do you hate ATYCLB?are u2 still rock&roll?

[The Sage]

I just saw a feature in Total Guitar Magazine where they list 10 reasons why The Edge IS a great guitar player.

They were really nice about him in that article...I love that 'hating the blues' bit

I really think Edge saved U2 in the JT/R&H day...music from R&H especially is bluesy/american enough but withouht The Edge's influence I think Bono would have gone completely mad...R&H would have consisted entirely of duelling banjos, the blues/roots music and songs about pioneers and america-worship...

Well maybe not quite that bad lol but I did read that Bono wanted to make JT a double album with a second disc of 'rootsy americana', but Edge managed to talk him out of it...when I saw that my opinion of Bono went down somewhat, and my opinion of Edge would have gone up except I think if it went up any higher it really would be at religious level

Sure, he may not be the greatest technical guitarist ever, but IMHO you can keep your Hendrixes and Claptons (not that they were and are not amazing guitarists), The Edge with his beautiful and understated guitar melodies has had a major part in the creation of some of the greatest songs ever written. A guitar part doesn't need to be insanely complicated and impossible to be amazing (thank god). Give me an Edge solo over any other any day. Less is more.

 

[The Sage]

Oops, just remembered this is a discussion about ATYCLB...sorry

 

[david]

Well maybe not quite that bad lol but I did read that Bono wanted to make JT a double album with a second disc of 'rootsy americana', but Edge managed to talk him out of it...when I saw that my opinion of Bono went down somewhat, and my opinion of Edge would have gone up except I think if it went up any higher it really would be at religious level

A lot of songs that were going to be on the double Joshua Tree album do exist, they ended up becoming b-sides.

 

[shaun vox]

ok does any one know if edge has a HOME STUDIO?
hes got the $$$ (you know where he goes and practices his guitar) there is always room for improvement!how many hours a day do you think he plays the guitar or does he just pickup the guitar when ever he goes to the studio. i never payed much attention to edges sound before but whould like some one to answer these questions. thanks.
i would like to see a pic of edges home studio.(most of my fave guitar players have one ex slash

hendrix VS edge ,guitar battle who do you think will win?
is it fair to put edge against hendrix?
ok i dont know what the hell im talking about

 

[thrillme]

Think Adam and Edge have a sort of studio setup at their homes. Part of the Joshua Tree was recorded at Adam's house (or his former house, don't remember if he lives in the same house as he did back then. )

U2 do have their own studio, but it's going to be moved.
http://www.atu2.com/news/article.src?ID=2344&Key=studio&Year=&Cat=


Adam and Larry took a year out after the ZooTV tour to improve themselves. I think that shows a level of humility some rock bands don't have.

From reading some of Edge's words, it doesn't seem he is really a fan of heavy metal music, so I guess he would not emulate or add it to his style of guitar playing. Gymnastics on the guitar, I think he called it.

 

[BluberryPoptart]

Yes Edge has a home studio.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

does it really matter if Edge has a home guitar studio? i'm sure he does, being a rich, succesful guitar player and all... but what the hell? how many hours a day does he practice??? who gives a poop. what does that have to do with "are u2 still rock & roll?"

and no... it's not fair to put edge up against hendrix... it's not fair to put anyone up against hendrix. hendrix is hendrix. just because someone isn't as good as probably the greatest guitar player to ever live doesn't make them a bad guitar player.

 

[wavesofregret]

Umm. What Im trying to say, not very successfully by the sound of it is:

People have the right to say they dont like ATYCLB

AND

People have the right to say they love ATYCLB

BUT

No one has the right to tell anyone on either side to shut up.

Hope it makes sense this time.

It makes sense but it doesn't always apply. For example the Pop naysayers all got shouted down, insulted and finally had to shut up. Even J.

