You're the Best Thing About Me - Song Discussion

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So they release their new single this week... and then decide not to play it at their concert two days later?! Makes no sense. Perhaps it indicates they weren't happy with the Fallon performance and still want to work on getting it right.
 
U2freakboy said:
So they release their new single this week... and then decide not to play it at their concert two days later?! Makes no sense. Perhaps it indicates they weren't happy with the Fallon performance and still want to work on getting it right.
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Or they are waiting until it's pushed to radio
 
The general population aren't waiting for new U2 guys. They aren't relevant. I know we all want our band to be super huge and successful but they aren't popular anymore. At best they'll get "oh a new u2 song that's nice they're still around". They're not going to burn up the charts or get a ton of radio play or streams ever again.
 
Sr. Poop said:
U2 was popular then
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U2 is still popular for an older public, but the charts /radio are dominated by a new generation now. They want young looking girls and boys in uncomplicated music. I know there are a lot of young U2-Fans around, but they can't carry the charts alone.

'The Best thing ' is a great single and it would have gone nr. 1 in the 80's/90's and early 00's.
The same reason Every Breaking Wave wasn't a huge hit and even Magnificent would have be a globally nr. 1 in those times.
 
You don't get a hit song through radio play these days. Get the Best Thing in a new Pixar movie or on Monday Night Football, you'll see exposure. Radio is dead. No one listens anymore.
 
AEON said:
I think they may have an actual hit here...
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Hit? No. This song won't be a hit, the album won't be a hit.

The record, like the song, will make a brief appearance on the charts (probably even #1) then begin it's slow (or probably quite quick) decline. SOE will do respectably because it's U2 after all. But it's not going to be a "hit" the way we think of a hit today. At least a big hit. Those days are over for U2.

And that's not a reflection on the quality of the songs. I think U2 could release BD or Vertigo today and they wouldn't be big hits. Most people buying music these days just don't care about new U2 music.

The tour will be hugely successful of course, which is why the record exists in the first place. But in terms of this record making a big dent on the charts, that's just not going to happen. And in terms of pop culture impact, I suspect it will be around the same as SOI....maybe even less, because SOI actually did have a pop culture moment b/c of the way it was released.
 
Nick66 said:
Hit? No. This song won't be a hit, the album won't be a hit.



The record, like the song, will make a brief appearance on the charts (probably even #1) then begin it's slow (or probably quite quick) decline. SOE will do respectably because it's U2 after all. But it's not going to be a "hit" the way we think of a hit today. At least a big hit. Those days are over for U2.



And that's not a reflection on the quality of the songs. I think U2 could release BD or Vertigo today and they wouldn't be big hits. Most people buying music these days just don't care about new U2 music.



The tour will be hugely successful of course, which is why the record exists in the first place. But in terms of this record making a big dent on the charts, that's just not going to happen. And in terms of pop culture impact, I suspect it will be around the same as SOI....maybe even less, because SOI actually did have a pop culture moment b/c of the way it was released.
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Don't think you can rule out the album being a hit to be fair
 
Hollow Island said:
It's bizarre that this mix was made five days before the song was turned in. They spend years making something then change it at the last minute? What is with this band?
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:applaud:

You nailed what really, REALLY pisses me off about U2. No one can ruin a song like this band. I've heard it so many times before. From Hands that Built America and Original of the Species to Winter, Breathe and Glastonbury.

Take what is, at its core, a very good song and dump layers of clutter onto it to where its beauty is nearly unrecognizable. Nearly every song they've done in the last 10 to 15 years smacks of overworking. I blame Edge.

I still remember the Lanois quote from the UF sessions. "I've seen this band play songs to death when we thought we were actually improving them, and then we've gone with number 1 take after we've done like 6, 7, or 8?"

This was said about u2 33 years ago. I would imagine that you could multiply 6, 7 or 8, by 10 in 2017. After that many, I'm sure they lose sight of what made the song worthwhile in the first place.
 
Nick66 said:
And that's not a reflection on the quality of the songs. I think U2 could release BD or Vertigo today and they wouldn't be big hits. Most people buying music these days just don't care about new U2 music.
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I agree with you about TBT and SOE not being hits, but I do have to wonder about this assertion. In my mental model of the current U2 situation, part of the struggle that U2 have had is that they simply haven't released a song that could have been a particularly good single since the Bomb days. That's not to say that they haven't released good music - I think that Moment of Surrender, for instance, is better than any other song U2 have released since probably Zooropa. But I'm not sure I agree that U2's lack of hit singles is because of their career situation rather than the songs themselves - in other words, I'm not sure that, if U2 released BD or Vertigo today, they wouldn't be hits.

