Michael Griffiths
Rock n' Roll Doggie
I am new to this forum (sort of....well, new again), and I've noticed many people agonizing over the fact that U2 just aren't the same band they were, say, 15 years ago. Some people seem quite depressed over recent output, style, Bono's hair, Bono's weight, U2's recording loacations, U2's principles of late, even how much time they spend in the South of France, and the fact they record there....and the list goes on. I've come up with a solution that some of you may like, or some of you may toss in the garbage.... but it's what I've been doing with U2 lately, and it seems to work quite well:
Fall in love with a different band.
Not a band NOT known as U2. But a different U2. Read this again. Let it sink in, cause its meaning may not be as obvious as you think. U2 are not the same band as they were when they released Achtung Baby, or even The Joshua Tree...or even Passengers. The trick is to like this U2 as a seperate band, as though they are not the same band at all as the one we knew 10 or 15 or 20 or 25 years ago. Because they really aren't. The minute we blanket them with the paradigm mapped out from their previous work, we put them under a set of false expectations, as this is a band that is never the same. We need to love this era of U2 as though we are interested in a band we just heard for the first time a couple years ago.
For example, my favourite U2 existed between 1984 and 1991. I realize that we will never see that band again. Another band I really am beginning to love is the U2 of 2000 to present. It's a band that provides mellow, uplifting guitar soul, in the way mid to latter day Beatles did. I am eager to see what this U2 does next....and what U2 they become a few years from now. It makes it a pretty interesting ride.
The cool part is, they are a "new" band with a stunning back catalogue, and memories of other incarnations of this band. We should all be so lucky to have this kind of new favourite band!
Anyway, hope that helps....and if not, sorry to have wasted your time.
Fall in love with a different band.
Not a band NOT known as U2. But a different U2. Read this again. Let it sink in, cause its meaning may not be as obvious as you think. U2 are not the same band as they were when they released Achtung Baby, or even The Joshua Tree...or even Passengers. The trick is to like this U2 as a seperate band, as though they are not the same band at all as the one we knew 10 or 15 or 20 or 25 years ago. Because they really aren't. The minute we blanket them with the paradigm mapped out from their previous work, we put them under a set of false expectations, as this is a band that is never the same. We need to love this era of U2 as though we are interested in a band we just heard for the first time a couple years ago.
For example, my favourite U2 existed between 1984 and 1991. I realize that we will never see that band again. Another band I really am beginning to love is the U2 of 2000 to present. It's a band that provides mellow, uplifting guitar soul, in the way mid to latter day Beatles did. I am eager to see what this U2 does next....and what U2 they become a few years from now. It makes it a pretty interesting ride.
The cool part is, they are a "new" band with a stunning back catalogue, and memories of other incarnations of this band. We should all be so lucky to have this kind of new favourite band!
Anyway, hope that helps....and if not, sorry to have wasted your time.