oh come on.

2001's "All that you can't leave behind" was like, 48 minutes long. 2004's "how to dismantle an atomic bomb" was about 40 minutes long.

for a band that waits 3-4 years between albums, their albums are relatively short. i'm not asking them to write "The White Album v2.0" or "Sandinista! 2.0", but....come on. if you can't come up with 60 minutes of good shiat in three years, maybe the muse done up and left.

rickythepenguin: maybe the muse done up and left.

Yeah. A band with a 30-plus year history of recording together, with over 170 million albums sold worldwide and more Grammy awards than any other band ever, is clearly a flash-in-the-pan one-hit-wonder that has, at best, only the most tenuous relationship with any sort of creative muse and should be utterly dismissed any time there's any sort of delay in their release of new material.

rickythepenguin: oh come on.

2001's "All that you can't leave behind" was like, 48 minutes long. 2004's "how to dismantle an atomic bomb" was about 40 minutes long.

for a band that waits 3-4 years between albums, their albums are relatively short. i'm not asking them to write "The White Album v2.0" or "Sandinista! 2.0", but....come on. if you can't come up with 60 minutes of good shiat in three years, maybe the muse done up and left.


Sandinasta?
You know "Sandinasta!" is considered a piece of crap collection of half-finished songs, a messy, confused jumble of bad dub experiments? I heard of some people liking it, but never used as a reference to a masterpiece

that album was so bad, it made me cry


/really love the Clash

Pocket Ninja: only the most tenuous relationship with any sort of creative muse and should be utterly dismissed any time there's any sort of delay in their release of new material.


yeah, because stylistically, ATYCLB and HTDAAB were so very, very, different. I especially liked that one song on that album that had that really cool riff, and then the song got slow, and then that riff kicked in again. What song was that?

Also that one slow song with the electric piano. That was awesome.

U2's output in the 2000s: "How To Dismantle All The Atomic Bombs That You Can't Leave Behind". Both albums sound like outtakes of each other.

Pocket Ninja: more Grammy awards than any other band ever

Not disagreeing with your overall point, just pointing out that Grammies are an absolute joke and mean nothing.

Receided?

Pocket Ninja: more Grammy awards than any other band ever



You know who also has (had?) Grammys?

Stompn_Tom: Pocket Ninja: more Grammy awards than any other band ever



You know who also has (had?) Grammys?

Homer Simpson and the B Sharps?

i really cant stand U2. nothing else to contribute, just thought i'd let ya'll know. in case you were wondering.

/receided?

So, don't listen to them? Is that a good point? You can actually avoid U2, and even Bono, if you like. Try it! It might not be as fun as trying to sound all pure and what-not by taking shots at their recent work, but it'll at least let you seem like an adult.

A few of us (measuring in the millions) love their two most recent releases, and I think their last two albums were a return to form. Back in the day I loved Achtung Baby almost as much as The Joshua Tree. You can't blame U2 for standing still for too long. So what if two great records sound alike? If Bono and The Edge want to take us somewhere else, I will follow and so will a few other million fans. If they release another album in the vein of, and just as good as the last two, I'll be satisfied too. I just hope don't make another Pop!

Pocket Ninja: Yeah. A band with a 30-plus year history of recording together, with over 170 million albums sold worldwide and more Grammy awards than any other band ever, is clearly a flash-in-the-pan one-hit-wonder that has, at best, only the most tenuous relationship with any sort of creative muse and should be utterly dismissed any time there's any sort of delay in their release of new material.

I think you're reading things in ricky's post that were not there.

Let's be honest, U2 was once a great band..but their more recent material has been a bit lackluster.

Pocket Ninja: rickythepenguin: maybe the muse done up and left.

Yeah. A band with a 30-plus year history of recording together, with over 170 million albums sold worldwide and more Grammy awards than any other band ever, is clearly a flash-in-the-pan

Dude, bands get older and their lives change. We've seen it in pretty much every band that hits the apex. Achtung Baby was a very, very, very long time ago.

Might I humbly suggest a collaboration with Deep Sunshine?

"we've hit a rich songwriting vein and we don't want to stop."
translation from old music industry jargon: we've got tons of "B" side but no "A" side cuts.

Right up there with the Beatles and Zepplin as the most overrated bands of all time.

Bono is a c*nt

Thank you for your time *bow*

Psylence: Right up there with the Beatles and Zepplin as the most overrated bands of all time.

Rolling Stones are popular too

LewDux: Psylence: Right up there with the Beatles and Zepplin as the most overrated bands of all time.

Rolling Stones are popular too

No one is still worshipping them tho. Aren't they playing at nursing homes and state fairs yet?

Oh, goody. Our monthly "[X album] is when U2 were good, now they suck" thread.