But by my own subjective evaluation, almost every attempted hit U2 have released since 2009 stands out as something that sounds like either an attempt a re-doing Vertigo (Boots) or kind of boring dad rock (Crazy Tonight, The Miracle, Every Breaking Wave, Song for Someone, Best Thing). That's not to say that I personally agree with such an evaluation; I quite like Boots, Crazy Tonight, and The Miracle, actually. But when I try to put on my "general public" goggles, I feel like that's the impression I would get from those songs with a vague familiarity with U2.

So, that's a lot of why I see U2 having struggled to do well with a single since the Bomb days. I feel like the reactions I would have to these songs, by their own intrinsic qualities, would be what I described above, whereas Vertigo was something fresh and interesting from U2 that I don't think really sounded forced.

And re: Beautiful Day in particular... let's be honest - how many people (even on Interference) would claim that Boots, Crazy Tonight, The Miracle, Every Breaking Wave, Song for Someone, or Best Thing is better than Beautiful Day? That's truly a remarkable song by almost any metric. I think there's a very strong argument that U2 haven't replicated that success because of a lack of a single that lives up to its standards.

The biggest counter-arguments against my argument, in my mind, are Magnificent and Invisible. I think these are genuinely really good singles that U2 have released, and would have had the best shot of becoming hits in the sense that they don't sound like Vertigo re-writes by any definition, and they don't really sound like generic dad rock (especially Magnificent). They may be evidence that U2 are literally incapable of releasing hits in their current situation. But even then, Invisible was plagued by a stupid publicity campaign, and Magnificent might have been a little more out-there than could have ever caught fire in 2009. And I also think that I overrate both Invisible and Magnificent relative to the average person on this site, so maybe I overrate their intrinsic chances of being hit singles relative to the other post-Bomb singles.
 
KUEFC09U2 said:
Don't think you can rule out the album being a hit to be fair
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It really depends on your definition of hit.

Stay in the top 10 for months, sell 4+ million copies, have some songs break into top 40 radio?

Incredibly unlikely.

Go platinum, hit #1 for a week or two and stay in the top 25 for a month, do well on adult platforms , get relatively good critical reviews from sources other than Rolling Stone and win a Grammy?

Yea, that's within the realm of possibility.
 
Maroon Bells said:
:applaud:

You nailed what really, REALLY pisses me off about U2. No one can ruin a song like this band. I've heard it so many times before. From Hands that Built America and Original of the Species to Winter, Breathe and Glastonbury.

Take what is, at its core, a very good song and dump layers of clutter onto it to where its beauty is nearly unrecognizable. Nearly every song they've done in the last 10 to 15 years smacks of overworking. I blame Edge.

I still remember the Lanois quote from the UF sessions. "I've seen this band play songs to death when we thought we were actually improving them, and then we've gone with number 1 take after we've done like 6, 7, or 8?"

This was said about u2 33 years ago. I would imagine that you could multiply 6, 7 or 8, by 10 in 2017. After that many, I'm sure they lose sight of what made the song worthwhile in the first place.
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Yet again, we also got UTEOTW instead of I Feel Free, Beautiful Day instead of Always, etc. etc.
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
Go platinum, hit #1 for a week or two and stay in the top 25 for a month, do well on adult platforms , get relatively good critical reviews from sources other than Rolling Stone and win a Grammy?

Yea, that's within the realm of possibility.
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I think that would be an awesome result btw.
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
It really depends on your definition of hit.

Stay in the top 10 for months, sell 4+ million copies, have some songs break into top 40 radio?

Incredibly unlikely.

Go platinum, hit #1 for a week or two and stay in the top 25 for a month, do well on adult platforms , get relatively good critical reviews from sources other than Rolling Stone and win a Grammy?

Yea, that's within the realm of possibility.
Click to expand...

It does depend on what you regard as being a hit. I won't say what you describe is impossible. But I do think you've laid out what pretty much represents a best-case scenario.

