New Album Discussion 1 - Songs of..... - Unreasonable guitar album

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Hewson said:
They were cool in the 80's and 90's (certainly the early 90's). And not thought of too badly in the early 2000's by most.
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They certainly faced a fair share of "too serious/uncool/pretentious/shut up Bono" critiques which intensified during Rattle and Hum but was I believe mainly backlash to the success of Joshua Tree.

Headache in a Suitcase said:
we've had this conversation before.

comparing U2 to nickleback is ridiculous.

those who do hate them are quite vocal - but there's an age range - let's say late 30s and up - where the band is beloved and always have been - by the general public. you don't sell the number of tickets they've sold or the albums they sold (when that was a thing) if there's a 50/50 love 'em or hate 'em thing going on.

again - those who do hate them are very vocal about it. but it's not a huge number. i think people often mistake eye rolling at bono for hatred of U2.

that said - there's a SHARP cut off once we start getting past Vertigo. they tried to hang around with the youngs for too long and faced a sharp backlash - the apple debacle being the culmination. but the fans who became fans in the 80s, 90s and early 2000s are plentiful.

the olds still love U2. how many other bands could come close to selling out 25 shows in a single city for an old album?

their being the old guy in the club thing has hurt their legacy with younger generations. but i do think, in time, that'll swing back.
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I don't disagree with any of this. They've always been very popular, and still are (I mean, not much competition these days, but they are still one of if not THE biggest/most popular band in the world).

That said, we're talking about whether or not they're cool, and how much they're made fun of. They can still be 10x more popular than Nickelback and still be right behind them in terms of shit slinging.
 
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I think it also depends on your circle too. I've played in a few hard rock bands and generally have friends who like harder rock (including myself) and the very mention of U2 was laughed at.
 
There is a mob mentality when it comes to U2 hate in social settings. Once someone mentions how much U2 (particularly Bono) suck, people tend to join in. It’s always an uphill battle trying to defend them. Gets exhausting.
 
For the record,I couldn't give a flying fuck what other people think of them. They are my favourite band and that's that,even got the tattoo to prove it.
 
Joshua Tree 2017 was very effective damage control post-iTunes.

Bono will never be cool, but he never was. He was never sex, drugs, and RnR. But that’s fine. Bono has objectively improved the world, and I’m sure he wouldn’t trade that for some 17-year old wearing a Stones shirt who probably doesn’t know any of their songs. I have friends with young teenagers and it’s seen as kind of cool/ironic to wear Def Leppard shirts. Not sure I want that for U2?

I don’t really talk about being a big fan, but it’s something people know about me. I also don’t try to actively try and recruit fans, or try and explain that Pop wasn’t actually a terrible album like I did when I was much younger. It just doesn’t matter. I know more about popular music and listen more widely than your average 40-something (or 14-year old in a Def Leppard shirt) … and while I like almost everything across every genre (I’m easy to please) I’m perfectly fine with my all time favorites being super square: U2, REM, Springsteen, and 90s Radiohead.

I also think we are hypersensitive to criticism. Literally 500,000 people bought tickets to Vegas.

And Springsteen was uncool in the 90s.
 
Nice. Yeah, I mean heaps of artists release singles on days other than Friday too. Give it a day or so for the crowd to know it.
 
So can we assume Larry is fine to be in the studio,but obviously a 2 hour plus show is out of the question.

Hopefully he is ready to go on tour next year.
 
Eh I think releasing the single the day of is perfectly fine and makes sense. It’s supposed to be a one off song connected to the residency and Vegas. I don’t think the band expects much success with it and it’s definitely not going to overshadow the performance.
 
Sad to hear about Larry having to undergo more surgeries. I guess that’s what 40+ years of drumming can do to your body. Would he want to go back to the studio or go on another tour after going through all of that shit is still the million-dollar question.

Bring on Friday. New song and new show - it’s gonna (finally) be a pretty active day in the U2 world. :hyper:
 
HARD
AS
A
ROCK

(well I'm 45 and on many medications so it's more a soft rock, but if you pet it nicely sometimes it moves to prove it's not dead)
 
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