Who *hasn't* slagged off U2 or Bono?

[FitzChivalry]

With this whole Win Butler thing, it got me wondering. As far as I can tell, there are plenty of celebrity and non-celebrities that have criticized or proclaimed open hostility toward U2 or Bono. So who hasn't slagged off U2? The best way to figure out who hasn't, is to detail the ones who have. So as far as I know:

Bono - "I'm sick of hearing me speak, and I'm Bono!"

Robert Smith of The Cure - "If The Cure were to put out a song like "Numb", I'd think someone in the band was taking a piss in the loo during recording." (Sorry, I'm American, so I don't the proper spelling of the British slang word for bathroom.)

Jim Kerr of Simple Minds

Win Butler of The Arcade Fire

Noel Gallagher of Oasis

Sinead O'Connor - but they made up afterward, right?

Johnny Greenwood of Radiohead - I believe said "Achtung Baby" wasn't all that great and sounded 'dated' even as early as the late 90s.

Jarvis of Pulp - I believe said Adam had no sense of humor when Jarvis gave him a tee-shirt emlazooned with the word DESPERATE for a club gig Jarvis was promoting.

Interferencers - too many slags to count!

Circumstantial Evidence

David Byrne - looked extremely pissed off and annoyed during Bono's introduction speech for Bruce Springteen into the R 'n R Hall of Fame.


Parodying/Poking Fun

Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode - making fun of how expensive U2 concert tickets were compared to tickets to see DM's "Exciter" tour.

Colin Farrell/SNL - Several Bono impersonations

Fandango online tickets - Ok, don't tell me that paper-bag puppet with the black leather jacket and sunglasses isn't supposed to be Bono!





It seemed like there were more when I came up with this in my head. Hmmm? So who hasn't naysayed U2? Pearl Jam? Chrissie Hynde? R.E.M.?

 

[indra]

Bono - "I'm sick of hearing me speak, and I'm Bono!"

Then you'd think he'd have learned to shut the fuck up by now, wouldn't you?

 

[Tiger Edge]

Here are more:

http://www.atu2.com/fanzone/fans/not.html

 

[last unicorn]

Why is this important?
You can tell that there are many more who absolutly support the band and Bono in particular, many celebrities who have joined his campaigns and have nothing but nice words for and about Bono. I don't know why we always have to concentrate on the negative stuff.

 

[xaviMF22]

Jarvis

 

[Mogi]

Some more on U2´s side:

David Bowie
Johnny Cash (or at least was)
Paul McCartney
Pearl Jam
Coldplay
Willie Nelson
Roy Orbison (again, obviously WAS)
Leonard Cohen
Lou Reed
Patti Smith (she is a fan)
Muse (at least Matt Bellamy)
Keane
Bjork
Wycleaf Jean
Outkast
most of Radiohead (Thom I am sure is a fan even though he doesn´t publicize it too much)
I am sure the Arcade Fire are still fans (Win is not the first rock start to run their mouth SEE BONO)
and I am sure many more.

As for Robert Smith of the Cure, I don´t think he likes anyone. When asked who excited him in the last 20 years in music, I think he only mentioned two bands and Dinosaur Jr. was one of them. Yeah, great musical taste huh?

 

[xaviMF22]

add George Harrison to the list

 

[Axver]

add George Harrison to the list

I've one thing for you, George: pump it up!

 

[AtomicBono]

most of Radiohead (Thom I am sure is a fan even though he doesn´t publicize it too much)

I believe someone from Radiohead - don't remember if it was Yorke or Greenwood or who - said that a Popmart show was one of the best shows they'd ever been to, or something like that.

or did i just make that up? i swear i read that somewhere...

anyway one slag on bono or U2 doesnt mean someone completely hates them. Just look at this board!

 

[gman]

Geez.....i get bored of Bonos rantings too. It does get a bit much at times. If you listen closely, bono is almost reading from a script at times both live and in interiews and it is repetitive. Doesnt mean I hate him. Ppl can get pissed off at times. There a lot of ppl on here that will take umbridge if you dare say anything they deem negative about u2. I went thro that phase in 80s and 90s too. Now, ppl can say what they like. It dont bother me like it used to.
Also, when yer at the top, its fashionable to try and knock em down. Its human nature

 

[Bones58]

I'm suprised Trey Parker and Matt Stone haven't slagged him off in South Park.

