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  1. Originally posted by germcevoy:Just striking up a discussion for some of our more senior members who have seen our band progress from the start. There is no doubt whatsoever that U2 are probably thee most commercial of all the bands out there and they are wildly focused on the £$£$£$£$$
    ell.

    What were.are the feelings of you on here that fell in love with the old U2 compared to the drivel we have saw this decade so far?


    What don't you like from this decade? The records? The tours?

    I actually think that over the past decade, they have come back to their roots somewhat, in regard to the music, but also kept the added gloss they perhaps didn't have early on, and it has worked just perfectly.

    I have been a massive fan since the very early 80's, and yes, they definatly "broke out" during the Joshua Tree, but it was always going to happen for the band to be as big as they are, they were introduced to the world with Under A Blood Red Sky, they made the world take notice at Live Aid, and they took over the world with JT.

    What happened next was a sell out, the Rattle & Hum extravaganza, but in many ways, it was kind of taken out of the bands hands, it ended up being a circus, and as we now know, it almost finished the band.

    The 90's were definatly a massively commercial decade for the band, and went in experimental mode, and whilst most of the music in that time is more "throwaway" than the music in the 80's, there were still some real gems in there.

    To me, the 00's have been a breath of fresh air, the music is back to being great, the last album i believe is in their all time top 3 of albums, behind JT & AB, the Vertigo Tour has been their best by a country mile, and ive been to Popmart, ZooTV etc, U2 could have been accused of being pretencious in the 90's, they have tried hard to break out of that in this decade, and now, after 2 extremely good records, have the U2 community waiting with baited breath, searching for every single write up & review of the album, would that have happened had their last 2 records been "crap"?....i think not.

    U2 are very much like a great wine!



  2. Originally posted by zooey:Okay, so I just heard the song used in an ad for the NFL network or whatever during the superbowl. sellouts.


    I think it never affectted the band music in any decades , remember that the record company liked "Treasure(Whatever happened to pete)" but though the band thought it was no good song the didn't release it but as a B-side only not a single and after War we know that the band controlled their materials direction
  3. Dan, please don't say Coldplay are trying to push things. You mean to say Brian Eno is making them push things.

    The most 'innovative' new band these days are the Killers, they had a breakout hit with Hot Fuss, but instead of continuing with the electro rock and the allure of guaranteed $$$, they made Sam's Town.

    With U2 I can completely understand why they have gone commercial, they're middle aged men with families, they've grown out of the naive righteousness of the 80s.

    They fact that they have commercial interests is another way they differ from other bands, it's a sign of their intelligence. Their businessmen, not just rockstars squandering their wealth on diamond encrusted cars and the like.

    Bono probably see's it as a way to fund his various campaigns too.

    And Paul McGuiness probably plays no small part in all of this.


  4. The records. Tours are hard to fault as a concert is a concert really and you will enjoy it regardless. I can't stand the 2 albums so far this decade (particularly Leave Behind). Hard to pinpoint what exactly. Sure it was a change in style, back to basics whatever but it was an album for the casual fan I feel, an album to capture new fans rather than excite existing fans.

    We all cant agree with everything but this decade has been the worst of the 3 that the band have been through no doubt at all
  5. U2 is probably the biggest band in the world.

    And they have achieved and kept that status since the late eighties. Everyone else stayed behind them (Metallica, Green Day, Coldplay) or proved to be just king for a day (Guns'n Roses, Nirvana, Simple Minds). Of course U2 are working hard to keep that status, this includes playing for the world's biggest audiences (Superbowl, Lincoln Memorial). It would be stupid not to do so. If your music is worth listening to, you want as many people to listen as possible.

    To stay on top they also have to find ways of reinventing and renewing their music to appeal to young fans without scaring away too many old followers. The way they found to be credible and authentic was to always play the kind and style of music that they themselves want to. After playing the Joshua Tree to artistic death they had to chop it down. After the ironic and gigantomanic ZooTV they topped it with the even crazier POP-Mart. And when they had finally enough of acidic sarcasm and artificial mumbo-jumbo they came back to the point of reducing everything back to the original four- piece band and enjoying themselves with a couple of good and simple songs - which sadly ended up just a little too polished on record.

    U2 invented a highly successful trademark sound in the eighties, then they had their experimental electronic years in the nineties which indeed scared away a lot of old fans. Then they returned to their own pop/rock roots which might seem commercial for two reasons. The first is that they've been there a decade ago and now pick up and please old fans that felt left behind for years. The second is that U2 was such a big influence for the whole music scene since the eighties. Edge's trademark guitar sound inspired a lot of bands to use similar sounds now - which kind of blends him into the mass of his followers, making him sound less extraordinary among those who learned from him. Same for the songwriting, every second indie or worship rock band uses sounds and song structures that are direct developments from U2. But that's what always happens to the successful: Others are using their success formula, making the original seemingly less standout. But that doesn't change or take away the inventor's right to continue using his own inventions.

    Now we expect a new artistically innovative approach on NLOTH - at least that's what the band promised. We'll see if they are still capable of that. Otherwise we might have to look forward for a slow artistic decline of U2 into self- repetition. We've seen that with the Rolling Stones thirty years ago - they kind of mutated slowly into a resemblance of their own caricature. I'm confident that U2 will avoid that.

    Are U2 commercial? Yes, of course - everybody knows that they plan and hope for selling 10 million copies of the new album. Have they become a little too commercial recently? Probably yes, probably not. I think the last two albums could have been a little less polished, but we can disagree on that one. I'd suggest to wait until we have the new album, then we'll know more.

    Peace and Love

    Alex
  6. Originally posted by vanquish:Dan, please don't say Coldplay are trying to push things. You mean to say Brian Eno is making them push things.