 

[U2junkie]

Wow.....guess I'd have to say I'm a bit shocked at this one (so many not liking ATYCLB). I think it's truely some of their best work ........both in medoldy and the lyrics. Now PoP.....I could have done without. Actually Joshua Tree and ATYCLB are my two favorite records....

Oh, I'm sorry for you "youngins" who don't know what a "record" is ........it's now known as a CD and comes in a much smaller rounded circle now.U2 are "old" guys? Well, guess that makes me old too!
'But, being the same age as the band, I've been able to see them in concerts for
a while now. I've been able to see them evolve with experience and grow musically. After all, as Bono once said, "If it 's not what interests them, it's going to end up as bull...t for "you"". And, as Adam once said " Don't expect the band that gave you the Joshua Tree, (when Zoo TV tour came).

So, you have to understand, these guys
go with what's in their hearts to do...and I believe they've earned the right to do it. They're not "followers"...
They're their own person(s) with their own expectations of themselves. And if their not happy, well I believe they'll then call it quits. As for AYCLB being "Crap" record/album/CD......everyone's entitled to their opinion, however, I don't think the majority of those in the industry would agree with you, as that CD/album took some nice awards, one
song became the theme song for the olympics, and they gave one of the best
half time performances in recent history during the superbowl.

So, are they still Rock 'n Rollers at the top? You can bet your last buck on it, because I believe "you" will be looking for a ticket to the next tour when they come around again.........and you're going to need those bucks to get a ticket.

 

[TheBrazilianFly]

From reading some of Edge's words, it doesn't seem he is really a fan of heavy metal music, so I guess he would not emulate or add it to his style of guitar playing. Gymnastics on the guitar, I think he called it.

I'm sorry but I don't think I have ever read The Edge saying he doesn?t like Heavy Metal. The people on U2 don't have this kinds of prejudices (one of the reasons why I love them), they like good music, I think that if Edge thinks a song is good than that's it, I don't think he cares what genre it is. What he doesn?t like is exhibitionism, adding mindless solos just to show off. That's what he doesn't like. And what pisses me off is when someone links one thing to the other, mindless solos with heavy metal just because solos are a famous characteristic of this genre. Sorry but that?s stupid and I hate stereotypes! And by the way songs like Bullet The Blue Sky, Last Night On Earth, The Fly, Until The End Of The World all have some heavy metal characteristics in them.

To shaun vox: Yeah, I believe The Edge has a home studio, he has said something about it before, don?t remember when or where. Many musicians have. Damn, if I could I would have one. But what if he didn't? Would that make him a not so good guitar player? If your answer is yes than I don?t think I can really give you my answer here...

PS: U2 is going to blow your minds when the next record come out because of how rock n? roll and aggressive it will be. And I?ll be so happy when I show those songs to the people I know that don't think U2 can do many harder or heavier songs..... it's going to be great.

 

[beli]

It makes sense but it doesn't always apply. For example the Pop naysayers all got shouted down, insulted and finally had to shut up. Even J.

The Pop naysayers in this thread? Again, I believe people may be refering to previous threads.

It does make sense and it should ALWAYS apply.

I cannot believe Im having to justify peoples rights to have a discussion.

This is very disturbing (IMHO). I will no longer take part in this thread.

 

[Flying FuManchu]

Edge doesn't care for/ like heavy metal as indicated from his Achtung Baby period. I don't know what his opinions are now considering he seems to like Tom Morello who is pretty heavy and linked to metal.

I remember reading it in the Flanagan book where he clearly states a negative opinion of heavy metal.

Since the book is on my table, Edge says...

"I think that's probably what's happened to Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page. So many of their strong ideas have been taken up by other guitar players in other bands and the result is some pretty awful music. Heavy metal for one."

