Album 13: [Insert News Here]

[Peter_The_Roman]

A few days ago, I was reading this latest interview to the band. Just as many other interviews and statements over the past 10-15 years, they - specially Bono - mention that feeling and that need of going back to their early years, whether sonically, whether spiritually (even if in the end that's not exactly what it shows up). This time, they even mention having been listening to bands they used to venerate when they started as a band as teens.
And then, it occured to me...

...I remember this and other forums having the Man name as hipothetic album title (or working title) for what became HTDAAB and NLOTH, as some sort of magnetic contraste to the Boy name (and idea).

This may sound really stupid, and 99,9% won't happen, but it's just a thought I'd like to share...
What if the upcoming album, inspired by that early-years-reminiscent aura, was titled The Hype, using it as a reference to their early years and pure state, and as an irony to mediatism/need of relevance?
[...and then if there was a sequel-album - Zooropa-style, it could be called Feedback ]

Just a hallucinatory fan thought I think I should share.

Muy interesante...Usted es muy listo.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

3. Nothing about this album is "typical" of a U2 release

1. They've said a June/summer release
2. They've said Invisible is not the first single

Consider Invisible an abnormality.

Everything else is exactly like a normal U2 release.

Sent from my android cause iphones are for old people

 

[lisag71]

I started liking U2 in 1985 and got to see them during the Joshua Tree tour for the first time at 16. It was an amazing show and though they have had other ones that have been awesome, I don't think anything will beat the first one. The lasting lines of 40 as people walked out of the stadium singing it arm and arm is just one the most unforgettable moments of my life. Don't get me wrong ZooTv and Elevation tour were also great but that one will always be my favorite!

Edited to add that all the tours have been great... I've never seen them have a bad night!

 

[The_acrobat]

I got into U2 in the summer of 1995. I was 13. I guess you could say HMTMKMKM was what got me thinking about U2, but it was my Dad's copies of Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum that really sold me. Soon after I bought Achtung Baby and War, and stole my Uncle's cassette of UABRS, and I was a full on fanatic, have been ever since.

My first album to be a part of was Passengers. you can imagine my confusion as a 13 year old kid. I was with my friend who also liked U2, and convinced him to buy it. That was odd, but I knew that wasn't a full U2 album, so I forgave and forgot (and later grew to love that album). I remember hearing U2's album would be released in the fall of 1996... and it got delayed... 17 years after Pop and here we are again!!

 

[digitize]

I was 14 when NLOTH came out, I laughably still had dial-up internet.

You're slightly younger than I am. I was 15 when NLOTH leaked, and 16 when it was released. (If I have the dates down right. I have a late February birthday.)

At this rate, it wouldn't be hard for me to picture myself being 30 when the album after this one comes out, but that's rather pessimistic.

 

[powerhour24]

So Invisible made #8 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart (essentially 108) despite the millions of initial downloads not counting for the chart, that's not so bad.

 

[powerhour24]

Also FWIW, The Joshua Tree was in the top 50 on the Billboard 200 chart this week.

 

[Miringeltje]

The Invisible YouTube video is nearing 1,290,000 million views.

It's the 32nd most popular video on YouTube worldwide and the 7th most popular music video on YouTube worldwide right now.

 

[last unicorn]

Glad to hear about Ordinary Love being performed both on the Fallon show and at the Oscars I guess we'll get OL accoustic and Invisible full band on Fallon. I expected them to play OL at least once before the Oscars performance, maybe it takes a bit off the pressure that they must feel performing the song for the Oscars.

Generally I must say I quite like the way the pressure has built up for U2 with all the promotional buzz going on because I feel it might push them into finishing and releasing the album rather sooner than later with the public now being alert. I don't think they'll simply let that momentum pass. U2 are maybe best with their backs against the wall and they've kind of got themselves into a corner by doing some intensive promotional work, being out there, releasing stuff but not having an album ready. So I hope the current situation kind of influences them into really working hard at getting that album ready.

 

[U2girl]

This is not a normal release. No album song ever got out as early as Invisible, and while they have done promos before, never with an audience as huge as Super Bowl. And they're not in the habit of releasing in Summer. Not to mention the lack of band (Bono) hype about the record.

 

[nbelcik]

I became a fan at six after I watched the Elevation Boston DVD and I remember really liking Bomb when it came out (still do). I had kind of drifted away when NLOTH came out (I was in my eighth grade heavy metal phase). Then when I heard they were coming to Seattle in 2011 at the end of my sophomore year of high school I knew I had to go so I did, since then my fandom level has been pretty high. It's amazing that when NLOTH came out I was in eighth grade, now I'm in college and we still haven't gotten another album. I wish they would just sit down in a studio for a couple months and work on the album like they used to. I get that they have families and stuff, but it's still ridiculous that its taken them almost 3 years (since the end of 360) to make a record.

 

[mama cass]

LOLBONO.

LOLzzzzzzzzz.

Oh Bono.

oh shit what's he done now?!

*keeps reading*

 

[ouu2fan23]

If the album does come out in June, I bet after the oscars, we won't hear from them again until April of May with the release of a single. If nothing comes out around that time most likely looking at a fall release.

 

[U2girl]

How many more albums do you think they will make?

Nobody knows. But I don't think switching McGuiness for someone new this late in the game suggests they're thinking of winding down. Or that 2020 Live Nation deal. After they do another trilogy of albums and they enter 60...they may want to reconsider things and drop the mega stadium tours.

