The End Of U2: How do you want them to do it?

[jick]

Bono said said many times "two crap albums and we're out of here." It seems that is what ought to cause U2's end.

But realistically, that seems difficult because all roads point to the place where HTDAAB is a super-album and is not even remotely in the same galaxy as crap. So this album could not have been the first crap album Bono was looking for. He would have to wait for at least the next album.

On the other hand, Edge has said that all their lives they have been striving hard in the search for recording THE album but they've never nailed it - only come close. So Edge seems to contradict Bono. Bono wants U2 to end after two crap albums, while Edge wants U2 to quit while they're on top, after they had made THE album.

If we follow the two crap album statement, it seems U2's next album will be released maybe 4 years from now, or when they are already pushing 50. Then their next one would be when they are closing in on their mid-50's. At U2's incredible creative and artistic rate, the possibility that the very next two albums will be crap is extremely remote. Thus, U2 will probably be well into their 60's by the time they make the two crap albums Bono has prophecized.

But between now and getting in your mid-60's, many involuntary causes and events can happen. There might be health issues that could sideline one member for good - you'll never know. And it really is hard to imagine U2 still churning out albums well into their 60's to be honest.

Now if we follow the Edge's statement, once they make THE album Edge will call it a day. So there could be a possibility that the Edge could quit the band earlier after he feels he has done it all - while Bono, Clayton and Mullen will still wait for the two crap albums to come out. I wonder who they will pick to replace the Edge in this scenario.

I think I prematurely jumped the gun asking what song you guys want U2 to perform last in their farewell concert because it is possible there will be no farewell concert. U2 might end their careers under different circumstances.

So now, let me ask you all two questions:

How do you THINK U2 will end their career?

How do you WANT U2 to end their career?

Cheers,

J

 

[ZigZag]

How will they end their career? Their record label juicing them towards the end of their "Biggest Band In The World" run.

How do I want them to end their career? Bono as my wedding singer.

 

[RocknRollKitty]

Never. Keep on going into old age like the Stones until they keel over on stage

Either that or just plain retire if they don't feel like doing any more albums. The worst way to go out is as a has been, like a washed up football star drifting from team to team sitting on the bench in different uniforms getting traded for 7th round draft picks.

 

[ADecentMelody]

What's with the obsession with U2's end lately???

 

[pepokiss]

What's with the obsession with U2's end lately???

just one word: PREPARATION

 

[ADecentMelody]

Well, take a number and have a seat. It's going to be a while. Not to jinx them, but the boys will find a way to reinvent themselves well into their years. Just the fact that they've lasted this long and have remained credible is a testament to their staying power. Obviously, we can't predict the future specially in regards to their health (knock on wood), but I believe they will continue to put out quality music.

 

[jick]

Never. Keep on going into old age like the Stones until they keel over on stage

Either that or just plain retire if they don't feel like doing any more albums. The worst way to go out is as a has been, like a washed up football star drifting from team to team sitting on the bench in different uniforms getting traded for 7th round draft picks.

Noooooo, I would never want the band I love so much end up being like the Stones! The Stones have been making albums for the past 20 years but haven't sold a single copy. They are just a parody of their old selves, a rock dinosaur, and washed up. I don't like to see U2 being nothing but a ceremonial band making crap albums and doing greatest hits tours everytime around. I'd rather have U2 retire or end their career rather than push it to the point where no one cares and no one listens. It will take away from their legend.

Anyway, long after U2 have retired, and even long after U2 are dead and we here are all dead - there will always be a steady flow of newly discovered U2 studio gems, or live shows or other unreleased stuff that will be released anyway. I reckon that if U2 were to end this very day, they will still have lots of unreleased stuff to fulfill our appetites with.

But please, don't make them like the Stones who are a joke now!

Cheers,

J

 

[jick]

Well, take a number and have a seat. It's going to be a while. Not to jinx them, but the boys will find a way to reinvent themselves well into their years. Just the fact that they've lasted this long and have remained credible is a testament to their staying power. Obviously, we can't predict the future specially in regards to their health (knock on wood), but I believe they will continue to put out quality music.

They already have health issues. Bono had a throat (or was it sinus) operation sometime after POP, and before POP Mullen had back surgery.

So perhaps U2 can reinvent themselves when Bono's voice and Mullen's back can't take it anymore .. Mullen will be the singer and Bono the dummer.

