How Popular Were the Last 2 Albums? See Last.FM

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doctorwho

doctorwho

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When I read through the Interference forum, I often get the impression that many fans hated the last two albums. Yet, based on sales, hit songs, and the popularity of the last two tours, I was conflicted. How could fans hate these last two albums so much when everything related to them did so well? Or was it just a very vocal group of minorities voicing complaints repeatedly?

Well, based on Last.FM, it appears the latter is true. That website allows fans to sample music - sometimes listen to the entire song! When checking out the site for U2, I found out that 8 out of the top 20 U2 songs listened to last week are from the last two albums! Keep in mind that we aren't talking about "new U2" and the excitement that comes from that. ATYCLB is 6+ years old and HTDAAB is almost 2.5 years old! So these are songs that people are enjoying and wishing to hear again.

A naysayer might think that only new songs are enjoyed and that the list is biased. However, the remaining 12 songs are from AB or earlier. So fans still enjoy JT, AB, UF, etc., but they also enjoy ATYCLB and HTDAAB.

One might argue that these are just songs from the last week, how have these songs done over a more extended period? The site answers that question too. If you click here you will see not only the list I mentioned above, but the top 50 U2 songs from the last 6 months. What's the #1 song most listened to on that site? "Beautiful Day". If I counted correctly, 19 of the top 50 songs, nearly 40%, are from the last two albums, and 8 still remain in the top 20 (40%).

What's also interesting is not a single song from "Zooropa" or "Pop" appears on these lists. I am a bit surprised at that myself, given the general popularity of "Stay" and "Staring at the Sun" (the two most likely candidates to make such a list from those albums). But, then again, this matches what U2 found themselves when studying radio playlists from around the world. Sadly, people are not huge fans of those albums. Is it any wonder why "18 Singles" failed to focus on those releases?

I realize this post may be confrontational and I do not mean to attack either "Zooropa" or "Pop". In fact, "Zooropa" is amongst my favorite U2 works. But, I did find it interesting how well U2's most recent work was performing. Now, Last.FM clearly isn't the "end all", but as a nice source for sampling or listening to music, I think it does provide some info. as to which U2 songs the general public does enjoy, not just the choices of a few vocal fans on Interference.






*edited to correct some typos. :sexywink:
 
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Great work. :yes:

ATYCLB and HTDAAB are great records. They just are. I don't care what a handful of indietastic interference members have to say...the critics ate both albums up and massive amounts of both were sold. U2 is doing pretty darn well IMO. :up:
 
If "QFT" means "quoted for truth", then yay! If it means something else, then please explain to this old man.

Hey, I'm not saying that I don't enjoy other U2 releases - I do. But I just see so much bashing of ATYCLB and HTDAAB that it made me wonder - was a backlash brewing? Then I realize that the public actually really likes the last two albums and that the only backlash is in these forums. Hmmm... :hmm:
 
doctorwho said:
If "QFT" means "quoted for truth", then yay! If it means something else, then please explain to this old man.

Hey, I'm not saying that I don't enjoy other U2 releases - I do. But I just see so much bashing of ATYCLB and HTDAAB that it made me wonder - was a backlash brewing? Then I realize that the public actually really likes the last two albums and that the only backlash is in these forums. Hmmm... :hmm:
Click to expand...

QFT = Quoted For Truth or Quite F***ing True, so either one is good. :lol:

I don't think a backlash was brewing...backlash is common anyway. At least, to a small extent. Great backlash like U2 faced with Pop is a different matter, but I would hardly call the small uprising that is currently going on within the fanbase "great backlash". More of a division, really. The fanbase will never be completely pleased. It's just not going to happen.
 
coolian2 said:
I was going to go for QFMFT

The people on here don't want experimental. They want Zooropa II, Pop II or even Achtung Baby II. Despite claiming they want experimental.
Click to expand...

Indeed.

"The new album won't be like Achtung Baby...it won't be 'dark' enough. I want dark, dammit! :mad: :mad: :mad: "

or

"Vertigo sounds like...something else. I am cry. :sad: "
 
I think that's the biggest issue - that if U2 did an album resembling AB or "Pop", fans would complain about that just as some complained about ATYCLB and HTDAAB sounding too much like, well, U2. LOL! It truly is a no win situation.

