The Best Albums of 2014 According to 19 People on a U2 Sub-Forum
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The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
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cobl04
45:33
LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
It's #8.
Edit: So nice it needed to be said twice. One of the placements I'm really happy with.
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martha
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Nm
LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
Hopefully they release a better album next time.
Vlad n U 2
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Maybe to avoid this next time any U2 nomination should be disregarded because rating a U2 album on a U2 forum is just too risky and unacceptable.
LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
I believe it would be fairer to everyone if we force the handful that dislike SOI to conform than it would be to inconvenience the majority with an unusual opinion any longer. Invasive cranial surgery perhaps?
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Vlad n U 2
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I was actually thinking we should do the other way round, but that's just me.
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cobl04
45:33
I really don't care. It was always going to do well. I just don't like it very much. No biggie
mikal
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I'm pleased on where it ended up in the rankings but you do have a point. U2 albums here (for good reason because this is a U2 forum) just sparks such strong emotions and microscopic analysis on both sides of the spectrum, much more compared to the other albums released. I voted it #1 because it was my favorite album of 2014, so nothing skewed there. But some of the people who dislike the album have gone out of their way to voice it so many times that the opinion loses authenticity after a while because if it were any other album by any other band, they'd probably just move on and not talk about it.
Great example. I didn't really care for the St Vincent or Sun Kill Moon albums, but you won't see me insulting the people that voted for it.
Overall, that's just what Interference has become. If you like what U2 released, you must be blind and you'll probably change your mind years from now. If you don't like what U2 released, you're a hater/troll. There doesn't seem to be much middle ground anymore.
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lazarus
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The absence of the Ex Hex album from this list is a mark of shame on this forum.
Wow, don't get so personally offended. You've listened to a lot of albums this year, so I'd have thought you'd sympathise - even if you disagree - with the idea that there's a hell of a lot happening out there that's more interesting and enjoyable than a late career blip by some stadium rockers whose past glories somehow seem more relevant right now than anything new they may do.
I'm sorry if my posts come across that way, because I'm more just surprised than anything. I think I've generally stayed out of SOI discussions - I'm already at the point where I think "oh yeah, U2 did release an album last year didn't they?" I don't dislike it as much as it simply didn't grab my interest very strongly, especially not after the initial surprise wore off and I'd listened to Cedarwood Road and The Troubles enough to slake what remaining thirst I have for new U2.
I can't escape the feeling that the traditional "Interference overrating a new U2 album" thing has been represented in this outcome to a degree, in the same way as a new album has always done well in its first Survivor on EYKIW before plummeting in later editions. I say this as somebody who definitely got really enthusiastic and swept up in the excitement about the previous two U2 albums, only for that to wear off and those two albums to sink like stones. I actually think SOI, in the long run, will fare better with me because I've had a less excessive, more measured reaction to it. I don't have much to kneejerk against in the future, you know?
End of the day, in almost all of these rankings, I've found most highly-ranked albums to be mediocre or uninteresting to me (I remain surprised that this time around the #1 album is one I've played the shit out of the past couple of months). It's just this time one of those albums is by a band on which I have a strong enough opinion to write more than a "meh".
LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
In fairness, it does come up an awful lot because, hey, this is a U2 board. Tough to just let it go if the album is mentioned regularly.
It's a lot easier to post here if you enjoy U2's new music. That's why I think it's bullshit to accuse people of wanting to hate U2. It's really a pain in the ass to post anywhere but Lemonade Stand if you don't care for their new music. The board as a whole was more fun for me during the NLOTH era.
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bono_212
Blue Crack Distributor
It doesn't feel easy at all, hence:
It's old. And it's nothing new here. This same thing happened when people rated NLOTH highly in the end of year poll. I'm not personally offended, I'm being sincere. I'm glad we can just move on to something else now that 2014 is officially in the Interference books. As Mikal pointed out, the hate/love debate was tedious and old very quickly. It just keeps going. Talking about U2 on the U2 message board isn't fun anymore and frankly that's pretty sad.
And even in your post where you're trying to kinda be conciliatory, you still refer to it as a "blip", to which I very much disagree, cause, yeah, I did hear a lot of albums. At least 142, not including EPs and things I forgot to rate...
...I still put at SOI at #7. Even if there's a lot of other stuff out there to hear, I still think U2 is the greatest band of all time. So, yeah, even their *blip* material is better than most stuff, IMO.
But, seriously, I really was being sincere, this is the last time I intend to talk about SOI in this part of the forum. But I didn't want to leave your post unresponded to, since you sorta directly asked me a question.
No kidding. It's ridiculous how many times I've been asked why I even post on Interference, as if my general disinterest (I reiterate: disinterest, not dislike) in modern U2 means that I now hate all their previous work, that I don't have friends here, and definitely that the band never ever meant anything significant to me.
Your post certainly read like a lot of personal offence, what with the holy shits and all.
