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a can of spam, or an itunes song, that was a choice for many in 2009
Songs of Ascent - Part IV
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Yahweh_OMG
New Yorker
dan_smee
ONE love, blood, life
Perhaps we arent seeing the date for brothers soundtrack because B and E are finishing off Winter now, and they want it in the can before details are released. It would be fantastic to have that song out there in a hollywood blockbuster before the album is out. I think that the NLOTH flopped commercially BECAUSE they were searching for the pop hit. Boots, CT both unashamed pop songs, both missed the mark with listeners. Magnificent was a victim of poor marketing. If it had been lead single, it could have been as big as vertigo. I think when the msic public hear Winter (in finished form) they will realise there is still genuine quality in u2's music and not just a dinosaur band trying to churn out hits. Realistically, in the next 3 months, we could have MOS, EBW and Winter generating airplay. That is the makings of a pretty solid little period, and if any of the 3 take off, then SOA will market itself, regardless of how inaccessible it is
monsieur fly
War Child
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Rob33
Rock n' Roll Doggie
EBW generating airplay? Whoa Dan...lets not get TOO carried away now! I would hardly call that realistic...
dan_smee
ONE love, blood, life
EBW generating airplay? Whoa Dan...lets not get TOO carried away now! I would hardly call that realistic...
Only based on the fact weve got numerous quotes saying it will be the 1st single. I, and noone else have any idea if any of it will be popular, but all im saying is, NLOTH removed, the 00's U2 have had some mega singles (BD and Vertigo are huge).
I am just saying, in the way that the public embraced songs like WOWY and One, it isnt always the U2 rockers that are popular, and this new approach may prove to be what reinvents the band in the public eye
roy
Refugee
Maybe Vertigo was the last big U2 single...I mean Magnificent didn't do it, and is Every breaking wave really the single they want ?
If Magnificent was released as the 1st single (and was properly promoted) it would have been a big hit IMO. The 1st release from a new album has been by far the biggest single for U2 over the last decade or so; in general subsequent singles haven't done so well.
An Cat Gav
Rock n' Roll Doggie Band-aid
Niceman
Rock n' Roll Doggie VIP PASS
Magnificent was the biggest flop of a single U2 have ever had: INCLUDING IGCIIDGCT which was the third single and did better than it! So many people on this board don't get it: GOYB and Magnificent may both be good songs but they are crap singles in 2009 for the same reason: They sound like material U2 has already released! And when a band is 30 years old and the public all own at least a half dozen of their albums each you need to give them something new if you want their money!
Maginificent would have done WORSE than Get On Your Boots.
Aygo
Rock n' Roll Doggie
Agreed. That's what I feel from the last-minute hits they force into the albums that break cohesion ["A Man And A Woman", for instance, in HTDAAB's case or "Stand Up Comedy" in NLOTH's case], that U2 is not confident of themselves and that they don't trust in their abilities and that they totally forgot the learnings of almost 30 years in this industry. They mostly forgot that a pop-catchy song is not necessarily a hit (or it may be an instant hit, but it'll be forgotten within 5 years or so) and that weird and atypical songs can turn into huge hits...
...It's just a question of how you present the song to the audiences and to use the "eureka" marketing strategies. U2 seems to have forgot this.
Plus, U2 forget's that U2's sonic landscapes is not even close to what the mainstream general industry/public is looking for anymore... unless you're a new band/artist that's copying the old one's formulas and landscapes.
That's another reason to forget about trying to make something new to appeal to the radios and the mainstream and to focus and to developp what they already got.
Aygo
Rock n' Roll Doggie
Really? I don't know what's happening on the rest of the world but the fact is that across Europe... "Magnificent" may have had poor chart peaks but the truth is that radios and music tv channels still play it... a lot. I have the sensation that although "Magnificent"'s peak was a flop, this is gonna be another U2 classic because of it. And we can see it on the other chart formats: "Magnificent" lasted a considerably amount of time (for a supposed flop) on the charts, although it had a bad peak.
I travel a lot to the UK, Spain, Germany and France and this is the sensation I get. It can be wrong...
Niceman
Rock n' Roll Doggie VIP PASS
I don't have any statistics, but my understanding was that it had very little air-play and chart ranking: the worst of any U2 single in decades.....
lov12113
The Fly
Nope...in the USA Magnificent got as much attention as any non-lead off single from their last 3 albums. Radio played the song as much as Elevation, Walk On, Stuck, COBL, Sometimes, ABOY, etc. However, in the USA, radio only massively plays whatever is the first single for U2, so Magnificent never had a chance of getting a lot of airplay unless it was the first single. But it still did as well as expected for a subsequent single.
Niceman
Rock n' Roll Doggie VIP PASS
Anyone have any actual statistics? I could have sworn I'd read some really bad ones on here somewhere.....
