing takes flight.

A couple of years later we are handed another complete turn around, and the lead single off Zooropa is the guitarist mumbling a bunch of life-lessons over the top of this sampled, looped track that again sounds nothing like the album before.
Followed by Lemon, Stay etc and we're on a whole other journey. Discotheque lacked the same punch, but imagine if they'd used Mofo as the lead single.....

You can see how for those of us who were part of this journey, the last couple of albums can seem.... rather dull, middle of the road, safe etc. There is none of the creativity. None of the boundary pushing. None of the depth musically, lyrically, not in any way.

The Fly sparked a wildfire that I wish was still burning.

you put that very well! that was the magic of that time period, and im glad i got to witness it as it was happening. it really does change the whole perspective and i still get goosebumps thinking back to when i first heard The Fly on the radio. i was thinking 'what the hell happened to U2?!?!? I LOVE THIS!" not that i didnt love the previous stuff. but wow that was the neatest musical shock ever to me. in a positive way, of course. i also never once thought they were going down the wrong route with it or changing with losing themselves. if anything they were becoming more and more truthful and deep.
 
Earnie Shavers said:

You can see how for those of us who were part of this journey, the last couple of albums can seem.... rather dull, middle of the road, safe etc. There is none of the creativity. None of the boundary pushing. None of the depth musically, lyrically, not in any way.

The Fly sparked a wildfire that I wish was still burning.

Exactly! You are a God for saying that!!! I do get carried away sometimes :wink: Where is the boundary pushing? As you said... the Fly was a radical change from Rattle & Hum and Zooropa/Numb was another major change from Achtung. By Pop & Mofo, their music had become so challenging and exciting that it didn't even seem like the same band anymore. Then they come crashing down to earth and give us safe mainstream pop leaning towards adult contemporary. WTF! :mad:
 
Earnie Shavers said:
I bet if we did a poll around here we'd find that 98% of those who are less than excited about HTDAAB and ATYCLB are those who fell in love with U2 at Achtung.

I belong to the other 2%. :wink:

Earnie Shavers said:
You can see how for those of us who were part of this journey, the last couple of albums can seem.... rather dull, middle of the road, safe etc. There is none of the creativity. None of the boundary pushing. None of the depth musically, lyrically, not in any way.

The Fly sparked a wildfire that I wish was still burning.

:yes: :yes: :yes: My feelings exactly.
 
And the Oscar for the best post in history goes to Earnie Shavers.
He's the kinds guy who always gets it right and always makes it not stupid, and most of all he makes me read long posts
SPEECH SPEECH SPEECH

And the Oscar for greatest song in U2 history goes to:
No, of course it's not With or without you, one...(add yours)

IT'S HIS MAJESTY THE FLY.

I say give him sir. Wadda ya say? sir The Fly
 
Show;;'; Biz-Niss;; my;; arse.....

I love the Fly. Probably my favorite song. And easily the highlight of their concerts this time around.
 
I love it. LOVED the version on the Elevation tour.

When the single was first sent to radio stations, we got a copy at our teeny-tiny college radio station. The music director, a complete and utter music snob who didn't like U2 post-1983, took the single and played it for his friends, who then simply did not believe him when he told them it was U2.

He still hated U2 after that, but I love the fact that they came out and did something that was so un-U2. It's held up very well over time.

Oh, and Earnie Shavers, that was an ass-kicking post. Whoot!
 
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The Fly... in my top five for sure. U2 at its best lyrically, musically, thematically. Live, studio, music video. All of it is perfection. In my opinion:

Vertigo Fly > Elevation Fly > ZooTV Fly > Achtung Fly.

The song just gets better and better, to me. I think the most outstanding part is Edge's guitar... the solo is brilliant of course, but it's really AFTER the solo... during the chorus again, that he really goes crazy. It's heaven. Then of course the solo at the end...that song just has so much ATTITUDE, especially this time around!
 
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