Bono’s young voice vs. older voice

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Peterrrrr said:
I didnt wrote anything about that it was a high note, I wrote that I like that sound he get. I think Bonos voice today is much more personal, it has a much more unique sound. And I like the sound he get when he sings something with an "eeee" in it.
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Kinda like the get awaaayyyyy in NLOTH.


People, if you think his voice is as good or better than it was in the late 80s early 90s youre smoking crack.
 
Really though, it doesn't even matter any more. He can't use time travel to bring his old voice up to 2010. The whole campaign of trying to convince people that he can sing is kindof like preaching to the choir - we're all still going to shows and downloading bootlegs and watching DVDs and it's not like anyone needs to be convinced that he still puts on a hell of a show.

What really does matter is if he attempts the song, imo. The muttering or speaking through - or even skipping completely - verses kinda bugs me sometimes. Otherwise, I'm definitely not complaining about his performance in terms of when he's actually trying to sing.
 
gvox said:
Really though, it doesn't even matter any more. He can't use time travel to bring his old voice up to 2010. The whole campaign of trying to convince people that he can sing is kindof like preaching to the choir - we're all still going to shows and downloading bootlegs and watching DVDs and it's not like anyone needs to be convinced that he still puts on a hell of a show.

What really does matter is if he attempts the song, imo. The muttering or speaking through - or even skipping completely - verses kinda bugs me sometimes. Otherwise, I'm definitely not complaining about his performance in terms of when he's actually trying to sing.
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You do realize though that many people prefer his voice today than his voice of the 90's or 80's? It's subjective, and there's no way around that.

But I completely agree with you on that second part...On the 360 tour, I think he often strays too far from the original...and I often don't like how he changes the phrasing of songs either...though sometimes it works. :shrug:
 
Rob33 said:
....how you hear that "eee" sound as being thin is mind-boggling...I mean, I get what you're saying, but that's just not what a thin vocal is...
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Well, we're just going to have to agree to disagree then, because I can plainly hear that he sounds thin there, and don't quite understand how you could not consider that a thin sounding delivery. His throat is audibly constricted on "gain." :shrug:
 
Five seconds of this certain video has proved the reversal of the aging process, reversal of smkking damage, touring strain, general wear and tear, it's time travel baby!
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What you mentioned their about smoking damage, wear & tear and strain, I disagree with because when NLOTH came out there were many people who said that his rasp had gone. He doesn't even speak with it anymore.

Yes everyone's voices change with age but I am one fan who also much prefer he's voice now than the way it sounded in the 80's and 90's. It's always been distinctive but I found it darker whilst now it's more brighter. I'm scared of the dark!

Also as you get older, powerful voices loose their "brute". However, his voice is still just as powerful, but if he shouted like the way he did in the 80's, then he would end up with a sore throat.
 
I MUCH prefer bonos vocals from 1980 to about 1994. I listen to him now and he toils to put the same oomph into songs as he did previously. Take ISHFWILF, he used to belt that out, now he sings it like he cant be arsed, same with bad, SBS...so many songs of that vintage.
 
That's one of my favorite parts of the show!

I love a singalong with 70,000 of your closest friends. :heart: And we only sing one verse and one chorus.
 
aww boo.

dancer.gif
 
I'll just say that Bono's vocals always suit the style of the album. His vocals are always good (even in Miami!)

My personal fave Bono vocals are in NLOTH album, and One. His voice really stands out in those songs
 
U2387 said:
No one with Bono's touring schedule and time in the business has a less changed voice over time. Listen to some other artists.
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Are you going to tell me that 68 year old Paul McCartney's voice has changed more than Bono's? I want you to make that argument with a straight face (as you type :wink:) Or closer to 50, maybe Peter Gabriel or David Bowie or Springsteen or Sting? No, no, no.

Why? Because they aren't dynamic singers like Bono.
Bono's peer in this instance might be someone more like Joe Elliot.
His voice is completely wrecked. Jim Kerr, Geoff Tate, all of those throaty dynamic singers from Bono's generation have lost something. It's just not possible to expect anything different. This is why I used the term "delusion" because it's directly associated with fandom clouding objectivity.

You also are wrong when you go after Peterrr as a cherry picker. Its not like he is picking highlights that haven't been replicated throughout the time periods he picks them from. Bad consistently sounded good in 2006, NYD and IWF consistently sound very close to how they sounded in the 1980s. Pride is the closest to the studio version its ever been. And you are just kidding yourself if you can't see this or want to argue that its not really that much better/closer to the 80s versions than 2001 or 1997 or even 1992/3.
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It's the idea that he's picking in the first place. It's not only being selective to influence an argument. It's not only oblivious to a larger context. It's that it supposed to mean a 'certain something', when it doesn't.

