U2
I used to love U2. And every now and then I hear glimpses of what I liked when I listen back to the music from the band's pre-Joshua Tree albums. But it's diminishing returns. I can't listen to the albums these days - Unforgettable Fire is okay every now and then. But that's about it.
When U2 last played in New Zealand - in late 2006 - I was asked to write a piece about them for The Dominion Post.
I was looking over it recently because I re-watched the Classic Albums documentary relating to The Joshua Tree. And then I wrote this piece about the Haiti Telethon. And that seemed to bring out a few U2-sympathisers.
So here is that 2006 piece below - minus the references to the then-upcoming concert. I've rewritten/reprinted it because it tells the story of my early interest in U2 and the reason I moved away from caring about the band's music.
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The biggest band in the world. Apparently. How did they get so big? Or rather, why? U2 has released a handful of charming, intelligent pop songs. Its lead singer has grown into an increasingly ugly version of everything he first challenged when, with an average voice and high hopes, the man born as Paul Hewson (better known to the world as Bono) set out on this grandiose musical journey.
The very first album I purchased was The Joshua Tree, bought it when it came out (1987) in the throbbing metropolis of Hastings. Purchased on cassette tape. I couldn't wait to get home and start mowing the lawns, with side one all ready in my Walkman; as I trimmed the edges after and swept up I'd flip over to side two. Back then, listening to U2 seemed purposeful, as a pre-teen I had found my version of The Beatles. I retraced the band's steps, swiftly accruing their back catalogue (the cycle was simple but effective: I mowed lawns for money, so I could go and spend that money on a new tape once a week, which I would listen to while mowing the lawns).
I remember being very excited when the thoroughly mediocre Rattle & Hum album was released.
I kept up with U2 through university, replacing all their albums on CD and playing One and Angel of Harlem in a covers band, every weekend; the cycle had changed but the intentions were the same, I now flogged average versions of U2 hits for money in order to go and buy the new U2 CDs.
But something changed after Zooropa. I became aware that Bono is a terrible lyricist. Fans, still, are convinced that U2's words are so important and moving - the fact that they're easy to remember seems to have fooled people into thinking the sentiment is crucial.
In the early, post-punk days, when U2 weren't quite Echo & The Bunnymen or The Cure, and weren't quite Simple Minds or Talking Heads, they had passion and vibrancy. Their songs were full of energy and a post-adolescent intensity. The Edge (nom-de-plume for the man born Dave Evans) developed his heavily processed guitar attack (partly to cover up his lack of technical prowess, partly at the insistence of early producer Brian Eno) and Adam Clayton (bass) and Larry Mullen Jr (drums) played - as best they could - very simple rock rhythms.
The music was effective, because it seemed real. Gloria, 11 O'clock Tick Tock, 40 and of course Seconds and Sunday Bloody Sunday attempted to say something. There was an urgency that covered up any fluffed notes or misguided lyrical and musical ideas. U2 were a great young rock band.
The reinvention for Achtung Baby, just as grunge issued in a new era of young punks, produced one of the few U2 albums I can still listen to - though it's rather like a birthday: never more than once a year. I loved Zooropa, the album that followed, and was critically panned. But it's a bittersweet love, for it is the album that made me realise how stunningly average U2 are - and it is the album that made me realise that Bono is a cheeky, cheesy hack of a writer.
The greatest lines on Achtung and Zooropa are either stolen ("in dreams being responsibilities" is from the American poet Delmore Schwartz, "the days run away like wild horses over the hills", by Charles Bukowski) or sung by someone else (the Johnny Cash pastiche, The Wanderer). When Bono tries on his own, he comes up with the sad Bukowski book-title imitation, "if you need someone to blame, throw a rock in the air you're bound to hit someone guilty", or the false mysticism of "midnight is where the day begins". His idea being that repetition will create a mantra. Wrong.
Around this time Bono not only turned into a lyrical sap, he became that annoying political wannabe, Bob Geldof's baby brother; and where U2 (which is, let's be honest here, just Bono with three Irish guys behind him - they could be anonymous for all anyone cares) had once asked questions or provided statements concerning a spiritual journey within their songs - I Will Follow, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Into the Heart, Is That All? - they now, as middle-aged multimillionaires, can no longer be bothered asking questions, preferring to bite off more than can be chewed (When I Look at the World) and eschewing the journey altogether: Stuck in a Moment That You Can't Get Out Of, or struggling on in a cloying tone: Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own. (Bono seems to have made it, if we're talking about becoming a prat, on his own.)
I gave up on U2 years ago - despite still checking out their albums (go figure?) How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb is U2 at their worst - a solid opening rocker that almost reminds of their golden days, a bunch of less than average pop songs and a handful of horrid ballads. The faux-politics, religious righteousness and lack of musical invention suggest to me that U2 only had that one great post-grunge sidestep in them. The game continues. But I could care less.
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So, since then - there was No Line on the Horizon. I looked at that album here at Blog on the Tracks. You can click here to (re-)read my track-by-track dissection of that album. And click here to read the review of the album I wrote for The Dominion Post.
U2 have been very irrelevant to my listening for years now...absolutely years...
So I thought we could have ourselves a wee debate? Yes or no to U2 for you? What do you like or hate about this band? What albums do you like, if any? And what is it that turned you off this band if you were a fan? Or what is it that keeps you coming back to their sound? Are they rightfully the biggest band in the land? And does that even mean anything anyway?
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I've never been a U2 fan, I have none of their albums and only know them through the radio or Sofa gigs. I don't mind that song Lemon, but that's about it.
