Why is Bono saying sorry??

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Nick66 said:
I don't think it's unreasonable if you're someone who doesn't like U2 (or even people who do) and you wake up and see that the new record has been automatically downloaded onto your hard disc that you're annoyed. Just as you have a right to be annoyed at unwanted shampoo samples that show up in your mail and the stuff in your spam folder. Yes, you can throw it away or delete it, but I don't think it's unreasonable that people didn't appreciate it, and have a problem with it.
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Thanks for responding. I am late in replying...

So surely you'd agree it is entirely about the specific content? It's not about anything else. It's not about a principle of any kind. And it's not about free music itself that has invaded their space. Because there is every chance that if Artist X gave that person free music they would not have recoiled in such disgust. It's merely a subjective want. "Don't clutter my shit with your shit".

And on that note, this is simply about U2 specifically.

It's entirely reasonable to consider U2 or U2's new record as shit but it's not reasonable to try to pretend this is about anything other than simply that.
 
ktrivedi said:
Love this.
Bono, Don't Apologize | Graham Milne
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Don't love this part

Maybe the band, all in their mid-50's now, is feeling disconnected from an industry that is chewing up and spitting out acts with increasing frequency and diminishing mercy, mirroring consumer impatience and demand for light-speed gratification. The new generation doesn't have time to invest itself in listening to the nuanced, evolving textures of a complete album when appetites have been slouching towards prepackaged, disposable three-and-a-half minute pop (complete with a healthy dose of booty-shaking) for a few decades now. That's not the music U2 has ever been interested in making, and even their misguided venture down that pothole-filled road, 1997's Pop, could not stray too far from the earnestness and straining for spiritual truth that marks their entire output.
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1. First and foremost, the author completely did not understand POP.

2. While I agree about most modern music listening behavior, I think it's a pretty lazy thing to paint an entire "new generation" that way.

All generations have a minority of more sophisticated listeners and the majority are your basic poppy heads (top40, etc.). It's just maybe there are fewer of the former and more of the latter than it used to be (as an overall %). In that sense it's more like 1955 or 1965 than 1975 or 1995. Singles culture. That doesn't have to be a bad thing. Pop music today is great, as good as it has been in my lifetime. Album rock, OTOH, is on life support. Not in necessarily in quality...just literally in quantity and impact.

At the same time, it's harder for corporate cookie cutter bullshit to be force-fed to the masses and ultimately pollute album rock. So, there is always a give and take. In some ways, we pay the price for Poison/Warrant and Nickelback/Creed even to this day. Because we don't want major label hacks dictating what rock music should be. And we won that battle...but it came with a downside.
 
U2DMfan said:
Thanks for responding. I am late in replying...

So surely you'd agree it is entirely about the specific content? It's not about anything else. It's not about a principle of any kind. And it's not about free music itself that has invaded their space. Because there is every chance that if Artist X gave that person free music they would not have recoiled in such disgust. It's merely a subjective want. "Don't clutter my shit with your shit".

And on that note, this is simply about U2 specifically.

It's entirely reasonable to consider U2 or U2's new record as shit but it's not reasonable to try to pretend this is about anything other than simply that.
Click to expand...

Yes, but you're assuming that everyone who objects to this objects simply because they don't like U2. I'm not willing to assume that everyone who has a problem with this is making their judgement based on hatred of U2 and irrationality...I think there are people who genuinely have a problem with unwanted content being put in their iTunes library no matter what it is.

I'm not sure what's so difficult about that...some people just don't like the idea on principle, nor the precedent it sets.

But really, as you said, just replying as a courtesy (as I'm sure you were) I made my comment several days ago, and this discussion is played, really don't have much desire to get back to into it, it's starting to give me a headache.
 
Irvine511 said:
it's almost like NLOTH is a lost era for them, other than the tour (which basically became a greatest hits tour), there's absolutely nothing culturally memorable from them between 2004-2014. so they obviously had to do something.
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Don't forget about the Spider-Man musical. I think that was culturally memorable.
 
U2 win, because they released an album 5-6 weeks ago and people are still talking about them/it, good and bad.