It's not that he "cherry picks" XYZ and this is the problem...it's that he believes that XYZ is indicative of anything other than a single instance. Even if it's repeated. What we all have, as U2 fans is decades of documentation, both on 'record' and live and all the rest, where Bono's voice fluctuates. So can you capture the essence of something that is dynamic by taking snapshots?

It's like explaining a film with a handful of still frames from the movie.
You can capture something but you're being intellectually dishonest if you claim that it's indicative of the whole. It's like cutting and pasting all of Edge's solo's together and pretending he is a cock-rock guitar god. That's not his style, but you could make it appear to be his style. It's an understanding, a basic understanding that small samples such as this aren't indicative of what they are purported to represent.

But FTR, on a factual level, he doesn't have the same range as he used to.
Or if he does, he isn't demonstrating it. I've heard him hit notes in 1984 and a few years later that he has never replicated. Period. That's pretty fair and objective fact. I don't need any opinion to claim this. Find me the high note from Wire since then, or those low notes from Slug. I won't hold my breath.

It just baffles me that people think Peterr finds 5 seconds in a sea of mediocrity and jumps up and down like a giddy teenager at a Jonas Bros concert "Bono's voice is back." Give me a break. Listen to some bootlegs, its consistently there. People like Doctorwho who have actually been attending U2 concerts since the 1980s say Bono sounds the closest to how he sounded then now.
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I also know people who've been U2 fans since the 1980's who think Doctorwho and Peter are flat wrong. In fact, I am one myself.

So of course he's changed..... he is still the same singer.
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So he's changed...but he's also the same?
You see what I did there? I sucked the context from your statement.
How annoying is that?

I don't need anyone to handpick vocal highlights for me, I've absorbed it, I've experienced it. I can hear the whole all for myself.
In fact, I have heard most of the whole of Bono's vocal journey.
A lot of it while it happened. Are you going to ignore my personal testimony and continue to prop up DW and Peter? Of course. But that's cool. My opinion is no greater than theirs.

It's just an opinion but it's not just Bono's voice we're talking about here.
It's how people are choosing to argue about Bono's voice.
To me, I am more inclined to enter a discussion when I see an argument that can't even agree on what they are arguing/discussing.

FTR, I think Bono sounds as good now as he has in 15 years.
That is all. :wave:
 
Inner El Guapo said:
Are you going to tell me that 68 year old Paul McCartney's voice has changed more than Bono's? I want you to make that argument with a straight face (as you type :wink:) Or closer to 50, maybe Peter Gabriel or David Bowie or Springsteen or Sting? No, no, no.
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I saw 2 Paul McCartney shows, in 2009 at Fenway Park. He was awesome, like U2 and Bruce level awesome.

With a very straight face, his voice hasn't changed more than Bono's but it certainly hasn't changed less. He sounds, to my ears, pretty much the same with a few understandable differences due to time.

Springsteen the same as McCartney from what I've seen(5 shows since 2006).

Never seen Peter Gabriel or Bowie live, but I do know there has been a lot of discussion in many places about how Gabriel's voice has changed and is much grainier these days. Youtube videos, to the extent that they can, seem to bear this out.

Sting I am perplexed that you think he's changed so little. The Police Reunion Tour was like Sting's Elevation- many songs were played a step or 2 down and Sting often left out words and sang songs in an entirely different way. I witnessed 2 of those shows, and his voice was definitely adequate but he audibly struggled at many points during both nights. Toward the end of the tour, he sounded pretty worn down and raspy, much more so than Bono does on the end of the average tour.

And remember, I added the qualifier that we were looking at people who have toured as much as Bono has for as long as he has. Are you confident that anyone you mentioned except for Bruce meets these standards?

Why? Because they aren't dynamic singers like Bono.
Bono's peer in this instance might be someone more like Joe Elliot.
His voice is completely wrecked. Jim Kerr, Geoff Tate, all of those throaty dynamic singers from Bono's generation have lost something. It's just not possible to expect anything different. This is why I used the term "delusion" because it's directly associated with fandom clouding objectivity.
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So Bono is more in line with someone with a completely wrecked voice than he is with McCartney, Bruce, Sting, etc?

I think Bono is different. He does not sound as youthful as he did, and that is quite alright. Its expected. No one mentioned in this discussion sounds the same as they did in 1964 or 1978 or 1984 or 1987.

That does not equate to having lost something in terms of overall quality. Bono had lost something for sure between 1995 and 2002, but now, to my ears and the ears of many others, he has it all back along with some qualities that he just flat didn't have before. The power in his voice has returned, and a lot of the qualities that he had before are reappearing.

Overall, as a singer, Bono has not lost anything.

And this is not fandom clouding objectivity in the least bit. Some people have leveled that claim against me in this thread. Anyone familiar with my posting history knows I can be and have been plenty critical of U2 in the past.