I'm sure some U2 fans will take this as gospel/ encouragement to a strange opinion on why fast and complicated guitar music sucks.... LOL

 

[Flying FuManchu]

I have no problem with simplicity in U2's music. Its just that I hope for more in their future albums or their guitar work. It doesn't have to be "complicated" to be good. I enjoyed In A Little While very much and its fairly simple song in terms of guitar play/ sound. Same with Stuck in a Moment. Its just that the album gets boring in a while b/c its plain. I listen to stuff from Joshua Tree, Achtung, Pop, and hear stuff in the guitar parts that get me thinking. Thats why I mentioned the little mini solo in When I Look at the World... sounds simple in terms of technique but its interesting b/c of the layers he adds through I'm assuming his wah/ effects unit. Or at least make it more catchy like Beautiful Day (the guitar parts). Walk On and Kite suffered from some boring riffs although they are decent songs.

 

[TheBrazilianFly]

I'm sure some U2 fans will take this as gospel/ encouragement to a strange opinion on why fast and complicated guitar music sucks.... LOL

Oh well, thanks for that then.

 

[Flying FuManchu]

I love reading negative opinions on U2 or their music b/c it opens my mind up to a thought process/ opinion unlike my own.

So the haters, please keep it coming. A lovefest in a music forum would be pretty boring IMO.

 

[wavesofregret]

The Pop naysayers in this thread? Again, I believe people may be refering to previous threads.

It does make sense and it should ALWAYS apply.

I cannot believe Im having to justify peoples rights to have a discussion.

This is very disturbing (IMHO). I will no longer take part in this thread.

No, I was talking about things that happened a long time ago.

 

[wolfeden]

Eesh...

Okay, my US$0.02......
Confession: I got scared off by Zooropa. Lemon made me want to curl up an a ball and die. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, after UF, JT and AB had been so huge in my life. The Fly had been okay, if a bit jarring for someone who cut their teeth on the Pride video, but MacPhisto and the giant lemon a la Spinal Tap and so on... It only seemed to get worse from there. I became bitter and catty about U2, having to hide my blush when I'd get reminded "You used to be so into them!". And I allowed my disillusionment to get the best of me. I didn't even buy Pop until recently. I went looking for the 'spirit of U2' in other bands and found some that came close (oddly, there always seemed to be an Eno or Lanois connection, as in James or The Tea Party..), but even in 2000 when ATYCLB came out, and I read a review that simply said "This is a record that will make old U2 fans very very happy." I gave Beautiful Day half a listen, heard the few short seconds of Edge's familiar ringing guitar tones..... and shrugged and walked away again, but the fault lay within me, not the album.

Cut to the 1-year anniversary of 9/11, and Electrical Storm was released. It grabbed me by the spine and sent shocks all through me... burning away all that pent-up anger and disgust at what I thought the band had become... showed me just how bullheaded and wrong I had been.
Walk On, performed for the Tribute to Heroes benefit, even more so.

So here I am in 2004, in an unique position of working backwards from ATYCLB and The Hands That Built America, back through Pop and yes, even to the dreaded Zooropa where I'd left off in the first place.
Rediscovering the band that had hooked me 20 years earlier..... feels so strange.

I still don't like Zooropa very much. I likely never will.
But it did what it was meant to do, if what Paul McGuinness says is true -- that while they do appreciate it when "older fans" (get me my walking stick and dentures, huh?) stay on board, each album is meant for a new audience, to attract new people, not to placate the dinosaurs like myself.

Just because I came to U2 from the Unforgettable Fire-era, doesn't give me any sort of right to sneer at or bash people who became U2 fans after Zooropa, or after Pop, or after friggin YESTERDAY MORNING for all it matters. What makes me roll my eyes and murmur "ugh" under my breath may be the song that means the world to someone else.
Yeah, it took me time to appreciate the joke of Discotheque. But -- I get it now. And it's all good.

It's all good.

 

[RockNRollDawgie]

given u2 are not great musicians(ex not very skilled with their instruments) they have made some impact. can you imagin what they would be if edge was as skilled as jimmy hendrix.

