00Kevin said:
I agree, the beatles were great until the very end.(keep in mind abbey road was recorded after let it be)
namkcuR said:Burning out doesn't neccessarily mean ending your career abruptly just because a record didn't sell well. If you end your career at the top of your game, as I believe the Beatles did with Abbey Road, I think that too can be viewed as burning out. It's certainly not fading away.
does that not go to the same people who dont like the album, but come into appretiation threads to express the same opinions on why they dont like it etc? is that ok then?The OOTS said:
I agree. If you happen to love HTDAAB, go post in the many 'HTDAAB appreciation threads' and contribute there.. Don't go into a thread and belittle the poster with insensitive remarks. Everyone is entitled to their say. If you have a contrary opinion, state why...rather than contribute things like 'I am glad you are telling me what to like' or millions like HTDAAB so you are wrong in your post.'
Some people like the post-2000 U2, some don't as much. Jeez. We are all fans or we wouldn't be wasting time on these boards.
KUEFC09U2 said:does that not go to the same people who dont like the album, but come into appretiation threads to express the same opinions on why they dont like it etc? is that ok then?
thank you at least we got the cleared up, but that does happen quite alotnamkcuR said:
No that's not ok. I got quite upset at a user who I will not name now, for that very reason. And it's no one who has posted in this thread. That's all I'll say about that.
namkcuR said:Burning out doesn't neccessarily mean ending your career abruptly just because a record didn't sell well. If you end your career at the top of your game, as I believe the Beatles did with Abbey Road, I think that too can be viewed as burning out. It's certainly not fading away.
angelordevil said:
The only predictable thing here is this thread...not the band. I truly believe anyone with a problem with the current U2 is stuck in a moment they can't get out of. Love and Peace...Vertigo, Crumbs, OTS...some of the best stuff U2 has done. And, if you want to make a blanket statement, and suggest they're becoming less experimental, how about the stuff that came on the heels of HTDAAB, songs like Mercy and Electrical Storm? Not exactly stuffy clunkers
please put some clean underwear on and be prepared to be flamedangelordevil said:
The only predictable thing here is this thread...not the band. I truly believe anyone with a problem with the current U2 is stuck in a moment they can't get out of. Love and Peace...Vertigo, Crumbs, OTS...some of the best stuff U2 has done. And, if you want to make a blanket statement, and suggest they're becoming less experimental, how about the stuff that came on the heels of HTDAAB, songs like Mercy and Electrical Storm? Not exactly stuffy clunkers
angelordevil said:
I truly believe anyone with a problem with the current U2 is stuck in a moment they can't get out of.
StlElevation said:so because the music doesn't "challenge" you?
whats music supposed to challenge you to? a race? a duel?
i challenge pop to... yeah...
okay.
like everybodys already said, same shit, different decade.
this is not 1990 anymore. this is 2000. U2 have moved on from their 90's, just like in the 90's they departed from the 80's. Maybe they'll depart from their early 00's, maybe they won't. whatever it is, im sure it'll be good.
namkcuR said:
It's supposed to challenge me to enjoy it, appreciate it. It's supposed to say
'Hey, you wanna love me and appreciate me? Get your headphones out. Listen to me over and over again, enjoying be a bit more every time until eventually BAM it hits you just can't get enough of all the intricacies within me. Take the time and put in the effort it will take to appreciate me, because I will be worth it in the end, because wants the BAM happens, it'll never go away. I will never get old on you. I will always sound fresh, because I'm not just a nice hook and chorus 30 seconds in. All you have to do is explore me and give me your time and effort, because I can't be appreciated the first time just by being played in the car on the way to work or at a party while you're schmoozing. C'mon. I dare you.'
