Ah I mean the Stones were a running punchline for a long time for being too old.
New Album Discussion 1 - Songs of..... - Unreasonable guitar album
- Thread starter dan_smee
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The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Irvine511
Blue Crack Supplier
super fly guy
New Yorker
In the UK anyway,played all the time on Radio 2. (I know that's a low bar).
ascender_RS
Refugee
The new Stones sounds really good but in the context of their history, it's just a good rock single. But that's fine. Like U2, any new music and live shows from them at this stage in their career should be considered a good thing as you never know what will be their last.
With the way the music industry is just now, if U2 did release With or Without You for the first time next week, there's no guarantee it would be a massive hit or make a wide cultural impact or anything.
No matter how good their next album is, unless they do something radically different from their last few, their only hope would be they write something they put out as a lead-off single which grabs the public's attention (was Vertigo the last time they managed that?) but even then, I'm not sure what they would really do for them. Their next world tour will still sell out and they'll do the same again in 3/4 years time.
I'd love them to take more risks with their music; do different sorts of music; do some soundtrack work; maybe some solo stuff or collaborations; release more music... but none of that's going to happen.
Irvine511
Blue Crack Supplier
david
ONE love, blood, life
It’s a pretty cool song and the lyrics aren’t horrible. I just wish Edge could write better riffs these days.
super fly guy
New Yorker
Wish the solo went on a bit longer,but it's certainly catchy.
DomCobb
Acrobat
I think we're all pretty much on the same page about that.
They've had too many misses to regain public support, it's been almost two decades since their last hit album/song. They've always been a punchline, but without hit music their only relevance is "remember when they forced an album on your phone?" But more than anything, they're old. No one wants to listen to old people.
Which goes back to, who would new music be for at this point? To which the answer is basically just the fans.
david
ONE love, blood, life
The only legacy act that I think still appeals to the young and old alike are probably the Chili Peppers. But are their singles doing anything?
ascender_RS
Refugee
In the Spotify plays from March to September, RHCP are about 130th with 30 million monthly listeners.
U2 are 302nd with 19 million listeners.
RHCP have recently been on a world tour and in the last few years have released two double albums of new material. I've not heard much coverage of their singles on radio other than the lead-off from each album, so maybe its a combination of new material and a tour which helps older acts get more streaming listens each month?
DomCobb
Acrobat
I think acts just have a shelf life. RHCP didn’t start that long after U2, but they broke out about a decade after U2, so they seem a bit more recent, so not as far down the descending popularity as U2. But I don’t think RHCP is very popular with young people these days.
U2 would be better off going the Springsteen route, and just give up on the young people entirely. Bruce releases fairly regularly and I feel like the olds have no problem picking up every album.
U2 would be better off going the Springsteen route, and just give up on the young people entirely. Bruce releases fairly regularly and I feel like the olds have no problem picking up every album.
Irvine511
Blue Crack Supplier
i agree with this. one of my complaints about SOI/E is that the songs are too short, actually. they are too tight, there's no room to breathe. Little Things' solo could be longer, they could ride that lovely Landlady groove for another minute, etc.
Bruce, Neil, hell even Pearl Jam and Radiohead are happy making music for themselves and their core audience and have zero issues moving tickets and getting the occasional play on adult alternative.
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
Gonna Run 2 U
New Yorker
Probably the Foo Fighters too because everyone loves to stroke Dave Grohl for some reason.
gvox
Ghost of Love
This.
Add the inexplicably abrupt fade of Edge’s brilliant solo on The Troubles… like what the?!
We add that extra groove at the end of Landlady for our live version.. It really resolves the song far more naturally.
mikal
Blue Crack Addict
For good reason. Dave Grohl is awesome.
DomCobb
Acrobat
Ultimately I think the main issue is that in the past ten years is that they've only put out two albums. One annoyed people because of how it was released, and the other one some people probably didn't realize was new because it had a similar title (especially with the I+E tour name). So I think they've just fallen a bit off the radar, not even the mainstream, which of course is unattainable, but for even their target demo.
That said, unlike the mainstream and the younger crowd, I think they can win back the base. This could be the first step on the road to doing that. But I really hope there's an album soon. Even if this song isn't on it. They need to parlay whatever press they're getting from the Sphere (TBD) into "U2 is back."
That said, unlike the mainstream and the younger crowd, I think they can win back the base. This could be the first step on the road to doing that. But I really hope there's an album soon. Even if this song isn't on it. They need to parlay whatever press they're getting from the Sphere (TBD) into "U2 is back."
Gonna Run 2 U
New Yorker
They did re-engage a lot of the traditional U2 fan base with the Joshua Tree tour too.
They just need a great “comeback” first single.
They haven’t had that since Vertigo.
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cseggleton
War Child
Volcano? Nah..RBW or TIWYCRMN would have been better choices.
Gonna Run 2 U
New Yorker
I’m probably in the minority around here but I even think Iris would have been a great choice as a lead single. Classic U2 sound with a strong theme about Bono’s mom.
SOI was such a strong album ruined by that damn iTunes release.
SOI was such a strong album ruined by that damn iTunes release.
lazarus
Blue Crack Supplier
That still bothers me to this day.
They rarely do fade-outs in general post-2000, even on songs where they should. See also: Moment of Surrender.
Yet another reason why Mercy is great.
The Orgasmatron?
OP
OP
dan_smee
ONE love, blood, life
I had a crack at creating a matrix of the last performance from a couple of the youtube videos. Everything was so high treble, and then I found a very bassy one, so here is a quick and dirty smoosh together. I don't have my headphones and the speakers on my laptop are blown, so it may not be perfectly aligned, but sounds close (vocals are odd because there are four Bono tracks there now, not just one). The drums and bass seem to align ok, and it will do until the real version drops.
https://www.sendspace.com/file/1jv7h8
https://www.sendspace.com/file/1jv7h8
super fly guy
New Yorker
You would hope they would drop a proper teaser this week to capitalise on any good publicity.
DomCobb
Acrobat
I agree I think Iris would have been a quality lead single.
I do think they were smart to put out EBW as a single, I definitely caught it a couple times in the grocery store, but I think it would have had a bigger impact had they lead with it rather than The Miracle. I don’t have any hate for The Miracle but I think putting that as their first foot forward, both as a single and on the album probably killed off a lot of people who might have been curious enough to listen.
Ultimately again the real choice was Invisible as the single and to start the album but I think with the surprise drop (and the delay) they wanted it to be 11 new songs.
super fly guy
New Yorker
They're young,not dumb.......Will get my coat.
mikal
Blue Crack Addict
I heard "Call Me" in the grocery store yesterday. Perhaps that's promo for the single?
I feel like we might see something on Friday.
One week out - toss it out there to build some hype. Give people who might be going a chance to learn the fucking words so it's not as awkward when they play it.
Or, like, they wait. Because they're dumb
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