A superfan railing against superfandom and its strangeness.

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The_One1932

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First things first: I think the new album is fucking brilliant. Are there are a few songs I don't drool over? Yes. But I am, for the most part, walking around with a huge smile on my face trying to absorb, break down, appreciate, and digest all these new wonderful songs.

My problem is stuff like this:

"Is Moment of Surrender the new One?"

"Is Magnificent the new Bad?"

"Is song A the new song Z?"


This is simply irrational and impossible. Time/history is what makes these songs so indellible and memorable. The emotions and times of our lives we attach to these song are what give them their staying power and emotional relevance. When I first heard Beautiful Day, I didn't think it was all that great. Now, I think that song is one of the best songs of U2's career. I didn't care much for city of blinding lights, now I love it. Instead of trying to make a new song the new old song, why not just let them become what they become? The organic nature of U2's music is what has made them so relevant for so long, and not just in their sonic nature. Their songs, despite their immediacy, grow into something more than what we first make of them as time goes on and on. U2's catalog has a number of songs that seem to hit us in the face immediately, and a number that sleep/sneak up on people years and years later (like wake up dead man). Just let these songs happen, don't pigeon hole songs. I don't expect to hear the "next" where the streets have no name any more than I expect to hear the "next" Fez.

This isn't meant as an attack or criticism on the many people who have made these comparisons over the last few days, it is more a plea to let these songs be themselves, and for us all to sit back and enjoy the best album U2 has put out in a long time. If we expect one song to be something else that already has emotional weight attached, we don't give them their own space to grow.
 
I'm a fellow superfan, and I fully agree with you. So I wouldn't necessarily rail against 'superfandom' so much as... addiction to the past? I dunno.
 
I really agree with this thread, and that every song will be different, not just one song being a 21st century version of a classic. Being a superfan guy myself.
 
I'm not a superfan, but I think Fez is the next Whatever Happened To Pete The Chop, though WHTPTC should stand on its own, I agree
 
Another fan here. Well put. There is a point were fandom devours the object of its obsession. That point is often surpassed here. Kudos for hitting the nail on the head.
 
I think there's a fine line! I immediately reference old as I'm listening to new. The low-growling guitar in "Unknown Caller" reminds me of the low-growling guitar in "Stay." I can't help it. I love the Edge's low-growling guitar! On the other hand, I agree that we should let new songs form their own identities. I find that people who pigeon-hole songs have a decent memory for U2 songs but a shallow appreciation of U2 as musicians and lyricists.
 
It's so hard to not compare bc there is a history there and something in the past to base it against. If this were Boy, we'd have no problem, but we have a lot of background and I know U2 say they are breaking new ground/this is a new direction, but they are what they are and some of what they've done naturally moves with them and even subconsciously comes out. Either way, to me ONE is ONE, and MOS is MOS so I hold each on there own merit, I might like them just as much as the other, but I'm not going to say MOS is the new ONE for godsakes, it's great, but it would take years and years for it to be on the same mantle!!!!
 
I agree with the OP 150%.

I have a friend who's a fellow superfan, and I once asked her if she ever posted on any message boards (without mentioning Interference, but I was curious if she was a member). She said she did for a while, but the sheer obsessive and strange nature of U2 fans turned her off, and so she stopped visiting those websites.

I have to say that I agree with her, which is why I rarely venture into this part of Interference. It's just maddening (and quite scary) sometimes.
 
I agree with the OP 150%.

I have a friend who's a fellow superfan, and I once asked her if she ever posted on any message boards (without mentioning Interference, but I was curious if she was a member). She said she did for a while, but the sheer obsessive and strange nature of U2 fans turned her off, and so she stopped visiting those websites.

I have to say that I agree with her, which is why I rarely venture into this part of Interference. It's just maddening (and quite scary) sometimes.

My wife says I need to be arrested for the latest illegal drug: BLUE CRACK! :applaud:

I think we're all hopped up right now anyway bc it's new album time, I had a bit of a lull in super craziness on INTERFERENCE from 2007-08, but this year so far has been loco and will only get worse once the tour starts and especially bc it's not football season now!
 
I think both "sides" are scary...

Those that claim everything the band does is better than anything since sliced bread, and those that will bash anything they can that doesn't fit into the time period when U2 was cool to them...
 
One1932, AMEN!!

Being a dedicated and loyal fan since 1985, my biggest pet peeve is when some of my fellow fans have no concept of reality. They expect U2 to make, in the year 2009 and with men pushing 50, music of 1983, 1987, and 1991. If some whiney closed-minded person wants another War, Joshua Tree, and/or Achtung Baby, then that person should actually go listen to those respective albums for the umpteenth time and leave those of us, who appreciate artistic growth and who don't want music to be stagnant, alone to revel in the beautiful monster that is 'No Line On the Horizon.' I like to ask the nostalgia nazis-how long must YOU sing this song?! Yes, pun intended.
 
Another fan here. Well put. There is a point were fandom devours the object of its obsession. That point is often surpassed here. Kudos for hitting the nail on the head.