It's the idea that he's picking in the first place. It's not only being selective to influence an argument. It's not only oblivious to a larger context. It's that it supposed to mean a 'certain something', when it doesn't.

It's not that he "cherry picks" XYZ and this is the problem...it's that he believes that XYZ is indicative of anything other than a single instance. Even if it's repeated. What we all have, as U2 fans is decades of documentation, both on 'record' and live and all the rest, where Bono's voice fluctuates. So can you capture the essence of something that is dynamic by taking snapshots?

It's like explaining a film with a handful of still frames from the movie.
You can capture something but you're being intellectually dishonest if you claim that it's indicative of the whole. It's like cutting and pasting all of Edge's solo's together and pretending he is a cock-rock guitar god. That's not his style, but you could make it appear to be his style. It's an understanding, a basic understanding that small samples such as this aren't indicative of what they are purported to represent.
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Sigh....

We've been over this many times before.

Its not intellectually dishonest- and the Edge cock rock analogy is nowhere even close to accurate. One is the style of instrument player, the other is the quality of the instrument. Are you trying to say that "Bono's style" is not to sing well, we can just put together a few occasions when he does and make it look like its his style?

Of course Bono's voice fluctuates, and of course we can't capture something dynamic, for the purposes of discussion on the whole package so to speak, through a still frame or video clip.


The whole is not what you claim it to be. That is the point.

No one is suggesting, Peterr himself included, that we just judge on video clips. They are used as examples of what Bono can do these days, many times directly contradicting what you and others claim.

The whole sound, throughout a given period of time, say, a show or a tour leg is what is important. And if you want to sit here with a straight face and say that that whole is somehow closer to "thin, aged, worn, lost something" than it is to powerful and dynamic, that is fine.

All I suggest is afterwards, you can catch up on listening to some shows from the 2005-present time period. No one who has been paying attention could make the kind of claims you make.

You still haven't had a response to me pointing out the fact that NYD, IWF, Pride and SBS are consistently sounding much closer to the original versions than they have since the 1980s.

The 2 performances of Bad in 2010 have been the same way.

The closest NYD and IWF performances to 2010 are 1983.

The closest Pride performances to 2010 are 1986.

The closest Bad performances to 2010 are also 1986. JT and LT have nothing on these versions of Bad in terms of Bono's voice.



But FTR, on a factual level, he doesn't have the same range as he used to.
Or if he does, he isn't demonstrating it. I've heard him hit notes in 1984 and a few years later that he has never replicated. Period. That's pretty fair and objective fact. I don't need any opinion to claim this. Find me the high note from Wire since then, or those low notes from Slug. I won't hold my breath.
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Find you a high or low note? Find you examples?

Isn't that against your rules?

Isn't that what Peterr constantly does and you cry foul and intellectually dishonest?

Doesn't this just shoot down your entire premise for discussion here?

Range is pretty similar overall I'd say.

The same, no way to say definitively without getting extremely technical and splitting every single hair 2 or 3 times..............

1984-1986 is a period that you have never gotten any argument from me or anyone else over.

I also know people who've been U2 fans since the 1980's who think Doctorwho and Peter are flat wrong. In fact, I am one myself.
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Ok. Their experience is no more valid than yours.

Its just that I find many, many more longtime fans who have paid attention to Bono's voice since the 80s to be closer to their view than yours. And my ears put me in their camp.

Thats all I can say:shrug:



So he's changed...but he's also the same?
You see what I did there? I sucked the context from your statement.
How annoying is that?
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This makes no sense.

Not sure what you are trying to get at......my overall point remains that Bono's voice, like anyone's, has changed with time. Its just that I can't see anyone with ears claiming that the change is as dramatic as you say it is.Or that this change is indicative of a thin voice that has suffered a great decline in quality.

I didn't remove context from any of your arguments to make a point.

I've kept my arguments pretty close to how Bono is singing these days on a consistent basis.

Hence the examples of songs posted, etc.

I don't need anyone to handpick vocal highlights for me, I've absorbed it, I've experienced it. I can hear the whole all for myself.
In fact, I have heard most of the whole of Bono's vocal journey.
A lot of it while it happened. Are you going to ignore my personal testimony and continue to prop up DW and Peter? Of course. But that's cool. My opinion is no greater than theirs.

It's just an opinion but it's not just Bono's voice we're talking about here.
It's how people are choosing to argue about Bono's voice.
To me, I am more inclined to enter a discussion when I see an argument that can't even agree on what they are arguing/discussing.
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I can ignore your personal testimony in place of my own. I've seen U2 live plenty of times, including during the times when Bono supposedly had a thin voice. Its far from that.

