WinnieThePoo said:in terms of money ... yes
in terms of making good studio albums ...no
GibsonGirl said:
Exactly what I wanted to say, without all the blabbing.
keosulli said:The relative 'failure' of Pop commercially in my opinion has been one of the worst things to happen to U2 creatively, and it seems to have taken them a good while to get over it. From their own eyes the step forward that they took with Pop and the PopMart show pushed the boundaries to the limits of what was acceptable to the mainstream and they were quite obviously taken aback by what they perceived as their own failure. It probably comes down to the fact that they tend to think a bit too much about the tracks when sometimes they need to let go of them a bit quicker just to get them out their in a less polished and edgier form.
Thus All That You Can't Leave Behind was a safe move to get back into the mainstream and a sign of a band, while I admit pushing things in a different direction than what was current at the time, working well within their own creative boundaries.
keosulli said:
I think there are signs though that they are starting to move beyond their fear of failure again and move back towards a more expansive sound. Crumbs From Your Table is one example. Although it's been polished off in production, the idea that it came from a late-night session and appears to have been delivered pretty much in that form points to a willingness to move in that direction once again. Fast Cars is another example, and the sound of Mercy is an excellent portent for pushing the boundaries out once again and embracing the electronic element a little more again.
LemonMacPhisto said:Maybe they just felt they were straying too far away from the sounds that made them U2.
If you ask someone who sings Mofo, and compare it to a song like Pride, most people would not know it's U2.
I love Pop and their '90s work, but to me it seemed like they were letting the style of music and the sounds govern how they wrote music and performed it.
ATYCLB is decent and I enjoy some songs from it, and I love HTDAAB very much. These albums sound to me like it's U2 being U2, not U2 being that crazy experimental band.
What I'd like to see on the next album is a combination of those two, and I'd be a happy camper.
LMP posted alot of what I wanted to say.LemonMacPhisto said:Maybe they just felt they were straying too far away from the sounds that made them U2.
If you ask someone who sings Mofo, and compare it to a song like Pride, most people would not know it's U2.
I love Pop and their '90s work, but to me it seemed like they were letting the style of music and the sounds govern how they wrote music and performed it.
ATYCLB is decent and I enjoy some songs from it, and I love HTDAAB very much. These albums sound to me like it's U2 being U2, not U2 being that crazy experimental band.
What I'd like to see on the next album is a combination of those two, and I'd be a happy camper.
catlhere said:Didn't Bono say that with Pop they were trying to make a dance record?
MacPhistoPT said:If the goal is to get as much Grammys as you can... yes
ATYCLB and HTDAAB appeal much more to general public I think
AussieU2fanman said:The failure of Pop just prompted/scared U2 to fall back into line and hence produce relatively safe and easy listening music and hence, yes more Grammy's. Another experimental album was much too risky.
keosulli said:The relative 'failure' of Pop commercially in my opinion has been one of the worst things to happen to U2 creatively, and it seems to have taken them a good while to get over it. From their own eyes the step forward that they took with Pop and the PopMart show pushed the boundaries to the limits of what was acceptable to the mainstream and they were quite obviously taken aback by what they perceived as their own failure. It probably comes down to the fact that they tend to think a bit too much about the tracks when sometimes they need to let go of them a bit quicker just to get them out their in a less polished and edgier form.
Thus All That You Can't Leave Behind was a safe move to get back into the mainstream and a sign of a band, while I admit pushing things in a different direction than what was current at the time, working well within their own creative boundaries. I'm definitely not trying to start another ATYCLB bashing here, but just posturing my own opinion. For me that album doesn't work past the first four tracks, but then for me War doesn't really reach the heights it might although it contains some great tracks and although it's one of many fans' favourites.
I think there are signs though that they are starting to move beyond their fear of failure again and move back towards a more expansive sound. Crumbs From Your Table is one example. Although it's been polished off in production, the idea that it came from a late-night session and appears to have been delivered pretty much in that form points to a willingness to move in that direction once again. Fast Cars is another example, and the sound of Mercy is an excellent portent for pushing the boundaries out once again and embracing the electronic element a little more again.
That's not to say that U2 have ever been good at letting go of tracks before they're happy they're 'perfected'. But it is great to see them revisit on this tour tracks like Electric Co, An Cat Dubh/Into The Heart, Gloria, and play other tracks like Fast Cars, etc that might not resonate with the casual Grammy-award following fan, but which do resonate with their own creative instincts.
And, finally, I'd just like to add that I loved Bono's quote from the Grammy's - 'If you think this is going to give us a big head.... Too late!' Brilliant!
onebloodonelife said:
Agree with everything you've said here.
I think that's it's very likely that they will go back to a more experimental sound, now how experimental is still up in the air, but I'm feeling that they'll go away from the ATYCLB/HTDAAB sound.
Was the failure of Pop the best thing to happen to U2?
NO! It scared them into a more safe, commercial sound. That's not always a bad thing, but it's always good to go outside your comfort zone, AB, Zooropa, and Pop gave us some very brilliant songs, both musically and lyrically, arguably some of U2's best.
Chizip said:Pre Pop - 7 grammys
Post Pop - 15 grammys
Discuss
XHendrix24 said:
Actually, I think I read somewhere around here recently that he was actually misquoted. He had said that they were trying to make a dense record, not a dance record. That is, unless I didn't pick up on the sarcasm in those posts.
I agree with the majority of what you said, though.
Amen to thatPlaTheGreat said:I wish they'd just go back to making another "failure." I could live with failure after failure forever.