Top 5 Awful Moments in U2's 'Rattle & Hum'

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gvox said:
None of the posters in this thread probably including the guy who made this video were even old enough to go see this when it first came out, so frankly I don't give a shit.

Back then it was amazing. I saw it like 5 times in the opening week. Couldn't get enough.
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Hey. I was one year old. :angry: I Could have seen it. Without knowing. If my parents didn't have such shitty music taste.
 
LemonMelon said:
:reads own lyrics as if they were Frost:

:gives facial expression that screams "HOLY FUCKING SHIT GUYS I'M GOOD AT THIS WRITING THING AREN'T I OH YES I AM":
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Yes, it is the smuggest look I've ever seen the man give. Cringe.

Last time I watched it, I was also a bit agog at the whole "Larry talks about Elvis, looking serious and being all black and white" scene.

"Hey man, I worked for a while once, I totally get it. I relate to Elvis. I had a job for about five minutes."

Honestly, that whole scene is just weird, like he's saying something really profound about Elvis, but he's really not.
 
LemonMelon said:
I must be on the right track. :wink:

You completely ignored what it was about the situation that irritated me, but that's OK.
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I didn't. But that's OK too. And there are plenty of worse things than reading your lyrics out loud to the guy who is playing that particular song with you.

There's also the fact that the guy he's reading the lyrics to, BB King, praises his lyrics in the same movie. But what would he know ?
 
No spoken words said:
Whenever I watch the film, here's what I do:

Watch and enjoy every performance.

Skip everything else.
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Ftw! I used to have to fast-forward my VHS copy before I got the DVD, now I just click for the next scene...

Quick question: Is the blu-ray version a noticeable upgrade over the DVD or should I not bother upgrading?
 
gvox said:
None of the posters in this thread probably including the guy who made this video were even old enough to go see this when it first came out, so frankly I don't give a shit.
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I was, but I dont know why that would be relevant (I'm with you on the video being garbage though)
 
No spoken words said:
Whenever I watch the film, here's what I do:

Watch and enjoy every performance.

Skip everything else.
Click to expand...

This. They were at an apex in their live performances then that would carry on through 93. They went from being an excellent live band on the TUF tour to being the greatest around, with swagger to match, and that is documented with beautiful sound and cinematography on Rattle And Hum.

I get a hard laugh out of the rest, which is objectively crap.
 
Someone in 2011 watching Rattle & Hum for the first time and judging it is no better than me watching and judging Woodstock. If you weren't there, if it was a whole generation before your time, you will never understand.
 
It just means a different perspective on the matter, that's all.

I mean, hardly anyone alive right now was there when Battleship Potemkin was first released, does this mean that no one can possibly judge it?
 
Niceman said:
Someone in 2011 watching Rattle & Hum for the first time and judging it is no better than me watching and judging Woodstock. If you weren't there, if it was a whole generation before your time, you will never understand.
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The parallel here is interesting. I'm sure the hippies at Woodstock were more self-aware than Bono though.
 
Niceman said:
Someone in 2011 watching Rattle & Hum for the first time and judging it is no better than me watching and judging Woodstock. If you weren't there, if it was a whole generation before your time, you will never understand.
Click to expand...

This is such weak, lazy reasoning. If that's the case, then nobody can have an opinion on anything that happened pre 1900 because none of us n00bs were there to see it.
 
BB KING in 1988: "You're awful young to be writing such heavy lyrics."

BB KING in 2011: "You're awful old to be writing such shallow lyrics."

Can you imagine Bono reading new lyrics with the same sense of grandeur???

"A mole
Digging in
a
Hole.
Digging up my
soul." (smirk and raise eyebrow)
 
Jive Turkey said:
This is such weak, lazy reasoning. If that's the case, then nobody can have an opinion on anything that happened pre 1900 because none of us n00bs were there to see it.
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I think there's at least some merit to a perspective difference.

It's like silent movies (and almost every major innovation point in filmaking along the way) To us, they look positively goofy and almost unbearable to watch.

To the people who experienced them when they came out, they were groundbreaking, breathtaking, and changed the way they saw their stars.

I think you did kindof have to be around and of a reasonable age to "get" Rattle n Hum when it came out. Most 14-16 year olds aren't super music snobs or critics and especially if you were like me living in a small northern town with a one-screen cinema, The Movie Event that was Rattle N Hum was a MAJOR MAJOR deal, so these little things that psuedo critics can look back and snicker about...shit, we didn't care about those things at all. U2 were gods on the screen, and the rest didn't matter.

Example: you sat in that cinema and just felt something distant and yearning about Edge's stares off into the distance. Was it contrived or bullshit? Well this jackass doing his film review sure thinks so, 20 years on. But there and then? It was moving. So, for that matter, was the awkward glimpse into Larry rambling on about someone he clearly adored, grounded in reality or not. When the opening notes of Bad started up, you felt it for him.

I'm probably not explaining this well enough. It's like going to see Apocalypse Now in the early 80s at Bloor Cinema, at an age when you're just becoming world aware and can't figure out what the fuck is going on in Vietnam vs renting it on DVD 30 years later at age 20 with all the historians wisdom tucked under your belt. You can't even understand the difference unless you've lived it.

