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  1. Originally posted by yeah:[..]

    Breathe and Crazy. Additional production on: SUC, Unknown Caller, Magnificent, No Line.

    Can't see what's wrong with what Lillywhite said. He mentions that the album didn't sell as well as the band expected. That's certainly true.


    Yes, it is. But he also implied that commercial insuccess for a band like U2 must in part be an artistic problem. The assumption seems to be that their best work is both artistically valuable and commercially successful. If we look back, this seems largely true - though of course there'll be people who'll say that pop is the best album ever etc. Given their ability to reach everyone, when they work at their best, lack of commercial success entails some degree of lack of artistic value - at least for U2, and at least according to SL on my reading of what he said.

    Will they be able to produce a best-seller? And will they be able to produce great work? I'd be interested to hear what people think.

    Bono once said EBW was going to be the first single of SoA. A very good song, I think, but is it a single? Doesn't look commercial enough to me. On the other hand, if they have 11-12 songs at the level of the 4 they're playing these days, they might have a very decent album.

    My 4 cents is that U2 should think about enjoy themselves, as they seem to be doing when they play live and when they write and try new songs. Fuck the sales and follow your instinct, as Yoda would say...
  2. Originally posted by JuJuman:[..]

    Yes, it is. But he also implied that commercial insuccess for a band like U2 must in part be an artistic problem. The assumption seems to be that their best work is both artistically valuable and commercially successful. If we look back, this seems largely true - though of course there'll be people who'll say that pop is the best album ever etc. Given their ability to reach everyone, when they work at their best, lack of commercial success entails some degree of lack of artistic value - at least for U2, and at least according to SL on my reading of what he said.

    Will they be able to produce a best-seller? And will they be able to produce great work? I'd be interested to hear what people think.

    Bono once said EBW was going to be the first single of SoA. A very good song, I think, but is it a single? Doesn't look commercial enough to me. On the other hand, if they have 11-12 songs at the level of the 4 they're playing these days, they might have a very decent album.

    My 4 cents is that U2 should think about enjoy themselves, as they seem to be doing when they play live and when they write and try new songs. Fuck the sales and follow your instinct, as Yoda would say...


    I don't think Yoda would say Fuck

    I agree with a lot of what you said, except for the ending. U2 LOVE being the band on top, they love being number 1 and selling the most records. So as much as they love making artistic albums, they also like making casual fans hardcore fans, and NLOTH didn't do that really. They know they made a good album, but they were disappointed with the reaction from the majority of music listeners, not their fans. U2 love making music for their fans to listen to, but I'd bet, 100% of the time, they like making music that EVERYONE wants to listen to instead, which NLOTH wasn't, and they're upset about it, and Lillywhite is right in that respect.
  3. Originally posted by RattleandHum1988:[..]

    U2 LOVE being the band on top, they love being number 1 and selling the most records. So as much as they love making artistic albums, they also like making casual fans hardcore fans, and NLOTH didn't do that really. They know they made a good album, but they were disappointed with the reaction from the majority of music listeners, not their fans. U2 love making music for their fans to listen to, but I'd bet, 100% of the time, they like making music that EVERYONE wants to listen to instead, which NLOTH wasn't, and they're upset about it, and Lillywhite is right in that respect.


    And what's so bad about that? I'm sorry but why be in a band if you don't want the world to hear and enjoy your music?


  4. Plenty of bands out there who would kill for the world to hear their music, but the world don't wanna hear their music. A lot of heavy metal bands.


  5. I never said it was bad...I was just pointing that out! I have no problems with that, that's how U2 run, and I respect that. I just agree with Steve Lillywhite that NLOTH didn't translate as well as they thought it would.
  6. From Steve's Twitter:

    3 hours sleep, at Newark on way to Dublin via London.. Horribly misquoted in Irish Times . expect it from tabloids...but not serious paper.
    about 5 hours ago via ÜberTwitter[/qoute]
  7. Typical.
  8. Steady on guys, take a look at what he actually said;

    "No Line on the Horizon lacked a big song and the North African ambience that it tried to recreate did not work." - fair enough.

    " the sales were not what they expected because they did not have the one song that ignited peoples imaginations." - can't argue with that

    "It's a pity because the whole idea of Morocco as a big idea was great. When the big idea for U2 is good, that is when they succeed the most, but I don't think the spirit of what they set out to achieve was translated. Something happened that meant it did not come across on the record." - also an honest and fair assessment.

    The interesting thing is the 'something happened' bit. That's what's open to most debate. One could argue that the something that happened was they didn't have the courage of their convictions to see the Morroccon thing through because they brought in the likes of Will.i.am and Lillywhite to execute that awful 'commercially oriented' 3 song mid section of the album.
    Trying to please everyone meant they fell between several stools and the efforts at radio singles were awful.
  9. Originally posted by TheRefugee:Steady on guys, take a look at what he actually said;

    "No Line on the Horizon lacked a big song and the North African ambience that it tried to recreate did not work." - fair enough.

    " the sales were not what they expected because they did not have the one song that ignited peoples imaginations." - can't argue with that

    "It's a pity because the whole idea of Morocco as a big idea was great. When the big idea for U2 is good, that is when they succeed the most, but I don't think the spirit of what they set out to achieve was translated. Something happened that meant it did not come across on the record." - also an honest and fair assessment.

    The interesting thing is the 'something happened' bit. That's what's open to most debate. One could argue that the something that happened was they didn't have the courage of their convictions to see the Morroccon thing through because they brought in the likes of Will.i.am and Lillywhite to execute that awful 'commercially oriented' 3 song mid section of the album.
    Trying to please everyone meant they fell between several stools and the efforts at radio singles were awful.


    This is the article that I had read already..
  10. Originally posted by RattleandHum1988:[..]

    I never said it was bad...I was just pointing that out! I have no problems with that, that's how U2 run, and I respect that. I just agree with Steve Lillywhite that NLOTH didn't translate as well as they thought it would.


    Lillywhite was pointing out that they didn't fully realise the Moroccon idea. In my view, they compromised their own creative vision for the sake of their obsession with relevance, being big and making radio playlists. That's how we end up with Crazy Tonight, GOYB, SUC, songs that sound so forced and awkward and plain bad. There's nothing wrong with wanting people to hear your work and being proud of what you've done. However, those songs are examples of U2 making music that they think will suit the charts, but getting it horribly wrong and go a long way to explaining the creative and commercial failure of NLOTH.
  11. That's exactly right. They are fifty. They need to stop trying to be relevant. Their best stuff is when they are trying to be original. Take off Crazy Tonight, Boots and SUC and put on Soon, Winter, Every Breaking Wave, Mercy and a couple of other ambient songs and there you have an album that wouldn't have sold 10 million records but would have been considered among their best work.
  12. Nothing much, just that Bono, or a reference to and picture of him to make it clearer, could be spotted in the latest episode of Fringe (3x02 - The Box) when Thomas Newton gave AlterOlivia a book called The History of Pop Culture so that she could familiarise with "our side" well. You probably don't understand any of this unless you watch the show, though. I personally love Anna Torv Fringe.




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Contribute to the U2 community with uploading photos or by telling us which shows you have visited.
Contribute to the U2 community with uploading photos or by telling us which shows you have visited.