I think both "sides" are scary...

Those that claim everything the band does is better than anything since sliced bread, and those that will bash anything they can that doesn't fit into the time period when U2 was cool to them...

Never in my entire history of being here, have I ever seen a thread that everyone agreed on everything of specific topic.
It ain't gonna happen and people who come in and post with the conviction that what they have to say about U2 is "all that" may as well spend their time somewhere else. :wink:
 
I think your post is the new post I made in 2006... just kidding.

100% agree. But of course it all makes sense. If you care enough to come and play here -- your obsession because your enemy. Is that a u2 line? It sounds like it...
 
Superfandomness is what makes this forum so much fun (and a bit maddening).

My favorite threads being the ones about U2's greediness in NOT letting the album leak...as if the fans are ENTITLED to a leak...:doh:

I have to :rolleyes: at the sheer :crazy:ness of those threads...

But I'm with the original intent of this thread...let the album be...it's not HDTAAB it's not Achtung Baby or Rattle and Hum...it's "No Line On The Horizon"...and it's a NEW album with new songs...songs that might invoke memories of other songs, but new songs nonetheless...let's let it COME OUT first and then start trying to figure out what it really is...:yes:
 
i agree with the op. my problem (maybe not a problem- who knows) is that i pretty much like everything the band does. their phases, and changes have always seemed to coincide with my taste. i have never wanted another bad, or wowoy. i have always been very happy with the changes they have made (or have not made). instead of another wowoy, i got all i want is you & gone & dirty day & kite & one step closer (yes its in my top 15 u2 songs) & now breathe and loead of other wonderful songs.

maybe i am becoming easier to please as i get older. maybe i have liked u2 for so long now, that i just accept too easily whatever they do ( i don't think so, i just think its all really good). with the exception of a few songs here, and there i like them all. i don't really care that interference likes to bash bomb and compare albums- because i like all of them. i am not looking for anything to be the next whatever. i am just looking for whatever they do next.
 
the only band you can compare their new album as being the same as albums from yesteryear is AC/DC cuz they all sound the same :ohmy:
 
I think it's only natural for people to want to compare new songs with the old songs. But I think with time people will begin to appreciate these songs as songs that can stand on their own and don't have to be compared to past greatness.

I'm sure years from now people will be looking at a new song as the new Moment of Surrender and such.
 
I have a friend who heard the new album before me, so he called me and left me a voicemail "describing" each song.

NLOTH is very Achtung Baby

Magnificent is more an Unforgettable Fire sound

Moment of Surrender sounds like ....... um.....er.... POP?

Unknown Caller sounds like something off Pop

Crazy Tonight sounds like something off ATYCLB

Boots sounds like Achtung Baby

Stand Up Comedy sounds like Achtung Baby

Fez-Being Born sounds like Passengers

White as snow .... sounds like.... Million Dollar Hotel soundtrack

Breathe sounds like October

Cedars of Lebanon sounds like .....

He can't just let them be their own... he's so obsessed with the past that he can't embrace the future. Not just with U2, not just with music, with everything in his life.
 
I totaly agree with the OP. I am a BIG superfan but in the past two album (i love them very much) my probalem was I was trying to look at the songs and trying to find something in them that was in their past albums. IE; COBLE the new streets etc. When you do that as I found out, you are going too set up yourself for a letdown, not because the new songs are bad (which they are not) but because you expect them to be something that they aren't and thus you will get let down when it doesn't meet your expectations. I am very happy with this new album in that the songs are different and for the first time since pop i am NOT comparing them tto any song from their back catalog although initially I compared boots to sounds of the fly but now I look at boots as its own song, different from other songs they've done.
 
The OP is 100% correct. Another similiar pet peeve is when people bitch about Edge sounding too much like Edge or Bono doing his same tricks. Correct me if I am wrong but I thought the majority of us became fans because of the uniqueness of the Edge and the other band members. To expect these guys to stray too far from what they are good at is stupid and quite honestly is not something I would be interested in because they wouldn't sound like the band I love.

Every band has their own distinct sounds that makes them recognizable. Without them they would not be distinct.
 
The OP is 100% correct. Another similiar pet peeve is when people bitch about Edge sounding too much like Edge or Bono doing his same tricks. Correct me if I am wrong but I thought the majority of us became fans because of the uniqueness of the Edge and the other band members. To expect these guys to stray too far from what they are good at is stupid and quite honestly is not something I would be interested in because they wouldn't sound like the band I love.

Every band has their own distinct sounds that makes them recognizable. Without them they would not be distinct.[/QUOTE]

Very true.
 
So if we take COBL as "the new Streets" does that mean in 10 years time something else will be "the new COBL" or will it be "the new new Streets"?

I don;t really like to compare new to old, just judge the new on it's own merits. The older songs have been with us so long that we know they have stood the test of time and still sound fantastic. Let the new album breathe without being saddled with the weight of comparisons to the old ones.
 
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