djerdap
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2004
- Messages
- 7,594
Personally I love the violins in Sunday Bloody Sunday. And it was Edge's idea to put them on, not Lillywhite's,as stated in U2 by U2.
Can you tell me specifically which U2 song they rehashed to make Beautiful Day?
How can you listen to UC or Magnificent and be like, 'Oh, that's great music!' You think there's a reason U2 aren't playing those songs live anymore? Like Pop (which the band admitted they weren't happy with) NLOTH missed the mark.
I think that if U2 thinks that NLOTH was "challenging", that's a problem.
Any sound from their 80's stuff, got the coke riff in there anyway. Not saying its a bad song but it was like rehashing old sounds again.
...I think those that make this argument have limited musical knowledge and vocabulary therefore they just throw the word "rehash" out there...
He belongs in the 80s, as far as U2 is concerned.
They seem to parachute him into the studio everytime they feel scared a song isn't radio-friendly enough.
At this point he's a crutch.
Honestly, the best pure pop of their career was written with Jimmy Iovine. I see no problem with bringing him back, even though I'll concede that his "sound" is pretty anonymous.
Shit, just anything but Lillywhite next time. Record some spacy sounds with Nigel Godrich, make a REAL punk rock from Venus record with Steve Albini. Anything but Lillywhite.
Could be. Or "those that make this argument" could be responding to Edge's dislike of the sound of his own riff back in 2000 (for "Beautiful Day"), which he called the "Classic Coke riff" -- in that it reminded him of the 80s -- and tried to discourage the others from using (he lost that argument). But I guess Edge doesn't have as much musical knowledge and vocabulary as you.
This is not how it happened, but you pretty much helped me prove my point. The phrase "classic coke riff" WAS used by the band but not in this context, like I said limited vocab.
And this poster's answer was "any sound from the 80's", are we really to believe that UF, WAR, Boy, and JT all sound the same? This is an extensive musical vocabulary?
I don't know how I replied to a thread without actually saying what I wanted to say in the first place:
I think Lillywhite is pushing so hard for this retraction out of fear. Was he misquoted? Absolutely. But I think he's worried about talking out of school. Bands can get touchy when producers start going to the press and discussing the albums in anything less than a positive light. Even Eno and Lanois, responsible for this band's three most critically acclaimed and successful masterpieces, were cast out of Eden for a little while because they publicly stated that they wanted some writing credentials for some of the songs on ATYCLB. The band didn't like it, and that's why you didn't see their work on HTDAAB (LaPoE was an ATYCLB holdover).
Can you tell me specifically which U2 song they rehashed to make Beautiful Day?
Any sound from their 80's stuff
NLOTH was not a failure. NLOTH was actually a reality check, which the band has ignored. The total sales of the top albums when Bomb was released were drastically different from those when NLOTH was. The music industry has changed yet the band's expectations have not. Having a top five album at the end of the year cannot be considered a failure. The album's overall sales should knock home the reality of today's music industry to the band not disappoint them.
Would a different lead single have made a difference? Maybe slightly. I have seen no major majority on this site as to what the best lead single would have been. So it is not like there was one that stood out like a Beautiful Day or Vertigo on prior albums. Would more promotion have made a difference? Miminal at best. The band was all over the BBC, morning and late night American television and elsewhere. The BBC was even criticised for the amount of coverage. Would a different tour have made a difference? Obviously not considering the attendance. NLOTH could only be viewed as a failure through subjective takes on the album quality and how the songs were when played live.
I don't take anything Lillywhite says remotely seriously. It's just a shame that U2 seem to think differently.
Answer:
So either all their 80's stuff sounds the same, or BD has some hell of a quilt-work sound.
I don't think anyone argued that "everything sounded the same in the 80s". The poster was simply suggesting that parts of "Beautiful Day" harken back to a certain sound of 80s' U2, something that the band themselves seem to have agreed with.
But yeah, there is a reason why he is a very successful producer (and U2 are very successful artists) and you are not.
Ok beautiful day had a classic 80's sound. What I mean was anyone who asked what U2 sound like from the 80's then the normal guy in the street would evoke that sound that Edge used on Beautiful Day. Its a 'typical' U2 song. I didn't say it was a bad song. But it is a typical U2 sounding song with the classic coke riff.