And just read an article that no album released in 2014 has gone platinum with 1 million copies sold yet. (the best seller is Frozen, released in 2013, which has sold a quite astonishing 3 Million+ in 2014.) Coldplay's is the best seller released in 2014 with 732,000 copies. https://music.yahoo.com/blogs/chart-watch/chart-watch-extra-wanted-a-platinum-album-181237025.html

In comparison, HTDAAB sold 840,000 copies in just one week. What a difference 10 years makes (though that was an astonishing number in 2004 as well).
 
U2DMfan said:
Don't love this part



1. First and foremost, the author completely did not understand POP.

2. While I agree about most modern music listening behavior, I think it's a pretty lazy thing to paint an entire "new generation" that way.

All generations have a minority of more sophisticated listeners and the majority are your basic poppy heads (top40, etc.). It's just maybe there are fewer of the former and more of the latter than it used to be (as an overall %). In that sense it's more like 1955 or 1965 than 1975 or 1995. Singles culture. That doesn't have to be a bad thing. Pop music today is great, as good as it has been in my lifetime. Album rock, OTOH, is on life support. Not in necessarily in quality...just literally in quantity and impact.

At the same time, it's harder for corporate cookie cutter bullshit to be force-fed to the masses and ultimately pollute album rock. So, there is always a give and take. In some ways, we pay the price for Poison/Warrant and Nickelback/Creed even to this day. Because we don't want major label hacks dictating what rock music should be. And we won that battle...but it came with a downside.
Click to expand...

As usual you post some the best comments on this site.

There’s always been crappy music, there always will be. The difference is the consumption. For so long, the album has been king. Even when a single hit big, people would go out and buy the album that had the single on it.

iTunes changed that. The single became king. So now Jessie J might get 1 million downloads of her song, but she opens up with first week sales of 30k of her full album.

Now with streaming, it is completely shattering even that. People are listening to bits and pieces here and there. Lots of people will listen to just part of song and skip to another. You can forget about an entire album being listened to from beginning to end, let alone an album like SOI that is what most people would agree is a “grower”. Most good albums are growers, which means many of the best albums get tossed aside after a cursory listen of skipping through a few tracks.

Bottom line. The band did something revolutionary. It will be talked about for years to come in the industry. It will be a platform for others to emulate to a certain extent, tweaking it, to make it their own, but it definitely has made an impression.

Because lets face it. When artists see that 26 million people (now I’m sure closer to 30) million people have downloaded U2’s album, and millions more have streamed it, they will have to take a step back and think a bit about what this new shift in the industry means.
 
Anyone see 8 out of 10 Cats in the UK Monday night? One of my favourite programmes normally but the comedians made themselves look stupid by jumping on the U2/Apple/"apology" from Bono bashing bandwagon.

It's all misquotes and taken out of context this whole thing.

I hear the band didn't get paid USD 100 million for the Apple deal, that facebook session was a fan thing and Bono's "apology" was meant as tongue in cheek from my vantage point.

But they slagged Bono off, took that facebook thing way too seriously and re-quoted the misquote about money.

Made the comedians and Jimmy Carr look like cynical idiots. Their loss.

But shows you how the public can be manipulated.
 
On the iheartradio interview Bono confirmed he wasnt saying sorry for the apple patnership. He said that the band were very proud of it.

He said he was saying sorry to the woman who asked the question becasue she was annonyed,not why she was annoyed!
 
I think this is the first time a non-apology of "I'm sorry you were offended annoyed" has actually been appropriate!
 
First time forum poster. Rennowba : a u2 & Albion fan ?. Just like me mate !.

As for the apologies. Bono keeps changing his mind in nearly every interview. Love the band to bits, but he really does not help, especially here in the UK. I have lots of friends who will not even give the album a chance after the Apple stunt & general dislike of all things Bono.

Which is a real shame, as like many other people on here, I believe the album is a pretty strong piece of work.
 
jakehu said:
As for the apologies. Bono keeps changing his mind in nearly every interview. Love the band to bits, but he really does not help, especially here in the UK. I have lots of friends who will not even give the album a chance after the Apple stunt & general dislike of all things Bono.
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Bono is all over the place right now (a bit like his hairline, har har). This is what people who have been loosely following this shambles are probably thinking: Did the dude apologize? If he did, was it sincere or tongue-in-cheek? Why is he talking about milk bottles in your fridge/doormat? WHAT IS THE WANKER TRYING TO SAY??!! Bono could do with a little guiding right now. Paul McG should take him over to one side and say...oh wait.
 
jakehu said:
First time forum poster. Rennowba : a u2 & Albion fan ?. Just like me mate !.