 

[GibsonGirl]

"Rock 'n' roll in stadiums is genuinely awful. These concerts are just like Tupperware parties - held in honour of the Great God Tupper - with 50,000 people, only they don't buy Tupperware, they buy hot dogs and T-shirts and occasionally look up to watch those disgusting video screens that are all out of sync and make you feel sick and torture you. It's funny how people try to work their way around the greed of it all. Like U2 whose rationale is [feigned Irish accent] 'Ooh, we have to play in stadiums 'cos all our fans want to come and see us'. Well, fine; give your fans a really shitty show in a stadium - but for fuck's sake don't charge them 25 quid for it!"

- Roger Waters, 1992


Although that's not as harsh as some others. I love Ian McCulloch.

 

[corianderstem]

I have an REM bootleg from 1987 where Michael was telling an odd Stipey story, and there was a mild shot at U2 in it. The audience rebelled a little, and Stipe laughed. It's pretty funny.

 

[Aygo]

«I read this great interview with Bono where he said, 'We're going start in the arenas and if it goes to the stadiums, we'll take it to the stadiums.'He's out of his mind. They're never going to be a stadium band again. When you have to resort to a lyric like 'when I look at the world,' you've got nothing to say.»

Henry Rollins singer/writer (March 1 2001, Arizona Republic)

"They're never going to be a stadium band again."

 

[Aygo]

Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode - making fun of how expensive U2 concert tickets were compared to tickets to see DM's "Exciter" tour.

Colin Farrell/SNL - Several Bono impersonations
[/B]

Shut up Dave, Exciter Tour's tickets were not that cheap... and Touring The Angel's tickets were almost as expensive as Vertigo's ones... at least in Europe!

BTW, I have to say that Colin Farrell's parody is just great! Ahahah

 

[U2girl]

That is just hilarious coming from the band that invented stadium rock shows. Even Willie Williams stated Bono, ever since they met, wanted to put on Pink Floyd size shows. And yes, good one - Zoo TV was a shitty show indeed.

 

[GibsonGirl]

That is just hilarious coming from the band that invented stadium rock shows. Even Willie Williams stated Bono, ever since they met, wanted to put on Pink Floyd size shows. And yes, good one - Zoo TV was a shitty show indeed.

You clearly know nothing about Pink Floyd or Roger Waters.

 

[MrBrau1]

That's ok. Edge pretty much took a dump on PF during a 2004 interview.

 

[U2girl]

That would be the green eyed monster talking in that quote, eh Mr Waters?

It must have been painful to see the band coming up with what was the most sophisticated tour at the time (I mean "a shitty show". Wonder what he makes of Zoo TV being considered one of the most innovative and best rock tours now that the test of time has passed?), therefore effectively beating PF at their own game. 25 bucks with that production, and the hype/demand ? Truly a rip off.
Speaking of prices though...U2 can only dream of charging the kind of money PF will get if they re-unite to tour.

And while U2 gets a lot of slagging off in many areas, putting on a bad live show really isn't something one can build a case on.

 

[xaviMF22]

That would be the green eyed monster talking in that quote, eh Mr Waters?

It must have been painful to see the band coming up with what was the most sophisticated tour at the time (I mean "a shitty show". Wonder what he makes of Zoo TV being considered one of the most innovative and best rock tours now that the test of time has passed?), therefore effectively beating PF at their own game. 25 bucks with that production, and the hype/demand ? Truly a rip off.
Speaking of prices though...U2 can only dream of charging the kind of money PF will get if they re-unite to tour.

And while U2 gets a lot of slagging off in many areas, putting on a bad live show really isn't something one can build a case on.

Yes Mr. Waters is sooo jealous of U2's success...

 

[xaviMF22]

That's ok. Edge pretty much took a dump on PF during a 2004 interview.

what did he say?

 

[GibsonGirl]

That would be the green eyed monster talking in that quote, eh Mr Waters?

It must have been painful to see the band coming up with what was the most sophisticated tour at the time (I mean "a shitty show". Wonder what he makes of Zoo TV being considered one of the most innovative and best rock tours now that the test of time has passed?), therefore effectively beating PF at their own game. 25 bucks with that production, and the hype/demand ? Truly a rip off.
Speaking of prices though...U2 can only dream of charging the kind of money PF will get if they re-unite to tour.