Still, it does seem I read a lot of bashing towards those last two albums. In that "undo one mistake" thread, some fans wanted U2 to "erase" all of the material released this decade! :ohmy: I was just stunned. I don't love every song on those two albums, but there are some true classics there - songs that readily stand up to any other era of U2 and will probably be remembered for the ages. And I think Last.FM emphasizes this. When "Beautiful Day" and "Vertigo" are in the Top 5 of U2 songs heard over the past 6 months, and is in the same group as other huge classics, this tells me a lot about how well received the last two albums were by the general public, even if some here hate them.
 
My personal observances have shown that casual U2 fans (meaning, not us) in their late teens to early twenties typically only own ATYCLB and HTDAAB (a few also have The Best of 1980-1990), of course, no real research went into this, it's just what I've observed from friends and friends of friends.
Now, being the staunch 00s basher that I am (and I swear, this forum was only partially responsible for making me that way), I would guess that the majority of Last.FM users are teens/young adults who do the majority of their music listening on their PCs (I fall into that category myself), these are the same people that only own ATYCLB and HTDAAB (if they even listen to U2 at all), thus skewing the results. And then you have the ones that don't own any U2 CDs, but instead have illegally downloaded Beautiful Day, Elevation, and Vertigo, because those are the only U2 songs they know, skewing the results even farther.
 
DreamOutLoud13 said:
My personal observances have shown that casual U2 fans (meaning, not us) in their late teens to early twenties typically only own ATYCLB and HTDAAB (a few also have The Best of 1980-1990), of course, no real research went into this, it's just what I've observed from friends and friends of friends.
Now, being the staunch 00s basher that I am (and I swear, this forum was only partially responsible for making me that way), I would guess that the majority of Last.FM users are teens/young adults who do the majority of their music listening on their PCs (I fall into that category myself), these are the same people that only own ATYCLB and HTDAAB (if they even listen to U2 at all), thus skewing the results. And then you have the ones that don't own any U2 CDs, but instead have illegally downloaded Beautiful Day, Elevation, and Vertigo, because those are the only U2 songs they know, skewing the results even farther.
Click to expand...

Could be true or even QFT :wink:
 
Is it not the whole point of forums to have different opinions? Thats what make them work! The only TRUE bashing i see on here is of those who dare say anything mildly critical of u2. Having been an avid fan since 1981, i reserve the right to say what ever i like about them and if its percieved as negative, TOUGH!!!
For the record, i genuinely like the last couple of albums for the most part, but I think it is far from their best work.
 
gman said:
Is it not the whole point of forums to have different opinions? Thats what make them work! The only TRUE bashing i see on here is of those who dare say anything mildly critical of u2. Having been an avid fan since 1981, i reserve the right to say what ever i like about them and if its percieved as negative, TOUGH!!!
For the record, i genuinely like the last couple of albums for the most part, but I think it is far from their best work.
Click to expand...

Here Here!
Well fucking said Gman!
 
LemonMelon said:

The fanbase will never be completely pleased. It's just not going to happen.
Click to expand...

Thats the beauty of freedom of speech...... and long may it continue!!

Wen all is sed and done, neither this website nor Last.Fm will ever give a true picture of public opinion. Only record sales and concert attendances will give a true reflection of their popularity!
 
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If anything these forums are very predictable...

We all like U2 (I hope) but can never agree on exactly what we like about them.

You will always get those agitators who start the "POP sucks" or "I hate HTDAAB" threads; it's just a fact of life here on the boards...

I am willing to bet the majority of these "vocal complainers" probably do not hate POP or HTDAAB or whatever as much as they seem, they just do this to get attention since they realize this will bait others into argument.

If everyone blindly loved U2 and everything they did however, it would make Interference pretty boring... How many threads could you honestly read that were nothing but praise and adoration for the band?
 
Nice work, doc!

It's true, there will always be differing opinions, and they'll certainly be most evident on a discussion forum. I do think, however, that you can't overlook the fact that there is a pretty vocal group of 00s bashers. That's fine, there will always be a group that's against the current music (see the ZooTV Interference thread). I think it's false to say that only the 00s bashers get attacked here....an 00s appreciation thread ends up infiltrated by anti-00s posts just as quickly as an anti-00s thread gets infiltrated by pro-00s posts. La di da.

