The OOTS
Refugee
If Discotheque is better musically than anything on HTDAAB, that really says a lot about HTDAAB.
Boom CHA!!
Boom CHA!!
2Hearts said:The main point here is that Vertigo is not a gimmick b/c it lacks meaning. It's main theme is temptation: "Your soul, it can't be bought/ but your mind can wander". For Christians, if your soul belongs to God, then Satan cannot take it. However, Satan is very happy to tempt believers and try to make them useless to God. Some religious imagery is thrown into the Club Scene: "The girl with crimson nails has Jesus 'round her neck" (Cross necklace). Bono is a good boy wink and doesn't want to do the wrong thing, "It's everything I wish I didn't know" and turns back to God, "But You give me something I can feel". He does not give in to the temptation. The lines "All of this can be yours" recalls Satan's tempting of Jesus in the desert. (Out of curiosity, how many times does Bono say this? Christ faced 3 different temptations). Finally, the line "Your love is teaching me how to kneel" echoes the sentiment of Jesus saying "Whoever wants to be great must become a servant", and also the lyric from MW "If you want to kiss the sky, you better learn how to kneel".
So Vertigo is very much based on the concept of spirtual warfare. If do not believe in anything spiritual, then maybe you would think Vertigo has no meaning.
MrBrau1 said:
For me, it the worst squander of a guitar riff in the history of rock.
This perfect riff (recorded on an acoustic guitar BTW) sits second chair to stylized beats and trendy production. What a waste.
MrBrau1 said:
For me, it the worst squander of a guitar riff in the history of rock.
This perfect riff (recorded on an acoustic guitar BTW) sits second chair to stylized beats and trendy production. What a waste.
MrBrau1 said:
Whereas Vertigo is just a dumb rock song with a great beat, that gets buy on the energy in it, not the clothes it's wearing.
2Hearts said:For the record I can't think of any U2 song I would call a gimmick (namkcuR's definition is a good one). I just wondered if anyone would agree with my 'claims' that Sweetest Thing, Zoo Station, etc. were gimmicks.
To make a few comments on your song analyses, you mention both intrinsic and extrinsic meanings. That is fine, but just be aware that w/o knowledge of why it was written, Sweetest Thing could sound blase. It's well written, but it doesn't say much that hundreds of other 'relationship' songs don't. That's ok with me, but people like zoomer probably don't think much of it.
Zoo Station has a TON of meaning when you take into account the band's new direction at the time. But it also has intrinsic meaning with a kind of 'carpe diem' theme, "Time is a train, makes the future the past/ leaves you standing at the station/ with your face pressed up against the glass"
I found this very amusing. I notice you didn't try to explain it! I'll let you off the hook here b/c I find meaning in it too. Don't have time to explain though.
The main point here is that Vertigo is not a gimmick b/c it lacks meaning. It's main theme is temptation: "Your soul, it can't be bought/ but your mind can wander". For Christians, if your soul belongs to God, then Satan cannot take it. However, Satan is very happy to tempt believers and try to make them useless to God. Some religious imagery is thrown into the Club Scene: "The girl with crimson nails has Jesus 'round her neck" (Cross necklace). Bono is a good boy wink and doesn't want to do the wrong thing, "It's everything I wish I didn't know" and turns back to God, "But You give me something I can feel". He does not give in to the temptation. The lines "All of this can be yours" recalls Satan's tempting of Jesus in the desert. (Out of curiosity, how many times does Bono say this? Christ faced 3 different temptations). Finally, the line "Your love is teaching me how to kneel" echoes the sentiment of Jesus saying "Whoever wants to be great must become a servant", and also the lyric from MW "If you want to kiss the sky, you better learn how to kneel".
So Vertigo is very much based on the concept of spirtual warfare. If do not believe in anything spiritual, then maybe you would think Vertigo has no meaning.
U2DMfan said:
But that was the thing with Discotheque, it was the off-putting image that really was the gimmick. The song is a catchy rock song just like Vertigo. IMO, it was more brave for them to take a message, even if it made them look like asses, than to just say "here is our dumb rock song". Just a difference of opinion, I guess.