As for the apologies. Bono keeps changing his mind in nearly every interview. Love the band to bits, but he really does not help, especially here in the UK. I have lots of friends who will not even give the album a chance after the Apple stunt & general dislike of all things Bono.



Which is a real shame, as like many other people on here, I believe the album is a pretty strong piece of work.
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But he hasn't even apologised?


Sent from my iPad using U2 Interference
 
Here's an idea: let's all edit the real response, the one that Kimmel showed, to cut out Kimmel's comedy bits, and upload it to as many YouTube and other hosting sites as we can, paste it all over Facebook and everywhere and send it to radio stations. Call it "the REAL U2 Facebook Q&A" It'll gain traction and become the new truth.

U2 Says Fuck You To The Haters

I love it.


Sent from my ass crack
 
KUEFC09U2 said:
But he hasn't even apologised?


Sent from my iPad using U2 Interference
Click to expand...

Agreed, its not an apology. It was more of a general point in the way the band & Bono in particular are being perceived in the media in the UK when asked questions about the Apple download. He is all over the place & whatever message he is trying to get across has not worked from what I have seen or heard.

Being a U2 fan in the UK, you get pretty used to a negative reaction, but this is something else entirely.
 
jakehu said:
First time forum poster. Rennowba : a u2 & Albion fan ?. Just like me mate !.

As for the apologies. Bono keeps changing his mind in nearly every interview. Love the band to bits, but he really does not help, especially here in the UK. I have lots of friends who will not even give the album a chance after the Apple stunt & general dislike of all things Bono.

Which is a real shame, as like many other people on here, I believe the album is a pretty strong piece of work.
Click to expand...
The UK is one cynical place to be living in right now. The politics and the slant of the generally right wing press is very off putting. Then you get the know it all "trendy" left wing press epitomized by the likes of the guardian who think it's fashionable to bash all things u2. It's really boring and to be honest, who cares what the British public think? This album is a belter and I can't wait until the tour. History will judge this u2 period positively.
 
Who cares? It accomplished exactly what the band and management wanted it to accomplish. If you think about this period between NLOTH and today... There was Songs of Ascent. Then there were three albums. Then there was talk of break up. Then there was one album with Danger Mouse. Then Invisible debuts during the Super Bowl and does little. Then there were multiple producers.

This is a band concerned about relevancy and can't seem to solve the age issue. Bono has said two bad albums in a row and you're done, and I think they really feared that. You can tell they feel NLOTH didn't work by the way most of it's songs were dropped from the 360 Tour's later legs. So there was real fear of Songs of Ascent failing and losing relevancy.

And so after many attempts and iterations in the next 5 years (2009-2014) that culminated with Invisible's "flop" last winter, the band figured out a way to avoid the issue. It's frickin' BRILLIANT if you think about it. Give it away for free and you completely skip any discussion of "flop" on the charts, right? It debuted at #9 on the Billboard 200, the lowest since, what, War? But so what because 81 MILLION people own it and that's what charts are really supposed to represent anyway.

No one's figured this out yet, but this is absolutely revolutionary and U2 completely solved their relevancy issue by completely skipping it. Absolute brilliance; fallout be damned. No one will care about that when they hit the road, which is what its all about anyway.

This is New Coke and it may take the public as long to figure it out.
 
All that I and the other non trolly detractors of the release method have really stated is that it was a little obnoxious to have it automatically added to everyone's libraries without having them actually have to access it first.

Bono has now stated that it wasn't supposed to do that, cause it's a little obnoxious.

So I think that's that, really.

The free aspect and opening it up to as many people as they could was a great great idea. The execution was a little FUBARed. That is all.
 
Yep. And that it was that FUBARed execution that dominated the key initial 24hr news cycle - which is where the real fuck up lay.
 
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