3rd single from NLOTH
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The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Salome
you are what you is
ironically the U2 harcore fans are the ones who have probably done more to create the feeling that U2 is about the past than media and/or casual listeners have
if one is to regard this forum as the place where U2 hardcore fans harbour then it would seem that even the band's supposedly die-hard fans have spent the best part of the 00s whining for a return to the days of yore
even when discussing possible 360 setlists the focus is on dumping on Boots and yearning for any track older than 10 years
if U2 is about its past then we are more to blame for this than anyone else
mama cass
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don't shoot me, i don't know what your experiences are, but among my friends/acquaintances outside the hardcore U2 fanbase, U2 pretty much seem to be perceived as zzzzzzz "grandad rock" these days, whereas kings of leon are not... 
mikal
Blue Crack Addict
don't shoot me, i don't know what your experiences are, but among my friends/acquaintances outside the hardcore U2 fanbase, U2 pretty much seem to be perceived as zzzzzzz "grandad rock" these days, whereas kings of leon are not...
i think it's an age thing. i'm 28, and i would say most people i know either really like U2 or at least respect them. but if you go down even 5 years in age, the attitude towards U2 is much different.
mama cass
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i'm quite a bit older than 28 (yikes that hurts seeing that in print!), and that's been my experience with my peers and also friends who are older than me, and for quite a few years now... i got ridiculed for admitting i'd got tix to Elevation tour lmao! U2 were pretty cool among my peers around Achtung Baby tour (when i was early 20s) though... maybe it's a cultural thing? maybe their fanbase is wider/stronger in the US than the UK? i dunno... must admit that French friends my age, older and younger, love U2, but then they also love Supertramp and Johnny Haliday
mikal
Blue Crack Addict
i'm quite a bit older than 28 (yikes that hurts seeing that in print!), and that's been my experience with my peers and also friends who are older than me, and for quite a few years now... i got ridiculed for admitting i'd got tix to Elevation tour lmao! U2 were pretty cool among my peers around Achtung Baby tour (when i was early 20s) though... maybe it's a cultural thing? maybe their fanbase is wider/stronger in the US than the UK? i dunno... must admit that French friends my age, older and younger, love U2, but then they also love Supertramp and Johnny Haliday
i think that shows too that sometimes all it comes down to is taste and perception.......and of course who you know. i'm friends with a lot of musicians, many of whom are into bands like The Talking Heads, Radiohead, and Indie music, so naturally most of them enjoy U2's 90's stuff.
Niceman
Rock n' Roll Doggie VIP PASS
IF young people these days aren't into U2, that just goes to show what happens when you take 4 or 5 years between albums......
ybab gnuthca
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A band that released a compilation called U2:18 Singles, doesn't care about singles and how they do? 
Zoocoustic
War Child
Let's be honest: in the US, U2 hasn't had big chart success since Achtung Baby. Pop, ATYCLB, and HTDAAB all had big first singles - huge - and then basically everything else flopped. But those lead singles were enough to fuel the sales, the tour, etc.
The only difference now is that NLOTH had a loser for a first single. And that U2 has enough credibility to tour big without a big album.
The only difference now is that NLOTH had a loser for a first single. And that U2 has enough credibility to tour big without a big album.
Bonoa
Refugee
mikal
Blue Crack Addict
A band that released a compilation called U2:18 Singles, doesn't care about singles and how they do?
omg!!11 great example!!111
anywho, i know it's only a couple years, but 2006 U2 and 2009 U2 are completely different entities. it's obvious and you're ignoring it.
BVS
Blue Crack Supplier
U2 obviously care tremendously about singles, that's all they care about, why else do you think they released a whole album of obvious short radio-friendly songs this time around?
You people are kidding yourselves. Come on, obvious eye candy album cover, straight forward pop tunes, even a little rapping to try and compete with Kanye, shout outs to cockatoos and mac users, and the most obvious a stellar PR machine.
You people are kidding yourselves. Come on, obvious eye candy album cover, straight forward pop tunes, even a little rapping to try and compete with Kanye, shout outs to cockatoos and mac users, and the most obvious a stellar PR machine.
Tyagu_Anaykus
New Yorker
Are we still talking about NLOTH?ybab gnuthca
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If the current U2 singles had done well, the people saying that "U2 don't care about how the singles do in the charts" would be talking about how important it is for U2 to be affirmed that they are still relevant and still has the ability to reach out to the young music buying audience.
mikal
Blue Crack Addict
you can count me out of your inaccurate generalization, as U2's relevance and ability to reach out to the younger audience has never been important to me.
BVS
Blue Crack Supplier
Dude, you must have like ESPN or something... you can totally read minds.
ybab gnuthca
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But it might very well be to U2, and U2 are probably important to you.
ybab gnuthca
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Weren't you among those who said U2 didn't care about singles? Sounds like mindreading to me.
cypress
The Fly
Agreed. The lack of "strategic voting" is what made your top 50 a far better indicator of what people who post here actually like rather than the flawed "survivor"-style voting going on now. It's really a joke watching people say "I'm forced to vote off Song X to protect Song Y". That pretty much ruins the credibility of that kind of polling.
