Songs of Innocence: general album thread

Originally posted by kris_smith87:[..]

Why do people think Invisible will be on SOE? The song is about their first trip to London in the 70's. And listen to the lyrics? It is full of innocence.

Originally posted by ahn1991:[..]

I don't think the mass release was a move to reassure themselves. If that was their intent, then they certainly chose the most risky method. Imagine if the album was force-fed AND bad? The backlash would be devastating, not only for U2, but also for Apple. And if Apple tanked because U2's album fell short, U2 would become the most notorious band of 4 in the world.

To release an album like U2 did and, that album would have to be EXTREMELY good. But even that wouldn't be enough. Not only would the album have to be good, but U2 also had to be confident that the album was going to be good without having released any details to the public. Considering how poorly NLOTH did compared to their other albums, that confidence must have been very hard to come by. To me, this is not the mindset of a band looking for a fast-pass to reassurance. I think somewhere during the 5 years they were gone they found their reassurance and what we are now seeing is that reassurance blossom into confidence with a hint of arrogance, exactly what you'd see in a successful U2.

On a related note, I really like this remark Bono made regarding the complaints of users wanting to delete U2's album off their itunes.

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Originally posted by RattleandHum1988:[..]

The alternate lyrics were about that, not the ones on the version that was released.

Originally posted by kris_smith87:[..]

They were still kind of the same lyrics. "I won't be me, when you see me again, no I won't be my father's son"...they just took the literal story and made it more accessible.

Originally posted by ahn1991:[..]

I don't think the mass release was a move to reassure themselves. If that was their intent, then they certainly chose the most risky method. Imagine if the album was force-fed AND bad? The backlash would be devastating, not only for U2, but also for Apple. And if Apple tanked because U2's album fell short, U2 would become the most notorious band of 4 in the world.

To release an album like U2 did and, that album would have to be EXTREMELY good. But even that wouldn't be enough. Not only would the album have to be good, but U2 also had to be confident that the album was going to be good without having released any details to the public. Considering how poorly NLOTH did compared to their other albums, that confidence must have been very hard to come by. To me, this is not the mindset of a band looking for a fast-pass to reassurance. I think somewhere during the 5 years they were gone they found their reassurance and what we are now seeing is that reassurance blossom into confidence with a hint of arrogance, exactly what you'd see in a successful U2.

On a related note, I really like this remark Bono made regarding the complaints of users wanting to delete U2's album off their itunes.

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Originally posted by RattleandHum1988:[..]

I suppose. I just remember hearing Bono saying there were two versions.

Originally posted by Genaro92U2:[..]


I feel like you're being overly congratulatory to Songs of Innocence. The vibe I've been getting from it is that U2 are becoming "that" band that tries to reach out to new audiences but at the end of the day comes home to its fanbase. Yes, 50+ million people have downloaded, but I don't really hear or see U2 in the news, radio, media unless they're complaining about how SOI was released. I actually think the Apple thing works because Bono completely gets to dodge the real question he's been asking, "are we relevant?" That answer isn't a no, but it's not entirely a yes either. And that's okay I think, the answer is somewhere in the middle. We know millions of people have listened, but there's no real way of knowing what people think of them. Most articles, FB links, YouTube comments,Tumblr tags, etc seem to have much more U2 haters than during the Horizon era. Just my two cents. I don't give a crap 'bout them haters lol. However I definitely feel like the main hype train for SOI is coming from the fansites, and the few magazines that seem to always back U2. I do love however that the band don't seem to care about the haters as much as during the NLOTH era, that's a breath of fresh air.