U2 in Word Magazine '20 Worst Duets'

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Earnie Shavers said:


Well, it still has the same lyrics, and that alone is enough to kick pretty much all of the Bomb tracks around the block. However, many of the things I don't like about Mary J's One vs the original pretty much line up with many of the things I don't like about Bomb-era U2. I have no beef with the genre they've taken the song to, or Mary J who has done some really excellent stuff and has a great voice. The concept is fine with me, but the execution is really poor. The life of the song is just sucked out of it. It's a song that is supposed to be sort of pleading and hopeful at the same time, but she makes it sound aggressive. The original U2 version stirs up all sorts of stories and imagery in your mind based around this kinda groundbreaking conversation in a relationship between two people - partners, father/son, many things. But the Mary J one, all I can picture is her banging her fist on the table. I really hate it.

Mary J is a talented singer, but what she is delivering to this song doesn't 'fit' the mood of the song. She forces the lyrics, while Bono tries to equally reflect and plead - but he can't quite do that because Mary J is basically screaming beside him. The video just made it worse. How can you be taken seriously if you are aggressively pleading for help, when you show up (and make a big show of it) with bodyguards, a limo, diamonds, fur, etc.?? :tsk:

The idea to bring this sort of song to a different genre is a good one, but it really needs to be a new song with this same message. I'm hoping that U2 feels that they've accomplished what they intended to with this release. And I hope they continue trying to reach out to different genres.
 
i don't like the duet either, although i think bono's sub-par performance ruined it. i think mary's vocals are just fine and should've just performed it by herself (thus meaning the music would've/should've been changed up as well).
 
Bonochick said:


Well, it IS theirs. ;)
:lol: Yeah, I know, and U2 have every right to do with One whatever they like, and the charities are good causes, but the song feels like it belongs to me, in a way, because of the meanings it has for me and my life. I guess that sounds selfish, and maybe it is, but that's just how I feel.
 
Ever just try to avoid a thread, because you know it's gonna piss you off?

Three pages, and we've established that MJB isn't worthy of singing One, that B's duet with Wyclef is garbage, and that B's duet with washed-up pickled Frank Sinatra is f*cking brilliant. Couple that with the rampant Kanye West bashing that went on here last fall (before anyone had seen his opening performances, mind you) and the complaints about Kelis opeining on the Elevation tour...well, draw your own conclusions, I know I did.
 
CTU2fan said:
Ever just try to avoid a thread, because you know it's gonna piss you off?

Three pages, and we've established that MJB isn't worthy of singing One, that B's duet with Wyclef is garbage, and that B's duet with washed-up pickled Frank Sinatra is f*cking brilliant. Couple that with the rampant Kanye West bashing that went on here last fall (before anyone had seen his opening performances, mind you) and the complaints about Kelis opeining on the Elevation tour...well, draw your own conclusions, I know I did.

Since I started the thread just for the laugh - cos I thought Word's description was hilarious - I might as well comment on this.

1. One with Mary Blige IS rubbish - very poor and destroyed by her meandering warblings
2. Frank Sinatra I've never gotten and I can't stand the Bono-Sinatra duet
3. I've seen Kelis before and although she hits some good notes a lot of her stuff really doesn't come up to the mark (except Milkshake which is, of course, a classic single)
4. Kanye West is good, and I was always surprised that he supported U2 given that he appears to be big enough in his own right. At least he was much better than the rubbish opening acts we got here in Dublin - Paddy 'I really can't sing' Casey, The 'whining' Thrills, etc (The Bravery and Ash were good though).

Of course little of this has anything to do with The Word magazine's comments, which were humorous and pretty accurate. Anyway, the song was done for charity and I'm sure it made a heap of money so why should we care? One doesn't have to like 'Feed the world' to support that cause.

Ol' Just For Men was just funny.
 
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