You're the Best Thing About Me - Song Discussion Thread #2

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Still an ok pop song after 20 listenings... not the U2 I like though. Hopefully the album is a bit more dense and complex. It shouldn t be very hard....:reject:
 
TBT is not a bad song. Pretty catchy in fact.

But it's pretty amazing that the band went around for a year blaming the album delay on Trump, and this is what they give us. FFS, the song is from Page 1 of the contemporary U2 playbook. Not a whole lot different than the other recent attempts at pop (EBW, Crazy Tonight) and it even has the cheesy lyrical boxes checked off, just like those songs (with self deprecation, Bono's signature cringe point, included).
I think it might be a tad premature to writeoff the band's motives for delaying the record based solely on their first single. While I'm not expecting much in the way of direct and overt commentary on our world's political state of affairs, I do believe there will be some sort of common thread, however diaphanous it may be, permeating the album. Even then, I don't think Bono ever mentioned writing about the aftermath of the election per se, but rather his reaction to the sudden political climate shift and how it potentially shaped his responses moving forward. From the latest NYT article, he says, "I leaned more on the personal than the political, but the political is there to put the personal songs in the context of time..."

Now whether you believe all of that is up to you (personally, i think it was a contributing force but not the deciding factor; im sure there's a whole host of reasons that played a role to varying degrees)--all I'm positing is that their aforementioned reasoning isn't necessarily hogwash because of TBT's subject matter ;D
 
Remind me why we care one way or another about U2's chart placements? Are there stock options or a pool that I'm unaware of?
 
I have come around to actively listening to it, because I want to, once a day. It did not resonate on first listen, or I didn't think it did. But I kept singing the chorus. And I love the "You're the best thing about me, I'm the kind of trouble that you enjoy" lyric.


So I have come around. And while a huge U2 fan, I have plenty of holes in my listening of their catalog. I would not seek this out just because I am U2Fan#1.


So...count one more as "in". And I don't listen to current pop at all, if I can avoid it. There's something about this song that catches me. And, yeah, I can hear the hard breaks that make it seem cut and pasted, and they bug me some. It could be a better mix for sure. But I listen to it. And I see it as being a song I will listen to off and on in the future. I did not pretend like there was much off the last few albums that I would add to my rotation...I never tried to convince myself that Get On Your Boots was good, for example.

There is no consensus on this song. I imagine the style aids that...some people (usually me) will just reject a poppy radio-friendly song. But I guess I can understand why this was their first single, even if some people don't like it. My 16 and 11 year old girls love it. And they don't listen to the old man's music, as a general rule with exceptions.
 
Remind me why we care one way or another about U2's chart placements? Are there stock options or a pool that I'm unaware of?
I think it mostly comes down to wanting to see their favorite band succeed (granted, this is U2 we're talking about, so success is relative lol). Also, by extension, people (for the most part, I believe) like having things that are special to them to be seen as special by others; it sorta enhances the enjoyment.

Take Bomb, for example--it's definitely an album that, for most of us here, isn't so great. But I'll be damned if it wasn't an exciting time to be a U2 fan (certainly moreso when compared to the band's last couple of efforts). Now I know what you're thinking: "Give me NLOTH or SoI any day if it means I'll have to listen through another Hutdab" (lol remember "hutdab"? that was a weird shorthand for that album...)--and I agree. But what I would *most* like to have is a new U2 record which I can appreciate the artistic merits of while also seeing the band as part of the "moment," where their output isn't just being heard by us enthusiasts, but also shared as part of a larger conversation that doesn't just end with, "what's a u2?"

But that's just why I, personally, can understand why someone would like to see U2 achieve at least a modicum amount of commercial success. Yeah, it's a little silly, but I get it ;)
 
The band said the whole reason for putting out "Blackout" and then "The Best Thing" was to put out very contrasting pieces to show the album won't just be one thing. So good on them for doing that. I still kinda wish they made both songs singles.
 
Remind me why we care one way or another about U2's chart placements? Are there stock options or a pool that I'm unaware of?



Do you like U2s music? Do you like their more experimental music or their more catchy pop tunes? Because if you think chart performance isn't directly linked to what type of music U2 decides to put out, I would say you are mistaken.

The best example I can give you is that If Pop is a commercial success, I don't think we get ATYCLB.

