Vertigo: Gimmick or Classic?

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starvinmarvin

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I say Vertigo is too gimmicky to ever become a U2 classic. It's catchy, sure, but it has a throw-away quality about it that is unusual in a U2 song. The stupid Spanish parts don't help either. Good riff though.
 
i thought the same at first (going of the album version)

all i can say is...wait till you hear it live! (not boots, but in concert)

my opinion of it went up 10-fold. this song was DESIGNED to be an arena rocker. it was unbelieveable to hear 20,000 screaming "HELLO, HELLO, I'M AT A PLACE CALLED VERTIGO!!!!"
i think it will be played on tours to come.
 
marik said:
i thought the same at first (going of the album version)

all i can say is...wait till you hear it live! (not boots, but in concert)

my opinion of it went up 10-fold. this song was DESIGNED to be an arena rocker. it was unbelieveable to hear 20,000 screaming "HELLO, HELLO, I'M AT A PLACE CALLED VERTIGO!!!!"
i think it will be played on tours to come.

I agree that Vertigo is much better live. I'd be surprised if the band plays it on future tours though.
 
I think Vertigo is a song that was written up for a good insta-hit, needed to be catchy and short, enough to capture the attention of a newer generation as well as the older fans who might have felt left out with the release of 'Elevation' or 'Beautiful Day'
 
starvinmarvin said:


I agree that Vertigo is much better live. I'd be surprised if the band plays it on future tours though.

We thought the same thing about Elevation.

I'm looking foward to hearing Vertigo live, but I don't really want to hear it on the radio or on Itunes anytime soon.
 
sure it's a gimmick song.

Just listen to Native Son, that song is great. They could have cleaned it up a bit, re-recorded it and all, made it sound a little better than the copy that is on the digital box set. The only thing from Vertigo that is missing in Native Son is the cool "solo" riff right after the "checkmated" bridge. It's there but it's cluttered.

Native Son =Great lyrics, great chorus with great harmonies, Edge has better guitar work in it, the harmonics in the verse aren't so blase', the intro riff over the main riff sounds much better.

And what did they decide? This wasn't the smash single they wanted. Probably too cerebral, a little too long, maybe. A song about Leonard Peltier isn't going to make sense on an Ipod ad.
They wanted a top 40 hit in the end. They got what they wanted.

I think Native Son is 8,000 times better, even though it in itself could be improved upon.

So they gutted a great song.

And added the cheeky, Uno Dos Tres Catorce
Turn it up there Captian
Hola!
Donde Esta
and a melody directly from "You Keep Me Hanging On"


OH, it's not a bad song. It sure as hell is a gimmick.
The song that it branched off of was a better rock song. Period.

Cue the apologists.......
 
starvinmarvin said:


I agree that Vertigo is much better live. I'd be surprised if the band plays it on future tours though.

ppl used to say that about elevation...

** edit: oops... already said.
 
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It was probably too big of a hit to drop from the next tour.

They are playing Beautiful Day on this tour, it was the lead single, a radio hit and nobody is second guessing that.

Why? Because it's a MUCH better song.

Yeah, yeah it's subjective that's the whole idea of this forum, subjective opinions from different people.
 
Native Son is not better than Vertigo. I mean, the last chorus in Native Son does NOT have the POWER that Vertigo has. Edge's lyrics during the chorus aren't that great ("On the run . . . Native son . . . Native Son . . . it's so hard" = ???).



Vertigo is a great song, but i argee that it is very gimmicky and catchy like Discotheque.
 
I like the background vocals on the chorus better on Native Son. But everything else I like Vertigo better.
 
Native Son is a bit boring compared to Vertigo, but neither are U2 classics. They're not exactly Joshua Tree material.
 
Not a classic, but along with All because of you the closest they've got to rock since Desire.
 
U2girl said:
Not a classic, but along with All because of you the closest they've got to rock since Desire.

Oh my.

HMTMKMKM
The bulk of AB
Last Night On Earth
Miami
Elevation

There's more too.
 
I'm glad to see some love for "Vertigo" here. Is it a classic? Probably not. Is it fun? Hell yeah! It winds me up and makes me want to dance around like a big goon.

It's okay for U2 to have songs that are fun. Not everything has to be serious or deep.

As for the similarities between "Vertigo" and "You Keep Me Hangin' On," yeah, I can hear that. But you know what? The riff for "Desire" were basically swiped right from "Not Fade Away" by Bo Diddley.

(er ... I think it was Bo Diddley ... or was it "Who Do You Love" by Bo Diddley, which was then swiped by the Stones in "Not Fade Away" ... something like that)

It's rock and roll, which has been around for decades now. You're bound to get some repeating chord progressions.
 
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