financeguy
ONE love, blood, life
I see a lot of posts on here complaining about a certain magazine and website called Pitchfork Media (which I had never heard of until around a year ago) and their alleged dislike of U2 and I just wanted to make this point - it has always been thus. The rock music critical cognoscenti, for the most part, have never much cared for U2 - or even understood the context of U2.
Case in point: Mojo magazine, the doyen of the arbiters of good taste in 'real music' in the UK musical press, and very anti-U2 for most of their existence (though I think the current editor is a U2 fan, so they've mellowed a bit in recent years) once included the Unforgettable Fire in a list of the worst albums of all time. Yes, that's right. Worst albums of all time, not best, not even best failed attempts.
I just laughed when I read about this. It was like, they don't get it. It doesn't matter if they have 10,000 records in their collection and I only have 300, they will never get it.
And I think the reason behind this is that a particular ethic, in some elements of the cognoscenti, is elevated to the status of the zenith of 'real music' - being, essentially, I would guess, the craftsmanship of the bluesmen, in the case of Mojo, or, in the case of Pitchfork, the alt-rock/indie-rock genre, for want of a better expression - and that, for those types of magazines, anything outside that ethic doesn't really register. If it's outside that framework, it's probably suspect or careerist or opportunist or not credible or not 'heavy' enough. Melding different genres - that's suspect for a start, and U2, of course, have often done this.
That doesn't necessarily mean they're wrong and we're right. Though I do wonder about the soul of someone that doesn't like Unforgettable Fire. I do wonder if they really know what music is supposed to be about.
Case in point: Mojo magazine, the doyen of the arbiters of good taste in 'real music' in the UK musical press, and very anti-U2 for most of their existence (though I think the current editor is a U2 fan, so they've mellowed a bit in recent years) once included the Unforgettable Fire in a list of the worst albums of all time. Yes, that's right. Worst albums of all time, not best, not even best failed attempts.
I just laughed when I read about this. It was like, they don't get it. It doesn't matter if they have 10,000 records in their collection and I only have 300, they will never get it.
And I think the reason behind this is that a particular ethic, in some elements of the cognoscenti, is elevated to the status of the zenith of 'real music' - being, essentially, I would guess, the craftsmanship of the bluesmen, in the case of Mojo, or, in the case of Pitchfork, the alt-rock/indie-rock genre, for want of a better expression - and that, for those types of magazines, anything outside that ethic doesn't really register. If it's outside that framework, it's probably suspect or careerist or opportunist or not credible or not 'heavy' enough. Melding different genres - that's suspect for a start, and U2, of course, have often done this.
That doesn't necessarily mean they're wrong and we're right. Though I do wonder about the soul of someone that doesn't like Unforgettable Fire. I do wonder if they really know what music is supposed to be about.