Blasphemy! U2 is golden and, for me, timeless. Or ageless. I agree that their early work is best, but I also think that alone quantifies their reputation. My partner is usually a crap gift giver-but I found a few gems on the bonus CD of the Joshua Tree re-release he gave me a couple of years back. Theres still magic there me thinks...
I guess I fall in the middle. I think they are ok, but not amazing. I think the people who absolutely worship then, and the people who absolutely hate them, are all wrong. My opinion is they are probably somewhere in the middle. Songs like Angel Of Harlem, Desire, Vertigo, I Will Follow, Pride, When Love Comes To Town etc are all good rock and roll songs, but nothing earth shattering. I will even turn the radio up and sing along, but they are not mind blowing. Occasionally they do something that I really like...like Numb, Bullet The Blue Sky, and that song from Batman. And i enjoy them all. But they are stil just 4 guys who play averagely (although the Edge did impress me a bit in "It Might Get Loud"), especially Adam Clayton...Bass player in a U2 covers band would surely be the most boring job in the world, and one you could train someone to do in a few lessons. But, for all that, they are fun (sometimes), energetic (sometimes), and put on a great show. I guess thats all you can ask for.
i'll just throw it straight out there and say i detest everything about them. the letter u and the number 2 are tainted for life.
Agree on the terrible lyricist call. This from Elevation:
"A star Lit up like a cigar Strung out like a guitar Maybe you can educate my mind."
Still though, good song if you just enjoy it for what it is.
I’m not on the same level as the music tossers who usually respond to your blogs... I just like what I like. They may have crap lyrics (elevation anybody?), they may be crap musicians (based on what you've said above) and How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb was terrible but they have released One, All I want is you, Desire and several other songs that are 4-5 starers on my Ipod. To me that’s enough... so a yes from me.
I used to quite like them in the early 90s, when I was a young teenager, but I moved on to more interesting music soon after that. (Lots of their songs sound the same, but don't tell anyone!)
Clearly, their early work still has an enduring appeal to many middle-aged people, as seen by the hue and cry over ticket sales (and scalping) the last time they toured NZ.
There is an obvious parallel to the Stones and indeed the current AC/DC tour: people are not there to see their recent work.
Your own review of AC/DC noted that there was a detectable lull in the crowd whenever Black Ice material was played. Fortunately, there is the ‘good old’ material to fall back on. U2 are in an identical position and have a similarly-rabid fan base who are prepared to wait out their latest material in favour of hearing Where the Streets Have No Name. I am sure if they announced an NZ tour today, they would sell it out in minutes, regardless of how bland and unmemorable their last records have been.
The piece of St Bono that riles me is that as an ‘artist’, he does not pay any tax. Yet he prances about the world stage telling people and governments how wrong they are about many policies. He should (literally) put his money where his mouth is.
Additionally, a few less U2 tours would probably extend the life of the planet by several years, such is their carbon footprint. Oh the irony…
I'm in agreement that early and middle U2 peaking with Achtung Baby is their best. Since AB its been diminishing returns, with the last half decent album being 'Pop' and the last half decent single being 'Ground beneath her feet'. I have 'Everything you can't leave behind' and 'Atomic Bomb' for the sake of completeness, but hardly ever listen to them. They aren't terrible, but aren't terribly engaging either. I feel the Edge is somewhat underrated as a guitarist, its just that Bono gets all the attention, with Adam and Larry perpetually in the shadows. I'm not bothered by Bono's activism or 'righteousness'. It doesn't actually harm anyone, he seems sincere, and if it helps people in need where is the problem? Play the ball not the man. I still hold out hope that they have another great album in them, but that diminishes a little with every release. At the risk of sounding cynical, I'd wager that a lot of people dislike U2 not for musical reasons, but because they represent the antithesis of the underground indie 'real music fan' ideal that decides what is hip and cool this week/year/decade. Its just not cool to like U2 apparently.
God, where do I start? I remember being taken to see them in the Dandelion Market in Dublin by a cousin who was supposed to be showing me around Dublin. I was 11 and distinctly unimpressed. I wanted to go an amusement arcade, but cousin Red was strangely intrigued by them. A couple of years later, the song Fire was all over the radio and everyone in school loved them. Whether it was contrariness or an ability to see through the “urgent passion” tripe they laid on with a trowel even then, I don’t know. But I hated them. And the more popular they became, the more I hated them. There were some good songs. Gloria was interesting, I Will Follow had a great lead riff and Sort of Homecoming was spacily haunting, but as for the rest? I’d be as happy if they called it a day and retired to their mansions. I hate the music, the posturing and the hypocrisy – Bono banging on about giving money to worthy causes and then shifting his tax affairs overseas to avoid paying tax springs to mind. Three instances spring to mind about them: I was busking outside HMV in Grafton Street in Dublin one day when two girls came out clutching Rattle and Hum. I overheard one say how good U2 were to give “unknowns like BB King” a chance to play on their records. I started to remonstrate but it went over her head. Boy George on telly one night saying: “I keep hearing Bono sing I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For and I want to yell at him ‘Look behind the drum kit!’” And my abiding memory will be of the free concert in the Phoenix Park in Dublin, the “Sort of Homecoming” concert. Was there with a mate who had the biggest mouth in Dublin. When Bono started his “This is not a rebel song” cobblers, Akko roared out: “Well sing us a f***ing rebel song ya ***! Sing Kevin Barry!” We were ejected. And I didn’t give a toss.
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There's a bar in Hoi An, Vietnam that's pretty popular with tourists. Behind the bar there's a huge painting of Bono dressed as Superman. When you're (supposedly) bigger than the music then it loses so much. I loved U2 as a teenager but gave up around the time of Rattle & Hum when they seemed to change. As strange as it sounds I just don't trust Bono anymore.