Cheers,

J

 

[UnforgettableLemon]

Good god, J, can't you start a thread that's not about the end of the band?

 

[u2valleygirl]

I don't even want to hypothesize about this. Let's just not go there. I have enough stress, I don't want to be thinking about scenarios.

 

[BonoFox1]

Although this thread is rather intresting ..it's also very sad!!..
I am realistic and I know that the members of U2 are not immortal
(though most of us would like to think they are) I would not like to see them doing something that all four of them dont agree on...

I mean if Edge ever decided that he no longer wanted to continue (or any other bandmember for that matter) I am sure that they would stop completely as a band..( the possiblities of side projects will most likely be there) but as a band I feel there would be that respect and I completely doubt that any band member would be replaced...

I feel very fortunate to be a U2 fan..I listen to other music and it is just music!..U2 has brought so much meaning and happiness to my life...I could have been a Hip Hop chick or in heavy Metal ect...
but U2's music what I am all about...and the thought of not having them make
more albums/tours ect..has crossed my mind

When ever the band makes that decision I hope that they are happy with everything that they have accomplished and that they know that they have touched Billions of hearts.
And that we as fans are greatful and feel fortunate to have been part of their journey....

 

[u2bonogirl]

I think even if they stop making albums that edge will be a producer, and bono will chime in on a lot of stuff.
of course adam will go live in the playboy mansion so we can go visit him there and larry is gonna go hide. we'll never see that man again.
I dont want them to go....
maybe even just a little single here and there after theyre 60?

and what IS with all the morbid threads going on around here? isnt this a time of rejoicing that theyre putting out something new?

 

[ADecentMelody]

I second your sentiments, Fox. I've heard myself say on more than one occassion that I'm actually fortunate to be alive in this time period when U2 was also alive and in their prime. I got to experience this in the here and now and not something my parents or grandparents talk about listening to when they were kids.

I mean, come on, in the overall scheme of our humanly existence, what are the statistical chances of being born into the precise time when U2 ruled the world?!? It's a blink of an eye!

 

[BonoFox1]

I second your sentiments, Fox. I've heard myself say on more than one occassion that I'm actually fortunate to be alive in this time period when U2 was also alive and in their prime. I got to experience this in the here and now and not something my parents or grandparents talk about listening to when they were kids.

I mean, come on, in the overall scheme of our humanly existence, what are the statistical chances of being born into the precise time when U2 ruled the world?!? It's a blink of an eye!

So very true!!..I am Witnessing "MY" Beatles
"MY" Elvis Presley...and I AM VERY FORTUNATE!!!....God Bless whatever decsions the U2 members make in the future *way out in the future* But this One Girl (me) Feel extremely lucky to have been alive in this time to have witnessed it!

 

[U2_Muse]

Good god, J, can't you start a thread that's not about the end of the band?

Actually, while it's about the end of the band (which, while it's something that nobody wants to think about, is inevitable), it's one of those rare threads that I can recall where J has more good things to say about them than bad.

But J, I don't think that if U2 recorded THE album that The Edge has described, he'd quit the band, and then U2 would find a replacement. I think that like others in this thread have said, if it came to one of the members deciding that they'd fulfilled their potential, the rest of the band would call it a day, too.

I can't think of any situation where the band would replace any of its members. First of all, I think it's a point of pride for them that they've retained the original line-up since the beginning, and second, I think that they all realize that U2 wouldn't be U2 without all four of them.

They've always maintained that they are friends first, and I think that's a huge part of what makes U2 work. If one link is missing, the rest of the chain falls apart.

To answer your original question, I think that U2 will not end when either of the two scenarios you described occur, but when they feel that they are no longer creating and expanding music as they once did. I don't think it's about some concrete "two crap albums" or even one "perfect" one (mostly because in both those scenarios -- as evidenced by the love/hate for Pop on this board -- it's subjective).

I think you raised a good point about extraneous issues possibly forcing them to bow out. They all have lives outside of the band and it might be that one day, those lives simply require more of their time and energy than they can devote as part of U2.

As for when I want them to end, the simple answer is never. But I'm realistic, and I know that nothing lasts forever, so I want them to end when they feel they should. I would never want them to become a band who feels the need to continue because their fans are clamouring for them to, or because they can continue to sell tickets on their eighth "farewell" tour. I want U2 to end in a position where they, and we, can look back on their entire career fondly; not to wish they'd stepped aside gracefully instead of being pushed aside.