For me, I wasn't allowed to go see U2 live at that point in my life. I wasn't even supposed to be possessing their albums. Sneaking in to the cinema every day that week was my way to see my favorite band in action. There's absolutely nothing of the other little silly things in the movie that can ever change that for me. Rattle N Hum always has a very special place in my heart. Imagine walking into what used to be that cinema 20 years later, in the very place they took my lawn cutting money for my ticket, to find it turned into a record store, and to have my daughter point out to me the vinyl copy of - you guessed it - Rattle n Hum, sitting right there. The record store kid giving it to me for $10 when it was marked $20, after I told him my story.

Like I said, nothing can change how big this movie was for me. Bono's smug look, Edge's failure to actually play the blues, nothing.
 
Ya, you make a good point. I just don't think it's fair to write off someone's opinion because they weren't around when something came out. Because I'm sure there are as many in that same category who actually do like the movie.
And for the record, I really do like R&H. I played the shit out of that VHS. There was nothing I liked more than turning all the lights off in the basement and watching that for a couple hours. Good times
 
iota said:
BB KING in 1988: "You're awful young to be writing such heavy lyrics."

BB KING in 2011: "You're awful old to be writing such shallow lyrics."

Can you imagine Bono reading new lyrics with the same sense of grandeur???

"A mole
Digging in
a
Hole.
Digging up my
soul." (smirk and raise eyebrow)
Click to expand...

:lol: :up:
 
gvox said:
I think there's at least some merit to a perspective difference.

It's like silent movies (and almost every major innovation point in filmaking along the way) To us, they look positively goofy and almost unbearable to watch.

To the people who experienced them when they came out, they were groundbreaking, breathtaking, and changed the way they saw their stars.

I think you did kindof have to be around and of a reasonable age to "get" Rattle n Hum when it came out. Most 14-16 year olds aren't super music snobs or critics and especially if you were like me living in a small northern town with a one-screen cinema, The Movie Event that was Rattle N Hum was a MAJOR MAJOR deal, so these little things that psuedo critics can look back and snicker about...shit, we didn't care about those things at all. U2 were gods on the screen, and the rest didn't matter.

Example: you sat in that cinema and just felt something distant and yearning about Edge's stares off into the distance. Was it contrived or bullshit? Well this jackass doing his film review sure thinks so, 20 years on. But there and then? It was moving. So, for that matter, was the awkward glimpse into Larry rambling on about someone he clearly adored, grounded in reality or not. When the opening notes of Bad started up, you felt it for him.

I'm probably not explaining this well enough. It's like going to see Apocalypse Now in the early 80s at Bloor Cinema, at an age when you're just becoming world aware and can't figure out what the fuck is going on in Vietnam vs renting it on DVD 30 years later at age 20 with all the historians wisdom tucked under your belt. You can't even understand the difference unless you've lived it.

For me, I wasn't allowed to go see U2 live at that point in my life. I wasn't even supposed to be possessing their albums. Sneaking in to the cinema every day that week was my way to see my favorite band in action. There's absolutely nothing of the other little silly things in the movie that can ever change that for me. Rattle N Hum always has a very special place in my heart. Imagine walking into what used to be that cinema 20 years later, in the very place they took my lawn cutting money for my ticket, to find it turned into a record store, and to have my daughter point out to me the vinyl copy of - you guessed it - Rattle n Hum, sitting right there. The record store kid giving it to me for $10 when it was marked $20, after I told him my story.

Like I said, nothing can change how big this movie was for me. Bono's smug look, Edge's failure to actually play the blues, nothing.
Click to expand...

I agree with every word. The album and movie came from a more sincere and bombastic era. I find it very hard to believe that a young person today could understand what we felt. Can they understand how alone U2 was? How different what they were doing was from the rest of the industry? I don't think many people in the late 80s saw Edge looking into the distance and didn't feel a sense of weight - which the kid who made the video just couldn't grasp.

If someone much younger can enjoy R&H - bully. But I won't ever imagine I understand Woodstock and I don't think it's likely many kids today could ever understand what Rattle and Hum was like when it was new and I was 15.The example of the silent film is a good analogy. I've been watching some old Pink Panther films lately, and I enjoy them, but I'm under no illusion that I am experiencing them in the way that an audience in the 1960s would have.

Heck, half the kids today believe the propaganda that R&H was somehow unsuccessful! It sold gobs of copies, had 4 massively-successful singles and launched the tour with some of U2's best performances ever. Vocally, Bono will never be able to do again what he did on that album.
 
Oh just play the album ffs. Some of music's greatest moments are on there (God Part 2, All I Want Is You, Hawkmoon 269, Heartland, Love Rescue Me..)

And the film's got many great sections like In God's Country live (which imo is the greatest U2 has EVER sounded, in particular Adam's bass change after the guitar solo and then Edge's awesome-sounding "mistake"), Van Diemen's Land by Edge, Desire performed in the warehouse, Larry Mullen's itchy feet
icon32.gif
. I could go on :D

As for the vid, I wouldn't waste my time on it but having read Galeongirl's account, you gotta feel sorry for morons who waste their lives on hate.

LemonMelon said:
I don't think any man has ever earned himself a punch in the dick more than Bono did from 2:06-2:12.
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He would deserve a kick in the balls if he showed off his lyrics AND was crap at it. The fact he's one of the greatest lyricists ever means he can do whatever the fork he wants with it. Besides, haven't you heard of the exuberance of youth? EVERYONE is dumber in their 20s :doh: (Oh shit, when I think of my 20s and some of the dumbass things I did..)
 
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