If they fail on the charts,I would think the next album they might say "fuck it" and do what they want and not search for a hit or perhaps they say "well that worked". Either way, the level of success influences their direction(for better or worse).
 
Hey. Heres something to be happy about. U2 didnt drop their album on the apple shit
 
Do you like U2s music? Do you like their more experimental music or their more catchy pop tunes? Because if you think chart performance isn't directly linked to what type of music U2 decides to put out, I would say you are mistaken.

The best example I can give you is that If Pop is a commercial success, I don't think we get ATYCLB.

If they fail on the charts,I would think the next album they might say "fuck it" and do what they want and not search for a hit or perhaps they say "well that worked". Either way, the level of success influences their direction(for better or worse).

I also don't understand the fretting over chart success. It just sounds insecure to me when fans worry about this stuff. I understand that's not necessarily true, in fact had a few comments back to me on this in another thread. However it does come across as hypocritical to criticize the band for trying to make hits, then having all these conversations about how the the songs are 'performing' on the charts.

Who gives a shit about how the song performs anywhere but inside your head.
 
I have come around to actively listening to it, because I want to, once a day. It did not resonate on first listen, or I didn't think it did. But I kept singing the chorus. And I love the "You're the best thing about me, I'm the kind of trouble that you enjoy" lyric.


So I have come around. And while a huge U2 fan, I have plenty of holes in my listening of their catalog. I would not seek this out just because I am U2Fan#1.


So...count one more as "in". And I don't listen to current pop at all, if I can avoid it. There's something about this song that catches me. And, yeah, I can hear the hard breaks that make it seem cut and pasted, and they bug me some. It could be a better mix for sure. But I listen to it. And I see it as being a song I will listen to off and on in the future. I did not pretend like there was much off the last few albums that I would add to my rotation...I never tried to convince myself that Get On Your Boots was good, for example.

There is no consensus on this song. I imagine the style aids that...some people (usually me) will just reject a poppy radio-friendly song. But I guess I can understand why this was their first single, even if some people don't like it. My 16 and 11 year old girls love it. And they don't listen to the old man's music, as a general rule with exceptions.

Completely agree with: 1. can't get the chorus out of my head; and 2. especially the "I'm the kind of trouble that you enjoy" line. Brilliant. That said, it's not my favorite U2 song, but the songs that have been played on the radio have generally not been my favorites. (With some exceptions).
 
The irony of U2's chart performances dictating how they approach their next album (SOI going for radio baiting tunes) is that No Line On The Horizon's precise failure was due to abject radio baiting tunes. Aside from Magnificent which I think was very good (precisely because it's U2 not trying to please everyone), the others were terrible and they all dropped like a broken lift on the chart.

Boots and I'll Go Crazy are so bad - poor singles that ruined the album completely (along with soulless 'rawk' production that ruined the original concept).
 
What I don't get is when will we be getting the video? U2.com said subscribers would be able to see some form of visual art to go along with the single but yet nearly a week later nothing?, same goes for the details on the album, I don't get what their strategy is with this one, just when we thought they had an actual plan?.



Someone with atu2 said the video is coming this week.
 
Remind me why we care one way or another about U2's chart placements? Are there stock options or a pool that I'm unaware of?

Because U2 are a band that has and still does care about their charting and relevancy in the musical landscape since the mid-80s? And has been defined by that kind of domineering success in the mainstream musical landscape.

It's also kind of nice to see a band you love succeed on a commercial level, it feels almost subversive even to see them rubbing shoulders with the rest of the mainstream.

Clearly, U2 still wants to be that kind of relevant, mainstream charting single kind of band, so it only makes sense that the hardcore fans observe the metrics by which the industry and U2 typically measure success.

Bands' charting positions/mainstream success have long been a point of discussion for fanboys and fangirls since The Beatles.
 
I want U2 to have a hit song so maybe they stop trying so hard to have a hit song. It would be an accomplishment I don't think any band could claim. Especially if it were to get inside the top 10

So it's kind of frustrating to hear them talk about it, but their actions don't really follow through.

In the other thread, there's a rumor that French radio station will play a new U2 song on Friday. Not Best Thing
 
Or if they stop trying so hard, maybe they'll have a hit.
 
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