"U2 is like Jesus if he were 4 people, including a hot man in leather pants." - me best mate Alec
That about sums it up, doesn't it?
Okay, really, if U2 never existed - well for starters, no one can say Coldplay. Do you honestly think Coldplay would actually BE AROUND if not for U2? A lot of bands wouldn't be around actually... though frankly I could never consider a band with only two albums the "best band in the world" regardless. It'd have to be a band that's been around for awhile and proven themselves time and time again - the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam (though it's questionable whether or not they'd be around without U2... Vedder used to be a complete Bonophyte), REM, ect... I'd almost say Tool (because I love Tool so damn much) but the fact is they're not commercial enough. It's hard for an "alternative" band to be considered the best, honestly... part of what you have to take into consideration is ubiquity. Someone brought up earlier in this thread the fact that U2 is being played on practically every radio station - classic rock, alternative rock, pop, adult contemporary, college stations... bands like RHCP enjoy this privelage as well (moreso than U2 where I live...I'm not hearing Vertigo on my alt.rock station. It's pissing me off. I'm sick of shit like Three Days Grace and Smile Empty Soul).
My friend JP considers AC/DC the best band ever, though he is a U2 fan (how the hell you can put AC/DC over U2 is beyond me...). Alec says Wilco, after U2 of course. I'm not actually sure if a lot of my other friends could honestly answer a question about who is the best band in the world because a lot of them just listen to the radio or don't listen to rock music at all... for example my friend Eby's favourite artist is Hikaru Utada, a Japanese pop singer (who, surprisingly enough, listed U2 as one of her all-time favourite bands on her website...they're everywhere! you can't get away from them!). My friend Kerry would probably say something like Sum-41... nice little punk band but nowhere near U2...at least it's actually rock music, most people in my school listen to rap (my friend Cody for example, he has very good taste in music, he loves The Beatles, but his favourite "band" is Outkast. I love Outkast, but can they even begin to compare to U2? No). If you say "what's your favourite band?" most kids will look at you funny and say in a retarded ghetto-wannabe voice "DEE-AY, BEE-AY, EN-
DEE!"
Thank God we don't live in a U2less world...because the fact is nothing around today can compare. I'm loving some of these new bands (Interpol, The Killers, Franz Ferdinand) but they have a long way to go... I don't think there will ever be another U2, nor will there ever be another Beatles...the music industry is continuously changing. I'd agree with whoever said rappers are the new rock stars... but rock lives on in bands like U2. It worries me that Bono's vision of The Fly as the last rock star may be a bit too close to the truth...
