Recent content by Weatherman

This new band The 1975 (who are terrific) are about 30 yrs old and they play to exactly this mentality. As a band, they're impossible to pin down. Every song sounds different from the one before it. Their singer Matty says that their goal is to sound like a playlist of multiple artists.

Okay, that made me literally laugh out loud.

Sometimes their commercial instincts are too strong. They should really throw a curveball (a la Zooropa) with an unexpected 8 or 10 song EP touching on a radically different tone and soundscape. That was The Unforgettable Fire, which led to amazing things after. I don't know why they always...

I still harbor dreams of an Adam-centric, extremely rhythmic U2 album. Looking back, some of my favorite songs of theirs are owing to the bass parts -- Moment of Surrender, Bullet the Blue Sky (brilliant meshing with Larry), New Year's Day, Mysterious Ways, Blackout. Adam was pretty prominent...

Exactly. Coldplay also dove into world music for their last release. These older bands have to reinvent themselves every once in a while. Now, if we can just keep Bono away from writing lyrics about himself... I'm a longtime fan and even I'M sick of hearing about Dublin in the 70s.

Something inside me dies whenever an established group says Oh we just want to get back to basics, four guys in a room, crank out some good old rock. Sorry, but that's been done. Over and over and over. By hundreds of lesser groups than U2. If they can bring some new ideas to the table, then...

U2 has made a ton of three chord songs. Just get the changes down and you're good to go. As noted, Running to Stand Still is super easy. Desire is D, A, E. That's it. Kite is E, A, B, mostly all barre chords. All I Want Is You is D, A, Fm. Advanced: A couple years ago I did an arrangement...

Haha. It was easy to see that Larry was going to be a cranky old man. I mean, he was a cranky YOUNG man. I can't imagine working with someone like him for forty years. I'm a Bono-style "idea" guy and Larry seems to only know the word NO. It would drive me nuts.

I'm more pessimistic. Groups that stay together this long get less prolific in the studio, not more, as they grow older. The Stones have put out, what, 4 albums in the last 30 years? This year will be a scratch because of the virus, the riots, and the presidential election. U2 is affected by...

Not really. But that got your attention, didn't it? lol I'm new here, but I've been a fan for 30 years. Seen the lads 11 times during that time. Best tour was obviously Zoo TV -- I wore out that merch t-shirt wearing it for the next two years. Close second place was the Elevation tour -- it...

All of this. Absolutely. They've become excellent nearly-elderly musical craftsmen. I wish they would stop talking about recapture the crazy punk energy of a teenage band. Leave that to actual teenagers.

They've got another great one in them The last couple albums showed it. You can quibble about producers, false starts, etc -- but no other band with 40 yrs on the odometer is making such strong original relevant music. What would I like to see? Something experimental. The future hymns that...