U2's (and the Beatles) appetite for destruction

[Nube Gris]

i read an interview in an 1993 magazine where Rose said that "was a lot into u2 at the moment" and that "went to all the U2 shows that i could"
He also said that "he looked up at people like Bono and at the way his spiritulity comes across in his lyrics. Thats amazing to me"

So yeah you clould be right. Maybe AB destroyed Guns N Roses
what a fucking great album

 

[MumblingBono]

< never knew any of this

 

[Lewis12]

Along these lines, and I noted it in an earlier post: but I would be more inclined to think Pearl Jam/Vedder may have also been a victim of the, let us call it, The U2 Coveting Path? I live in Seattle, and was around from the start of Pearl Jam, and I used to think, “back in the day”, when PJ was on stage that there was this Joshua Tree Bono look and style to Eddie Vedder. In fact, I was watching the Rattle Hum movie again the other day and I was amazed at how much Bono and Vedder’s stage presence seemed alike from that era. As the years went by, and reading such books as U2 at the End of the World, and then reading interviews and articles about Vedder, it was quite clear the Eddie really like U2 and was very influenced by them.

Here in Seattle, on the Vertigo Tour in April, Eddie came out to play with the Kings of Leon before U2 went on stage. What struck me as odd though, was that U2 did not invite Eddie out when they were on stage? It seemed kinda uncomfortable. Just a feeling, but it seemed as if Eddie was coat tailing. Don’t get me wrong though, PJ is/was a great band, I even saw Mother Love Bone before the reconstitution into Pearl Jam.


PS REM, another band perhaps exhausted in the shadow of U2?

 

[BVS]

What struck me as odd though, was that U2 did not invite Eddie out when they were on stage? It seemed kinda uncomfortable.

Eddie did come out on stage and sing with U2 in Tononto.

 

[BVS]

Drugs and ego killed Guns N Roses...
nothing else.

 

[xaviMF22]

Drugs and ego killed Guns N Roses...
nothing else.

 

[Bono's shades]

I think you folks are attributing way too much influence to U2.

Pearl Jam aren't as huge as they used to be because A) they got the grunge label attached to them and grunge went out of fashion and B) they stopped doing videos and other promotional stuff.

REM aren't as big as they used to be because they just weren't the same after their original drummer left. Their music has been boring ever since.

And as BVS said, drugs and ego killed GNR.

 

[Layton]

Along these lines, and I noted it in an earlier post: but I would be more inclined to think Pearl Jam/Vedder may have also been a victim of the, let us call it, The U2 Coveting Path? I live in Seattle, and was around from the start of Pearl Jam, and I used to think, “back in the day”, when PJ was on stage that there was this Joshua Tree Bono look and style to Eddie Vedder. In fact, I was watching the Rattle Hum movie again the other day and I was amazed at how much Bono and Vedder’s stage presence seemed alike from that era.

In the early days, Vedder definately had a Bono like thing going. I think PJ has modeled themselves on U2 for a long time. I'm not sure they're a casualty of U2, like Axl, though.

Did you grow up in Seattle? I grew up in Everett and was around for the start of PJ, too. Whenever Vedder stage-dived, like in the EvenFlow video, I would always think of Bono's early career dives.

 

[Lemonfix]

I think you folks are attributing way too much influence to U2.

What he said.

 

[XHendrix24]

What he said.

Yeah.

Axl isn't a "casualty of U2." Axl's a casualty of his own problems and ego, as it's been said already.

Interesting theory, though.

 

[livi40]

Do you have any actual quotes from Brian Wilson about his desire to compete with the Beatles or any actual quotes from Axl Rose about wanting to compete with U2? Just because an artist admires someone else's work doesn't necessarily mean they are obssessed with trying to match or exceed it. Brian and Axl may have had such a hard time making albums because they were haunted by their own previous success and were afraid they could never top it.

Here is some information from Brian Wilson's official website, www. brianwilson. com:

After the Beatles stunned the pop music world with the release of the elaborately produced "Rubber Soul" in 1965, Wilson one-upped them with "Pet Sounds." The Beatles, in turn, responded with "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," a work still regarded by Rolling Stone magazine as the greatest rock album ever made ("Pet Sounds" is No. 2).

"'Rubber Soul' was such an experience for me to hear that I went to my piano and I started writing 'Pet Sounds' right away," Wilson, dressed in blue jeans, a pullover shirt and tennis shoes, said recently during a break from rehearsing "Smile" for a concert tour.

It was while the Beatles were in the studio putting together "Sgt. Pepper" that he and longtime collaborator Van Dyke Parks were working on "Smile" for the Beach Boys.

Those who heard early tapes predicted it would be the greatest rock accomplishment ever. But it was not to be, and the reasons why quickly became the stuff of legend.

Among the stories that spread over the years: Wilson suffered a nervous breakdown. He realized he couldn't top the Beatles again, and it drove him over the edge. His fellow Beach Boys _ in those days Wilson's cousin Mike Love; his brothers, Carl and Dennis Wilson; and Bruce Johnston and Al Jardine _ couldn't understand, let alone begin to play, an album as complicated as "Smile."

So in frustration, it was said, Wilson set his studio on fire, destroyed all the "Smile" tapes, then locked himself in drug-addled seclusion in his room.

Indeed, his subsequent battles to overcome drug abuse and other problems would be well documented.

"The pressure of trying to live up to my name was a little hard for me, so I had some difficulties, some mental difficulties," he acknowledges now. "But I worked through it."

The reason he gives for shelving "Smile," however, is much less intriguing.

"I don't think it would have been a hit album," he says matter of factly. "I think it would have been a big bomb."

"It was too advanced music. It was avant-garde music and it was too ahead of its time," he adds, noting that even after his wife, Melinda, persuaded him to finish it this year he still had doubts that it would be well received.


I appreciate the posting of the theory. While I don't believe that The Beatles are to blame for Brian Wilson's mental illness or that U2 are to blame for Axl Rose's issues, rivalries happen all the time in the music industry. The Beatles/Beach Boys rivalry was a friendly albeit intense one, and the Beatles were guests of the Beach Boys in 1965 when their final tour stopped in California. I had not heard of the U2/GNR rivalry, but they were both absolutely huge bands and very influential so it doesn't surprise me in the least.

Hope that helps!

Livi