What is wrong with ATYCLB??

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Zoorock Girl! said:
This whole "airplay" arguement is ridiculous. 99 per cent of the bands I listen to aren't played on the radio, and that obviously doesn't diminish their greatness to me.

I would also like to take the time to point out that my opinions are also always right...:wink: i kid, i kid...

Well like I keep saying, it has nothing to do with what YOU (or me, or any other individual) prefer. We all like different stuff! We can't base ultimate greatness on any one person's opinion. As I've said over and over, you are free to like, love and listen to whatever you like. But that does not mean that songs that get the most airplay over a long period of time are not generally considered the most historically great, because they are.

It's like, I LIKE the Vikings, they will always be great to ME, but they will never be proven as great to the world unless they win the Super Bowl. I LOVE my little girl, she will always be great to ME, even though she never makes honor roll;)
 
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Michael Griffiths said:
As much as I love ATYCLB (it's a very good album), I must admit that lyrically it doesn't have a song that can touch some of the genius of Pop. For example, is there anything on ATYCLB that comes close to the following?

Listen to your words they'll tell you what to do
Listen over the rhythm that's confusing you
Listen to the reed in the saxophone
Listen over the hum of the radio
Listen over sounds of blades in rotation
Listen through the traffic and circulation
Listen as hope and peace try to rhyme
Listen over marching bands playing out their time


or...

September
Streets capsizing
Spilling over
Down the drain
Shards of glass
Splinters like rain
But you could only feel
Your own pain
October
Talk getting nowhere
November
December
Remember
Are we just starting again


or one of Bono's most brilliant idea reversals ever...

White dopes on punk staring into the flash


Besides, how can one possibly knock an album for its lyrics when it contains the word "intransigence"? ;)

PS. 'If God Will Send His Angels' has one of - if not the most - pointed and direct lyrical intros to any U2 song ever:

Nobody else here baby
No one here to blame
No one to point the finger
It's just you and me and the rain


It singles me out everytime I hear it. It's like one on one.

I agree with this.

I think that both Pop and ATYCLB are great albums with good lyrics; but Pop just has some kind of "x" factor, in my opinion. Personally speaking, the lyrics on Pop made me think, while those on ATYCLB mostly reflected how I felt about certain things. I prefer the former. In addition, I think Bono's voice on ATYCLB sounds kind of mellow, in comparison to how he sounds on Pop - there is more urgency, anguish, pain in the way he sings on Pop. Maybe this makes Pop more "real" to me, I don't know. Of course Pop isn't all genius - "Miami" and "The Playboy Mansion" aren't such terrific songs, in my opinion, but the other songs on Pop more than make up for this.
 
I actually like both Pop and ATYCLB
Pop - Flash to soph year - deep conversations about the world in general (hell I had deep conversations about scooby doo) - Bono was a god - lyrics powerful/music amazingly different from everything else "out there" as an "achtung baby" this was a likely successor to my first u2 album

ATYCLB - flash to Senior year - writing senior thesis (is there anything any more pointless?) listening to ATYCLB over and over again (until my roommate said her ears were going to bleed) - feeling that "spark" again but in a different way - bono still a god - lyrics powerful/musically beautiful - much more "tight" is a way to describe it - a band that knew who they were and realized just how amazing that was.

Here's the deal - I think that u2 moving more mainstream was a good idea - more fans were brought into the fold and those who felt alienated from the AB/Zooropa/Pop era could hear the band that they fell in love with again.

I'm excited about this new album - the music landscape has changed even in the past year and I'm hoping for a u2 album that reflects that.
 
Another reason why I appreciate ATYCLB is they lightened up and it's possibly the first time when they didn't have anything to prove and are totally relaxed as a band;
if 80's U2 seemed (to some fans) pompous and over-the-top, and if 90's U2 seemed (to some fans) to be trying-to-be-cool-and-artsy and oh-so-clever and betraying their past, the "2000" U2 is coming a full circle, embracing its past but not resting on its laurels.

As for the album being weaker on the 2nd half...please. All U2 albums are, on ATYCLB it was just more obvious as they pushed all the singles in the upper half.
 
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I think that the AB, Zooropa, Pop period was beloved by many fans, and I think because atyclb took u2 out of that people are upset by that. It seemed like the spirit of experimentation and exploration had given way to a "safe album". And I think people feel that atyclb watered down teh fanbase a bit I mean for the first time you had people going to u2 shows to hear one or two hit singles, something no tradtionally associated with u2.



Also in general I think people are just cranky and want some new u2 and they've prolly been listening to atyclb too much because it's the most recent album, and thus they are getting sick of it.
I personally loved the pop era, I think POP was an album that was way ahead of it's time ( even in the sense that it wasn't really completed)

Just my 2 cents
 
ATYCLB is a good record, though I think it is somewhat polished. That said, I don't know how one could say that BD, Elevation, New York and Walk On live don't rock as much as any other U2 song.

Overall, I do find it a bit boring as a record, "soft" is a good word to describe it. However, the songs are amazing live, they come to life. I think New York might be my favourite or Kite...hmmm, so hard.

