The Scientist
The Fly
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2003
- Messages
- 211
Achtung Baby has been referred to as their "rock meets electronic album" (and continued with Zooropa and Pop) but really it includes a lot more influence then just that. There's also the shoegaze influence of bands like MBV (Loveless) with the massive guitar pedal production effects that further thickened the sound and was an influence to their sound.
Clearly many albums also reflected U2's approach. There's Depeche Mode's Songs of Faith & Devotion that had the band use a lot of the same album production team and also included darker sound, guitar meets electronic sounds, and a dramatic image change as well. If electronic and rock met in the middle, DM met U2 coming from the other side (purely electronic) at the same destination. Clearly Alan Moulder and Flood own some of credit for this approach.
Then there's bands like Garbage that did the same thing (with Curve as influence before them doing a similar approach). Radiohead following their path with OKC but going more towards an IDM sound with Kid A. And of course Primal Scream that truly did a great similar job of combining both and even using Kevin Shields (from MBV in the studio). Even Smashing Pumpkins who adored MBV's Loveless and basically "remade" it with Siamese Dream eventually added electronics to the mix several albums after (like w/Adore). Spiritualized may also be a good example that took a similar approach in the late 90's as well. Hell even NIN with Flood's help reached a bigger audience and sound than traditional Industrial Rock had ever reached.
In the 00's Bands like Muse, Coldplay, Keane, Bloc Party, The Killers, and Snow Patrol, and Stereophonics may have added electronics to their own alternative rock to amplify their sound on follow-up albums but they rarely thickened up the songs in quite the same way. Certainly these bands were seeing u2's 90's era as a source of inspiration (Coldplay constantly name checking U2 during X+Y) and these bands were clearly going in that direction (with mixed results). And why not... clearly U2 was one of the few remaining examples of a band that was taking a mainstream alternative rock (and with thick electronic sounds) in an indie rock world.
So is this U2's 90's period net affect (i think yes but hey its just a theory) and did I miss out on any great examples to this?
Thoughts............
Clearly many albums also reflected U2's approach. There's Depeche Mode's Songs of Faith & Devotion that had the band use a lot of the same album production team and also included darker sound, guitar meets electronic sounds, and a dramatic image change as well. If electronic and rock met in the middle, DM met U2 coming from the other side (purely electronic) at the same destination. Clearly Alan Moulder and Flood own some of credit for this approach.
Then there's bands like Garbage that did the same thing (with Curve as influence before them doing a similar approach). Radiohead following their path with OKC but going more towards an IDM sound with Kid A. And of course Primal Scream that truly did a great similar job of combining both and even using Kevin Shields (from MBV in the studio). Even Smashing Pumpkins who adored MBV's Loveless and basically "remade" it with Siamese Dream eventually added electronics to the mix several albums after (like w/Adore). Spiritualized may also be a good example that took a similar approach in the late 90's as well. Hell even NIN with Flood's help reached a bigger audience and sound than traditional Industrial Rock had ever reached.
In the 00's Bands like Muse, Coldplay, Keane, Bloc Party, The Killers, and Snow Patrol, and Stereophonics may have added electronics to their own alternative rock to amplify their sound on follow-up albums but they rarely thickened up the songs in quite the same way. Certainly these bands were seeing u2's 90's era as a source of inspiration (Coldplay constantly name checking U2 during X+Y) and these bands were clearly going in that direction (with mixed results). And why not... clearly U2 was one of the few remaining examples of a band that was taking a mainstream alternative rock (and with thick electronic sounds) in an indie rock world.
So is this U2's 90's period net affect (i think yes but hey its just a theory) and did I miss out on any great examples to this?
Thoughts............