Is there any band more manipulated by their perception of public opinion than U2? They collectively need to see a shrink and get some balls. They're alternately arrogant and infuriatingly insecure.
This sums things up perfectly.
Seeing the link of the Pop Hong Kong mixes, and hearing the space they were in at that time, really just kills me. I think they were in a great spot there with confidence and experimentation mixing well together.
I think at times they forget that while they are considered a great band, that they still have a
very large group of fairweather followers.
When that group gets annoyed by something they do and drop off, the band seems to freak out.
Then we get ho-hum album like ATYCLB, the fairweathers come back and they take that as being direction they need to go...
That was the one thing that made them stand apart during their first 17-18 years as a band. Nothing was like Boy at that time, War was at odds with everything in 1984, as was JT. Completely in a different world than what was on the radio in the late 80's.
They explored their own passions with R&H. And then when that was critically panned, they didn't scurry back into a hole and record another War or JT, they busted out AB!! And it worked! And while grunge and Boy Bands ruled the scene - Mysterious Ways and One were all over the radio, defying the odds.
And then they said, we're gonna take it step further with Zooropa. The band that had Desire playing non-stop on MTV in 1988, now had Lemon and Numb being played on MTV. You couldn't even imagine those songs being from the same band. But they had the balls, and it worked.
Then when they had snags and some misteps with Pop's release and timing, and first single/video choice, and tour prep, TV special flop, etc... It seems like that was one of the first times that they let it get to them, and it's never been the same since.
I still love what they do, love their shows, love SOI, etc... But they never recovered from that and have allowed themselves to remain stuck in the "please the masses" mindset.