That said, the record will almost certainly sell less than any other in U2's post-October catalogue (with the exception of SOI of course). I think they could count it as a major success if it sells as well as NLOTH.

digitize said:
I agree with you about TBT and SOE not being hits, but I do have to wonder about this assertion. In my mental model of the current U2 situation, part of the struggle that U2 have had is that they simply haven't released a song that could have been a particularly good single since the Bomb days. That's not to say that they haven't released good music - I think that Moment of Surrender, for instance, is better than any other song U2 have released since probably Zooropa. But I'm not sure I agree that U2's lack of hit singles is because of their career situation rather than the songs themselves - in other words, I'm not sure that, if U2 released BD or Vertigo today, they wouldn't be hits.

But by my own subjective evaluation, almost every attempted hit U2 have released since 2009 stands out as something that sounds like either an attempt a re-doing Vertigo (Boots) or kind of boring dad rock (Crazy Tonight, The Miracle, Every Breaking Wave, Song for Someone, Best Thing). That's not to say that I personally agree with such an evaluation; I quite like Boots, Crazy Tonight, and The Miracle, actually. But when I try to put on my "general public" goggles, I feel like that's the impression I would get from those songs with a vague familiarity with U2.

So, that's a lot of why I see U2 having struggled to do well with a single since the Bomb days. I feel like the reactions I would have to these songs, by their own intrinsic qualities, would be what I described above, whereas Vertigo was something fresh and interesting from U2 that I don't think really sounded forced.

And re: Beautiful Day in particular... let's be honest - how many people (even on Interference) would claim that Boots, Crazy Tonight, The Miracle, Every Breaking Wave, Song for Someone, or Best Thing is better than Beautiful Day? That's truly a remarkable song by almost any metric. I think there's a very strong argument that U2 haven't replicated that success because of a lack of a single that lives up to its standards.

The biggest counter-arguments against my argument, in my mind, are Magnificent and Invisible. I think these are genuinely really good singles that U2 have released, and would have had the best shot of becoming hits in the sense that they don't sound like Vertigo re-writes by any definition, and they don't really sound like generic dad rock (especially Magnificent). They may be evidence that U2 are literally incapable of releasing hits in their current situation. But even then, Invisible was plagued by a stupid publicity campaign, and Magnificent might have been a little more out-there than could have ever caught fire in 2009. And I also think that I overrate both Invisible and Magnificent relative to the average person on this site, so maybe I overrate their intrinsic chances of being hit singles relative to the other post-Bomb singles.
Click to expand...

Really excellent post.

I think the arguments you make in your last paragraph are the ones I'd make. The problem is, we're likely to never know because it's doubtful they'll put out a single with as much mass appeal as BD or Vertigo. Yeah, yeah...I've seen the comments here that Best Thing is better than either of those songs, but frankly that's not an opinion I can take seriously. I can only assume that U2 feels this is the best "single" material off this record b/c it's the one they're leading with. I've already said I think this is U2's weakest lead single, ever. At least in the post-October era.

It's entirely possible, even probable, that there are a LOT better songs on this record and we'll all be surprised. I certainly hope so, otherwise I'll be massively disappointed. So this record could still turn out to be great. But in terms of singles, sales, and pop culture impact, if Best Thing is the best they have to offer, I don't see this record making much of a splash.
 
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Nick66 said:
It does depend on what you regard as being a hit.

But the record will almost certainly sell less than any other in U2's post-October catalogue (with the exception of SOI of course). I think they could count it as a major success if it sells as well as NLOTH.
Click to expand...
Well that's really not fair, as no album sells as well as it did back then. L
 
Maroon Bells said:
:applaud:



You nailed what really, REALLY pisses me off about U2. No one can ruin a song like this band. I've heard it so many times before. From Hands that Built America and Original of the Species to Winter, Breathe and Glastonbury.



Take what is, at its core, a very good song and dump layers of clutter onto it to where its beauty is nearly unrecognizable. Nearly every song they've done in the last 10 to 15 years smacks of overworking. I blame Edge.



I still remember the Lanois quote from the UF sessions. "I've seen this band play songs to death when we thought we were actually improving them, and then we've gone with number 1 take after we've done like 6, 7, or 8?"



This was said about u2 33 years ago. I would imagine that you could multiply 6, 7 or 8, by 10 in 2017. After that many, I'm sure they lose sight of what made the song worthwhile in the first place.
Click to expand...



When did they say they changed it 5 days before release? Also they could have taken out 1 word as opposed to new song.

What's the great quote about art?

Artists never finish their work. They abandon it.

At least u2 isn't George Lucas and ruin beloved songs 30 years later right?
 
clerks said:
When did they say they changed it 5 days before release? Also they could have taken out 1 word as opposed to new song.

What's the great quote about art?

