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  1. When it comes to music, the only opinion that matters to me is my own and I love the album. I suspect I still will in 10 years time. So it didn't sell and it didn't have a "big" song. Maybe the lads are bit upset about it because they are used to big sales. But they seemed to have had a great time making the album and if that keeps the hunger alive then that can only be a good thing for us fans. Forgive me for trying to put a good spin on it.

  2. I can't find fault with his comments. It's clear that they chased sales during the making of the album. That early version of Magnificent proved that. They chickened out of making what they wanted to.
  3. Yeah I kinda agree.

    A lot of the early versions we heard, seemed to be more experimental, and then somehow along the way, they tried to change them into something a little bit more appealing. I felt that Crazy Tonight and Boots were real potential greats, when I heard only snippets of them early on, but when I heard the full songs, it sounded like they had tried to make them more "pop" and mainstream, especially with the lyrics. They are both like 2 songs into one, and it's that confusing quality that I feel too many songs on the album have - they sound like something they're not supposed to be.

    If they went in one direction, with all the songs - one theme, like JT or AB, it could have easily been their best album, in my opinion. The problem is the theme is lost under soo many different ideas strung together on the album.

  4. If you just look at his quotes, you can't really argue with him. The album has been a relative commercial failure. Fact. But more importantly, it was a creative failure.

    Also, Lillywhite clarified on his twitter that he meant that U2 didn't fully realise the Moroccon idea or fully see it through. If you note what Eno was saying around the time of NLOTH's release, you'd see that he is in agreement. His favourtie was MOS. Look at what was left off the record, e.g. Soon, EBW, Mercy and even Winter.

    I agree with GMcEvoy here, the band 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. 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.
  5. What Lillywhite was quoted as saying;

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

    " 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.
  6. and yet, U2 themselves say, the album didn't do as well because they were being too 'artsy'... More like because they turned mainstream into parts of the album...

    Thing is, I understand now why it didn't as well as it should have - it's also the reason why I struggle to listen to the album as a whole, unlike other U2 albums. The problem is that the album's theme isn't obvious enough to the listener, I can only hear the morrocan influences and themes stronlgy in only a few songs and suspect that is what a large part of the audience felt as well.
  7. Originally posted by u2opra:

    Thing is, I understand now why it didn't as well as it should have - it's also the reason why I struggle to listen to the album as a whole, unlike other U2 albums. The problem is that the album's theme isn't obvious enough to the listener, I can only hear the morrocan influences and themes stronlgy in only a few songs and suspect that is what a large part of the audience felt as well.


    Hm... not sure about that. The bomb didn't have any obvious theme at all. And sold shitloads...
  8. Originally posted by u2opra:and yet, U2 themselves say, the album didn't do as well because they were being too 'artsy'... More like because they turned mainstream into parts of the album...

    Thing is, I understand now why it didn't as well as it should have - it's also the reason why I struggle to listen to the album as a whole, unlike other U2 albums. The problem is that the album's theme isn't obvious enough to the listener, I can only hear the morrocan influences and themes stronlgy in only a few songs and suspect that is what a large part of the audience felt as well.



    Yes. The theme or sonic cohesion that JT or AB had just isn't there. You can see the stitches and grafting of pieces together, e.g. Crazy and SUC. Somehow when they welded two pieces together in the past like on the track Zooropa, it worked and that album has different 'feels' and sounds, yet it all hangs together because there the ideas at experimention were fully realised and also there was no big effort to have a 'hit' single. Numb was the lead-off track for goodness sakes. That was truly artsy and brave! (although I know it was released in the context of a tour with its own momentum).
  9. I think it's a bigger probem than we think...
    The whole musical industry is changing, so they (and we) should change their views on "success" and "fail" - those are not objective concepts anymore, they can't be measured just/only by album sales. Lillywhite considers the album as a comercial failure? Well, it's true. But not a failure itself. That has to be explained, because nowaday's album sales can't be compared to the 80's or 90's, this are different times, different views. A very small % of the general public pays 20$ for an album, and that won't change. It's just the same old theme, the "gimme gimme -and for free- mentality" that Yeah described in the Piracy thread some months ago. That's the problem. People don't buy albums - that's a fact. But bands/producers should STOP seeing that as a failure.
  10. Yet there are people selling more than u2. Very easy to blame pirates for the lack of success of NLOTH.

    U2 just isnt as 'hip', 'in', 'cool' as they were 5 years ago. Has to do with their image, people get bored easily. U2 redefined them a few times in the past, this time it didnt work out. No sense in denying that. Big deal, better next time. They still have a loyal fanbase that pays the mortgage.
  11. Originally posted by Risto:Yet there are people selling more than u2. Very easy to blame pirates for the lack of success of NLOTH.

    U2 just isnt as 'hip', 'in', 'cool' as they were 5 years ago. Has to do with their image, people get bored easily. U2 redefined them a few times in the past, this time it didnt work out. No sense in denying that. Big deal, better next time. They still have a loyal fanbase that pays the mortgage.


    Cha-Ching!
    But you're right, U2 tries to get back "in" everytime they release an album, and they try to create a wider fanbase each time, which they've done superbly in the past at a few points (they've also done the opposite, Pop anyone? ) But this time it just didn't work out, like you said. I think in their next album they'll make sure they have the songs to break the charts though.
  12. "...but the sales were not what they expected".

    Maybe if U2 gave up on these expectations, we would get more interesting stuff that actually interests THEM as opposed to what they expect the audience to like.

    But Lillywhite, U2, McGuiness, they can all have their opinion on NLOTH, so can I. And I still f*cking LOVE the album.
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U2start is run by fans for fans. Help us reduce personal costs. Consider to make a donation to support us.
U2start is run by fans for fans. Help us reduce personal costs. Consider to make a donation to support us.