(11-26-2004) U2 Discussed on 'Newsnight' -- Interference.com*

[dsmith2904]

U2 Discussed on "Newsnight"

Interference.com member Callum Alden has passed along a 10-minute discussion of "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" on "Newsnight." To access the clip, visit Callum's blog here.

 

[pianorocker]

That was an...interesting, erm, discussion.

 

[biff]

If most of those people were any more full of themselves, they'd explode. What a bunch o' gasbags! Laughable, and laughably "British" in the worst possible and most obvious way. What a self-absorbed twat that so-called music critic was. Is he for real, or an over-the-top parody?

 

[ascender_RS]

I forgot to post about this yesterday....

Typical Newsnight stuff. Paul Morley stuck up for them a bit but I found the following hilarious:-

1. Being criticised for not having political enough lyrics. If the band do start to mix music and politics, they get criticised. If they don't, they get criticised. Having said that, there are references to the Aids crisis on there, so I don't know how they missed that.

2. Germaine Greer (?!?!) criticising their simple melodies? That's just confusing.

3. Bono is too old to wear shades and cool clothes. Um, last time I checked, being in your 40s wasn't exactly ancient. And what about the Stones?

4. Again, the structure of the music. Another area where U2 have been criticised for keeping it simple. And yet when they broke away from "tradition" on albums like AB, Pop and Zooropa, they were criticised.

And on and on it went.

It was actually very funny, but in a way totally pointless as Newsnight Review has this wonderful sense of self-importance.

What was the other guy's name - was it Johnny Harris or something?

 

[angelordevil]

A feeling so much stronger than a thought....

That was pretty invigourating! No need for coffee after that! I thought it was going to be a lovefest for u2 judging from the first guy. Germaine Greer...holy weirdness....what was she doing there? If anyone should be a supporter of Bono and the band, you think it would be her...they are so incredibly supportive of womens' rights all over the world--both in writing and in actions.

The other guy seemed like the biggest dork in a high-school debating team. He was trying to disect and question everything about u2 in a very technical, anal, way.

What people like that don't get is that U2's gift is extremely hard to articulate...there's no textbook on how they create their music. For so-called "music purists" or "experts" this must be the worst kind of frustration.

Getting back to anal boy, who the hell sets the standards for what one should be acting like at ANY age? I've been in the company of jaded and boring 24 year-olds who seem a lot older, and enthusiastic, life-affirming 94 year-olds who seem a lot younger. U2 have always broken the rules musically, and they do the same with stereotypes about age. They were always ahead of their time, and mature, in my opinion...just look at the ages they were when they created earlier albums like UF, and The Joshua Tree. Achtung Baby was created when they were younger than Eminem is now.

And besides this, his points have no merit because the whole damn record is about growing up and witnessing both the beauty and tragedy of life.

 

[caragriff]

that newsnight discussion was like a negative interference.com thread come to life.
somebody should tell that one really pretentious guy that if he is so upset about the songs not "revealing enough" and he wants to know what is going on in bono's head, he can pick up any one of the dozens of magazines with articles the man has spilled his guts to in the past few months alone.
this critic's opinion seems to be that bob dylan, et al, are braver for bleeding their hearts on record and then going home and counting their money.
and he criticizes bono, yet bono actually bleeds his heart in public, backs up his beliefs with meaningful actions in his own life, and then chooses to use his music as a salve and a balm rather than a soapbox. and this somehow makes bono a naive 45 year old acting 24? huh?


it was funny though when the 65 year old lady started criticizing how "banal" the music is.
i don't know why, that just made me laugh.

 

[saltwaterkiss26]

Anyone get the feeling they would have argued as passionately if you'd asked them if they preferred vanilla or chocolate ice cream? Pepsi or Coke?

They eached seemed to have their own very strong opinions and couldn't discuss each others'; they just kept coming back to THEIR point, as if it was related to what was going on at all. That one who had the problem with Bono's lyrics, he was pissing the crap out of me. I did like him and Paul going at it, even if they couldn't really listen to each other.

I did love how that guy (under forty-five unless I'm very much mistaken) was ragging on Bono because of his fashion sense. I mean, honestly, does he think U2 would sell a single copy to the teenage generation if he was dressed in a suit and tie? Let's think about this for a second. The goal of being a rock star is to... save the world? Impress rock critics? Try sell records, moron.

Ah, well. I would absolutely LOVE to get a few of our more opinionated interferencers in there with them... Now that would be worth watching...

 

[chazman151]

Halfway through that interview I closed my Real Player and ran out of the room mumbling something incoherent.

Feel better now

 

[Tintin]

Saturday morning finds me listening to people tell me that this album is the distillation of the U2 brand, the work of simpletons, has some daft lyrics and is not political enough.

Perhaps I'm missing the point, but maybe the point of music is emotion. Perhaps U2 have chosen to be emotive and not intellectual.

I can see why people hate some of the lyrics, or why they think Bono is a wanker. And the music is simple. That's the point. Minimalism for the sake of emotion. There is no perfect record, but there are great ones. In the NME review of Pop, they talk about how awful the U2 of the 80s was. All the messiah posing, etc. But they say that when they went to write a love song, they could crack the shells of the hardest hearts. Or something like that.

But a prerequisite for a broken heart is possessing a heart in the first place. I'd rather be a lover of music than a critic.

Ahhhhhhhhh.... Feeling great.

 

[macfisto]

!

Not planning on watching this!

I laugh at these reviews online or elsewhere.

Criticizing for the fun of criticizing, no matter what you do.

No one is perfect. not even U2 and no album of theirs!

That being said, it comes to only one thing in my opinion: you like the album/band or not!

That,s it!

I personally got hooked on U2 at 18 with AB: why? because I always loved what sounded different, weird sounds (NIN, Radiohead, etc).

Although I never was a huge fan of the U2 of old, I loved the last 2 albums!

I am not going to try to analyse all the lyrics (what they mean, if they make sense, etc), the sound (if it's old news, not enough this or that, etc)...

I am simply going to enjoy it (or not).

As far as I know, taste cannot be discuss. You like or you don't.

I personally gave the album a 8.5 (so far)...no critic, "official" or amateur is going to change my mind....no matter what they say! Anyway, I'd like to see them try to do any better!

Et Vlan!