Yep you hit the nail on the head. U2 suck as musicians.
LOL!!!!
It's very simple......watch this.
It's J........I......M......I. Put that together, and you have
Jimi. It is Jimi Hendrix, not Jimmy. Unless you mean Jimmy
Page?

 

[shaun vox]

oh fuck ya im a jimmy page fan(led zeppelin) so i spelled it that way (thanks for doing spell check for me)
i wont say u2 suck as musicians but compared to led zeppelin,acdc, gn'r, hendrix,velvet revolver and even the darkness u2 arnt that good with their instruments, lyrically u2 are one of the best(thanks to bono)! if you dont know what im talking about go get led zeppelin live, or acdc live, or just go to one of the darkness shows.

 

[TheBrazilianFly]

oh fuck ya im a jimmy page fan(led zeppelin) so i spelled it that way (thanks for doing spell check for me)
i wont say u2 suck as musicians but compared to led zeppelin,acdc, gn'r, hendrix,velvet revolver and even the darkness u2 arnt that good with their instruments, lyrically u2 are one of the best(thanks to bono)! if you dont know what im talking about go get led zeppelin live, or acdc live, or just go to one of the darkness shows.

Wow, you should stop and think a little before you write something. AC/DC stuff is really easy to play, tabs are not even necessary. And the solos are great but not all that complicated too but even if they were that wouldn?t do much difference, what's important is that they sound good, that's all. AC/DC is an example of how much you can do with very little and U2 is like that too but their musical skill are bigger and they have proven that in their albums. I have The Darkness cd and you either didn't listen to the whole cd or you never heard more than a few U2 songs. U2's songwriting ability is ten thousand times better than The Darkness'. The Darkness album is really repetitive stuff, very simple and easy stuff, it?s just the same old riffs any other band out there comes up with. Can you compare the riff of I Believe In A Thing Called Love with the riff on I Will Follow? I don?t think so. Can you compare the amazingness of The Electric Co. with anything on The Darkness? album? Sorry but you can?t. Take Boy and listen to it and you will find a lot interesting and very original things The Edge did in that record. Then you take the three first records and you don't even have to pay much attention to realize that Larry and Adam are a billion times better and can play a lot better and more intricate stuff than the rhythm section of The Darkness and AC/DC. You are assuming The Darkness? guys are better musicians because they have a couple of solos on a single in a time where the songs on MTV don't have many solos. I think that?s awesome too but that doesn't mean that they are great musicians. Not at all because I can improvise better solos!

Guns N? Roses, Led Zeppelin, Hendrix are all really good in what they do but the fact that they can play their instruments really well is not the reason their music is good. You got to pass through that dumb idea. Just because you have the skill doesn?t mean you have the talent. The Edge is a great musician and he has something a lot of people don?t have which is a style of his own, if you think that difficult stuff is what proves that someone is a better musician then listen to The Electric Co., Until The End Of The World, listen to the War album or the many guitars and different ideas on Achtung Baby.

 

[TheFirstBigW]

Yeah, it took me time to appreciate the joke of Discotheque. But -- I get it now. And it's all good.

It's all good.

You've made a great point, which is something that it took a while for me to be able to appreciate myself: just because you can't appreciate a song right now doesn't mean that you won't be able to appreciate it at a later point in your life.

That's why I'd like to encourage everyone to go back every once in a while and listen to the songs that you're teling yourself now that you hate, because you never know when you'll suddenly be able to see it from a different perspective and appreciate it in a whole new way, appreciating it for what it is rather than loading it with the expectations of what you wanted it to be.

 

[U2Kitten]

It's been 7 years, and I still hate Discotheque and the video. "Getting it" is not the thing, I got it a long time ago. I don't LIKE it. So I can understand how some things just aren't your type and never will be. Like they say, if it doesn't float your boat, it just doesn't. But nobody needs to keep harping on it. If there's an album you don't like, listen to a different one. Just because they put out an album you dislike doesn't mean they never will please you again. A lot of people didn't like Zooropa and Pop but liked ATYCLB, so maybe some of you who don't like ATYCLB might like the new record!

