I recently added 6-7 albums worth of U2 to my iPod. I already had a few of them on there - The Joshua Tree, The Unforgettable Fire. I added a boatload of newer material - Pop, Zooropa, Achtung Baby, All That You Can’t Leave Behind.
I’ve come to the realization that I just don’t like U2. I hate to sound like one of those guys who turns on a band when they make it big, but the older stuff was better. And, I’m going to limit that to The Joshua Tree (I still place it in my top 10 all-time albums), and most of The Unforgettable Fire.
Anything released post-Rattle & Hum just doesn’t do it for me. I think I can name *maybe* 4 songs off the last 4 albums that I liked (off the top of my head, “One”). The rest of it goes beyond ambivalence, I just don’t like it.
My weekend project is to pull the 90% of the U2 material I don’t like back off the iPod.
Comments
4 Comments
Dear whoever reads this,
My friend Bryan is on crack. I agree. Pop is crap and aside from “Stay (Faraway, So Close)”, Zooropa is awful.
Have you listened to Actung lately? It’s great from beginning to end. All That You Can’t Leave Behind has its moments too, “Walk On”, “Stuck in a Moment…” and “Beautiful Day”. Come on, Buchs!
Posted July 8, 2004 at 4:02 pm by chuck .
chuck - you’re a loveable fool.
you ever notice that you hear more about bono’s crusade for thrid-world debt forgiveness, and AIDS research more than you hear about U2’s music? there’s a reason.
zooropa is easily the most underrated U2 album - it was their last chance at redemption. certainly not it’s best, but they should have kept going in that direction instead of reverting to their soccer-mom inspired drivel that achtung laid the foundation for. “stay..” is good… so is “lemon” (if only cause it’s fun to sing), “numb” and “some days are better than others”. if they’d kept going there, they’d be radiohead - a living, breathing, evolving band instead of what they are…
as for achtung - fuck that album. it was the beginning of the end for the band that i spent the better part of my youth loving. two decent tracks - “until the end of the world” and “one”. but johnny cash does “one” better. the rest is pap - from beginning to end.
as far as “all that you can’t leave behind”… instead of spending time listening to that piece of shit, you might as well hang out in milwaukee’s better elevators - at least the music will be more interesting… and there’s the small chance that something like the fiirst scene of “speed” could happen. with “all that you can’t leave behind”, all you get is the “nash bridges” of music. tired, rehashed grasp at former stardom.
buchs, you didn’t include “war” on your list… “sunday bloody sunday”…”new year’s day”…”two hearts beat as one”…”40″. give it a try.
and you may want to at peruse “october”…”gloria”…”i threw a brick through a wall”…”rejoice”…”with a shout”…”is that all”. old school.
and then there’s “boy”. you can’t deny the poptastic good times that come with “i will follow”.
U2 - why can’t they just end it?
Posted July 11, 2004 at 12:50 pm by shux .
Rajan,
WTF?! Lemon?!
We’ll have to get together soon so I can give you your belated birthday present, a new base pipe. How long have you and Buchs been chasing the dragon?
The intervention is coming.
Posted July 12, 2004 at 11:09 am by chuck .
first of all, crank is my mistress… and i like to shoot the horse every now and then… but i digress.
listen buster, just because you might not put a track on a “best of friends” soundtrack does not make said track a bad track.
you know what makes for a bad track? lyrics like this:
“And if the darkness is to keep us apart
And if the daylight feels like it’s a long way off
And if your glass heart should crack
And for a second you turn back
Oh no, be strong
Walk on
Walk on”
i can just imagine a poor, heartbroken teenage girl crying herself to sleep to this tune. i could kick her.
Posted July 12, 2004 at 12:40 pm by shux .