Registered Dude
Rock n' Roll Doggie Band-aid
U2: Protecting this House since 1976 -> AKA, more new album talk
- Thread starter Globo14
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The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
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LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
It sold more than any of my favorites from that year, albums I and many others considered absolutely brilliant. I don't know of any critically adored albums that came out in 2009 that also went platinum.
It's impossible to correlate "good" with "commercially successful" because "good" is impossible to measure objectively.
If you'd like to adjust your statement to say that it lacked commercial appeal, then I could agree with that. But there are several albums that came out in 2009 that deserved platinum (hell, gold) certification more than NLOTH.
Yes, you can. And if U2 believes that they must be on the radio to be successful, then they are destined to fail.
subnet
New Yorker
LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
What's your criteria for success, Headache? No real point in discussing this if we can't agree on what kind of success U2 should expect.
subnet
New Yorker
U2 also needs to be good on MTV or Muchmusic or they're dead in the water too right?
Long live the 90s. That golden age is gone.
Long live the 90s. That golden age is gone.
iron yuppie
ONE love, blood, life
I can't buy the argument that marketing holds no weight. Jay Z just released an album to mediocre at best reviews and still managed to sell close to 600,000 copies in the first week alone (not counting the Samsung app sales). I'd imagine a lot of that had to do with the marketing stunt he pulled.
popacrobat
Rock n' Roll Doggie FOB
Jay Z's name alone is going to sell copies. U2's name alone is going to sell copies. Lady Gaga. Katy Perry. Rinse and repeat.
For U2, relevance seems to equate with their songs resonating with the general public. The easiest way to quantify that is through airplay, and probably iTunes sales of individual songs, which is taken into account on the charts, right? All they need is one song to be widely successful. I believe during Atomic Bomb era, Bono said the album would be a failure unless Original or Sometimes 'permeated the public sphere' or something to that effect. Vertigo managed to do that for them at the least. Nothing off of No Line did.
Given Bono's comments at the Clinton gala a couple years ago about lots of hits, and wanting Staring at the Sun to have been a hit, it's clear that they want at least one song to really stick with the public. I still think they want the album as a whole to be strong of course, who doesn't?, but given comments over the years, I'd say they need a song to stick.
For U2, relevance seems to equate with their songs resonating with the general public. The easiest way to quantify that is through airplay, and probably iTunes sales of individual songs, which is taken into account on the charts, right? All they need is one song to be widely successful. I believe during Atomic Bomb era, Bono said the album would be a failure unless Original or Sometimes 'permeated the public sphere' or something to that effect. Vertigo managed to do that for them at the least. Nothing off of No Line did.
Given Bono's comments at the Clinton gala a couple years ago about lots of hits, and wanting Staring at the Sun to have been a hit, it's clear that they want at least one song to really stick with the public. I still think they want the album as a whole to be strong of course, who doesn't?, but given comments over the years, I'd say they need a song to stick.
nobody listens to the radio anymore. Qualifying success by radio airplay is like trying to launch a successful marketing campaign by focusing on newspaper advertisement placement.
The world has moved beyond radio. Its much more important to get a lot of plays on Pandora than it is to get heavy rotation on your local top 40.
The charts are getting better at measuring it, but really success today is not as black and white and white as it once was.
Like I said, failed for them, but would have been massively successful for other bands.
popacrobat
Rock n' Roll Doggie FOB
No, nobody knows.
Is U2PLACE.COM not a reliable source?
Can you give me an example of an album that sold 4M+ copies without a hit on the radio? Because the album won't be a success for U2 if they sell less. As an alternative act you can be successful without the radio but U2 is on another level.
BVS
Blue Crack Supplier
No
Why? If they haven't announced, why announce a delay?
There has not been one credible piece of evidence that supports a definite delay.
iron yuppie
ONE love, blood, life
Do you include Sirius and the like in your definition of radio? Because satellite radio seems to be going quite strong.
martha
Blue Crack Supplier
Yep.
To be "delayed" there had to have been a planned release. If there's no planned release, it cannot be "delayed."
I don't.
bono_212
Blue Crack Distributor
The idea that "nobody" listens to the radio is ludicrous, you realize this, right?
The audience that U2 wants are the ones listening to the radio. I don't know why they want it, but there it is.
The audience that U2 wants are the ones listening to the radio. I don't know why they want it, but there it is.
No it isn't.
Who listens to terrestrial radio these days for anything other than political talk radio, and old people? It's a dying industry.
Mrs. Garrison
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
I think it depends on where you live, here sports radio is still a pretty big deal, both on FM & AM.
Also it might be an age thing, for instance, people under 35-40 probably think of AM/FM the way my generation used to jokingly refer to the "8 track" as an obsolete item.
Having said all of that, our local FM stations are beyond terrible, which is why I listen to XM in my vehicles.
gvox
Ghost of Love
Hmm. Not sure about this. We have a couple of great FM stations (that I like, anyways) here in Toronto.
But then again, Im old.
I agree with your last sentence in general it is a dying entity..but there are still some gems out there.
subnet
New Yorker
Radio on the Internet is called Rdio, FYI.
In the car I listen to:
Soundcloud
Rdio
Slacker
Deezer
#music
I don't waste my time with Sirius XM and their extremely crappy bitrate.
In the car I listen to:
Soundcloud
Rdio
Slacker
Deezer
#music
I don't waste my time with Sirius XM and their extremely crappy bitrate.
Let me rephrase. Obviously some people still listen to the radio.
Some people still read print newspapers religiously. Some people still only watch basic cable.
The future is not any of these things. They're barely holding on to the present as it is. So if a band's goal is for airplay on traditional radio, they're already D.O.A.
I certainly believe, or hope, that a band as savvy as U2 is well aware of this.
To really have an album that hits, today, it has to be everywhere.
Some people still read print newspapers religiously. Some people still only watch basic cable.
The future is not any of these things. They're barely holding on to the present as it is. So if a band's goal is for airplay on traditional radio, they're already D.O.A.
I certainly believe, or hope, that a band as savvy as U2 is well aware of this.
To really have an album that hits, today, it has to be everywhere.
Mrs. Garrison
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
If we still had a great FM station here I would actually support it and listen to it, even with all of the BS commercials. Of course all of the FM stations are just part of one larger company which controls everything, therefore the music suffers as a result.
& I bet I have scars older than you
martha
Blue Crack Supplier
LadySpinHead
Refugee
I'm lucky to have a very popular local FM radio station that plays awesome music (really). It's part of our public radio station, so no commercials, and ClearChannel doesn't call the shots.. A few times a year you have to endure their fund drives, but it's worth it.
But I digress.
But I digress.
I'm sure this has been brought up before, but it's really "three years" of what appears to have been a very lackadaisical work ethic. Gone are the days when they holed themselves up in the studio for months on end. They seem to potter about for a couple of weeks, then jet out to some exotic locale. I'm not entirely convinced this album will turn out to be any good...and maybe, just maybe, they're getting cold feet
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