What Do You Think U2 Should Have Done After Pop?

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I'm pretty critical of U2 because they've held themselves up to very high standards. I preface with that point, because:

-- I think ATYCLB is brilliant

-- I think HTDAAB is even more brilliant than ATYCLB

Honestly, what more do people want? Had they put out this "experimental" nonsense y'all are talking about, there would now be 20 fans on this board talking about the phenomenon of the past called U2, all of them griping about how the band should have tried to recapture the mainstream in the late 90s.

Certainly I concede that ATYCLB was, in some sense, a conservative effort. But who cares? After you've been around for 20+ years and already gone through two critical backlashes, you've earned the right to do what you want. As long as their songs stay as good as they've been, and the band itself remains totally committed to being "U2" (unlike, say, The Rolling Corporatio-- er, Stones), then I'm perfectly happy with straight-ahead pop/rock songs.

One thing about U2 is that they usually trust their instincts. I think they sensed the return of the baton in 1999-2000 and they went for it (and won the race). I also think that these days they are up to some new ideas and sounds, not because their fans think they're too conservative but because that's their instinct.
 
so i take it no one likes 'when i look at the world"? thats the best song off that record

i think u2 did precisely what they had to do after pop and i believe we wouldnt be here discussing this had they done otherwise.
 
oh and if theyd have done new york studio like they played it on the electrical storm single then that wouldve changed a lot. way more energy. the whole second half of "all that" couldve used more energy
 
Whether you like it or not ATYCLB was needed to get out of the irony, and more importantly, the looming shade of AB. Beautiful day is just as important a song for their career as One was.

The end of experimentation was beginning to show on Pop (SATS, minus sonic tweaks aside, is the first hint of the straightforward, melodic songwriting, and there are the first sings of the now much-hated Edge chimes on Please and IGWSHA). The problem with All that... (and Bomb, and Pop since we're at it) is they didn't pick one direction and go with it.

That first half of ATYCLB up to and including IALW is amazing, up there with the rest of their best stuff. After Wild honey though it feels like someone pulls the brake onto all the joy/pop music and instead of putting on GBHF and Levitate (sometimes the singer is right) we get the bizzare twist of mood that the album never really recovers from. A nice guitar blast from New York and the sweet pop sounds only come back on Grace. Most importantly, despite some moments like Walk on or Kite this was a new direction (as they never did pop music before) and it felt fresh, not bad after 20 years of career.

That said, I enjoyed the MDH soundtrack songs too and I'd like to hear something in that direction too (song 402 from beach clips and Mercy are possibly the continuation). And after All that... (and especially Bomb - you only get to make a retro album once) I'm ready for what's next. As they are.
 
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Reporter: "so Bono... what er you guys doing after Pop and Popmart"

Bono: "er... I think.. yeah.. WE'RE GOING TO DISNEYLAND!!!"

U2: "YEAH!!!!!!!!"
 
U2girl said:


That first half of ATYCLB up to and including IALW is amazing, up there with the rest of their best stuff. After Wild honey though it feels like someone pulls the brake onto all the joy/pop music and instead of putting on GBHF and Levitate (sometimes the singer is right) we get the bizzare twist of mood that the album never really recovers from. A nice guitar blast from New York and the sweet pop sounds only come back on Grace. Most importantly, despite some moments like Walk on or Kite this was a new direction (as they never did pop music before) and it felt fresh, not bad after 20 years of career.


I completely agree. I was listening to ATYCLB last night and after IALW it takes the biggest left turn, without getting back on track.

-Wild Honey
-POE
-WILATW
-NY
-Grace

I think this could be the worst sequence of songs on a U2 album. What could have U2 done?
 
zoopop said:

I think this could be the worst sequence of songs on a U2 album. What could have U2 done?

Wait a minute: this is about what U2 do after Pop. It's not about Achtung Baby (which you described with that statement I quoted).
 
my only problem with the 2nd half of All that ..... is "New York"
as much as the album does need something with a bit more guitar that song doesn't really do it for me

the rest is ace
because I say so

we were listening to Achtung Baby and I noticed how except for the first 4 songs and the last 3 songs there is no cohesion at all there
you could play everything in between in any order and it wouldn't matter at all
sort of the same as with POP with the difference that overall the songs on Achtung are stronger than the ones on POP
 
65980 said:
As long as their songs stay as good as they've been, and the band itself remains totally committed to being "U2" (unlike, say, The Rolling Corporatio-- er, Stones), then I'm perfectly happy with straight-ahead pop/rock songs.

I agree. Except... neither of those is true when it comes to U2. Not only are the songs that came out this decade NOT as good as the ones that came before, U2 comes off more and more like a "corporation" now. Releasing albums only at Christmas time... making too many greatest hits CDs... how are they any different from the Stones? :huh:

I don't mind U2 making pop music at all, as long as it doesn't sound like U2 lite with mediocre lyrics.
 
I guess with ATYCLB and HTDAAB, they became very conscious of their 90s image, and instead of making irony out of irony (thusly, into what should have come - self-awareness), they took very calculated steps to dig them out of the "hole" that POP dug for them.

I really think they could have found a nice middle ground, so to speak (hehe), inside that "hole", instead of looking to outside sources to pull them out of it.

