Uhhh, the Stones last album was all blues covers and it fucking rocked. Saw them on the most recent tour and that rocked too. They’re old and rough and revel in it.
Blue & Lonesome is awesome. But that was a album of covers Mick wanted to do and they recorded it in 2-3 days because thats what Mick would allow. Saw them in 2019 in Houston, great show but same show they've been doing the last 15 years.
I'm talking about new material which hasn't happened since a Bigger Bang 2005. Even on that tour they played maybe 2-3 new songs a night.
Exactly.
The Stones have been creatively bankrupt for decades.
U2 puts on a great show and is still writing great songs. That they can’t put 10+ together for an album in unfortunate, but it’s better than the above alternative, unless you prioritize being “cool” over everything else.
Oh come on. U2 is still writing great songs? What year is this, 2004? They're a good, competent band but their last two albums are no better than A Bigger Bang, and U2s best songs from the last three albums are as good as mid tier b sides from 84-97. Those b sides were pretty damn good though. The only song from Bomb onward that lives up to the standard they'd set is City of Blinding Lights.
Not really. They're nowhere near as good as they used to be. For a long time they were as good and interesting as anyone else (with a Beatle shaped exception), but then they dropped off. It happens to everybody. There are lucky ones like REM, Bowie and Weller who get a second (or third) wind. I hope it happens for U2, but I don't think it's likely. They've been making terrible decisions for too long to have any confidence that they'll come out of their creative rut.
You can literally point to their last three albums and find 2 to 3 great songs on each.
Certainly, it’s just that the filler has gotten way worse/more desperate. You could put together an incredible single album “Songs of Innocence & Experience” and no one would question their songwriting strengths. Production choices are a separate problem, and initially turned me off SOI, but I can’t deny the mostly cohesive thematic approach. The tour was incredible. If they had played the European setlist in the US for e+i, I would’ve been raving similarly.
The tour was incredible.
I agree that they are not nearly as good as they were between 1984 and 1997. Hard to keep that kind of quality up. But I also think it’s a bit of a stretch to say that they’re not writing any great songs. You can literally point to their last three albums and find 2 to 3 great songs on each.
I agree that they are not nearly as good as they were between 1984 and 1997. Hard to keep that kind of quality up. But I also think it’s a bit of a stretch to say that they’re not writing any great songs. You can literally point to their last three albums and find 2 to 3 great songs on each.
There are some very good songs on those albums, but nothing I'd say is great. Pride is great, Gimme Shelter is great, Deacon Blues is great. They don't write songs on that level any more. Can't really expect them too, either. At least they still bring it live. Hopefully they will bring that level of ambition to the studio.
Oh come on. U2 is still writing great songs? What year is this, 2004? They're a good, competent band but their last two albums are no better than A Bigger Bang, and U2s best songs from the last three albums are as good as mid tier b sides from 84-97. Those b sides were pretty damn good though. The only song from Bomb onward that lives up to the standard they'd set is City of Blinding Lights.
Who does write songs on that level any more? The barometer for great has shifted considerably. U2, for the first time in their career decided they would try and fit their version of greatness into the prevailing style and not shape what great actually was themselves. It’s so hard to be great when you do that.
I’d argue that there are great songs on both albums, but they get ignored or minimised because they are swamped by outrageous attempts at fitting the climate (Best Thing), they are genericised from a great base to have mass appeal (EBW), or they aren’t innovative enough to be different from previous greatness (Little Things).
If ‘great’ means that you permeate the culture and become part of the fabric, then only a handful of rock songs have done that in the last 15 years. U2 won’t do that again, but I would not agree that that means they haven’t written great songs in that time either. Great songs should be able to cross eras and generations, and I think sometimes we only go one way with that when we should be thinking about it as a two-way thing. We find songs from the past that still resonate. But I think we should also try and remove some of the context of the moment and think about what a certain song would have been like in a previous era too. And I do think Little Things, Love is Bigger, EBW, The Troubles, Iris, Ordinary Love and more stand up in that context. We just can’t hear them outside of them being part of albums associated with American Soul or from a time when their desperation to be cool is killing their chances of being heard.
I think it’s time for us all to admit that the last great rock song to truly permeate the culture was “Mr Brightside.”
The end.
There’s a ton of great rock out there right now, sure a lot of it is heavier than U2 or The Killers, but I’m literally finding new phenomenal rock tracks every week.
None of it is permeating the culture.
RIP, rock.
Oh come on. U2 is still writing great songs? What year is this, 2004? They're a good, competent band but their last two albums are no better than A Bigger Bang, and U2s best songs from the last three albums are as good as mid tier b sides from 84-97. Those b sides were pretty damn good though. The only song from Bomb onward that lives up to the standard they'd set is City of Blinding Lights.
Why are you even here, then? You just want to dwell on U2's past glories and thumb your nose at anyone who has been able to find enough gems among the modern compromises to keep listening with anticipation?
You're just as bad as some sycophant who thinks every song on their recent albums is great. It's an extreme position that leaves no room for discussion.
Find a new hobby.
Wow some amazing posts and insights here.
For mine, SOE with proper guitar playing from Edge would be an album for the ages. Such a shame that for SOI and SOE, Bono finally gets his lyrical shit together and Edge checks out.
I really really like the lyrical content on SOE. Just let down by bland music.