That's what I mean by challenge.
namkcuR said:
BTW, I don't think I used the word 'experiment' or any form of it anywhere in my original post
KUEFC09U2 said:please put some clean underwear on and be prepared to be flamed
shaun vox said:Achtung Baby WAS THE LAST GREAT u2 album!!
zooropa was great and so was pop!!
atyclb + htdaab =adult contemporary! these are not good albums they only have some decent songs most of them are just fillers !!
now who wants to listen to my cover of LEMON
shaun vox said:Achtung Baby WAS THE LAST GREAT u2 album!!
zooropa was great and so was pop!!
atyclb + htdaab =adult contemporary! these are not good albums they only have some decent songs most of them are just fillers !!
now who wants to listen to my cover of LEMON
shaun vox said:Achtung Baby WAS THE LAST GREAT u2 album!!
zooropa was great and so was pop!!
KUEFC09U2 said:does that not go to the same people who dont like the album, but come into appretiation threads to express the same opinions on why they dont like it etc? is that ok then?
starvinmarvin said:To namkcuR
Thank you for writing your letter. I'm well acquainted with your views from my frequent visits to the Interference forum. We've had some heated debates, but I appreciate that you feel so passionate about our music.
I agree with you that U2 is currently in a fork in the road in our career. But this hasn't been the first time that we've been there. We were there in 1978 when we decided we weren't really a punk band, moved into new wave territory. We were there when we felt our "earnest hard rock" sound in the early 80's was getting stale, and decided to go "atmospheric" with Lanois and Eno on UF. We were there when Rattle and Hum bombed at the box office, and when critics and fans alike grew tired of our American roots rock incarnation. We were there with in the late 90's when our fans made it clear to us that we had gone too far with electronica and experimentation with Pop. It was at that point that we decided to abandon the overblown theatrics and hookless dance elements and just write some great songs again. However, the time has come to change again. Even Larry is getting restless, which is always a good sign. We are moving forward, and we hope you will join us when the next record comes out.
As for the Propaganda quote, I still stand by it. The past two albums are not in any way a sell out. It is work that we wanted to do. We'd never tried writing an album full of great, 4 minute pop songs before. It was a challenge for us, and we really worked hard at it. You have to understand that writing a good pop song is not an easy task. Simplicity can be more difficult than it looks. You have to remember that we had been off on a tangent for the past decade, so it was very hard to simplify things again. We feared we had lost that ability. We had gotten too arty for our own good. We had lost sight of our roots, but we found them again on Beautiful Day, and by the time we finished Bomb we had gone full circle again. When I said that Bomb feels like our first record, that's not bullshit. It really felt that way. If you've seen any of the Vertigo shows, you'll probably sense that we truly believe it.
You stated in your letter that if the work we did on Bomb or ATYCLB is the work we want to do than I should stop reading. But I didn't….I want a chance to explain….
I'm glad you think we haven't sold out. We will do everything in our power to prevent this from ever happening. Yes, we have made some radio friendly singles on the last two albums. We actually tried on Pop, but it didn't work for whatever reason. Time constraints, probably. You see, we've always been a radio friendly band. We love to get our music out there, to as many people as possible. Radio is one way to do that. As far back as I Will Follow, we've tried to write good, hooky songs that we know stand a good chance of getting airplay. Even Zooropa had Stay, which didn't really fit into the theme of the album, but we knew we needed that one great pop song to sell the record. You seem to have become a fan during Pop, which is a bit of an anomaly in our career. I fear that your first impression of the band was of a phase when we had almost lost the plot. Parts were great, other parts were not so good, but overall it didn't feel quite right. If you want us to make another Pop, I'm afraid you may be disappointed.
I also don't agree that we have lost our uniqueness. Name any other band that we sound like today. Coldplay doesn't count - they're copying us. We are still true to ourselves and our fans, and we haven't tried to be anyone other than ourselves over the past 5 years. I'm also sorry that you don't think our music is "challenging" anymore. Even if it were true, it misses the point. Music is not only about being challenging - it is not solely an intellectual exercise. It is also about emotion, and I believe our last two records have more emotion than most of our other albums. It's our own version of soul music.
In summary, we will soon change again. We may fall flat on our faces, and we probably will once again. We want to blow minds, and we will try.
