Originally posted by robotsandmonkeys:[..]
I really like your point, actually. U2 directly led me to listen to Brian Eno's "Another Green World" many many years ago, which then led me to discovering and loving early ambient music, Roxy Music, etc.
I guess the difference here is U2 challenged and led to music I wouldn't have heard otherwise. And it was QUALITY music. The Joshua Tree mined country and gospel music in a way that probably introduced that rich music to a whole pack of people that wouldn't have heard it otherwise. That music is...nutritious (for lack of a better term).
"The Best Thing" doesn't challenge me, doesn't surprise me, and is rooted in the shallow pool of contemporary pop soundscape that I am in no way interested in mining. And in now way is nutritious. This is wonder bread. What music does "The Best Thing" expose me to? Pop radio. Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, The goddamn Chainsmokers. All, in my very biased opinion, awful music.
So what I dislike about this song is it adds nothing new to the musical landscape, seems to open no doors to me as a longtime fan, will run from one song to the next on the radio so smoothly it's shameful.
I continue to hold out hope U2 takes a page from David Bowie in his final decades as an artist. Bowie's Blackstar album DID make me listen to music I otherwise wouldn't, DID do his decades of music making justice. To that end I TOTALLY agree with your post, and was excited about the initial reports of this album being rooted in more experimentation...a bit more "90s" U2 (in spirit I mean)...and to that end I'm just so disappointed that where The Fly or Numb once sent U2 fans reeling on their heels and scrambling to find where U2 were coming from...THIS first single only needs the audience to listen to the next vacant pop song to know where they are coming from.
