Songs of Experience XI

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The music industry has changed sooo much. U2 could write the next "Hey Jude" or "Stairway to Heaven" and wouldn't sniff mainstream relevance.

The only possibility i could see is if they did what Disturbed did and do an insane cover of a HUGE song and somehow make it their own.

and we all know that isn't going to happen.

Another thought would be a duet with Adele or someone. if the song is really good, that would fly up the charts.
 
marik said:
Not sure about Offspring, but pretty sure 40something Blink 182 did this summer with Bored To Death. Remember being shocked that a 'rock band' did so well. It's been awhile since the old guard (u2, coldplay, oasis, foo fighters, green day, etc) made a dent like that
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U2 seems to be a special case. They just don't... fit.

Blink-182 and Greenday are still viewed as "youthful" because of the type of adolescent, pop-punk they play. Foo Fighters, while I think are dreadfully boring, get decent play because they fit the straight alt-rock category. And Coldplay has mastered the crossover of alternative, rock, pop, adult contemporary mix, which gets them consistently strong airplay no matter how far their music stumbles down a path of mediocrity.

U2 is not rock enough to be on straight rock stations. They aren't viewed as alternative enough to be on alternative stations, they definitely aren't on pop stations, and if they do anything other than EBW / SFS type songs, they won't get on adult contemporary stations.

They could have gone the Radiohead route and started putting out more experimental and daring material that would have thrilled their core fans, and maybe brought in some new ones that were intrigued and respected that approach. But they still swing for the mainstream fences, and have now pretty much burned that bridge.

I really like TBT. It's crazy catchy and not as sappy/middle of the road type thing as SFS. I can see it doing pretty well adult contemp and adult alternative charts. But thats about it. might crack the Top 100 Billboard pop charts if it gets enough initial downloads and streams.
 
I also think that U2 could still do some sort of a gimmick for the album release to get them some good sales numbers.

Would be cool to see them do something like - For our 40th anniversary, get SOE for 4.00 for the first 40 days on itunes. I believe 3.99 is the cutoff price for an album to be counted as an actual sale. I could see them doing some pretty good numbers for the first few weeks if they do something like this. And no one has to get pissed off like last time.
 
womanfish said:
I also think that U2 could still do some sort of a gimmick for the album release to get them some good sales numbers.

Would be cool to see them do something like - For our 40th anniversary, get SOE for 4.00 for the first 40 days on itunes. I believe 3.99 is the cutoff price for an album to be counted as an actual sale. I could see them doing some pretty good numbers for the first few weeks if they do something like this. And no one has to get pissed off like last time.
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That's far too sensible and innovative for the 2's marketing team (is there a team, is one member a team?!).
 
Reg McGowan said:
Free for the masses, yes. But they got paid a hefty 100 million $ :sexywink:
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And my understanding was that the 100 million was not just for SOI, but for a more ongoing relationship for the next few albums. I don't see anything wrong with a discounted price. 5 or 10 years ago that might have seemed odd for a band of their stature. But now, everyone does that kind of thing to draw attention and get boosted initial sales.
 
Now that i think about it, The Lillywhite quote is giving me some pause (Not Morleigh's cat PAWS...yuck yuck).

He's remixing a single...i'd feel more comfortable if he said he was mixing the album.
 
womanfish said:
Yeah which is weird since we certainly didn't see 100 million worth of marketing from Apple for SOI.
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If I had to guess I'd be that the $100 million included the advertising and the actual cut to the band and UMG for the album.

They ran the commercial ad nauseum after the release for about a month... I'm sure that coat a pretty penny. Toss in the bus they had in Europe for Song For Someone, and U2's take... and it probably adds up to about $100 million.

Could be wrong but that's my take.
 
Numb1075 said:
Now that i think about it, The Lillywhite quote is giving me some pause (Not Morleigh's cat PAWS...yuck yuck).

He's remixing a single...i'd feel more comfortable if he said he was mixing the album.
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I see what you mean. But i actually like that he said he's mixing the "single" and not mixing "a new song" for them. The single to me, infers that there is a completed album that the single is a part of. If he said new song, it could mean a stand alone ala Invisible.
 
2861U2 said:
Time to dissect the meaning of the word "single" like we did with "supergroup."
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That is exactly what i am thinking.

We're all nuts to pour over every word and phrase of each new sound byte that we get. I don't think a majority of these quotes are well thought out and carefully crafted.

Someone asks a question, someone from U2s team responds...real quick, real simple. These quotes are not pre-written by speech writers like what happens in presidential elections or something.
 
Numb1075 said:
That is exactly what i am thinking.

We're all nuts to pour over every word and phrase of each new sound byte that we get. I don't think a majority of these quotes are well thought out and carefully crafted.

Someone asks a question, someone from U2s team responds...real quick, real simple. These quotes are not pre-written by speech writers like what happens in presidential elections or something.
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Hmmmmm, I don't think Billarys "basket of deplorables" was written by speech writers..... was it?!?!?!
 
TheFox said:
Hmmmmm, I don't think Billarys "basket of deplorables" was written by speech writers..... was it?!?!?!
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No it was not.

In a normal election (and this one is the opposite of normal), politicians are given speeches in advance. if they happen to be speaking extemporaneously, they try to be measured and carefully choose their words.

I don't think the U2 sound bytes are analyzed prior to being spoken.
 
Numb1075 said:
No it was not.

In a normal election (and this one is the opposite of normal), politicians are given speeches in advance. if they happen to be speaking extemporaneously, they try to be measured and carefully choose their words.

I don't think the U2 sound bytes are analyzed prior to being spoken.
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In a "normal" election Trump would be wiped out, in this one........
 
There are some people who say you shouldn't mix politics and music, sports and politics... well... I think that's kinda bullshit.
— Adam Clayton, Rattle and Hum
 
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The word "single" doesn't tell us much. Anything released to radio with an accompanying video is essentially a single. Invisible was given away for free and then eventually available to buy as a download. It was a single for all practical purposes.

The real differentiation is whether TBT is a standalone single or a lead single.
 
There is a monkey in a cage.
It's little hands defiantly grasping the bars as it screams.
The little monkey screams loud and often.
Occasionally it flings poo.
The little monkey does not know why, it doesn't realize it's even a monkey.
But it knows it's in a cage.
That's all it knows.
 
macawaca said:
They gave the last one away for free, so never say never!
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How'd that work out?

Could be me, but Chris Martin and Coldplay don't necessarily look 40 some odd years old either... it's a young person's game and looks probably matter too.

Not that it should matter, but Bono hasn't exactly aged great and FWIW the cover of Bomb didn't do anyone any favors on the young people's game spectrum.

Pretty sure my teenage daughters would look at Coldplay and NOT register "these guys are old"... U2, not so much.

A Lead Single introduces a new album and the album follows within a 2 to 8 week time frame... a Stand Alone single is designed for charity, a movie soundtrack, demo for a record company, national or international sports or event promotion like the Olympics or World Cup.

:reject:
 
BWU2Buffs said:
Not that it should matter, but Bono hasn't exactly aged great and FWIW the cover of Bomb didn't do anyone any favors on the young people's game spectrum.
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Not like that album's sales suffered as a result. And whether they bought an album or not, plenty of young-ish people heard of Vertigo and enjoyed it at the time.
 
yeah that's one of the stranger theories i've heard. Bomb was a huge hit in the mainstream, dominated the Grammy's and as the post above says, Vertigo was everywhere and remains U2's last big hit.
 
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