Its plain as day from listening to Pop and Elevation era shows that the singer from the 80s was fading away then but is pretty damn close to back now. Plenty of great sounding boots from JT and LT show that the trajectory of Bono's voice is not at all like you have experienced it.(those U2 start 5 star audios where you can clearly tell he is missing notes, struggling, sounding hoarse, etc).

I think we can agree on what we are discussing and how we are discussing it.

-Bono's voice, how it has changed over time, when it underwent significant changes, how significant have those changes been, etc. Most importantly, we are basing this off of how Bono sounds on the whole, with specific examples used to back up our claims on the whole sound. We are trying to answer the ultimate question of "is it just different to whatever degree, or does it represent a decline in quality toward a thin voice?"

That to me is how this whole discussion has gone.

You can't use the clips as evidence of us not being able to agree on what we are discussing. Remember, when we boiled it down, you asked for the same kind of examples Peterrr isn't supposed to be using.

The only thing I truly don't get is the "younger/older" premise in terms of an argument on the quality of Bono's voice. I think its pretty clear to anyone who's listened that its been peaks and valleys as opposed to a straight trajectory either way. Young/old is just not how Bono's vocals break down for categories of analysis. There was a clear turn in 1984 with UF, another clear turn in 1991 with AB and Zoo TV. Then there was whatever happened between 1995 and 2002 that got him in so much trouble that many thought he would never sing again. Finally, there is the renaissance period between 2002 and 2010/beyond.

Anyone who thinks today is comparable to the Bono eating glass Elevation era is just not following the same guy.
Its not 80-84 then everything after or pre 1997/post 1997 or anything like that at all. Not if we are discussing quality of the vocals.


FTR, I think Bono sounds as good now as he has in 15 years.
That is all. :wave:
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1995?

Curious starting point.

That's when Bono started to show the signs of weakness and vocal trouble that were manifested on the Popmart and Elevation Tours.

At least to my ears.

Saying he sounds the best since then is not a compliment I don't think.

I would say overall that he sounds the best he has since the early days of Zoo TV, with some songs, Bad and NYD in particular, sounding even better than they did then.

1984-1986 was the only era when I think he sounded better on the whole than he does now.

But this whole discussion is pretty stupid. I don't see anyone changing what I hear, and I don't see anyone changing what you hear.

I don't think I'll ever understand how some people making these claims are listening to the same Bono I am, but at this point, there is no sense beating a dead horse.

I am reasonably certain no one wants to read a big long back and forth between us that will lead nowhere.
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Michael Griffiths said:
I believe the following performance is the last time Bono's lower register baritone was recorded. Up until this point, Bono's lower register had remained the same since around 1984. Following this was the POP album, and his lower register had totally changed to what is today...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmcBiEcC8lQ&feature=related
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YouTube - Bono- Summer Wine (Bono & The Corrs , From The Album VH1 Presents The Corrs Live In Dublin)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vBdLMM4rWQ
 
Michael Griffiths said:
I believe the following performance is the last time Bono's lower register baritone was recorded. Up until this point, Bono's lower register had remained the same since around 1984. Following this was the POP album, and his lower register had totally changed to what is today...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmcBiEcC8lQ&feature=related
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I get really sad watching that video. Not only is the performance absolutely stunning, the commitment and passion is amazing, something I think you rarely see these days unfortunalety (and I'm not only talking U2 and Bono when I say that). I love Bono's voice today, but for all the perfect high C's he hits I still feel there's something missing. That little extra that makes it something more than just a great voice.

3:05 - 4:23 He just doesn't sing that way anymore, and that saddens me. I'd take his current voice over the beaten up voice he'd have if he continued on the strained Joshua Tree/LoveTown path of singing any day, but I'm not gonna lie and say that I enjoy more listening to the voice he has today than the voice he had back in the '80s and the early '90s, 'cause I don't. There were so many different styles of singing he did back then. Some worked, some didn't (the Kermit-voice etc.). As someone said in this thread or another similar one Bono just seems to have a On/Off-switch, either it sounds one way or it doesn't sound at all. Just the one minute of example I took from the 1995 One-video posted above has a lot of variations in how he sings it. It goes from a quiet (some would call it weak), more soothing sound (3:18) to a more powerful sound as they're going into the chorus. It's so varied, so unpredictable and most of the time very beautiful. The consistency he has today is great, but there are very few high points and they're rarely something more than just another perfectly hit high note. Just my feelings and opinions right now. :(
 
Marien said:
Last show of the third leg, 22 shows in 2 months, Bono speaks for himself here, if he doesn't I won't convice you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kip6HM9AzGM&feature=related

Let me know what faults you find here.
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nothing is wrong, it is a really stunning performance, hitting all the notes he can, etc.... still not the same SOUND out of his mouth, that's all. Prefer any time a 87 or 89 version over this one, however, once again, stunning performance!
 
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