Looking at some Bowie stuff, I came across this. Bad is definitely my favorite U2 song. Warning if you don't like the preening Bono, you probably won't like the last half of this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zIW8qDPhos
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"U2 –BAD"
Sounds about right. 😉
Sounds like a rare primate.
10 stars for Bono's mullet
If I had a favorite U2 song, it might be "Love Is Blindness".
I've only listened to Under a Blood Red Sky, Joshua Tree, and Achtung Baby, plus whatever singles came through the tubes or via cosmic rays.
And I haven't listened in decades. Since 2000, I've probably listened to "New Year's Day" more times than all other U2 songs combined. And I only listen to that on two days a year.
I haven't listened to KMFDM's cover of "Mysterious Ways" in ages either...
I really like War, but I don't have a working knowledge of any other U2 albums. But "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "New Year's Day" are songs I really like.
So, I will start with the fact that I am a huge U2 fan. Those who don't like them should go to a show and see them live before you write them off.
Seen them several times, including a rain-soaked breaking in concert at the Bank a few years back. Great shows, great effort.
Listen to their old stuff, listen to their 90's/00's songs, and now their current stuff. Raw --->Progression--->reinvention
I agreed for a while that they were a bit overrated and overblown, but now feel the opposite. They are not given enough credit as they sell too many records... sell outs.... bull shit... the Edge is not a sell out. One of the most underrated guitarists. Unique sound that is mimicked all over. Great bass, great drums and an incredible vocalist who just happens to care. Maybe a bit preachy, but still sticks his neck out.
Maybe not a top 10 band of all time, but definitely a great, great band. Doubt me? Listen to the boss.
I agree on the overrated/underrated thing. The Jeter of rock?
I'm glad you wrote that Zoomx. Today we focus on the celebrity and forgot how great a band U2 really is.
I am fascinated by the 1984-85 era U2. If you were familiar with them and a fan, you just knew they should be megastars. The performance at Live Aid was really what catapulted them into superstardom and watching it was like, yep these guys are going to be huge. Here's a 48 minute concert from 1984 that captures them pretty well.
I didn't intentionally keep up with anything beyond Joshua Tree ... Ended up with a copy of Achtung and whatever that forced iPod album was (never listened to it).
Was also at that show at The Bank and enjoyed it immensely.
The older I get, the less I listen to U2. Which is weird because I am/was/I don't know what label a big one for many years. I have their discography (save some live albums/special edition things) up to the last two. I don't know what happened there.
If I do pop in a U2 album, its either Zooropa (its a beautiful album) or Pop.
Preening Bono is definitely bad Bono.
I was an early fan. Saw them in '82 at First Ave when they toured after October. Place was only half full, but I knew that I'd just witnessed somebody that should/would be huge. Bono was very earnest, but not yet preening. Loved the show. Talked them up to everyone.
Saw them the following year(?) at Northrop on the War tour. While it was a terrific gig, I started to notice Bono's messianic tendencies starting to show up on stage. He'd become the focus of the whole show and seemed to relish the attention. When he marched down the center aisle of the theater waving a flag, the entire place went nuts. Me? I was just cynical enough from a year and a half of art school that the whole bit struck me as pompous. (Now, granted, by '83 I was pretty much entrenched in a Replacements aesthetic, and mullets and earnestness were starting to wear very thin. But still, the seeds were being sewn.)
By the time Unforgettable Fire came out, a record that just seemed dour to me, there were other bands who took their place--Echo and the Bunnymen, in particular, blew the Dubliners out of the water for me. Still do, for that matter.
I will cop to digging Joshua Tree, their best record, in my estimation. Beyond that, Zooropa had it's moments, but most everything else has left me nonplussed. And don't get me started on that bullshit they forced into my iTunes. My goodness, it was like trying to get rid of identity theft. Or gonorrhea
Loved this analysis/recollection. Thanks bud.
I didn't come off as too jaded? 🙂
The ITunes quip was great.