And while U2 gets a lot of slagging off in many areas, putting on a bad live show really isn't something one can build a case on.

Oh Christ, U2girl, you're hilarious. Can't you read? He was attacking the nature of stadium shows (i.e. the acoustics, the rowdy idiots who are just there to get drunk, etc.) not the show itself. Zoo TV wasn't "shitty" because it was a bad production, it was shitty because of other reasons. As I said, you clearly know nothing about Pink Floyd or Roger Waters, because those are the very same aspects of stadium shows that pissed him off when he was still in the band. There was a reason why the Wall tour wasn't done in stadiums.

 

[coolian2]

what did he say?

Now i really want to know!

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

I don't believe Mother Theresa ever took a shot at Bono...
But they were never up for the Nobel Peace Prize at the same time. If that had been the case, the trash talking would have been epic...

Oh and btw guys... I think I slagged Bono off in an interview I did last year in Q Magazine... sorry.

 

[U2girl]

Oh Christ, U2girl, you're hilarious. Can't you read? He was attacking the nature of stadium shows (i.e. the acoustics, the rowdy idiots who are just there to get drunk, etc.) not the show itself. Zoo TV wasn't "shitty" because it was a bad production, it was shitty because of other reasons. As I said, you clearly know nothing about Pink Floyd or Roger Waters, because those are the very same aspects of stadium shows that pissed him off when he was still in the band. There was a reason why the Wall tour wasn't done in stadiums.

"It's funny how people try to work their way around the greed of it all. Like U2 whose rationale is [feigned Irish accent] 'Ooh, we have to play in stadiums 'cos all our fans want to come and see us'. Well, fine; give your fans a really shitty show in a stadium - but for fuck's sake don't charge them 25 quid for it!"

He just switched from talking in general to talking about specific bands. How convenient that this very band happened to be on tour and doing a stadium show in that year. Pure coincidence, I'm sure.

I was talking about this particular quote on him, this isn't a trivia contest on PF, and whether or not the Wall tour was done in stadiums or not (both off - topic issues) doesn't change the fact PF pushed the art of touring, in particular doing big, stadium-like production. Hence the irony I'm talking about in the first post.

 

[JCOSTER]

I'm sure everyone knows I don't slag Bono or U2.

 

[GibsonGirl]

He just switched from talking in general to talking about specific bands. How convenient that this very band happened to be on tour and doing a stadium show in that year. Pure coincidence, I'm sure.

I was talking about this particular quote on him, this isn't a trivia contest on PF, and whether or not the Wall tour was done in stadiums or not (both off - topic issues) doesn't change the fact PF pushed the art of touring, in particular doing big, stadium-like production. Hence the irony I'm talking about in the first post.

You still don't know what the fuck you're talking about.

 

[U2jer]

Robert Smith said a not-so-nice comment in a guitar magazine interview after their most recent album came out, something to the extent of The Cure aren't a band that changes their sound, that he doesn't really respect ones who do, and gave U2 as an example.

 

[OnFire]

I'm old enough to remember the Wall "tour" as the album came out when I was in high school.

Naturally the album was huge, defined alot of high school life for me and my friends and we were all dying to see it live. Unless you lived near NY or LA (and maybe Chicago, I don't remember) and had a ticket connection, you had no chance to see that tour live. Yeah, I know it was some elaborate production that with late 70's technology was impossible to move on a multi-city tour but I completely lost interest in PF afterwards, they just sounded pretentious and dated to me after that.

I'm also old enough to remember the zootv tour and actually see it for myself. It wasn't shitty.

Oh yeah, back to the topic. The following celebrated musicians have never slagged off U2:

Brian Jones
Jim Morrison
Jimi Hendrix

 

[Clawgrabber]

who cares if anyone knows "what the fuck" they are talking about regarding Pink Floyd --- a completely useless and dated band that has a history of collapsing under the weight of their own ego and has on more than one occasion made me want to blow me brains out... out of the sheer boredom of listening to their tepid "stadium rock"

the wall is a snoozefest through and through.
kudos for you for knowing more than someone about a band whose last contribution to modern music was the terrible THE DIVISION BELL almost 15 years ago.

BORING!