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

is this thread still goin?

 

[thrillme]

is this thread still goin?

Hehe, it is now.
------------
Aw really, Discotheque is one of the funniest U2 videos, I think it proved once and for all, that U2 don't take themselves too seriously, and they have, and have had, great senses of humour.

U2kitten, I think Larry may share your opinion on the Discotheque video, since you don't like it, he looks like he'd rather be anywhere but doing that video.

Adam sitting under the discoball, yeah, I know a few girls who liked that.

 

[TheBrazilianFly]

That's why I'd like to encourage everyone to go back every once in a while and listen to the songs that you're teling yourself now that you hate

I always do that. It's great to start liking a song you used to hate. I love when that happens cause they end up being one of my favorites for a long time or maybe forever!

 

[U2Kitten]

Aw really, Discotheque is one of the funniest U2 videos, I think it proved once and for all, that U2 don't take themselves too seriously, and they have, and have had, great senses of humour.

U2kitten, I think Larry may share your opinion on the Discotheque video, since you don't like it, he looks like he'd rather be anywhere but doing that video.

But it wasn't a good thing for them. They were completely out of place and looked stupid, no, not funny, stupid. That's how millions of fans and former fans at that point saw it. People were like, WTF??!! Regardless of if you think they were wrong to see it that way, they did. Therefore, it got the album off to a bad start, and made the band a joke. It took them a long time to overcome the damage. Whether or not you think they should have had to overcome it, they did. Whether or not you hate the fans or the media who dissed it, the legacy that remains is, bad first single, bad first video, bad first impression of the entire CD. If another one had been first, or if this one never existed, who knows how much more successful Pop might have been for the band! I think even some people who like it personally would have to agree with that. Did you ever think how it might have hurt ATYCLB to have the Stuck football version, or the Elevation video, first instead of BD?


Which brings us to the other subject, which single would you have released first? I would go with SATS.

Funny thing about ATYCLB and Pop threads, you can never discuss one without the other. It always turns out that way.

But then again, it doesn't matter. Pop and ATYCLB are in the past, what happened happened, and it doesn't matter now. It's time to look forward to the new one!

 

[The Sage]

the discotheque video is great, Zooropa is one of U2's 2 greatest albums and the darkness are occasionally funny but mostly crap. Therefore my opinions are pretty different from many people's here it seems...

 

[U2Kitten]

I'm sure a lot of people here agree with you. But I'm talking about the fan base as a whole, casual fans too, millions of potential customers, not just a few hundred diehards on a message board who spend too much time analyzing things (I am guilty!)

 

[Chizip]

well, popmart was U2's highest attended tour, so obviously the album couldnt have turned toooooo many people away

 

[U2Kitten]

But look at the sales difference between Pop and ATYCLB the CD's. Also consider it was a bigger tour that went to more places all over the world, which will naturally bring more money. Also consider ticket prices were higher in the late 90's than they were in the 80's or early 90's so naturally they had a higher intake. That's why Star Wars made more than Gone With the Wind, and Titanic made more than Star Wars. Higher price= higher profits. Image the amount of money they'd have made if they had taken Elevation to South and Central America, Japan, Australia, and Israel too. They were on the road for almost a year and a half with Popmart and only a little over 8 months with Elevation. Remember when Elevation ended Europe was hoping for a half promised second leg that never materialized.

What about New Orleans where only 20,000 of 60,000 seats were sold in the Superdome. Or Raliegh, NC where the show was cancelled due to low sales. Those are not U2-like stats. They also lost a lot of the money they made hauling all that stuff for the show all over the world. I think that scared them off from playing more places on Elevation. I hope they come to Australia and S. America and Japan this time (and The Philippines for Jick!)

Why are we still talking about Pop and ATYCLB when we have a new album coming? You all wanted it, now it's reality!