Btw, IMO Magnificent is easily one of U2's top 10 songs of all time. However, the album version is better than the hacked up single version I've heard (and the similar video version). I really like the video overall though, just think they should have used the longer album version, especially because of the long intro.
BVS
Blue Crack Supplier
Snowlock
Refugee
Should've been, imo:
NLOTH, just to show how different they were going. Just like they did with the Fly.
MOS, would've had to edit, but there's a good cut in there. Very adult top 40 radio friendly.
Breathe, nice rock song for the European tour
Crazy, U2 at it's u2ness for the American tour.
I said all along Mag was a terrible choice for a single. It's not a bad song, but it's an almost traditional disco song. Could've been a fifth radio only single, though I would've done SUC instead.
NLOTH, just to show how different they were going. Just like they did with the Fly.
MOS, would've had to edit, but there's a good cut in there. Very adult top 40 radio friendly.
Breathe, nice rock song for the European tour
Crazy, U2 at it's u2ness for the American tour.
I said all along Mag was a terrible choice for a single. It's not a bad song, but it's an almost traditional disco song. Could've been a fifth radio only single, though I would've done SUC instead.
ybab gnuthca
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Nevermind, Snowlock. U2 doesn't care about their singles so why would they care about the song selection or the order of the songs?
Snowlock
Refugee
Well, that's kind of off target isn't it? Bono himself said that when he was growing up, everything was singles driven and he's always had an eye on singles. It's why they punched up Vertigo from Native Son, redid Sometimes and Always, didn't release Red Hill Mining Town, didn't finish Winter, constantly redid the pop singles, and on and on etc etc.
Now we're saying U2 isn't a singles band? Lol, did someone tell Paul McG?
Now if someone wanted to argue U2 isn't an AOR band anymore, and are going to make their money on touring (a la the Stones and Police) fair enough. But not singles? Umm, no, sorry, wrong band.
ps, I knew you were being sarcastic. But saw it as a soap box invitation so I jumped on
...I guess part of the reason Magnifcent flopped in the UK was that all the remixes leaked a fortnight prior to release in excellent MP3 quality + then the GOYB mix was streamed on stereogum and obviously people grabbed an MP3 of that too... plus much of the fanbase had the Boston show.. Live bsides mean little now as almost everything is bootlegged in high quality...
I guess for a U2 single to do well in this era, you have to offer a new song
....btw VH1 in the US has started playing the Magnifient video on it's "the audience is still half a sleep" shift aka Jumpstart, it and that awful Fray 'everyone dies in a nuclear war" video, yuck...
I guess for a U2 single to do well in this era, you have to offer a new song
....btw VH1 in the US has started playing the Magnifient video on it's "the audience is still half a sleep" shift aka Jumpstart, it and that awful Fray 'everyone dies in a nuclear war" video, yuck...
last unicorn
Blue Crack Addict
I accidently listened to parts of our charts yesterday while doing some other stuff at home, then I went to bed and listened to NLOTH. I just thought: This has nothing to do with the music played on the radio. I'm always amazed by the songs that are in the charts and the videos that are being played on music channels, it's hard to take, there is so much crap. It's a sign of the times and how people "listen" to music, it's not U2's mistake. People have actually forgotten to "listen" to music. When I hear one of U2's songs, I really want to sit down and listen to it and take it all in and really concentrate on the music. When I listen to radio it's just some background noise, nothing more. So I don't think I'm very worried about U2 not being good in the charts. Apart from that, there are a lot of great acts who aren't very successful in the charts. U2 are mainly a live band and I don't think the general music listening public has discovered the greatness of their latest record yet because it just doesn't fit into today's music.
ybab gnuthca
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NLOTH is a rock song like any other played on the radio.
Magnificent is a common disco-beat tune, radiofriendly earcandy.
MOS is just about created for adult contemporary radiostations.
UC - Not radiofriendly
Crazy - Old style U2 song. Can easily fit on pop/rock radio.
Boots - This was created for radio. And is easily crappier than 90% of what's played on radio today, btw.
Stand Up Comedy - Crappy enough to figure on radio stations.
Fez - Not radio stuff.
White as Snow - Could be late evening stuff on most radio stations.
Breathe - Can't be separated from most mainstream rock radio stuff.
Cedars of Lebanon - Not radio stuff.
That's 7 out of 11 songs on NLOTH that could easily be played on radio.
Magnificent is a common disco-beat tune, radiofriendly earcandy.
MOS is just about created for adult contemporary radiostations.
UC - Not radiofriendly
Crazy - Old style U2 song. Can easily fit on pop/rock radio.
Boots - This was created for radio. And is easily crappier than 90% of what's played on radio today, btw.
Stand Up Comedy - Crappy enough to figure on radio stations.
Fez - Not radio stuff.
White as Snow - Could be late evening stuff on most radio stations.
Breathe - Can't be separated from most mainstream rock radio stuff.
Cedars of Lebanon - Not radio stuff.
That's 7 out of 11 songs on NLOTH that could easily be played on radio.
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