I'm not sure who makes these decisions and what they are thinking - but I'm guessing the band would have a strong say. If you take the position that the purpose of a lead single is to create some excitement in the marketplace, attract new fans, satisfy existing fans and drive sales of a new CD release - then I have to really question what the band is thinking with their choices over the past number of years. Beautiful Day being the exception. But when you go back as far The Fly on AB, Numb on Zooropa, Discotheque on Pop and now Boots on NLOTH - these were not ideal choices for lead singles and did hurt CD sales considerably. Zooropa,Pop and NLOTH would have faired much better commercially had they picked better lead singles. AB succeeded despite of the The Fly. But even the band admitted when The Fly wasn't on the Best of '90's CD- that it hadn't stood the test of time all that well.
I know the band still feel it is important to be commercially successful - otherwise they wouldn't be doing the type of media blitzes that accompany each release. I had thought the band figured this out with BD and Vertigo as the lead singles on ATYCLB and HTDAAB. So it baffles me when they pick something like Boots to lead off NLOTH. It was a buzz killer. Could you imagine the hype had Magnificent been the lead single? It would have been unreal. The CD would still be at the top of the charts. Boots isn't even representive of the album. It kind of stands alone. Same with Discotheque and Numb. Instead Magnificent gets released later and the buzz is gone.
U2 are in uncharted waters. No other band has been around 30 plus years, still making great, relevant music; attracting new, younger fans; keeping older fans happy; playing sold-out tours with a set-list that comprises 30-40% of songs from their last couple of releases (remarkable really) and the fans actually wanting to hear the new stuff live!
I just hope when it's time for the lead single on SOA early next year - they think about that instead of 'Hey- let's put something out that'll really mess people up, schock them - especially our critics ... '
MJ
I know the band still feel it is important to be commercially successful - otherwise they wouldn't be doing the type of media blitzes that accompany each release. I had thought the band figured this out with BD and Vertigo as the lead singles on ATYCLB and HTDAAB. So it baffles me when they pick something like Boots to lead off NLOTH. It was a buzz killer. Could you imagine the hype had Magnificent been the lead single? It would have been unreal. The CD would still be at the top of the charts. Boots isn't even representive of the album. It kind of stands alone. Same with Discotheque and Numb. Instead Magnificent gets released later and the buzz is gone.
U2 are in uncharted waters. No other band has been around 30 plus years, still making great, relevant music; attracting new, younger fans; keeping older fans happy; playing sold-out tours with a set-list that comprises 30-40% of songs from their last couple of releases (remarkable really) and the fans actually wanting to hear the new stuff live!
I just hope when it's time for the lead single on SOA early next year - they think about that instead of 'Hey- let's put something out that'll really mess people up, schock them - especially our critics ... '
MJ