rihannsu
Refugee
This fiction that U2 didn't try to make hits really should be corrected. WOWY almost got ditched from the album completely and it was only because Gavin restructured the song and convinced them that it would be a hit that they continued with it. I think Flanagan talks about how they spent months trying to get WGRYWH right to make it a hit and just were never satisfied with it. Edge estimated that 60% of the time spent on JT was devoted to Streets (granted that was his personal idea of the perfect U2 live song). The trick is trying to balance between making a song accessible enough to puncture the pop conciousness but different enough to still challenge and stretch the listeners. I don't really think that they are doing anything differently than they have before but both the musical landscape and the frame of reference have changed. While you could argue that before JT they didn't try to make singles I could argue right back that the reason they did that was they didn't want to be known as a singles band, not that they didn't appreciate the value of a single. The early years were spent building the live audience so that their continued survival would not hinge on whether or not they had a hit single. Once they had established themselves they had no qualms about doing their very best to make some hits. The problem now is more that U2 are carrying a ridiculous amount of baggage and getting past people preconcieved ideas of U2 and Bono and of what is expected given their age and the length of their career is nearly impossible. Reviews of this album do more to tell you the mindset of the reviewer than they do to tell you about the album. The descriptions are so wildly different it begs you to wonder if there are multiple alternative versions of the album. The only thing that is clear is that what they hear on NLOTH is based on what their preconceptions are and the reviewers capable of truly hearing the album are few and far between. You can pratically map out what section of the U2 fanbase/or not fan base the reviewer belongs too by which songs they like and which they trash or what lyrics they think are brilliant and what they think stinks. They is no concensus of opinion really except for Magnificent which even the haters think will be a massive hit. U2 made a record that has something for everyone but the key to seeing the true beauty of it is to accept all aspects of U2.
Dana
Dana