re: Magnificent
If you skip the intro and begin at 0:46 and listen to 2:22, that's 1:36. 96 seconds and you have heard the whole song. You've heard the hook/riff. You've heard the verse melody. You've heard the crescendo ("oh, oh") and you've heard the chorus. Short of the bridge/solo, you have already heard the extent of the song.
And there are still 3 minutes left in the song. People complain about the bridge/solo, IMO, not because it's particularly bad, but because it doesn't take the song anywhere else. It doesn't feel like a different chapter, to me.
But the bridge/solo aside, the song had effectively, already peaked. It is front loaded. There is no natural build up to it once it has...arrived. And this is the type of song that could have stood to be treated with some subtlety. Dumping the churning B-riff from the outset. They should have began with the verse, using the same chords, but different instrumentation - then when we come out on the other side of the first chorus, we hear that full 'dance' feel for the first time - we're moving somewhere - then we would hear that crescendo "oh oh" and the driving guitar for the first time. The song is now moving somewhere else. And then when we fall into the bridge/solo it feels, possibly, more interesting to some people.
As is, there is no anticipation in the song once it moves from intro to the opening riff. Which is most likely why they put that intro on there in the first place. That should have told them that they had the fundamental structure a little wrong to begin with. It needed an intro but not one that exploded right into the 'hook'. And THAT right there was the problem. They were so concerned with brow-beating the hook...'singles' mentality.
And the chord structure is the same throughout which is fine otherwise but because of that song structure issue w/Magnificent, it's not in this case. Look at WOWY (or even Exit...or others) for an example of a song where the chord structure is the same throughout and yet there are different parts, different counter-melodies. WOWY goes to different places (and you give...).
All that said, I actually really do like the song but feel like there was an absolute gem there that they didn't fully realize. I feel the same - and even more so about Unknown Caller. But there are FAR better targets (when it comes to recent songs) for us to pick on when it comes to what U2 did right and wrong. There is enough right about Magnificent that it can be forgiven. By me at least.