PoopStain:
I suppose Coldplay has taken over the U2 mantle of pop angst/dancepop happiness/slightly experimental catchy tunes.

Me: "Wow, that new U2 song on the Apple commercial is kind of catchy."

Husband: "It's Coldplay."

A few days later, in a friend's car:

Me: "I haven't heard this before, I didn't know U2 had a new album out."

Friend: "It's Coldplay."

I expect to mistake U2 for Coldplay with the new album.

/likes some early U2

This is the same bullshiat hype they have been putting out since their flop Disco. "The Edge has rediscovered the guitar" IIRC is some of the bs they said about that one. I bought that steaming pile of crap because I believe what Bono said. Never again.

rickythepenguin: oh come on.

2001's "All that you can't leave behind" was like, 48 minutes long. 2004's "how to dismantle an atomic bomb" was about 40 minutes long.

for a band that waits 3-4 years between albums, their albums are relatively short. i'm not asking them to write "The White Album v2.0" or "Sandinista! 2.0", but....come on. if you can't come up with 60 minutes of good shiat in three years, maybe the muse done up and left.

I don't really care about U2, but I think more bands should make shorter albums.
Just because you CAN fill up a cd with 76 minutes worth of stuff doesn't mean you SHOULD.

Psylence: Right up there with the Beatles and Zepplin as the most overrated bands of all time.

And you must be one HELL of a musician.

/eyeroll

I farking love U2. 'Gloria' is one of the most awesome sounding songs ever. How anyone can hate this band is completely beyond me. Bono is a great singer. There are many imitators, indeed, but only one Bono.

Some of you people smoke too much crack, and your brand of crack isn't exactly working. Maybe you should try a new brand.

Anyone who says Led Zeppelin is an overrated band is a jealous douchebag / failed musician, living in his mommy's basement.

You should be banging some miserable bastard like Chris Ott up the a$$.

Back in the day, I used to like Sandinista and U2. I still like Sandinista.

The Clash is the band U2 wishes they were.

U2 died when Brian Eno stopped producing their albums....

I was always kinda meh on U2. I do think "Where the Streets Have No Name" and "Angel of Harlem" are great songs. In fact, Rattle and Hum was the first CD I ever bought, having been a cassette/LP man until then.

That being said, I can no longer stand U2 because Bono is a giant douche. I don't care what a rock singer thinks about politics. And it bothers me that Bono, who is not a US citizen, can get a meeting with the President, when there are many citizens doing much better charitable work than Bono (but aren't rock singers) and who are actaully helping people who couldn't get near the Whitehouse.

Yeah, yeah I know, if I were famous and people would listen to me...blah. To me, it really sucks that Americans look to entertainers for political info.

Rev. Skarekroe: rickythepenguin: oh come on.

2001's "All that you can't leave behind" was like, 48 minutes long. 2004's "how to dismantle an atomic bomb" was about 40 minutes long.

for a band that waits 3-4 years between albums, their albums are relatively short. i'm not asking them to write "The White Album v2.0" or "Sandinista! 2.0", but....come on. if you can't come up with 60 minutes of good shiat in three years, maybe the muse done up and left.

I don't really care about U2, but I think more bands should make shorter albums.
Just because you CAN fill up a cd with 76 minutes worth of stuff doesn't mean you SHOULD.

Exactly---48 minutes would have been considered LONG when U2 started recording. 40 minutes about average. I think there is way too much "Filling all the time available" on cd's these days.

That said I can't believe after 3 years U2 doesn't have 45 minutes worth of music to release that I'd really like to hear

I'm not a big U2 fan, but I saw the Imax/3D concert recently and it was off the charts.

Plus to say they have no hits is idiotic. They had 2 billboard #1 singles

Slu:
That being said, I can no longer stand U2 because Bono is a giant douche. I don't care what a rock singer thinks about politics. And it bothers me that Bono, who is not a US citizen, can get a meeting with the President, when there are many citizens doing much better charitable work than Bono (but aren't rock singers) and who are actaully helping people who couldn't get near the Whitehouse.

I want to see the President meet with Jello Biafra or Mark Mothersbaugh.
If THEY were so inclined.

Rev. Skarekroe
Just because you CAN fill up a cd with 76 minutes worth of stuff doesn't mean you SHOULD.

THIS!!

Rap albums are particularly a culprit of this!

However, I think there are some albums that justify the 70+ runningtime:
like "Illinois" by Sufjan Stevens
"Amused to Death" by Roger Waters

i can't think of any others at the moment....
if any other farkers want to add their own "worthy of 70+ min." album choices, that'd be cool :-)

Let's be honest, U2 was once a great band..but their more recent material has been a bit lackluster.

Disagree. WOW, do I disagree.