But what I really think they should have done after POP, is gotten back to songwriting a la All..., but still infused it ideas, methods and inspirations from Zooropa and POP. As mentioned many times in this thread, ATYCLB (and subsequently, Bomb), suffered from overproduction, over thought, over analysis, etc. At least in my eyes. They both have many high points, but neither are anywhere CLOSE to as interesting as POP. LAPOE comes close, but doesn't quite satisfy.

Oh, and Bono's lyrics have become too direct. He's much better at culling feeling and emotion out of imagery than bare boned truth. Most of the time.
 
pacemaker said:
Oh, and Bono's lyrics have become too direct. He's much better at culling feeling and emotion out of imagery than bare boned truth. Most of the time.

:love: Thank you for that! I have been saying the same thing for years in this forum. Bono is much better at poetry and hidden meaning than direct lines with zero subtlety... I agree. :hi5:
 
Zootlesque said:


:love: Thank you for that! I have been saying the same thing for years in this forum. Bono is much better at poetry and hidden meaning than direct lines with zero subtlety... I agree. :hi5:

Welcome!

I think it goes without saying that poetry and hidden meaning wouldn't have ruined Kite with "when hip-hop drove the big cars..." whereas the rest of the song is a nice balance of poetry and directness.
 
pacemaker said:
I think it goes without saying that poetry and hidden meaning wouldn't have ruined Kite with "when hip-hop drove the big cars..." whereas the rest of the song is a nice balance of poetry and directness.

Yup! I think the overly direct lyrics at the end are what bring a song as beautiful as Kite down a notch.

"life should be fragrant, rooftop to the basement"... kinda like "always wear a safety belt.... always"

oh bono... :sigh:
 
Zootlesque said:


how are they any different from the Stones?


Um, they still make good music (once you take the bias out, that is), people actually care about their latest album and they don't rely ENTIRELY on their live show and admitedly great past ?

:hmm:
 
U2 should have just become zombies. Requires less creative effort. Bono could create an army of the undead for Africa.

Braaaaiiiiiins. I'm at a place called BRAAAAAIIIIIIINS.
 
If they had just held their nerve and kept Nellie Hooper as the only producer and worked on it that bit longer Pop would have been their third masterpiece. If this had happened I wonder how different ATYCLB would have sounded?? Maybe not that much as they probably wanted to get back to their old sound anyway. It's just so annoying how close they came with Pop.
 
Bono could've stuck with his short hair and saved himself years of humiliation when he had his Viv Windsor from Emmerdale look.

Still...at least he's grown wiser and cut it back again now. :up:
 
ATYCLB is a great album, many people discovered or rediscovered U2 through it, HTDAAB is just a bit overproduced in my opinion, it lacks a certain sense of freshness and yes, the lyrics are radically different from other albums, I can't say if it is on purpose or not, what is clear is that most people here like poetic, abstract lyrics which can be applied to universals.
I really can't imagine why you say that these two albums meant a come back to their original sound before Achtung, Baby, simply because it isn't true, I know it has been published in many magazines, but I hope their fans can recall Boy, War, October, Unforgetable Fire or The Joshua Tree (just to talk about studio albums) and see how they have nothing to do with the last two.
I can't also understand why you say they gave up experimentation after Pop, I understand experiment in the sense that you do new things in a certain way that is new to you, I don't think that the only way to experiment is using new technology. I'm a Pop lover, but it took me quite a long time to understand what they were up to there, then I would have liked them to strech it a bit further, but after listening to ATYCLB I really felt it made sense with the age we were living and I really think they made a good decision, of course it was only one of a variety of good decisions they could have made.
I don't know if this is relevant here or not, but I would like to explain to those of you who have never experienced the process of creation in first person that you make some decisions beforehand, but then, most of the times, it is the process or the object (song, painting, text, etc.) which takes the command, you get lost in it, it forms part of you and you lose perspective, that's why to have to show it to other people and you want everybody to like it. Some time later, when you're separate enough from your work you become more or less objective about it, but it requires some nerve to critise your own work in public, U2 do it and I admire them for that too.
Oh, and I like fans who aren't brainwashed and adore everything they just do.
 
They should have said "Fuck the critics!" just like Led Zeppelin did back in the 70s.

Led Zeppelin III were critized a lot by the "critics", and after that they released an album without names, without any letter on the front and back cover, that's a geniune rock move ! :drool:

How I wish U2 would do something like that, especially now, because they own more money than 99,9% of bands of this planet. They shouldn't care about iPod, hit singles, grammies, MTV, etc, they just should do like Radiohead :drool:

If I were U2, I'd release a double album, packed carefully, without a letter on the front and back cover, and I'd release it without any announcement, singles, videos, etc. That would make U2 a reputable and credible band again :bow:

... but no ... U2 would never dare to do that. It will be the same rotten story again, you know, cheap claims "Edge is On Fire", "Our Best Album", "Best collection of songs ever created", etc, etc, fake "lost tapes" stories, etc. More and more publicity, the first single played to death on radio and TV, the album containing 11 songs sounding just as U2, the band featured on the cover, etc. The same old song :(
 
sounding like the producer dude in Walk The Line on that last bit.

if u2 put out an album without a name on the cover like zoso wouldnt they just be doing what someone already did? seems contradictory...

i think they should just make an album without any sugar on it, all salt. thats what would make them credible again. if its so easy to write about despair then fuck it, write about despair. these arent joyous times
 
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