Is it that American Obituary song? People are trying to say it’s punk? Why, cos it has a guitar?
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Yep, Bono himself is trying to peddle it as a punk song. Wanker…
Bit silly. One small section of guitar had a Green Day sound to it, but that doesn’t make it punk in the slightest. The Fly had more menace.
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I mean, I listened to How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb today. I’ve never thought it’s a great album (it’s not), but jesus… it’s great compared to anything they’ve released in the last 20 years. It at least has a few good tunes on it (no, Vertigo ain’t one of 'em… terrible). Miracle Drug, Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own and City of Blinding Lights go pretty well. And it’s a better listen than All That Can’t Leave Behind on the whole.
Even then though, their self-doubt was starting to show… there’s about a dozen producers and mixing engineers involved. Too many cooks and all that…
It’s probably just me getting old, but I haven’t really liked anything of theirs since Zooropa.
I don’t like Pop, but at least it felt like something.
Everything since either sounds cookie-cutter commercial or try-hard rock to me.
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That’s similar to me. As an album… no, Zooropa was the last good one.
But they’ve had moments here and there…
Kiss Me Thrill Me etc was good.
They tarted up Sweetest Thing pretty well.
The Ground Beneath Her Feet was excellent.
Electrical Storm was good.
3 or 4 songs on …Atomic Bomb were good.
A couple on No Line On The Horizon were decent.
Since then though… they’ve sucked. Royally…
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Kiss Me etc was considered for Zooropa and I consider it a part of that.
I thought Electrical Storm was okay, and I like Miss Sarajevo.
Sweetest Thing is cute. In a good way.
So U2 lost their mojo after 10+ years at (or near) the top of the tree.
Sounds like a pretty normal thing to me.
I don’t think it’s so much losing their mojo or “not being as good as good as they were” which is surprising.
To me, it’s been the size of the fall…
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They’re the anti-Neil Finn.
Songwriting turned to crap but they remained popular.
I don’t get why that comes as such a surprise.
How many bands are able to keep producing at the same level that they peaked at?
They’ve been around for well over 40 years now!!!
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For a band that once ruled the world to need songwriting assistance from the Blackeyed Peas and OneRepublic… yeah, I’m surprised.
Name a band that was still good after 40+years.
As in writing/producing quality songs.
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Springsteen almost gets there.
Born To Run '75, Wrecking Ball '12.
Edge never improved as a guitarist. Just effects.
Bono is not cool.
They were annoyingly forced into our Iives via the iPhone.
They still haven’t found what they were looking for.
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I have Springsteen albums from 2019 and 2020 on my playlist.
They’re good…but nowhere near Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, The River, Born in The USA.
And that’s my point.
Why is U2 expected to do what other artists haven’t been able to do?
I think a lot of people would disagree with you about Wrecking Ball and The Rising. Which is not to say that they’re all good, but still.
I do understand your point, though.
Hey. Rio and Danse Macabre.
Neither match that earlier period.
Am I supposed to take this seriously?
I cant comment on U2 because I’m pretty unfamiliar with their catalogue except for the FM background noise I grew up with which never interested me. But expecting a 40 year recording history to remain fresh and exciting is probably unreasonable for anyone.
The only names I can think of is Tom Waits from his first few albums in the early to mid 70s right up to say Mule Variations etc and Andre Williams who began recording 45s in the 50s, nothing for decades and then absolute banger albums like Silky in the 90s and Hoods and Shades in the 2010s.
But its all subjective anyway.
Mostly, all bangers are spat out in the first 10 years of an artist or band.
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