Originally posted by RattleandHum1988:[..]
And was also probably just Edge noodling.
And the one clip just sounded like The Fly.
Originally posted by RattleandHum1988:[..]
And was also probably just Edge noodling.
And the one clip just sounded like The Fly.
Originally posted by cesar_garza01:[..]
You're one tough cookie to convince.
I'm probably just being crabby today. I was as excited as everyone else each time those clips came out 
Originally posted by MattG:[..]
[..]
I'm gonna go ahead and stop you right there - don't let a generational difference blind you to hard facts. Let's start up top:
Well...it's all opinion. But in 1992, the highest grossing tours were from artists born from around 1942 to around 1965. In the last five years the highest grossing tours were from artists born from around 1942 to around 1965...hardly any change. Sure some of the younger acts made some money, but young people don't fill up stadiums. U2 could get 60,000 when they were still in their 20's. One Republic couldn't fill up a stadium if they had Taylor Swift and Lil Wayne on the bill. I actually like most of Maroon 5, but they are not going to fill up a football stadium now or 30 years from now.
Top ten tours since January 2010:
1 U2 (360) 2 Roger Waters 3 AC DC 4 Bruce Springsteen
5 Madonna 6 One Direction 7 Paul McCartney 8 Bon Jovi 9 Beyonce 10 The Eagles
Not exactly a list of history making youngsters there. No idea who One Direction are, so maybe they are relevant, and U2 could always hire their producers...Beyoncé is approaching 35, but she still fits in the young people world...On a side note, Guns N Roses will probably be in the list when this year's info is final.
And sure, Achtung Baby was a big blow to old school U2 fans at first, but not me. Eno and Lanois were already getting old and were not anybody's idea of young upstarts, and Bono and The Edge had a clear direction after One was written. To be fair, I think I'll be ok with the new album, I do have my worst case scenario that it will overly pander to a young audience, searching for a hit, but I know they won't release that "Crap Album" they have been worried about. SOI may be my least favorite album, but I still listen to it, but it is a telling sign that my favorites were Invisible, Crystal Ballroom and Lucifer's Hands, and the acoustic version of EBW...all on the Deluxe, none on the actual album. And Ordinary Love! But I love U2 and will buy whatever they put out.
Originally posted by RattleandHum1988:Man this thread has gotten into the weeds.
Anyone saying "U2 should just be U2" and/or "U2 don't need producers":
You haven't done your homework. U2 has needed producers since day one. You can blame their punk roots for that. Unless you want U2 to go back to writing songs like Magic Carpet and Pete the Chop (like they ever would anyway), you need to check yourself. U2 hasn't written (for an album) without a producer closeby since Boy, and even then those songs were transformed by Steve Lillywhite.
"U2 should just be U2"? Okay, which one? Either way, the sound you refer to was helped by a producer with a fresh take.
I can't even believe I'm having to defend U2 of all bands of wanting/needing a producer to experiment and stay current. What band have you been listening to? There's nothing wrong with U2 writing 80% of a song and then having others come in to critique and help them to spice it up. A good example is One. Seen From The Sky Down? Edge had the two chord progressions, Daniel Lanois (producer) told him to put them in succession, voila. Daniel Lanois came up with the main guitar riff too.
Originally posted by pleasegone:[..]
All your opinion, which is why I love this site. if we all had the same opinions, it would be a boring site and would not be "relevant" (Love that word). I am quite aware that they have been overly reliant on producers. Since Change is about the most difficult thing anyone can ever do, I simply would love for U2 to break out of their comfort zone, and do an album on their own...sure, as I said before, if Lillywhite, Eno, and Lanois were needed to help them move a couch or set up a mic, great...but the 1980's production style of Phil Collins and 1990's Rick Rubin(not the awful post 2005 Rick Rubin)_...was simply listen to the artist and make helpful suggestions. I have accepted that U2 will likely never do this, but I can dream. And as a self-proclaimed expert on Prince, I can tell you self-production has many highs and many lows. And in my opinion, Prince had thousands more lows than U2, and a few hundred more highs. With Prince the glass is empty and overflowing at the same time!
Originally posted by RattleandHum1988:[..]
I get what you're saying, but I'd argue that what you're describing is probably the sound of All That You Can't Leave Behind and How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.