Well you have to go back to LemonMelon's post; just because you can't directly trace the influence doesn't mean it's not there. The bottom line is that the band was getting stuff like Mysterious Ways, Numb, Lemon on the radio and MTV intrernatonally and there just wasn't anything sounding like that at the same time getting that kind of exposure. So whether or not artists are acknowledging it or whether or not you can see this being copied quickly is irrelevant. It was absorbed by a lot of people and trickles down through other acts even subconsciously. Look at he quote about Thom Yorke's influences on OL Computer. #1 it's never been cool to list U2 as an influence so no surprise he didn't have the balls to admit it, #2 it's ridiculous to say that Radiohead wasn't aware of Achtung Baby/Zooropa/ZooTV and that it didn't affect what they were doing.
Which leads to another point: he studio albums aside, U2 would be a hugely influential for ZooTV alone. Has there been a more groundbreaking or influential tour in the last 30 years? You know how many people had their minds blow. By that thing? You know how many artists and musicians came away from that with ideas regarding technology/interactivity and music? David Bowie and Peter Gabriel are just two big ones off the top of my head, but there are countless more.
Well, that's another matter, and something I agree entirely with...i.e. ZOOTV. It's also why I was very careful to use the word "musically" in describing influence, etc (if you look at my prior posts I did that quite deliberately, I'm not making it up as I go along, I assure you.
). There's no doubt that a myriad of things U2 (and their management) have done have been far more influential on the musical scene then their music itself, I'd submit. ZOOTV is an excellent example, and that show changed rock touring forever. U2's use of technology has also been fairly groundbreaking, as has their innovative marketing techniques. No doubt about all that...U2 changed the game in those ways and others significantly.
I still don't know about the rest...including the "trickle down" effect. I really cant argue w/that because it's not quantifiable. Listen, because I love U2 I want to agree with you. They've certainly influenced my life. But, other than sort of in a soft, general way, I can't see where U2 really change things that much. They were just always kind of
there....doing it bigger and better than everyone else. But take Pop for example....everyone talks about how "innovative" that record is, but really it's basically U2's version of stuff a lot of other bands had been doing for a while, and probably better. And no one from that genre would really list Pop as an influential record. It's just not. It was U2's version of something that was ultimately pretty derivative. In fact, it was really out of step for the times it was in, which isn't necessarily bad, but it didn't
change the times it was in. No one started making a lot of Pops after Pop. Even arguably their best and most influential album (though not my favourite), Achtung Baby, which is a masterpiece, didn't really shake things up the way other records have.
I think U2's strength...an ability to appeal to a mass audience and embrace many different genres, possibly explains this. To really change the game you generally need to do one thing and do it really well and first. U2 sort of took what a lot of other people were doing in different genres and put their own spin on it. And they did brilliant stuff with it, no doubt...please understand me here. But it just didn't change music in a way that Nevermind or Combat Rock did. How could they? For decades they were a little punk, a little new wave, then dabbled in Americana and industrial music and electronica, straight up rock...but nothing they did in ANY of those genres was really game chaining, was it? See what I mean?
I guess the best example I can give is from film...the way Godfather set the tone for every mafia film that followed...or the cultural impact that Star Wars had. Does U2 have anything like that? Because there are certainly musical equivalents of those films.
Be careful!