Artists never finish their work. They abandon it.

At least u2 isn't George Lucas and ruin beloved songs 30 years later right?
Click to expand...



see Sweetest Thing...
 
I'll throw in my opinion before Irma comes and I go dark for a while.

I think one thing that people are forgetting are the circumstances that made beautiful Day and Vertigo huge successes.

BD and ATYCLB was the await of U2 coming back to basics after Pop. People were actually anticipating it. It was still the days of buying albums, radio play and MTV. That format worked well for them. The media was on their side, they had so much goodwill.
Then Sept. 11th happened, and the album resonated with the public. Walk On, SYCMIOYO, fit well in that time period. Then the Super Bowl performance, still considered by many to be the best ever.
Everything worked for them.

Vertigo busted in the scene, it had the huge success of ATYCLB coming before it. Goodwill still high with the public.
They put out the pretty brilliant silhouette ad with Apple. Apple and iTunes were hot with digital downloads being the big thing. The Ad played all the time and became part of the zeitgeist of the moment. They were considered cool for the most part and got album of the year (which still shocks me, as I think it's one of their weakest).
Everything worked for them.

Now, not so much. Nothing worked for them with SOI. Apple debacle, bike accident, etc... irritation with Bono and politics and taxes, blah blah all came to a head. Radio dying, downloads dying, no MTV. The new methods became a young artists game.
No hits off the previous album and a huge wait in between. All momentum gone.

I think they've gained a bit of momentum and goodwill back. But little and late. Now they are viewed as a band of the past. Appreciated but not anticipated. Enjoyed if come across, but not sought out.

It would take a fluke of some sort for a song of theirs to catch on and take off on radio to give them any boost. Or they do some really smart major, across platform promotion to get an even moderate hit.

I agree with Headache's assessment of what they might be able to attain this time around.

It was fun to have them as the biggest band in the world for so long. Now they are a big, legendary, respected band that still has a loyal but aging fan base. And I'm ok with that as long as the music is good.
 
womanfish said:
I'll throw in my opinion before Irma comes and I go dark for a while.

I think one thing that people are forgetting are the circumstances that made beautiful Day and Vertigo huge successes.

BD and ATYCLB was the await of U2 coming back to basics after Pop. People were actually anticipating it. It was still the days of buying albums, radio play and MTV. That format worked well for them. The media was on their side, they had so much goodwill.
Then Sept. 11th happened, and the album resonated with the public. Walk On, SYCMIOYO, fit well in that time period. Then the Super Bowl performance, still considered by many to be the best ever.
Everything worked for them.

Vertigo busted in the scene, it had the huge success of ATYCLB coming before it. Goodwill still high with the public.
They put out the pretty brilliant silhouette ad with Apple. Apple and iTunes were hot with digital downloads being the big thing. The Ad played all the time and became part of the zeitgeist of the moment. They were considered cool for the most part and got album of the year (which still shocks me, as I think it's one of their weakest).
Everything worked for them.

Now, not so much. Nothing worked for them with SOI. Apple debacle, bike accident, etc... irritation with Bono and politics and taxes, blah blah all came to a head. Radio dying, downloads dying, no MTV. The new methods became a young artists game.
No hits off the previous album and a huge wait in between. All momentum gone.

I think they've gained a bit of momentum and goodwill back. But little and late. Now they are viewed as a band of the past. Appreciated but not anticipated. Enjoyed if come across, but not sought out.

It would take a fluke of some sort for a song of theirs to catch on and take off on radio to give them any boost. Or they do some really smart major, across platform promotion to get an even moderate hit.

I agree with Headache's assessment of what they might be able to attain this time around.

It was fun to have them as the biggest band in the world for so long. Now they are a big, legendary, respected band that still has a loyal but aging fan base. And I'm ok with that as long as the music is good.
Click to expand...
All That You Can't Leave Behind had been out for 11 months, already won a Grammy for Beautiful Day, and Elevation Tour was through two highly successful legs before 9/11.

Obviously that event allowed the album to become relevant again, but it was also hugely successful well before that awful day.
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
All That You Can't Leave Behind had been out for 11 months, already won a Grammy for Beautiful Day, and Elevation Tour was through two highly successful legs before 9/11.

Obviously that event allowed the album to become relevant again, but it was also hugely successful well before that awful day.
Click to expand...

Thank you, I always forget the timeline. But that's what I was trying to convey. that the album had initial and then a large sustained success with all of the events of that time.
 
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