What is the stupidest decision U2 has ever made?

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This is one of the best threads that we've had in years.


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Yeah, that's what I figured. It'd almost be worth having someone try to find the one song that contains the most 'snippets' out there, just to see if there is such a thing as overdoing it.

I think the record for snippets in a single performance of a song is six snippets in Bad.

There are a number of songs - Bad, BD, Vertigo, and similar - with over forty snippets in their entire live career.

This is one of the best threads that we've had in years.

Absolutely.
 
Should've put 11 O Clock Tick Tock and Saturday Night on Boy.


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I sometimes forget 11:00 isn't on Boy! It's such a defining song from that era. And yes, Saturday Night would've felt perfect on Boy, something a little bit darker towards the end perhaps? I think it's better than Fire, for sure.

Also, I don't like what they did to "I fall down". Early versions from the Boy tour have different lyrics and the music has more of a straightforward, driving rhythm to it. I can't search now cause I'm working, but there's a good version from San Francisco on the boy tour on youtube.


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Recording ONE with Mary j blige ??


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Being away for so long. Will be about 6 years since i saw them live in September.

Bono being injury prone and risking his health again and again.
 
picking Boots for a single.

Bono singing/talking/yapping out of tune during crazy tonight remix.
Could have been so perfect yet he ruined it big time for me with his vocals on it. Horrible , horrible horrible.

Trying to be relevant

Edge being remotely close to an acoustic guitar

2 ticket limit during last presale :wink:
 
Innocence + Experience Tour - 1st Leg (North America)
Jul 27, 2015 New York, New York at Madison Square Garden
Jul 26, 2015 New York, New York at Madison Square Garden
Jul 23, 2015 New York, New York at Madison Square Garden
Jul 22, 2015 New York, New York at Madison Square Garden
Jul 19, 2015 New York, New York at Madison Square Garden
Jul 18, 2015 New York, New York at Madison Square Garden
Jul 15, 2015 Boston, Massachusetts at TD Garden
Jul 14, 2015 Boston, Massachusetts at TD Garden
Jul 11, 2015 Boston, Massachusetts at TD Garden
Jul 10, 2015 Boston, Massachusetts at TD Garden
Jul 07, 2015 Toronto, Canada at Air Canada Center
Jul 06, 2015 Toronto, Canada at Air Canada Center
Jun 29, 2015 Chicago, Illinois at United Center
Jun 28, 2015 Chicago, Illinois at United Center
Jun 25, 2015 Chicago, Illinois at United Center
Jun 24, 2015 Chicago, Illinois at United Center
Jun 17, 2015 Montreal, Canada at Bell Centre
Jun 16, 2015 Montreal, Canada at Bell Centre
Jun 13, 2015 Montreal, Canada at Bell Centre
Jun 12, 2015 Montreal, Canada at Bell Centre
May 31, 2015 Inglewood, California at The Forum
May 30, 2015 Inglewood, California at The Forum
May 27, 2015 Inglewood, California at The Forum
May 26, 2015 Inglewood, California at The Forum
May 23, 2015 Phoenix, Arizona at US Airways Center
May 22, 2015 Phoenix, Arizona at US Airways Center
May 19, 2015 San Jose, California at SAP Center at San Jose
May 18, 2015 San Jose, California at SAP Center at San Jose
May 15, 2015 Vancouver, Canada at Rogers Arena
May 14, 2015 Vancouver, Canada at Rogers Arena
 
Vertigo x1.

Not reissuing Zooropa on vinyl, or Achtung in a standard (ie. not $100) vinyl format.

But the worst thing they've ever done is debut Get On Your Boots at the Grammys. Everything about that performance was just awful. "I like this band?" I thought. "Not possible...."
 
Yeah, not releasing one of their greatest albums in a standard non expensive vinyl format, like they did with the other releases, was just bizarre. It deserved a double lp under $30 release like the Joshua Tree.
 
It makes no sense that you can't just go to the record store and get Achtung Baby on vinyl. I'd love to know why they didn't release it in a standard format. Of all U2's decisions this is the strangest. I can't imagine why someone thought it was a good idea. The Boots Grammy performance is just bad taste, but this was bad business... odd for a band that's all about the biz.
 
5: Discotheque video and overall band image for the tour.

If there was a catalyst to their turn towards allowing the audience to dictate their music to them, rather than the other way around, it was when POP and POPmart were seen as a failure in their eyes. And the main reason for their perception of POP/POPmart as a failure was because of the reception of both in America. It changed their entire career trajectory towards this mess of "please love us, don't hate us! whatever you do, you have to love us!" music and away from just about anything smelling of musical adventure.

Years later, they practically repeated the mistake (partially) with Boots and tanked NLOTH (with help from undeserved praise for Bomb) all of which forever guaranteed that the U2 will never try any "Fez: Being Born" type songs again. Hell, they aren't even bothering (during this massive creative rehash phase during the 21st century) to mine their best period, '87-'93.

And if they're not done as a band sometime soon, the best we can hope for in the future are more safe pop songs like California and EBW, which are certainly solid pure pop songs that is some of their better music lately, but nothing remarkable to the U2 catalog in the least. Not just that but they only evoke nostalgia of a more naive, more inexperienced, more amateurish, adventurous, better, ballsier U2 who were only making those simple punkish sounds because they didn't know how to sound semi-sophisticated. These days, they simply choose not to. "Gotta get it across on an acoustic guitar so any ol' moron can sing along to it!"