Cheers,
Bono
P.S. I'm not sure what beanies and glasses have to do with materialism though.
starvinmarvin said:To namkcuR
Thank you for writing your letter. I'm well acquainted with your views from my frequent visits to the Interference forum. We've had some heated debates, but I appreciate that you feel so passionate about our music.
I agree with you that U2 is currently in a fork in the road in our career. But this hasn't been the first time that we've been there. We were there in 1978 when we decided we weren't really a punk band, moved into new wave territory. We were there when we felt our "earnest hard rock" sound in the early 80's was getting stale, and decided to go "atmospheric" with Lanois and Eno on UF. We were there when Rattle and Hum bombed at the box office, and when critics and fans alike grew tired of our American roots rock incarnation. We were there with in the late 90's when our fans made it clear to us that we had gone too far with electronica and experimentation with Pop. It was at that point that we decided to abandon the overblown theatrics and hookless dance elements and just write some great songs again. However, the time has come to change again. Even Larry is getting restless, which is always a good sign. We are moving forward, and we hope you will join us when the next record comes out.
As for the Propaganda quote, I still stand by it. The past two albums are not in any way a sell out. It is work that we wanted to do. We'd never tried writing an album full of great, 4 minute pop songs before. It was a challenge for us, and we really worked hard at it. You have to understand that writing a good pop song is not an easy task. Simplicity can be more difficult than it looks. You have to remember that we had been off on a tangent for the past decade, so it was very hard to simplify things again. We feared we had lost that ability. We had gotten too arty for our own good. We had lost sight of our roots, but we found them again on Beautiful Day, and by the time we finished Bomb we had gone full circle again. When I said that Bomb feels like our first record, that's not bullshit. It really felt that way. If you've seen any of the Vertigo shows, you'll probably sense that we truly believe it.
You stated in your letter that if the work we did on Bomb or ATYCLB is the work we want to do than I should stop reading. But I didn't….I want a chance to explain….
I'm glad you think we haven't sold out. We will do everything in our power to prevent this from ever happening. Yes, we have made some radio friendly singles on the last two albums. We actually tried on Pop, but it didn't work for whatever reason. Time constraints, probably. You see, we've always been a radio friendly band. We love to get our music out there, to as many people as possible. Radio is one way to do that. As far back as I Will Follow, we've tried to write good, hooky songs that we know stand a good chance of getting airplay. Even Zooropa had Stay, which didn't really fit into the theme of the album, but we knew we needed that one great pop song to sell the record. You seem to have become a fan during Pop, which is a bit of an anomaly in our career. I fear that your first impression of the band was of a phase when we had almost lost the plot. Parts were great, other parts were not so good, but overall it didn't feel quite right. If you want us to make another Pop, I'm afraid you may be disappointed.
I also don't agree that we have lost our uniqueness. Name any other band that we sound like today. Coldplay doesn't count - they're copying us. We are still true to ourselves and our fans, and we haven't tried to be anyone other than ourselves over the past 5 years. I'm also sorry that you don't think our music is "challenging" anymore. Even if it were true, it misses the point. Music is not only about being challenging - it is not solely an intellectual exercise. It is also about emotion, and I believe our last two records have more emotion than most of our other albums. It's our own version of soul music.
In summary, we will soon change again. We may fall flat on our faces, and we probably will once again. We want to blow minds, and we will try.
Cheers,
Bono
P.S. I'm not sure what beanies and glasses have to do with materialism though.
namkcuR said:
Like you're really Bono.
But I'll address you arguement anyway. The difference is that after War, they tried something they hadn't done before. After R&H, something they hadn't tried before. After Pop...ATYCLB and especially HTDAAB don't sound 'new' to me in the way the other records did. They ARE good records. But they don't have the challenge or the freshness in them for me.
I'm not much amused as this mock response letter, though.
Don't get me wrong, I appreciate your input, but I wish you wouldn't have put it in the form of that mock letter.
starvinmarvin said:To namkcuR
Thank you for writing your letter. I'm well acquainted with your views from my frequent visits to the Interference forum. We've had some heated debates, but I appreciate that you feel so passionate about our music.....