Anyway, I know you said you're done, but I can't help replying to/clarifying one thing - and I'm happy to continue discussing the topic with anybody else, since I think I've generally sat on the wings of SOI discussion for a while now:
I meant that in the sense that this is an album that mainly got attention for its release method (which I thought was an astonishing degree of unjustifiable butthurt), and it's safe to say that when people go to the concert or choose a U2 song to put on at home or request on the radio or whatever, they're hanging out for Pride or WOWY or Beautiful Day rather than The Miracle (Of Pissing Off B&C One Album Poll at a Time). In that sense, yeah, it was a blip.
LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
I co-sign this so hard I'm going through the paper. Holy fuck, the internet is full of entitled crybabies.
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bono_212
Blue Crack Distributor
I thought it was just kinda common knowledge that I use holy shit as a replacement for the exclamation point, by now. I know it's common to lean on the excuse that stuff doesn't translate well through text, but that's basically the situation here.
You may not be familiar but basically this is me on a regular basis when I'm just astounded/baffled by something @55:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=makeONYZfXM
Enjoying SOI in B&C = A quest for fun.
You may not be familiar but basically this is me on a regular basis when I'm just astounded/baffled by something @55:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=makeONYZfXM
Enjoying SOI in B&C = A quest for fun.
IWasBored
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I don't give a shit if mikal and 212er gave it a lot of points, a little, or somewhere in between. Call it elitist or whatever, but I'll give them a pass because at least I know they had a ton of other music to weigh it against. 212er particularly, we know what metric fuckton of albums--not trying to get into THAT debate again, so please don't interpret it as such--she listens to, so it just seemed strange to me that SOI ranked so high for some people. The impression I got from the shuttlecock thread wasn't "album of the year." It was a "hey, still a favorite band for most people here, let's have fun analyzing the fuck out of it" with a pretty nice mixed bag of opinions ranging between love and hate on the album, the individual songs, the b-side extra tracks, release hype, etc. sometimes the opinions of all those elements ran the gamut of :up to 
in the same post.
Purpleoscar*, who dropped his list into the thread like afliktor in the last DI, is another story. That's some nonsense right there, and I can't take his list seriously like I don't take it seriously when a username I don't know shows up and makes a thread here with "hot new band what do u guys think?? I think they remind me of U2!!" somewhere in the post.
*he may very well be the only non-regular who played, I didn't keep track. I didn't even make a list. So whatever.
in the same post. Purpleoscar*, who dropped his list into the thread like afliktor in the last DI, is another story. That's some nonsense right there, and I can't take his list seriously like I don't take it seriously when a username I don't know shows up and makes a thread here with "hot new band what do u guys think?? I think they remind me of U2!!" somewhere in the post.
*he may very well be the only non-regular who played, I didn't keep track. I didn't even make a list. So whatever.
IWasBored
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It was a really amazing example of first world problems, that's for sure.
mikal
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Not even directing my post at you or LM, more about the big picture state of Interference in general and how there just seems to be no middle ground. I think it's as hard for someone that likes the album to post here as someone who dislikes it. For every "why do you even post here?" there seems to be as many "oh your love for the album will wear off" comments. Like 212 said, it's just not enjoyable to discuss U2 here anymore because you constantly feel like you have to defend your position...and I think this applies to members on both sides of the spectrum.
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I guess the U2 placement is surprising because it didn't appear high in most lists, but it ended up being #1 in a few submissions, which ends up distorting the results.
Next time we should introduce a standard deviation measure in the best-of-year list. My guess: U2 would have the highest, War on Drugs would have the lowest of the top-20.
Next time we should introduce a standard deviation measure in the best-of-year list. My guess: U2 would have the highest, War on Drugs would have the lowest of the top-20.
Hewson
Blue Crack Supplier
Ha loved the Mount Temple stuff. Nice work Cobbler
Yeah, it was like he never left us. Good work.
Hewson
Blue Crack Supplier
But you're going to have to go through it all again in 2015 with Songs of Experience.
And then again in 2016 with Songs of Ascent
Then in 2017 with Songs of Schwinn.
And 2018 with Songs of Leo
And in 2019 with Songs of Sunglasses
until 2020 when Larry quits.
Then the (bi)cycle Starts again in 2021 when the band reforms with Leo on drums and releases Songs of Larry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRNfGS8HnKo
And 2018 with Songs of Leo
And in 2019 with Songs of Sunglasses
until 2020 when Larry quits.
Then the (bi)cycle Starts again in 2021 when the band reforms with Leo on drums and releases Songs of Larry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRNfGS8HnKo
mikal
Blue Crack Addict
Songs Of Leo will win a Grammy. I'm calling it.
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Hewson
Blue Crack Supplier
And Leo will deck Kanye when he comes on stage to protest that it beat out Solange's album.
david
ONE love, blood, life
Of my 15 years as a member here and of the four U2 albums released during that time I feel the post Songs of Innocence excitement and discussion has died down a tremendous amount. Maybe it will pick up again once the tour starts up.
prbiker15
Blue Crack Addict
It was going to die down eventually, which is fine with me.
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