Rob33
Rock n' Roll Doggie
Now it is clear that Moment of Surrender was easily the best choice for a first single...Brian Eno was right...it would've jumped out at people...it has that epic vibe to it, but it's not really classic U2. GOYB may be an interesting song, but this whole "sexy boots" thing turned more people off than a first single should....also, even if you think Vertigo and GOYB sound totally different, the reality is they have some major things in common, like that distorted up front lead guitar throughout the chorus, then a restrained riff in the verses...add the similarity in the singing style, and it's not a good first single. In fact, I think GOYB would have been far more effective as a second or third single, or even fourth...anything but first!
LemonMelon
More 5G Than Man
Earnie Shavers said a while back that he thought U2 should have leaked MOS intentionally online (a la Violet Hill) to build hype, and I couldn't agree more with that. The song is best suited for that venue, rather than radio. Magnificent should have been the first official single. Crazy Tonight after that, then Breathe and NLOTH.
gweeps
War Child
U2 tried for another hit like Vertigo with Boots and failed. I know for me I groaned a little knowing a song like GOYB would be on the album. I like it but I do not love it. Hell, the best part of it ("Let me in the sound") is also in a better song.
U2 should have ditched both it and SUC in favour of Mercy and EBW.
Oh well.
U2 should have ditched both it and SUC in favour of Mercy and EBW.
Oh well.
Gonna Run 2 U
New Yorker
I heard "the unforgettable fire" on the radio today what a treat! Then later I listened to get on your boots and I 
An Cat Gav
Rock n' Roll Doggie Band-aid
I think this is totally correct, this would have been the perfect strategy.
I love Boots, but the "let me in the sound" bit still doesn't sound right, sounds like they stuck it in at the last minute to try and give the album a recurring theme.
phommel
Refugee
I think the reason that they (U2) are less confident (it seems) of bringing out Songs Of Ascent, is that they probably feel they need a big hit first. That was missing on NLOTH in order to make it a big commercial/mainstream succes. I did not care, cause the album in a totality is amazing imo. I like it more than the hit-singles containing ATCLB or HTDAAB.
It seems to me that U2 is always struggling with wanting big hits being played over the radio worldwide from the one hand and wanting to reinvent, to experiment on the other hand. NLOTH was an amazing album, but for a U2 album the album/singles underperformed in sales and in the charts (even when you take the worldwide decline in album sales into consideration). That's a logic result of not having a big radio hit. I think they are afraid that this will happen again and therfore they might be reconsidering bringing out songs Of Ascent first or maybe go further with the Rick Rubin stuff. Less creative stuff probably, but also more radio friendly and more appealing to the mainstream.
It seems to me that U2 is always struggling with wanting big hits being played over the radio worldwide from the one hand and wanting to reinvent, to experiment on the other hand. NLOTH was an amazing album, but for a U2 album the album/singles underperformed in sales and in the charts (even when you take the worldwide decline in album sales into consideration). That's a logic result of not having a big radio hit. I think they are afraid that this will happen again and therfore they might be reconsidering bringing out songs Of Ascent first or maybe go further with the Rick Rubin stuff. Less creative stuff probably, but also more radio friendly and more appealing to the mainstream.
chrissybaby
Refugee
Whatever happens, they'll be some interesting outtakes in the vault. Can't wait for the boxset in twenty years!
i really hope they release songs of ascent and dont try to put out at radio friendly album - after NLOTH they have just started to earn some legit respect (minus the middle section) - i dont want them to regress and mess that up - they need to stick with their original plan
believer75
War Child
Just started to earn respect??
I don't want to wait that long.
The band are probably scared because they think SOA will totally flop because it's less mainstream than NLOTH and they aren't happy with NLOTH either. I have a feeling the band (and especially Bono) really like the songs they have left and really want to bring them out but they still want to stay the "biggest bamd in the world". And remember Bono's quote about two bad albums in a row (NLOTH isn't bad but it isn't seen as a good album by the mainstream). I think they should just release SOA, maybe put 1 potential hit on it (EBW?) and then try to release the Rubin stuff as fast as possible after the tour so that they can have a big commercial success again. (then we also have three albums in a pretty short space of time
)zoocarolina
Refugee
I don't want to wait that long.
The band are probably scared because they think SOA will totally flop because it's less mainstream than NLOTH and they aren't happy with NLOTH either. I have a feeling the band (and especially Bono) really like the songs they have left and really want to bring them out but they still want to stay the "biggest bamd in the world". And remember Bono's quote about two bad albums in a row (NLOTH isn't bad but it isn't seen as a good album by the mainstream). I think they should just release SOA, maybe put 1 potential hit on it (EBW?) and then try to release the Rubin stuff as fast as possible after the tour so that they can have a big commercial success again. (then we also have three albums in a pretty short space of time
Like your mode of thinking, I don't think there will be a 4 yr gap between albums any longer since the lads are not getting any younger!!
mikal
Blue Crack Addict
i need new news......now!
Roland of Gilead
Gunslinger
I need something! Slow Loris? 
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