Lyrically, there is nothing on ATYCLB that is better than Wake Up Dead Man. It is incredible, (except for the "he made the world in 7/in charge of heaven" part)

I also like Miami a lot, also excellent live.

Personally I hope to hear something that rocks, along the veins the Fly, LNOE and Bullet. I would love to hear Edge outdo the 747 guitar from Pop.
 
I really enjoyed reading this thread, great debate over ATYCLB vs POP. There were a lot of good points. To me, you cant compare the two because U2 tried to do two TOTALLY different things with each album.

POP had amazing lyrics and great music, although I agree they tried to do too much with some of it. And remember, they had to rush at the end, I heard they had to make a couple songs the day they mastered it (my guess "Playboy Mansion" was one of those.) But it was a great CD, I mean, put it in at night and listen to "Velvet Dress," when Bono says lines like:

"I've been good, cause I know you dont want me to,
do you really want me to feel blue as you?
It's her daylight that gets me through..."
that whole album had great lyrics (minus a song or two).

But how can you compare it to ATYCLB? u2 were out in the ether experimenting with new sounds, and then they come out and say "hey, we want to make a radio-friendly, rock record. Back to basics, stripped down." Maybe they didnt want ELEVATION to have the deepest lyrics, it was just supposed to be a fun single with no strings attached. That track brought in so many new u2 fans, most of them young. Maybe thats what their goal was? That's why they put it on the Tomb Raider soundtrack, played on TRL, and got groups like No Doubt to open up for them. They wanted to appeal to a younger audience also, what better way to do it then simple, radio-friendly rock tunes like ELEVATION or BEAUTIFUL DAY. I know Bono didnt go deep and sing lines like "time is a train, makes the future the past, leaves you standing at the station, you're face pressed up against the glass", but the goal was accomplished and I liked the end result. Not every u2 tune has to be God Pt. II.

That being said, that's what ATYCLB was about, so when people say their going pop now, I dont know where people get that idea when they have never duplicated themselves before. My guess is the new album will be flat out rock n roll with a harder edge, great guitar playing by the Edge, and the bass and drums of Adam and Larry will sound like it did on "BOY." Well, my hope anyway.
 
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RademR said:
u2 were out in the ether experimenting with new sounds, and then they come out and say "hey, we want to make a radio-friendly, rock record. Back to basics, stripped down." Maybe they didnt want ELEVATION to have the deepest lyrics, it was just supposed to be a fun single with no strings attached. That track brought in so many new u2 fans, most of them young. Maybe thats what their goal was? That's why they put it on the Tomb Raider soundtrack, played on TRL, and got groups like No Doubt to open up for them. They wanted to appeal to a younger audience also, what better way to do it then simple, radio-friendly rock tunes like ELEVATION or BEAUTIFUL DAY. I know Bono didnt go deep and sing lines like "time is a train, makes the future the past, leaves you standing at the station, you're face pressed up against the glass", but the goal was accomplished and I liked the end result. Not every u2 tune has to be God Pt. II.

:up:. Well said. I really don't understand when/why this idea started coming about that if a song didn't have deep lyrics, then it wasn't good.

By the way, in regards to ATYCLB, lately, I've been really enjoying "Beautiful Day"...don't know what it is, but that song's just sounding really good to me as of late (always liked the song, but lately...I dunno, it's just really grabbing me).

Angela
 
thats funny moonlit, because with me it's the opposite. I've always loved "Beautiful Day" and thought it was an amazing song, I think just recently I FINALLY got tired of listening to it. After almost 4 years of constant radio play and listening to my CD...still love it, just got to skip over it for a couple months...
 
The real thing "wrong" with ATYCLB is that it is such a good album in contrast to the horrible POP that POP-worshippers started feeling jealous. So they formed a brigade just to constantly bash ATYCLB. It is only in the U2 forums and POP fans who constantly bash ATYCLB. Everywhere else it was critically and commercially approved. So the topic should be - why are the POP farts so jealous about ATYCLB? Perhaps because it proved them wrong about their blind worship for POP.

Cheers,

J
 
RademR said:
thats funny moonlit, because with me it's the opposite. I've always loved "Beautiful Day" and thought it was an amazing song, I think just recently I FINALLY got tired of listening to it. After almost 4 years of constant radio play and listening to my CD...still love it, just got to skip over it for a couple months...

LOL, really? Eh, to each their own. :).

I do know what you mean, though-there's some songs that I will take a break from for a while, too, 'cause of overplaying them and stuff. Happens to all of us, I think.

Angela
 
What is wrong with ATYCLB? Nothing, really. Nothing exactly "wrong" with it. It just happens to be the least fave for some fans. Me? Nope, not my least fave. Actually the album already had its special place in my heart. Not anymore.

Cheers
MT
 
atyclb is not an album for everyone! same goes for pop!


but to say atyclb is a masterpiece realy you got to be out of your mind............. im looking at you rolling stones(mag)
 
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