Why so many "ooohhhs" on this album?

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thecrackedjack5 said:
Anyone notice that? I love the album, but does Bono have to put some variation of 'oohhhooohhhhooo' of every other bloody song? It kind of grates if you listen to the whole album together.

Just curious if it annoyed anyone else?
Click to expand...

Edge was on Interference and he read all the complaints about
the last two albums only being collections of songs not tied together
thematically.
Edge suggested a recurring motif of numbers appearing in each song.
Bono's contributions, "I'll just go, "oh-oh whoa" in every song.

It sounds great.
 
I find that it becomes a crutch on the album--I do not like it. Works best for me on NLOTH, which I think is the best song and should have been the 1st single--and for me it suggests a lack of ideas lyrically, and a lack of melody in the instrumentation. I find this to be the least melodic of U2 albums.
 
It's Bono. It's what he does. A U2 album wouldn't be complete without "oooohs" and the like.
 
Matthew_Page2000 said:
Edge was on Interference and he read all the complaints about
the last two albums only being collections of songs not tied together
thematically.

Edge suggested a recurring motif of numbers appearing in each song.
Bono's contributions, "I'll just go, "oh-oh whoa" in every song.
Click to expand...

<guffaw>

Very nice.
 
I say bring them on. They all sound great. If the album was worth criticizing, I would be complaining about it. But this thing is so great. The oohs only add to that for me.

Yeah there are a lot of them, but same with their entire catalogue. And they're going to sound great in a stadium.

Didn't Bono once say that rock music was all about vowel sounds?
I tend to agree.
In fact i have the OH Oh OhhhhhhOhhhOhh Ohhhhh from Moment Of Surrender stuck in my head here at work and its making the day much much better. :drool::drool:
 
thecrackedjack5 said:
So are you agreeing with me or not? That's 4 off of Bomb and ATYCLB vs. 6 off of NLOTH I can think of off the top of my head (NLOTH, Magnificent, Unknown Caller, Stand Up Comedy, FEZ-Being Born, White Snow)

So I guess that proves my point. Thanks much! :wave:
Click to expand...

I was just pointing out that Bono's been 'oooh'ing for 33 years now, and has 'oooh'ed all over several albums already. If U2 put out an 'oooh'less album, I'd be more surprised - and disappointed - than having NLOH being 'oooh'ful.


There's a thread: Thread for those who think NLOTH is just plain Ooohful.
 
Last edited:
Out of curiosity I listened to the album again and cut every moment Bono goes "oooah" together. It totals about 4 minutes. Trails off after Crazy Tonight, though.

Whats weird however is that I tried uploading it to youtube for a few days hopefully before taken down, and YT gave me a notice specifically identifying an audio clip from Moment of Surrender by some AudioFix (?) program. Universal must have coordinated either before or after The Leak with YouTube to prevent leaked album tracks from being uploaded. That's an interesting part of the anti-leak strategy I didn't know about.
 
It's a primal sound. It fits every emotion.

Happy song? A happy wail.

angry song? An angry shout.

Sad song? A mournful wail.

It's the all purpose lyric.
 
that's why this thing is built for live performance. the audience chants will be incredible. i'm ready for the stadiums!
 
from the independet UK:
And, before the album's halfway through, you may find yourself wanting to strangle Bono if he does that yelping "Oh-ohhh-ohhhh!" thing one more time.

;)

but if you listen to killers, kings of leon or coldplay...it seems that all of a passion for loads of "ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhs". U2 set a trend many years ago and their young fellows grab it up. or it was Eno who told Coldplay that they should do more "oooooooooooooooooooohs". dunno. thats scary. :lol:
 
Montrose said:
I was just pointing out that Bono's been 'oooh'ing for 33 years now, and has 'oooh'ed all over several albums already. If U2 put out an 'oooh'less album, I'd be more surprised - and disappointed - than having NLOH being 'oooh'ful.


There's a thread: Thread for those who think NLOTH is just plain Ooohful.
Click to expand...

And I understand what your saying. But my main issue is that even when you take that into account, I still think he's overdoing it.

I happen to think they go well with the song NLOTH. But I've counted a total of 7 songs on this album now where it's used and I just think that's going overboard. But, to each his own.
 
It's the theme of the album that's why they called it "no line on the hoooooooooorizon". Yeah though I love bonos 'whoa whoa whoasss' on the title track. That's top oooohhhhhhhhing for me.
 
I was a bit worried about the oooohs before I heard the album, but not anymore.

Bono said once that they are the ultimate expression of joy, it's just what comes naturally to him. It's a primal, elementary expression of passion and emotion.
 
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