I'll concede I've never really committed myself to U2. They were always just a little too ubiquitous. So I'll fix my post: Could not agree more. Pretentious, self-righteous, every time I saw the video where Bono is singing in the street with the genuflecing commoners I wanted to kill a puppy. Plus they have a band member who straight-faced calls himself "The Edge." I don't need it.
He didn't name himself that: "The book U2 by U2 states that the name originates from his angular facial features, which is then supported by The Edge's claims himself." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Edge#Nickname
I love how people always flock to any thread with U2 in the title just to share with us how much they think U2 sucks. If they suck so much, why waste your time posting in a thread about such a crappy band? It's not like I seek out every thread about the Jazz just to post how much I hate them.
Most of the great bands aren't all that great with videos. Remember how bad the Rolling Stones lip-synched with Start Me Up? What about Magical Mystery Tour? The Who's Tommy was downright silly, for the most part (watched the movie last week- not one of their best moments, and that's my favorite band). I can take almost every major band and show you a video that would make you dislike them (well, almost all). The bands with the best videos- Talking Heads, J Geils Band, Peter Gabriel- are talented in that genre specifically. Oh, and The Edge didn't create that nickname- Springsteen hates, hates the nickname "The Boss," yet he's stuck with it due to the media- he does not promote this nickname at all, on anything he does. I dare anyone to listed to Boy or Achtung Baby or War and tell me they think this music is garbage. It'd be like me making a judgment on Coldplay- I've actually only heard one song from them- Vida La Voca or whatever that's called- and it's OK but nothing great. Should I say that CP is crap because of that? That's not really fair- I have no basis by which to judge them on one- or even a few- songs- particularly ones that are played out. I'm sure many people hate "Stairway to Heaven" and "Sweet Home Alabama" for this reason.
Music is EXTREMELY different. I'll listen to dozens of mixes over and over and over again when I record. You can literally listen to hundreds of different mixes with a huge range of variance. Sometimes, it requires more tracks to be recorded or re-recorded. Sometimes, you just don't like the balance of the overall. For major label releases, there might be a few dozen scratch mixes, a few dozen more after the main instrumentation is done, a range of mixes that include different instrument or vocal takes, mixes you listen to post mixdown and even more mixes you listen to after mastering. It's a VERY long and incredibly tedious process, but it is an artistic process that is very important to a musician because the end result, to your ears, can be dramatically different. Oh, and this doesn't even count listening to music on a bunch of different systems - stereos, iPods, boom boxes, in the car, etc. Hearing them on different systems allows you to gauge just what the listener will hear in different places. That is one of the primary reasons why musicians want lots of mixes of their stuff to take home and review and no doubt why Bono was listening to his stuff at home. The reason he was listening to it loudly was probably not just because he's playing rock star. It's more likely that he was checking it at different levels. When I listen to a mix, I listen to it very loudly and very softly and a variety of levels in between so I can hear how the volume impacts the tone of the mix and what instruments stick out at different volume levels - believe me, it makes a difference. This is the number one reason musicians hate it when their mixes get taken and played before they are ready. What they end up with after all those listens is, to their ears, a better mix than what they had before and they don't want anyone listening before it is ready. In some instances, it can be really embarrassing for people to hear a mix you dislike. It is enough to make you cringe.
I'm not complaining about the political nature of his music. I'm complaining about his humanitarian work, where he's used his popularity as a musician to try to meet with various world leaders. Just Google "Bono meets with" and look at all the hits for various world leaders the guy has met with. He's a lead singer, not the Pope.
That rasises an interesting point. If Bono was playing the music loud enough to be heard in public, doesn't that make it a public performance and sharing the footage of such should be legally fine, i would think. As far as U2 themesleves, they have changed their sound so much that I have no idea who they are. "Rattle and Hum" was their best work, IMO.
Technically, sharing footage or audio recordings of a public performance is still copyright infringement. It's why they call them bootlegs.
Q: How many Bonos does it take to change a lightbulb? A: One. He climbs a ladder, holds a bulb in the socket, and the world turns around him.
I put Boy, October, and War on my iPod over the weekend. I recorded the RECORD ALBUMS onto a CD and uploaded them that way. That's what an old school U2 fan I am. I think they peaked at Unforgettable Fire and I phased out of them after that, but I'm not going to go around saying they suck just to make myself feel better.
I only listened to U2 when I was in my mother's womb and they were just getting started in Dublin. I was so over them when they released October.
I'm not a big fan of U2 at all, and I like Bono even less than their music, but I don't think anyone could really say that they are not great musicians. The Joshua Tree alone is an unbelievably great album. Like I said, don't really care for them, but they do put out quality music...just not my cup of tea
I believe it to be true. When I first heard "Independence Day", I thought it was one of the greatest tunes I'd ever heard...until Bono sang the last line of the lyrics. Turned me off of U2 forever in a nanosecond. If I want to get preached to, I'll head over to Lakewood Church, thangyouverymush. And I'm certain you got an A on your 9th grade paper....