Anyway, to comment on the thought that the Last.FM results are skewed because of the likely age of its users. This may be true, but that doesn't mean that it's any less valid. There are plenty of teens and early-20s members here who own the entire catalog. Also, I'd be willing to bet that if we're just going on age, the Last.FM audience also includes those who grew up with 90s U2--they're (we're) in the 20s and just as likely to use something like Last.FM. Thus, you would think that staunch 90s U2 supporters have also impacted the results--yet they show what Doc presented.

We'll see how attitudes are shaped 10 years from now. I don't doubt that there will still be discord amongst fans who like one era over another, though the majority of fans will probably like and appreciate all of them. What I'm curious to see, though, is how the crowd that got into U2 with ATYCLB and HTDAAB feels about whatever music is coming 10 years from now. I've said in the past (and several have admitted to it) that most of the staunchest 90s supporters are those who first got into U2 and/or music with AB or Pop. Perhaps those who are getting into music and/or U2 with the 00s music will dislike the 10'sU2 stuff just as much.


I was born in 1980. Grew up listening to 80s U2 through my dad's radio, which was always on. IWF, SBS, NYD, Pride, Bad, Streets, WOWY, ISHFWILF and a few others were always playing in my house & family car when I was a kid. I got more extensively into U2 with Achtung, which coincided with when I got my first cd player. I had the typical drop-off with Pop--partly because it was darker than the U2 I'd known for my whole life, but mainly because it was heavier than the music I was interested in at the time. Reignited by the positive feel of ATYCLB. Went back to Pop and came to appreciate it. Enjoyed HTDAAB. And here I am now, with a healthy appreciation and enjoyment of each of the eras. Sure, I may like some more than others. But I don't think any of the eras deserves the antipathy some get now and then.


As someone in 'U2 Show' noted: U2 fans want the band to continually change, yet want them to stay exactly the same.
 
elevated_u2_fan said:

If everyone blindly loved U2 and everything they did however, it would make Interference pretty boring... How many threads could you honestly read that were nothing but praise and adoration for the band?
Click to expand...

About two.

Then I'd go to B&C and look for some Coldplay bashing. :happy:

Mob mentality FTW. :applaud:
 
Personally I'm a fan of every era of U2, but my utter devotion to them and belief that they cannot possibly do no wrong started to erode when I first heard Pop, but after about ayear I began to fall in love with it and now it's one of my fave albums. The Popmart tour on the other hand I will never love, after ZooTv which was the greatest show on earth in my opinion Popmart was a complete let down in my opinion.
I also like the last two albums, many of my fave U2 songs come from this era, however so do most of the U2 songs I dislike. I just feel that U2 are capable of so much more. and I particuarly hate having to wait 4 years for albums that are not immaculate and upto the standards they are more than able to achieve. I think they are just too concerned with pther people's perception of them and that they allow members of the group who, shall we say, contribute less have to big a say. However plenty in the 00's floats my boat, I love U2 at least as much as anybody on this forum, just I think they are the best band in the history of the universe and I expect the best as they have produced in AB, JT and TUF.
 
I think there are many casual U2 fans who own the last two albums and maybe a few of the greatest hits collections and not much beyond that, either because they haven't discovered the rest, or because they don't care to for whatever reason. It's possible that the Last.fm rankings are swayed by listeners who only have a few tracks.

Looking at the top 20, with the exceptions of COBL, ABOY, IWF, and AIWIY, I've heard all of those songs on local radio stations in the last two or three months. I live pretty much in the middle of nowhere, and we definitely don't have any good radio stations, so it always shocks me when U2 comes on. I think Zooropa and Pop aren't represented on Last.fm's top 20 list because they haven't really been well represented on greatest hits collections or on mainstream radio.

U2 is my top-ranked band on Last.fm, with almost twice as many plays as my second- and third-ranked artists. Strangely, though, my highest-ranked U2 song is only #14, and there are a few more ranked lower in my top 50. Why is that? Because U2 has so many songs. Of course Ray LaMontagne has four songs in my top 10; he only has two albums and a handful of live tracks, so I don't have as much to listen to.

I don't think the Last.fm rankings necessarily represent the popularity of U2's last two albums among fans. I think they demonstrate the commercial success of the last two albums, along with the greatest hits collections.

I've been ambivalent about 00s U2; I really liked HTDAAB, but I didn't care much for ATYCLB. I think the change in how aggressively U2 has been marketed in the last seven years has a lot to do with their commercial and critical success (RRHoF, Grammy awards, etc.) and explains why over 30,000 people have listened to Beautiful Day in the last six months and only 3,000 have listened to Miami and about 4,000 have listened to Zooropa.

