FernieCanto wrote:Rodheh wrote:What generally annoys the hell out of me is whenever people discuss "the good U2 albums" and include that one from 2000-ish as being "the last U2 triumph" or some bullshit.
Ah, yes,
All That You Can Leave Behind a Really Long Unwieldy Title Because U2 Are Too Big and Important for Short Album Titles. I
hate that record exactly for that reason: somehow it was hailed as a "return to their roots". That's sort of when I realised the music industry can make up any nonsense they want and force it down people's throats until they just accept it. I kept wondering, what "roots" exactly? I don't remember cheesy synth bleep-a-dee-bloops and corny Backstreet Boys-ish ballads on
Boy.
I don't know what it's called, but it has that overplayed pop song Walk On which juxtaposed with how U2 acts pretty much demonstrates the biggest issue.
I find
Elevation even more vomit inducingly disgusting than that one.
Whatever song, I fucking hate that record. I hate when it had just come out and my dad would not stop fucking playing it. In the house, in the car...the only U2 albums he owned were Joshua Tree, The Unforgettable Fire, Zooropa and that one. Then later he bought the
YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH bullshit.
It was 15 years ago, I was a kid, and yet it was a clear cementing moment that U2 was a shitty band.
Mexi said "everything after Achtung Baby they can shove up their arse"...alright. I'd agree with that collectively, album-wise.
That said, there are *moments* on Zooropa and Pop that I actually like. When it feels they were about to do something different and then they just kind of let it go, particularly on the latter and even that has the fucking boy band nonsense where they all take pictures of themselves for singles.
I don't know why I like parts of 90's U2 but I think it's because nobody really gave a shit, which might have forced a band to try and do new things even if they don't know what they're doing. Same goes for Original Soundtracks 1 - at least it had a fucking concept.
I loathe the 2000 album because they came back literally saying "we're re-applying for the best band in the world" and somehow, SOMEHOW became important and relevant again. I have no idea how. They didn't even regress, they went straight the radio-friendly-rock-formula-textbooks and were whores for a couple years.
Someone said they can't think of a huge band who piss so many people off, and that it was remarkable. Personally, I can thing of plenty...although I suppose dogshit like Linkin Park doesn't actually piss off as many people as it should and it's more just myself and anyone with functional ears.
With U2, aside from the whole ego shit "Bono", "The Edge" (how about "Dickface"), I think some people understand what happened.
That is, that a good band (that wasn't ego driven or tremendously acclaimed by large numbers of people) turned into a shitty band (that IS ego driven and tremendously acclaimed by large numbers of people). Somewhere in the middle and peripherally to the sides is where I can appreciate their work (and U2 is not remotely a band I listen to on a regular basis, just one I grew up hearing).
But not beyond that 2000 bullshit. Holy fuck, it's a
BEAAAAAAAAAAAAUTIFUL DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY is a "singer" defecating in one's ears.