BBCA Channel
Doctor Who
Newsletter
U2
So we know that Bono from U2 has an astounding capacity to get people backs up, don’t we? Oh sure, he’s a very popular man too, and he does a lot of good work, but there’s something about the way he presents himself which occasionally boils the blood of otherwise mild-mannered rock observers.
And there’s no finer example of this than the differing ways he and U2 bass player Adam Clayton explain why their disco song “Get On Your Boots” has failed to ignite the public imagination in quite the same way that something like “With Or Without You” or “Beautiful Day” did.
Adam’s thought on the subject, as relayed to Rolling Stone magazine, goes like this: “Interestingly, it’s going off live. I think probably what happened was it’s a common U2 problem. I think we probably worked on it and worked on it and worked on it, and instead of executing one idea well, I think we had probably five ideas in the song, and it just confused people. They weren’t sure what they were hearing.”
Bono, on the other hand, thinks there is something wrong with our ears: “Look, sometimes our audience isn’t as groovy as we’d like. ‘Get on Your Boots,’ as it was released, is a sort of crossover, half-club, half-indie-rock record.”
“People are not sure about the club side of U2. They want ‘Vertigo.’ And when we did this the last time – with ‘Discotheque,’ from ‘Pop’, they didn’t like it either.”
Maybe it’s something you’re just not very good at, Mr. No. Didja think of that?
Has he got a nerve or what? Tell us here.
2 Comments
I, for one, actually like the club-style songs. They have good music, but people aren’t “groovy” enough to give it a chance. I have to admit, I liked the new mix of Dicotheque better than the original, but I still liked the original. My personal opinion is that they should try to do songs border-line hard rock like Bullet the Blue Sky again. They seem to have lost the passion to create songs like that.
I don’t think U2 have lost their appeal – look at their tickets sales! It’s truistic!
Like any band, they have room for improvement. If bands didn’t consider new ways to re-invent themselves and consider how they may become more creative, then life becomes boring. I’ve looked & listened to some of U2′s older music and can see improvement over the years, blended with that is their experimentation with different sounds.
I have no bias to any band and hope that all bands will continue to work towards adapting to different/new sounds as technology liberates people to do so.
Looking for musical trends should give artists an idea of what kind of direction to take.