Sandinasta?
You know "Sandinasta!" is considered a piece of crap collection of half-finished songs, a messy, confused jumble of bad dub experiments? I heard of some people liking it, but never used as a reference to a masterpiece

that album was so bad, it made me cry

There's a damn good album in there, but it's hidden inside all the half-finished songs, messy confused jumble and bad dub experiments.

Subby confuses fact with opinion and therefore fails.

Azz: U2 died when Brian Eno stopped producing their albums....

Eno's producing this one, along with Daniel Lanois. Achtung Baby, anyone?

U2 is one of the most overrated groups of all time. They're miserable.

I only know of Bono from south park. He is the biggest shiz ever!

Bono could always listen to some Coldplay for reminders.

Why all the hate for Pop, still? A decade later and people still feel the need to cr@p on it. That was actually the album that got me interested in U2 in the first place, as I thought Discotheque and Mofo were really great examples of what could happen when artists who could actually play music got into electronic production. Oh yea, and there was a track on there called Staring at the Sun which also happened to rule and couldn't be more removed from the image that people want to project about that album being nothing but 'Disco'.

Oh yea, and I saw U2 3D finally (didn't play in my hometown, but caught it recently while on vacation), and man Bono came off as a 80 foot tall douchebag in that flick. When he wasn't ruining his delivery of classical vocals, he was wasting my time with political garbage that nobody wants to hear from him. The other band members were amazing, especially The Edge, but for me, that show really succeded in spite of Bono, and not in any way because of him.

Subby may need to think about fitting more ideas into his headline next time, is all I'm saying.

If it's more like Achtung Baby and produced with Eno and Lanois, I will be very interested in this record. If it's another reverb/echo fest in hte vein of their last two, not so much.

U2 peaked in 1987. They've done good stuff since, but nothing nearly as great as The Joshua Tree.

/that's just like my opinion, man.

sonicfluid: Why all the hate for Pop, still?

It's crap for those of us that heard the band in the 80's.

And yeah, Joshua Tree was their peak.

Please. Call it a day.

//Tired of Bono's politics and The Edge and his dumb hats.

Jim R re: Sandanista: There's a damn good album in there, but it's hidden inside all the half-finished songs, messy confused jumble and bad dub experiments.

I got rid of most of that (can't rid of Mensforth Hill and Silicone on Sapphire), but with these songs left:

The Magnificient Seven
Hitsville UK
Ivan Meets G.I. Joe
The Leader
Something About England
Somebody Got Murdered
One More Time
Lighting Strikes (Not Once But Twice)
Up In Heaven (Not Only Here)
Let's Go Crazy
The Sound of the Sinners
Police On My Back
Midnight Log
The Call Up
Washington Bullets
Broadway
Charlie Don't Surf
Mensforth Hill
Junkie Slip
Kingston Advice
The Street Parade
Version City
Silicone On Sapphire
Shepherds Delight

that's not a bad double album/80-minute CD and it's got some of my very favorite Clash songs on it (Magnificent 7, Something About England, The Call Up, Washington Bullets). Sure, it's not as good as the first 3, but it's not as bad as Combat Rock or The Album That Shall Not Be Mentioned either.

Never got the U2 mania though I've seen 'em twice. I was initially interested because I loved I Will Follow when it came out, despite sounding like PiL but with a glossy production, but after that, it's been hit and miss. I think of them as a singles band, like....um.....a 80-00's Creedence Clearwater Revival, say, not a band that makes great albums. October is a pretty bad album, Zooropa is one of the worst albums ever by a major band coming off a big hit and the last two, for me, have the formula of "1 killer single, 2 terrific songs and the rest is filler".

I ignore Bono, it's easy if you try, but it's not because he gets White House invites or anything, but because he met and wined and dined that human blight, Jesse Helms. I don't care if it helped his cause, he still gave legitimacy to a vile racist and homophobe and gave him cover in a "how bad can I be, that liberal Bono worked with me" way.

Henry Holland:

I condensed Sandinista! to a single album a year ago. Here's mine (in alphabetical order):

"The Call Up"
"Hitsville U.K."
"Kingston Advice"
"Lose This Skin"
"The Magnificent Seven"
"One More Time"
"Police on My Back"
"Somebody Got Murdered"
"Something About England"
"The Sound of the Sinners"
"The Street Parade"
"Up in Heaven (Not Only Here)"
"Washington Bullets" (with the "Silicone on Sapphire" instrumental track)

As for U2, I almost wish at this point they would release a double or triple album just for kicks. Sure, there's an excellent chance of it blowing up in their faces, but I think they could try it and it would still get 5 stars in Rolling Stone.

Sandinista gave you 36 choices plus was bookended with 3 great non-lp tracks, Radio Clash, Stop the World and Bankrobber. The great thing is that you can pick your own faves and create your own CD. Who's to say my 15-18 picks or yours are the best. I liked it because there wasn't that mystery of what they left off.