My bet is 2002, maybe even before the summer tour of Europe starts.
I wish people would stop putting ATYCLB down and sayin it's "safe". Like it or not, it IS a great album, with both critical acclaim and commercial success (probably safe to say it will sell over 10 million copies).
On top of that, it helped push the tour's success and an incredibly succesful year for the band.
It's also the best possible answer to 90's experimental period IMO. It shows how
good U2's songwriting can be.
Not to mention it sounds unlike anything else out there, how is it "safe" ?!?
True, some songs are closer to pop than U2 has ever been before, but what's so bad about trying new things? Isn't that what U2 has always been about?
Yes, some songs are very U2-ish (which is a weird argument anyway - if you're U2, you're bound to sound like U2 in one way or another).
Also, i really don't buy that the album is supposed to be some kind of "making up to the fans" after POP. (though U2 has made better albums than POP, let's face it)
And i honestly don't think U2 has ever listened to music corporations or whatever as far as their music is concerned. Why do you think they tried so many different things over the years? Because they wanted to try and expand their horizons.
They were never about humoring the music industry, and they are certainly beyond humoring anybody/anything at least since JT.
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"We feel like this is unfinished business - there's things for us left to do and that's why we still do it." - Larry
"For us, each night on stage has to be like it's the last night on earth. That's the way our band operates-we can't play the songs unless we're fully into them." - Bono
"The music itself will tell you where to go." - Edge (about recording)
"It's an elevation thing." - Adam (when asked why there's pictures from airport on ATYCLB cover)
get your head out of the mud baby
[This message has been edited by U2girl (edited 01-04-2002).]