 

[UnforgettableLemon]

I know, this is actually an interesting thread and a good read. But it's a depressing troika:

Final song
How they will end it
is this the last album

Cheers, J on maintaining a positive perspective throughout, I have to concede.

 

[starsgoblue]

What's with the obsession with U2's end lately???

All this kind of talk is making me sad....Do people really think HTDAAB is going to be it?!

 

[ADecentMelody]

Great, now I'm getting sad that Stars is getting sad. You're the most easy-going, happy, fun-loving person in here I know!

I really doubt HTDAAB will be, gulp, it. Just look at how much fun they're having just playing the first song off of it. They're like little kids enjoying their craft again! And you know they believe there is nothing currently out there in their league.

 

[jcool]

u2 do a full reggae album!

the end

Not that i dislike reggae.....

 

[starsgoblue]

Great, now I'm getting sad that Stars is getting sad. You're the most easy-going, happy, fun-loving person in here I know!

Aw, you're a sweetie! Come here....

 

[AtomicBono]

All this kind of talk is making me sad....Do people really think HTDAAB is going to be it?!

starsgoblue

Maybe some people do but I for one find that next to impossible.

No one would ever "quit" U2 and no one would ever be replaced - when U2 ends it will be a mutual decision. I'd say they have a good ten years left at the very least... prolly when they're nearing their 60s they'll call it quits... but we'll see, y'know? I'm just so happy they're around now. I so wish I had been born 15 or 20 years earlier so I could experience every part of the U2 journey, but I consider myself damn fortunate to be able to experience it at all.

 

[Zoomerang96]

if this album sucks, then it'll be two crap albums in a row.

 

[drivemytrabant]

How do I want them to do it? Not at all. Is that an option?

 

[AtomicBono]

if this album sucks, then it'll be two crap albums in a row.

you crazy ATYCLB bashers...

ATCYLB is not a crap album, at least not commercially. It put U2 back in business so to speak and U2 was happy with it as well... Pop on the other hand was a commercial failure and U2 felt it unfinished. Go figure, for me Pop is up there with Joshua Tree and rivals Achtung

 

[ElectricalVoice]

if this album sucks, then it'll be two crap albums in a row.

I doubt that U2 see it like that.

But this "two crap albums and we're out" has nothing to do about U2 quitting. Hey - it's Bono talking! This is something he says just to push themselves. In the interview of U2 on cd:uk Bono said they would make the lives of other bands very hard the next years. He said that they would feel pretty stupid if U2 was still the best band in five years from now. I say that we probably have one more album after HTDAAB. But you never know about U2.

But that "two crap albums" statement has nothing to do with U2s end. I choose to not speculate about this right now, but let U2 take me to another place. It's a NEW ALBUM out!!!

 

[U2_Guy]

if this album sucks, then it'll be two crap albums in a row.

Agreed. But this new album won't suck like ATYCLB.

 

[U2_Guy]

Pop on the other hand was a commercial failure and U2 felt it unfinished.

Pop was a "failure" only in "America". It was huge all over the world.

Remember: "America" is not the world.

 

[jick]

if this album sucks, then it'll be two crap albums in a row.

I think you missed out ATYCLB. U2 did release an album after "crap POP" called ATYCLB. So if this album sucks, it won't be two crap albums in a row. It will just be strike two.

Bono said before that "three strikes and you're out" obviously making an allusion to baseballs. He believed that POP was "unfinished" and was their "strike one". So two more to go.

Also, when Bono means crap albums, he means crap according to him - and not according to what other fans/critics think. So it doesn't matter if ATYCLB is crap to some, to Bono it isn't.

So if HTDAAB is crap, its not their second strike in a row.

Cheers,

J

 

[U2_Guy]

Also, when Bono means crap albums, he means crap according to him - and not according to what other fans/critics think. So it doesn't matter if ATYCLB is crap to some, to Bono it isn't.

Are you Bono's official spokesmen?

 

[joerags]

ATYCLB was definitely not crap. It garnered four grammies for four individual songs, including two for Best Record - Beautiful Day and Walk On. And there were better songs on that album, like Kite, Peace on Earth and When I Look At the World. That album should have won Best Album of the Year at the Grammys.

Here's my take on how U2 should go out:

For their last album, they should rename themselves "The Larry Mullen Jr. Band" and Adam should grow back that bushy blonde hair.
For their last show ever, they should end with "40", walk out one by one, with Larry of course being last.