As an American in 1997, I never saw the huge bandwagon to be jumped on. Chemical Bros, Crystal Method, Prodigy, whatever else was seeing modest success was dwarfed into comparison with the post-grunge wankfest and the beginnings of the rap-metal shit-a-thon. I never saw it as the easy way, I saw it as the harder way. Of course, I never thought U2 had a good pulse of what the American rock public wants.
So, yes maybe U2 were taking what was huge and hip in Europe and trying to hit the next big wave, from my view I saw it as more brave than that. That's just my perspective. I don't totally disagree with what you are saying.
ponkine said:
HTDAAB should have never been released, really
ponkine said:I agree with the original post. HTDAAB is plain plastic, false, commercial, cheap, hit and miss, unoriginal, disposable, uninspired, tired, recycled, lame, boring, predictable and shameful as named as a U2 album .
If this album wouldn´t have been recorded by U2 it would have been reviewed without any regrets as one of the worst pieces of corporate forgettable crap and it couldn´t have sold even 1 million copies.
I really feel ashamed of the band for putting such poorly half worked and written iPod item . Is not as bad as ATYCLB (still the worst U2 album ever, IMO ) but given the long time between albums and the fact HTDAAB is basically an ATYCLB II album, to some extent is even more dissapointing
HTDAAB should have never been released, really
ponkine said:HTDAAB is plain plastic, false, commercial, cheap, hit and miss, unoriginal, disposable, uninspired, tired, recycled, lame, boring, predictable and shameful
namkcuR said:
I am fully aware of this lyrical meaning in Vertigo. But musically it is fluff. Imagine listening to an instrumental version of Vertigo. The exact album version but with no Bono. That would be a bore. Why? Because the lyrics have no melody. There's hardly any musical movement(within the lyrics/singing) until the chorus. Therefore, the only melody you remember when the song is over is the hook, the chorus. Which keeps you going back for more, aka makes people who heard it on the radio buy the record. Hence, gimmick.
2Hearts said:
Surely it cannot be all of those things!!!!
My favorite: HTDAAB is false. When did albums become True/False questions?
Once again, I'll state my opinion. HTDAAB is U2's 3rd best album.
Sleep Over Jack said:
What a fucking awful post.
Earnie Shavers said:
Remember how everyone raved over ATYCLB, then HTDAAB was released and suddenly ATYCLB goes pummeling down everyones charts? Here's my prediction... If U2 indeed still have it in them (I believe they do) and still have the balls, and go and release another album of great, amazing music along the lines of their previous nine, there will be a collective sigh of relief from EVERYONE in here and a general feeling of "Ooooooh I forgot about how good they could do this", and HTDAAB will slide, slide, slide down those charts as well. I sincerely hope they prove me right by releasing such an album, rather then another one of these...
hey !!! so you`re back, I missed your intelligent comments ...Sleep Over Jack said:
What a fucking awful post.
roy said:
Could you be any more patronising?
Doppelgang said:your all out to lunch, i dont think u2 have written a crap song ever, especially compared to most other bands out there,
Earnie Shavers said:Remember how everyone raved over ATYCLB, then HTDAAB was released and suddenly ATYCLB goes pummeling down everyones charts? Here's my prediction... If U2 indeed still have it in them (I believe they do) and still have the balls, and go and release another album of great, amazing music along the lines of their previous nine, there will be a collective sigh of relief from EVERYONE in here and a general feeling of "Ooooooh I forgot about how good they could do this", and HTDAAB will slide, slide, slide down those charts as well. I sincerely hope they prove me right by releasing such an album, rather then another one of these...
Earnie Shavers said:.
In summary: The Bomb doesn't suck. It's just not fair to compare an album in the category of The Bomb & ATYCLB to an album that falls into the category of Boy, October, War, The Unforgettable Fire, The Joshua Tree, Rattle & Hum, Achtung Baby, Zooropa & Pop.