    The most 'innovative' new band these days are the Killers, they had a breakout hit with Hot Fuss, but instead of continuing with the electro rock and the allure of guaranteed $$$, they made Sam's Town.

    With U2 I can completely understand why they have gone commercial, they're middle aged men with families, they've grown out of the naive righteousness of the 80s.

    They fact that they have commercial interests is another way they differ from other bands, it's a sign of their intelligence. Their businessmen, not just rockstars squandering their wealth on diamond encrusted cars and the like.

    Bono probably see's it as a way to fund his various campaigns too.

    And Paul McGuiness probably plays no small part in all of this.


    Here we go again.
    Coldplay's achievements are their producer's. The Killers are innovative. Other bands have no commercial interests other than buying bling. Bono funds campaigning from U2's income and Paul McG is a money hungry bastard.
    Gotta love black and white.
  7. Originally posted by germcevoy:[..]

    The records. Tours are hard to fault as a concert is a concert really and you will enjoy it regardless. I can't stand the 2 albums so far this decade (particularly Leave Behind). Hard to pinpoint what exactly. Sure it was a change in style, back to basics whatever but it was an album for the casual fan I feel, an album to capture new fans rather than excite existing fans.

    We all cant agree with everything but this decade has been the worst of the 3 that the band have been through no doubt at all


    It's always interesting to get peoples opinions on things like this, on what U2's best songs are, best albums etc, we all have a common interest, and thats a massive passion for the band as a whole, yet, you break things down, and it creates all kind of debate, it's great.

    In isolation, seprating the decades, it's an intersting one, considering the band was extremely active in regards to making records, the 80's produced 7 albums including a live album, and a half live half studio record.

    The 90's & 00's will both have 3 records in each decade, so from the start, it's going to be hard to compare with the 80's.

    But all decades produced absolute brilliance - 80's UF & JT, 90's AB & 00's HTDAAB, and going by most reports & expectations, Horizon is going to slot itself into that category as well, which will no doubt pump up this decade.

    Th decades have also produced some lesser moments, to me Zooropa was rushed, and it shows, Pop was very throwaway, i loved it first up, but it didn't last the distance like other U2 classics, October is probably U2's weakest album to date, and whilst there are some gems on Rattle & Hum, to me, it just missed the spot.

    In the 00's, there were some belters produced, ATUCLB has a few, Beautiful Day compares and stands up to any U2 classic, same with Walk On, Elevation will no doubt be a live favourite for yars to come, Kite, Stuck In A Moment, When I Look At The World are also quality U2 songs, but there are some weaker moments no doubt, the 2nd half of that record is no where near as strong as the first half in my opinion,

    But, the following album to me, is all classic, and to me, the 90's whilst being very experimental and very brave, it's probably U2's weakest decade music wise, fortunatly they produced a belter at the start of that decade, otherwise it could have got ugly.



  8. Originally posted by yeah:[..]

    Here we go again.
    Coldplay's achievements are their producer's. The Killers are innovative. Other bands have no commercial interests other than buying bling. Bono funds campaigning from U2's income and Paul McG is a money hungry bastard.
    Gotta love black and white.



    Well, why don't you post what you think then.


  9. no way The Killers are more innovative than Coldplay.....Viva kicks Day & Age's ass any day of the year. but alas, i don't mean to continue going off topic......i see nothing wrong with being commercial though as long as the music is good; which is obviously up for debate here, but i think it is, U2's I'm referring to
  10. Originally posted by thefly07:[..]

    no way The Killers are more innovative than Coldplay.....Viva kicks Day & Age's ass any day of the year. but alas, i don't mean to continue going off topic......i see nothing wrong with being commercial though as long as the music is good; which is obviously up for debate here, but i think it is, U2's I'm referring to


    Being a fan of The Killers myself, and up until Coldplays latest record "Viva", i personally couldn't stand them, but that album struck something in me for whatever reason.

    both Coldplay & The Killers have been very innovative with their music, you can see the change in the Killers from Hot Fuss to Day & Age, yet you can also see that in Coldplays latest offerening.

    But people tend to forget 3 vital words "in my opinion", there is no definitve answer either way, just opinions, alot of people forget that.

    As for music being commercial and getting back on topic, i believe a band goes commercial or "sells-out" the momnent they lay pen to a major record company, once they do that, they no longer control 100% of what they do, and U2 are as commercial than any band going around, The beatles, Stones etc, all commercial sell out's, but you know what, who cares? If a band or artists wants to be successful, thats the price they have to pay, if they don't, just stick to playing dingy stinky pubs and having a real 38 hour a week job!

  11. If you try, you can be innovative. There's still so, so many untapped ideas that most bands haven't touched on too much in recent times; those recent times (the last ten years) haven't seen most be original.

    I see plenty of ideas that haven't been touched in music videos, sounds and melodies, production methods, that sort of stuff. The kind of things Brian Eno, and Desmond Child would think of in the 70s and early 90s; and possibly today.
  12. Originally posted by Stu:[..]

    Being a fan of The Killers myself, and up until Coldplays latest record "Viva", i personally couldn't stand them, but that album struck something in me for whatever reason.



    That is my point, what changed with Viva La Vida? the band? or the producer?

    I thought Viva La Vida was the best album I heard in 2008, so Day & Age isn't better IMO as some thought I meant.

    And I don't mean that the Killers are 'innovative' as such, it's the wrong word. I mean they like reinventing themselves (every album of theirs has a different sound), which sets them apart from other bands like Kings of Leon, and Coldplay. Which is commendable, seeing as Hot Fuss was a huge success and they could have easily churned out another album from the same mould and sold millions, but they took a risk, and instead made Sam's Town. So in that respect, they are not that 'commercial'.


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