Personally, I think they could have dodged a lot of bullets (for what they wanted to do) without releasing the Village People Discotheque video alone. If it can be narrowed to one stupid(est) mistake, that's it.

Runner up:the decision to turn away from the "Stateless" vein and more towards the "Elevation" vein. Might be hand in hand with fear of another so-called POP failure. Whatever the case, U2 from 1998-2000 is the reason for the U2 since. And whatever we can pin that on, is the culprit for dumbest decision, without question, in my mind. Broadly speaking, that means the stupidest decision was when U2 became "U2".
 
Years later, they practically repeated the mistake (partially) with Boots and tanked NLOTH (with help from undeserved praise for Bomb) all of which forever guaranteed that the U2 will never try any "Fez: Being Born" type songs again.

Runner up:the decision to turn away from the "Stateless" vein and more towards the "Elevation" vein.

So... ambient = good and guitars = bad?

Hell, they aren't even bothering (during this massive creative rehash phase during the 21st century) to mine their best period, '87-'93.

... or not?
 
Hiring Guy Oseary - the guy is a moron - but that's my opinion. Could have found somebody a lot more suited to and interested in the band.
 
- For not releasing Mercy (2004 studio version)
- For charging 250 euros for a seat during the next tour
- For not liking POP and never play a song from it
- For liking ATYCLB too much and playing too many songs from it

The rest is pretty good overall..... Love this band!:heart:

EDIT: forgot to mention that they totally messed up an opportunity to open the 360 Tour with FEZ-BEING BORN, would have been the best opener since Mofo....
 
So... ambient = good and guitars = bad?

I'm pretty sure Stateless has guitars. It just doesn't have dumb guitars. I too was, frankly, blindsided in 1999/2000. Even Beautiful Day didn't really tip me off before the album itself, as the kids say now, dropped.
 
Innocence + Experience Tour - 1st Leg (North America)
Jul 27, 2015 New York, New York at Madison Square Garden
Jul 26, 2015 New York, New York at Madison Square Garden
Jul 23, 2015 New York, New York at Madison Square Garden
Jul 22, 2015 New York, New York at Madison Square Garden
Jul 19, 2015 New York, New York at Madison Square Garden
Jul 18, 2015 New York, New York at Madison Square Garden
Jul 15, 2015 Boston, Massachusetts at TD Garden
Jul 14, 2015 Boston, Massachusetts at TD Garden
Jul 11, 2015 Boston, Massachusetts at TD Garden
Jul 10, 2015 Boston, Massachusetts at TD Garden
Jul 07, 2015 Toronto, Canada at Air Canada Center
Jul 06, 2015 Toronto, Canada at Air Canada Center
Jun 29, 2015 Chicago, Illinois at United Center
Jun 28, 2015 Chicago, Illinois at United Center
Jun 25, 2015 Chicago, Illinois at United Center
Jun 24, 2015 Chicago, Illinois at United Center
Jun 17, 2015 Montreal, Canada at Bell Centre
Jun 16, 2015 Montreal, Canada at Bell Centre
Jun 13, 2015 Montreal, Canada at Bell Centre
Jun 12, 2015 Montreal, Canada at Bell Centre
May 31, 2015 Inglewood, California at The Forum
May 30, 2015 Inglewood, California at The Forum
May 27, 2015 Inglewood, California at The Forum
May 26, 2015 Inglewood, California at The Forum
May 23, 2015 Phoenix, Arizona at US Airways Center
May 22, 2015 Phoenix, Arizona at US Airways Center
May 19, 2015 San Jose, California at SAP Center at San Jose
May 18, 2015 San Jose, California at SAP Center at San Jose
May 15, 2015 Vancouver, Canada at Rogers Arena
May 14, 2015 Vancouver, Canada at Rogers Arena


Aw. Do you seriously think they should not be touring? And do other posters who said so, really think U2 ought to have retired in 2000?
 
In retrospect, although it did bring some good things with it (namely the Baby versions and Down All the Days), the way they handled the whole Achtung Baby reissue was a disaster.

First off, not making all unreleased new tracks (Heaven and Hell, Oh Berlin etc.) available on the 2CD edition was a pain in the arse. If you wanted all the unreleased new songs, you had to buy the ultra-expensive special "uber" editions or whatever. But hey, at least the two-disc version included those Perfecto Mixes!

Secondly, they butchered wonderful 1991 Salome jams like Blow Your House Down and Heaven and Hell with annoying new Bono vocals and some questionable decisions (oooh-wahs on Heaven and Hell... Christ almighty) that just reek of 2011 U2 poking their noses into something that is musically now light years away from them. She's Gonna Blow Your House Down is so horribly neutered. With a boring slide solo a la Magnificent and Moment of Surrender, which was Edge's speciality at the time.

Thirdly, including Zooropa like it's a fucking afterthought. God knows what kind of interesting things for that record they have hidden in the vault and which probably won't ever see the light of day.


And last but not least, including ZooTV Live from Sydney AGAIN as a DVD instead of offering one of literally hundred filmed and unreleased ZooTV shows (preferably ones with the Mirrorball Man).

Oh, and it spawned the remaster discussion in this cesspool.

Just a fucking fiasco on so many levels.

I couldn't afford the expensive edition at the time so couldn't get Oh berlin. Can't find it on i-tunes, it isn't even on youtube!! I have to click an old vimeo link if i want to hear it, and I do love that song.
 
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