AtomicBono
ONE love, blood, life
thrillme said:*Wonders if Bono was referencing Interference*
He said check the internet, U2 fan sites, "they're brutal."
However that's just one fans' opinion. To say U2 is nauseatingly commercial, maybe to that fan they are.
In my opinion, I think U2 has never been truly commercial, large following, yes, but a commercial band would not put a song like "Grace" on an album. Their catalog of songs is not like most rock bands, they defy what it is to be a rock band, certainly for their longevity.
"Yahweh" is the last song on Atomic Bomb. What other rock band, hip hop act, pop star, would do that? Certainly not if their reason was to increase sales.
All that you can't leave behind, is ATYCLB among most of us.
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb is HTDAAB among many of us.
That's not very commercial. You want quick, to the point titles, nothing that makes you think.
I draw the line at HTDAAB, I abbreviate it to "Atomic Bomb."
Granted, maybe for U2, the songs might seem easy to digest, but ask the non-U2 fans what they think of Atomic Bomb, or "All that", do they like it, or is it too unusual to what most of what is popular in music right now.
U2 fans are biased, most know their back catalog, and maybe they're not up to past standards, whatever that is to each fan, but among what is going on in music, they're not making easy listening.
I listen to the radio at work, especially to a station that plays a lot of adult contemporary, whatever you call Kelly Clarkson, Green Day, some of U2's 80's contemporaries, like Duran Duran, newer acts like John Mayer, somewhat varied, and U2.
"Sometimes you can't make it on your own", feels really out of place when it comes on. "When I look at the World", sounds out of place right now.
U2 compose what they want, how they want, and when they want, just as they always have.
If Bono wants to really be commercial, really push albums, increase sales, he should probably stop singing about God in his lyrics. When U2 do an album with none of that, nor nothing political, then it's safe and commercial, cos there's nothing really unsafe about writing love songs. A department which U2 really lacks in, but that's fine.
You sing about how lame, stupid Bush is, okay, that's daring to maybe conservative republicans, but it's not exactly going against the grain is it?
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Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to listen to top 40 radio for a 3 hours, then play All that and Atomic Bomb. Then report back and tell me how safe and trendy those albums are alright. How commercial they are.
You must not listen to any other U2 albums, just top 40 radio for 3 hours, if a U2 song comes on, turn down the volume.
That is quite a brilliant post.
I do think U2 is trying to appeal to the mainstream now more than ever before, especially with songs like Vertigo clearly aimed at all the "punk kids"... but it's true that if you compare most of U2's stuff on their last two albums to what's on the radio now you'll find a huge difference, even with the singles. All Because of You, for example... very typical rock song, nothing too exceptional there, yet can you name five songs on the radio now that sound a lot like it? Hell, can you even name one? How about City of Blinding Lights? I can name one song that sounds like it - Speed of Sound by Coldplay. Gee, where ever did Chris Martin get the idea for that one - couldn't have been U2, could it?
The only things that sound similiar at all to U2 on the radio are the bands obviously influenced by U2 in the first place.
I do disagree with your statement that U2 really lacks in the department of writing love songs. Some of their greatest songs have to do with relationships, even if they're not gooey "oo I love you" songs - One, With or Without You, Ultraviolet, All I Want is You, ect.
* (does seem to bring the more "rock" side out of U2)
