Gramsci wrote: Tue Nov 16, 2021 1:53 pm I hate almost everything else they have done but the only moments I even vaguely like are on these two albums.

FYP.

Gramsci wrote: Tue Nov 16, 2021 1:53 pm The “deliberate phoniness” from Boner helped.

I know what you mean about the "deliberate phoniness" but I think it's the same phoniness, just with a more ironic framing. I think he's incapable of anything else, and shit like "Who's Gonna Ride Your WIld Horses?", "One" and "Mysterious Ways" shows he's still mining that "Where The Streets Have No Name" seam in search of EPIC ROCK SOARING thrills. The band got a bit rocky, Eno Eno-ised it, and Bonio got lucky. The end.

How is this more than like 3 replies? And I even kinda like some of the early catalog, but this trash is flaming garbage.

CRAP.

Hola amigos, Twitter's very own U2 iPod logging on.

Both of these records are great. I would challenge you to find any other artist at that level who's done such a severe 180 and complete fucking shift as they did and successfully pull it off.

Some of the songs actually got better live (a few keys changed for Bono's vocals throughout the tour, the drums tend to be a bit heavier, etc.)

I don't know that there's any tour that was more inventive on that sense of scale than the accompanying Zoo TV tour.

four_oclocker_2.2 wrote: Wed Nov 17, 2021 1:27 pmSome of the songs actually got better live (a few keys changed for Bono's vocals throughout the tour, the drums tend to be a bit heavier, etc.)

Funny you should say that, I watched a few clips from the Zoo tour last night as a result of reading this thread and I thought it was pretty rough.

All flash, no substance.

I can kinda tolerate the 1st 5 albums, it is not my thing but I am not so insensitive to see why it connected w/ so many people. But I think this era is garbage. Beastie Boys / Beck level garbage.

CRAP

four_oclocker_2.2 wrote: Wed Nov 17, 2021 1:27 pm I would challenge you to find any other artist at that level who's done such a severe 180 and complete fucking shift as they did and successfully pull it off.

Agreed. Not really the same level as U2 but Talk Talk doing Spirit of Eden after everything before it is another pretty insane 180.

Saw the ZooTV tour and it was an incredible show.

four_oclocker_2.2 wrote: Wed Nov 17, 2021 1:27 pm Hola amigos, Twitter's very own U2 iPod logging on.

Both of these records are great. I would challenge you to find any other artist at that level who's done such a severe 180 and complete fucking shift as they did and successfully pull it off.

Some of the songs actually got better live (a few keys changed for Bono's vocals throughout the tour, the drums tend to be a bit heavier, etc.)

I don't know that there's any tour that was more inventive on that sense of scale than the accompanying Zoo TV tour.

I went to a religious college where U2 was just about the only rock music anyone had listened to due to their begrudged approval by youth pastors. My fellow media studies classmate did his senior thesis on how ZooTV was actually a critique of our own evangelical subculture and he received a lot of ridicule. However, I revisited this era of U2 a few years back and, damn it, I should have stood up for the guy. This shit is both extremely dumb and extremely smart. Self-aware and completely aloof. The peak of the 20th century rock concert as art.

Someone tell Bono about the metaverse so we can get MetaZoo or some shit! Troll my avatar, Mr. MacPhisto!!!!

Leeplusplus wrote: Wed Nov 17, 2021 2:46 pm
I went to a religious college where U2 was just about the only rock music anyone had listened to due to their begrudged approval by youth pastors. My fellow media studies classmate did his senior thesis on how ZooTV was actually a critique of our own evangelical subculture and he received a lot of ridicule. However, I revisited this era of U2 a few years back and, damn it, I should have stood up for the guy. This shit is both extremely dumb and extremely smart. Self-aware and completely aloof. The peak of the 20th century rock concert as art.

Oh, 100%! That's what the character of the "Mirror Ball Man" was during the American leg of the tour (Macphisto didn't come about until the EU legs as they realized "Southern Evangelist Pastor" wouldn't translate well to audiences outside of the US.)

They knew what they were doing, and in the situations where they maybe weren't 100% sure, they surrounded themselves with artists who did.

MoreSpaceEcho wrote: Wed Nov 17, 2021 2:03 pm

four_oclocker_2.2 wrote: Wed Nov 17, 2021 1:27 pm I would challenge you to find any other artist at that level who's done such a severe 180 and complete fucking shift as they did and successfully pull it off.

Agreed. Not really the same level as U2 but Talk Talk doing Spirit of Eden after everything before it is another pretty insane 180.

Immediately came to mind.

And, you know, Darius Rucker.

MoreSpaceEcho wrote: Wed Nov 17, 2021 2:03 pm

Saw the ZooTV tour and it was an incredible show.

Me too. Incredible show.

Not crap.

This thread made me go back and re-listen.

At the time, U2 was coming out of their faux-American phase where Bono was trying to pass off stuff like “I ran into a juke joint -” NO YOU DIDN’T BONO, YOU HAVE NEVER ONCE SET FOOT IN A JUKE JOINT. I was – and remain – as interested in that shit as I would have been in hearing a concept album about the Easter Rising from the Black Crowes.

So when Achtung Baby came out, once I got past their about-face into the universe of European dance music, I was pleasantly surprised to discover a very strong stack of catchy tunes. Looking back, there are two or three less-than-fully-inspired songs, but overall this is still my favorite U2 album.

And Zooropa holds up way better than I had expected it to, especially given its provenance as a way to kill time between tour legs. Even the weakest songs have weird hooks that fade in out of nowhere ( the days-of-the-week countdown at the end of “Daddy’s Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car; “these days days days run away like horses over the hill” in “Dirty Day” ) or bridges that salvage them ( the Talking Heads moment in the middle of “Lemon”; the “from father to son” part in, well, “Dirty Day” – guess I really like that song ). Even Johnny Cash can’t save “The Wanderer,” but nobody’s perfect, I guess.

Pop has maybe two songs.