I don't want this to turn into a debate about casual vs. die-hard fans, or between 00 lovers and 00 haters, though. I'm more or less just trying to call some attention to how Last.fm might not be a great measure of U2 fans.

That said, this was a great idea for a thread. :up:
 
Sometimes I feel like something's wrong with me because I really love all the music equally. :tongue:
 
BonoIsMyMuse is absolutely correct. Last.fm isn't a good gauge of how U2 fans feel about the albums at all. A lot of people out there likely only have one or two U2 albums. Even more probably only have a few of the singles/hits downloaded. Looking at the top ten, what do we have? Beautiful Day, With Or Without You, Vertigo, SBS and One. U2's big five as far as singles and hits go. Last.fm charts for commercially successful bands like U2 tend to be dominated by kids who download any particular band's hits and don't bother with anything else. Do you think that most of the 14-year-old kids who have Vertigo and Beautiful Day downloaded on their computers would even know about songs like Exit, Rejoice or Please? You have to look a lot farther down the list usually to see the listening habits the big fans of the band - the kind that would visit Interference daily. You can do it for any band.

Red Hot Chili Peppers:
1. Dani California
2. Californication
3. Scar Tissue
4. By The Way
5. Scar Tissue

Any big RHCP fan would NOT consider Dani California to be amongst the group's best work by any stretch of the imagination. It's number one because it's current and because a lot of teenagers have downloaded it.

It really doesn't surprise me that a lot of HTDAAB tracks are high in the top 100 either. How many of us listened to that album obsessively in the first few weeks?
 
GibsonGirl said:
A lot of people out there likely only have one or two U2 albums. Even more probably only have a few of the singles/hits downloaded.
Click to expand...


While I understand the sentiment, I don't think it's quite fair to assume that the majority of people out there using Last.FM are casual fans that only have a few singles. Looking at your signature, GG, I see that you currently have a Roger Waters song on there. Surely, you have most or all of Roger's & Pink Floyd's catalogs? I don't doubt it. In fact, nearly 100% of the people here who have shots of Last.FM on their signatures are audiophiles. I don't see the basis for assuming that the vast majority of Last.FM users are casual fan imbeciles and greatly unlike the Last.FM users who grace Interference.
 
I do really love ATYCLB, but HTDAAB was somewhat disappointing (though not "crap" by any means). Now I greatly enjoyed their 90's output, but by no means am I a preacher for return to form from that decade. No, I don't simply want "dark" or "depressing" music from the band (to be perfectly honest, I think it is MUCH easier to come up with a decent record that is genuinely depressing as opposed to genuinely uplifting) - I want U2 to veer off and go in a direction they haven't fully explored (e.g. jazz, showtunes, etc.,).

I still think U2 is a great band and their recent outings are definately underestimated around these parts.
 
doctorwho said:
When I read through the Interference forum, I often get the impression that many fans hated the last two albums.
Click to expand...

How many people have really come out and said they've hated the last 2 albums? shaun vox and t8thgr8? while people have said theyve enjoyed other eras more, pretty much everyone here still enjoys the last 2 albums to some degree.

i think the bashing of the last 2 albums is overstated. the reason why it may seem there is more bashing is because these are the last 2 albums, so they are the most talked about, good and bad. im sure if there was a forum around during achtung baby and zooropa they would have had the same amount of "bashing."
 
Re: Re: How Popular Were the Last 2 Albums? See Last.FM

Chizip said:


shaun vox and t8thgr8?
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interesting choices. my first thought was mrbrau and u2girl.
 
Re: Re: How Popular Were the Last 2 Albums? See Last.FM

Chizip said:


How many people have really come out and said they've hated the last 2 albums? shaun vox and t8thgr8? while people have said theyve enjoyed other eras more, pretty much everyone here still enjoys the last 2 albums to some degree.

i think the bashing of the last 2 albums is overstated. the reason why it may seem there is more bashing is because these are the last 2 albums, so they are the most talked about, good and bad. im sure if there was a forum around during achtung baby and zooropa they would have had the same amount of "bashing."
Click to expand...

:up:

I would almost say it's somehow "cool" to make fun of the last two albums although I'm not altogether sure why :slant:
 
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