 

[mama cass]

I grew up in the 70's /80's.....I call it a glorious time in pop culture....and I was in college in the 90's when ZooTV was killin it.....I mean, I was a lucky kid.....

me too!

best thing was hearing from a mate that tix had gone on sale for Achtung Baby tour at Bercy Paris, and then just hopping on the metro, getting across town, running down the stairs at Virgin Megastore on the Champs Elysee, to the cash desk (no queue) and buying two floor tix for the equivalent of £20 each

 

[U2girl]

That's weird, since he just said that they were only going to play Ordinary Love once...

As a full band. At the Oscars.

 

[U2girl]

Either U2 finish up on their own, will wait for DM to be free, or have brought someone brand new in.

The latter *may* happen, as they have said. But all in all, this is a DM production.

 

[U2girl]

I still think that the most likely reality is that this looks confused and rudderless simply because it is confused and rudderless.

No great mystery, no amazing genius master plan. It looks like a lot of it is on the fly... because it probably is. Everything is a bit messed up because an album was pushed back, a one-off song opportunity pushed its way in and perhaps turned out to be more successful/commercial then they anticipated, a huge promo opportunity was too big to cancel/impossible to postpone etc. They’re just doing the now standard last minute freak-out/push it back by a few months album delay, but the only unique thing is that this time they have these other things buzzing around and it’s probably as annoying for them as it is frustrating for us. They have to push and promote these things, which means they have to at least acknowledge the album elephant-in-the-room, but they’d probably rather not and would much prefer to have no spotlight right now. Its applying pressure and all of this ‘the return of U2’ now is chipping away at the hype-blast they’d like later.

I think Invisible was given away for RED before anything was "pushed back".

Hopefully Fallon show will get some new album info.

 

[last unicorn]

If the album does come out in June, I bet after the oscars, we won't hear from them again until April of May with the release of a single. If nothing comes out around that time most likely looking at a fall release.

IMO, it will be incredibly stupid of them to simply disappear again after all the hype. They have to keep the tension up. The smartest thing to so is to announce the album after the Oscars (when all the dust on Ordinary Love has settled) and release it within the next 3 months with a proper single coming in March. Everything else will just be a big waste of resources.

 

[purpleoscar]

What they really need to do is make a great album. If it's great people will want it.

 

[mama cass]

actually, i think these recent events have pretty much proved that U2 can do what they want when they want, and there will always be a massive audience waiting for them

 

[BEAL]

But are they loved by the pop kids? Cause that's really what they seem to want.

 

[Galeongirl]

Someone once made a really good photoshop of Bono and Edge on the Brokeback Mountain poster...anyone know what I'm talking about?

I have no idea if it has been posted in the pages after this yet, but I don't care. It deserves to be posted again. One of the best photoshops I've ever seen.


It was made by Tuwie And it still rules.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

This is not a normal release. No album song ever got out as early as Invisible, and while they have done promos before, never with an audience as huge as Super Bowl. And they're not in the habit of releasing in Summer. Not to mention the lack of band (Bono) hype about the record.

Except of course that they've started doing magazines and interviews like their lives depended upon it.

Again... Take invisible our of the equation for just a second. Take everything around invisible away, and look only at what's left.

The band has started doing magazines and newspaper articles where they discuss the album... just like they normally would do a few months before the start of any release.

Is releasing a song on its own and promoting it heavily different than the normal u2 album cycle? Yes. Of course.

Everything else... everything that's starting now... is that same old same old hype machine kicking into gear.

I think invisible was the test run to make sure they were going in the right direction.

Now that it's been received well, it's business as usual. A mountain of hype leading to a June release.

Sent from my android cause iphones are for old people

 

[ClaytonsKitten]

You can't take Invisible out of the equation though. It exists, and it was marketed for a very specific reason. Without Invisible, you dont have the Super Bowl hype, the iTunes hype, the YouTube hype, a talking point on Fallon, etc etc etc.

Invisible is very much a talking point AND a marketing strategy. Without it, the band is basically running around giving interviews about NOTHING, since we have no other 'actual' album news.

 

[jeevey]

I have no idea if it has been posted in the pages after this yet, but I don't care. It deserves to be posted again. One of the best photoshops I've ever seen.


It was made by Tuwie And it still rules.

Tuwie is fricking brilliant. Cowboy U2

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

You can't take Invisible out of the equation though. It exists, and it was marketed for a very specific reason. Without Invisible, you dont have the Super Bowl hype, the iTunes hype, the YouTube hype, a talking point on Fallon, etc etc etc.

Invisible is very much a talking point AND a marketing strategy. Without it, the band is basically running around giving interviews about NOTHING, since we have no other 'actual' album news.

Holy fuck... never mind.

Sent from my android cause iphones are for old people

 

[popacrobat]

Except of course that they've started doing magazines and interviews like their lives depended upon it.

Again... Take invisible our of the equation for just a second. Take everything around invisible away, and look only at what's left.

The band has started doing magazines and newspaper articles where they discuss the album... just like they normally would do a few months before the start of any release.

Is releasing a song on its own and promoting it heavily different than the normal u2 album cycle? Yes. Of course.

Everything else... everything that's starting now... is that same old same old hype machine kicking into gear.

I think invisible was the test run to make sure they were going in the right direction.

Now that it's been received well, it's business as usual. A mountain of hype leading to a June release.

Sent from my android cause iphones are for old people

Yep

 

[popacrobat]

You can't take Invisible out of the equation though. It exists, and it was marketed for a very specific reason. Without Invisible, you dont have the Super Bowl hype, the iTunes hype, the YouTube hype, a talking point on Fallon, etc etc etc.

Invisible is very much a talking point AND a marketing strategy. Without it, the band is basically running around giving interviews about NOTHING, since we have no other 'actual' album news.

Yeah but did you actually read his post?

 

[mikal]

Holy fuck... never mind.

Sent from my android cause iphones are for old people

Sent from my Nexus 5 using U2 Interference mobile app