Best Song Survivor: Atomic Bomb, Round Four

[LemonMelon]

HTDAAB sounds like a rock band covering ATYCLB. It's a shame, because there are so many fun rockers they had lying around that they could have used instead of the more generic stuff.

 

[intedomine]

Hoping others will join me in a Coalition of the Killing against Love and Peace or Else next round?

Would love it to piss off before Crumbs and Man & Woman

 

[digitize]

I don't care what the hell dies next as long as it's not COBL or AMAAW.

 

[Axver]

Soon as OOTS perishes, I will move on to the borefest that is SYCMIOYO. It's so far beneath the other tracks it's not funny.

 

[Globo14]

I like OOTS. Especially that version they did in Milan.

 

[FlyontheHorizon]

Hoping others will join me in a Coalition of the Killing against Love and Peace or Else next round?

Would love it to piss off before Crumbs and Man & Woman

Yes. I've been voting Love & Peace for four rounds now.

 

[digitize]

Come on... two more votes for Crumbs...

 

[LemonMelon]

If someone ties it, I don't really care. As long as OOTS dies.

 

[Axver]

Thank god, Crumbs lives to fight another day and OOTS perishes. A victory for halfway decent taste.

Alas, I'm resigned to Crumbs perishing next round rather than SYCMIOYO. I don't know what people see in SYCMIOYO.

 

[No spoken words]

Thank god, Crumbs lives to fight another day and OOTS perishes. A victory for halfway decent taste.

Alas, I'm resigned to Crumbs perishing next round rather than SYCMIOYO. I don't know what people see in SYCMIOYO.

Axver and NSW together, now you know you in trouble......

 

[LemonMirrorSky]

I still don't get why Bomb is hated so much. It was very well received by critics and won nine Grammy awards. If the albums is as some people call it"U2 at their most U2ish" then shouldn't it be well liked by members of this forum?

See below:

The biggest complaint I have about Atomic Bomb is that... it tries very hard to be this perfect U2 album. But it ends up being an ostentatious display of every possible U2 cliche that we may know about.

Besides, when did the Grammy awards become an arbiter of good taste?? They have always celebrated the most watered down records of any artist.

 

[nbelcik]

So U2 doing what U2 does best is bad? Bomb received great critical reception and it's one of U2's most popular albums. I find it so weird that it is hated on this forum, while outside of U2's biggest fans it is loved.

 

[LemonMirrorSky]

So U2 doing what U2 does best is bad? Bomb received great critical reception and it's one of U2's most popular albums. I find it so weird that it is hated on this forum, while outside of U2's biggest fans it is loved.

U2's casual fans have no taste.

 

[LemonMelon]

I don't think HTDAAB is U2 doing what they do best. U2 has always been the best band around when they stretched themselves to the breaking point and lived on the cutting edge. When they start to get too bloated and complacent is when they need to change gears.

 

[LemonMirrorSky]

Yea exactly, they were most interesting when they stretched their creative limits on records like The Unforgettable Fire, The Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby, Zooropa and Pop. I actually don't mind ATYCLB also all that much. It was a new interesting direction for them.

Whereas when they became bloated and overconfident, we got Rattle And Hum and HTDAAB.

That said, R&H at least had some brilliant studio songs. Bomb is quite mediocre.

 

[Vlaco]

Yea exactly, they were most interesting when they stretched their creative limits on records like The Unforgettable Fire, The Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby, Zooropa and Pop. I actually don't mind ATYCLB also all that much. It was a new interesting direction for them.

Whereas when they became bloated and overconfident, we got Rattle And Hum and HTDAAB.

That said, R&H at least had some brilliant studio songs. Bomb is quite mediocre.

I agree with almost anything you say here. Although I don't think Bomb is quite mediocre, I think it's quite bad.

 

[nbelcik]

Critical reception to Bomb was extremely positive, most critics consider it one of U2's best albums. It was very successful sales-wise and the tour was successful. In the outside world it is considered a very good album. I find it so strange that it's hated here. Sure some of the lyrics are crappy, but overall it's a good album. It has classic songs like SYCMIOYO and COBL. Even Vertigo is a good rock song.

 

[Galeongirl]

How is SYCMIOYO a classic? Sure, it's nice Bono wrote a song for his dad, and it's an okay song... but it's not all that great.

Vertigo is a fun song, but it's generic pop rock to me. It has no serious value. Now if you hear Native Son on the other hand... those lyrics mean something. Yet Vertigo is a bunch of dribble in lyrical terms. Sure I enjoy it live, but it's not a classic at all.

 

[nielsgov]

Does a song need to have great lyrics to be a classic?

And I'm not saying Vertigo s a classic.

 

[Nick66]

Vertigo is better because it's not carrying the wait of U2's political agenda on it. The wisely concluded that a song about a cop killer (if that's indeed what it's about) wasn't going to electrify the airwaves, no matter how catchy the chord. I'm not a Vertigo fan, but it's a far better song than Native Son, something that's also clear to the band.

Sometimes a fun rock song is just a fun rock song...and lots, if not most, rock songs that are considered "classics" are not about weighty subjects or particularly literate lyrics.