Ok... First, the Edge is not a good guitar player at all. He's been doing the same schtick for decades with the delay and stuff. Anyone can pick up a guitar and listen to a U2 album, and quickly figure out what he's doing and reproduce it... Try doing that with John Petrucci's work!
I'm not sure who came first... I know IQ and Marillion were playing around the time of U2 (they were contemporaries, definately), and did the delay schtick before the Edge was doing it. If you've heard the first U2 albums, they're very organic, and don't make much use of effects. I don't think the Edge's use of a delay pedal and distortion is original or groundbreaking.
U2 are OK. I like them better after I saw the 60 minutes story on them. The fact that they don't go around with an entourage or body guards is really cool. The fact that Bono does so many good things is great.
Also, their drummer admitted he's not a good drummer at all. Their bass player said the same thing. Ed Bradley did make a big deal out of the Edge and all his neato, cutting edge effects. Yeah, I guess delay is a pretty far out effect.
U2's music is crap. They jump on every trend and put the hip-hop drums in. I was listening to Achtung Baby over xmas (my brother put it in...) and it reminded me of The Happy Mondays. "Mysterious Ways" (or whatever that one is called) is such a late 80's Madchester rave rip-off.
U2 consistently absorb musical trends that are already years old by the time they incorporate them.
The only not crap things about U2 are that they do some decent philanthropic things, and they seem pretty much down to earth for people who are in an extremely successful Top 40 rock band. Their music is a reflection of 3 year old trends... They aren't that talented (at least their drummer and bass player admit it)
But it doesn't take talent to be a successful Top 40 artist. In fact, talent is detrimental to this goal. U2 have an incredible PR machine. Period.
band:U2
22i disagree about your assessment of the edge as a guitarist. you are assuming that because he uses delay in many of their songs, and because it is a signature sound of his, that when i heralded his playing i was doing so because of that effect. incorrect assumption.
also, the fact that i can listen to steve jones' guitar parts and figure out what he is doing, and then reproduce it, does not make him a bad guitar player. he may be one of the greatest and/or most influential guitar players in the history of rock 'n roll. chuck berry, keith richards and buddy holly also wrote and played very easily reproducible guitar parts. the edge isn't as easily copied as any of these guitarists, and yet he isn't nearly as good as they were, so your connection of quality to lack of accessability is dubious.
also, the fact that i can listen to steve jones' guitar parts and figure out what he is doing, and then reproduce it, does not make him a bad guitar player. he may be one of the greatest and/or most influential guitar players in the history of rock 'n roll. chuck berry, keith richards and buddy holly also wrote and played very easily reproducible guitar parts. the edge isn't as easily copied as any of these guitarists, and yet he isn't nearly as good as they were, so your connection of quality to lack of accessability is dubious.
band:U2
23I had an idea when this last album came out that U2 could do two things that would really hit it big. You know, bring them into that next level:
(1) A video game. It'd be a roll-playing game, sort of a cross between the Sims, a strategy, and an action game all at once. You begin by picking a band member to be. You walk through the band's career, and you learn to play your instrument (either by keyboard, or perhaps some other interface they could sell for $75), and play U2 hits along the way. You can also write your own music. Then, you have to invent new themes for each tour. You could play every show in the tour, and your success is based on how well you play your instrument. Or, just like a season of MLB '05, you can choose to simulate certain shows. As you go along, you are awarded some sort of karma points, and if you get enough of them, eventually you save the world, end hunger, war, and bring eternal peace to mankind.
(2) Franchising: Every show sells out in like 4 minutes. They could sell off franchises. You get 4 guys to invest for a set fee. They go to Dublin for a 2 week U2 bootcamp where they learn all the songs, and get outfitted with sunglasses, leather pants, high-heeled boots, and a beanie hat. Then they can go home and play "U2(2)" shows. U2 gets a percentage and an annual fee.
Maybe that's all harsh. I like their early stuff, and I can't imagine what my life would be like if I hadn't listened to them so much through junior high and into high school. Everything after Achtung Baby is shit. "Beautiful Day"? WTF? They're a dour band. Remember when they couldn't find what they were looking for, with or without you, on that Sunday, Bloody Sunday, etc.
As for saving the world, I have full confidence that Bono isn't in this for cynical purposes. Enough people buy their $40 tshirts and CDs. [And I'd suspect a percentage of that goes to charity.] What I find more compelling is that in his quest for debt and AIDS relief for Africa, he's got the cajones to come from the left, sit down with guys like Jesse Helms, and George W. and say "this is what I need, when can you give it to me," and he gets it. About a year ago (?) I read a Rolling Stone interview with him and he was talking about all the shit he took because he publicly praised Bush for this. He got, like $10 billion more than they'd ever gotten. This is not crap. This is good politics.
I honestly don't remember if I voted crap or not in general. OK.
Crap WF 8.
Edit: Spelling.
(1) A video game. It'd be a roll-playing game, sort of a cross between the Sims, a strategy, and an action game all at once. You begin by picking a band member to be. You walk through the band's career, and you learn to play your instrument (either by keyboard, or perhaps some other interface they could sell for $75), and play U2 hits along the way. You can also write your own music. Then, you have to invent new themes for each tour. You could play every show in the tour, and your success is based on how well you play your instrument. Or, just like a season of MLB '05, you can choose to simulate certain shows. As you go along, you are awarded some sort of karma points, and if you get enough of them, eventually you save the world, end hunger, war, and bring eternal peace to mankind.
(2) Franchising: Every show sells out in like 4 minutes. They could sell off franchises. You get 4 guys to invest for a set fee. They go to Dublin for a 2 week U2 bootcamp where they learn all the songs, and get outfitted with sunglasses, leather pants, high-heeled boots, and a beanie hat. Then they can go home and play "U2(2)" shows. U2 gets a percentage and an annual fee.
Maybe that's all harsh. I like their early stuff, and I can't imagine what my life would be like if I hadn't listened to them so much through junior high and into high school. Everything after Achtung Baby is shit. "Beautiful Day"? WTF? They're a dour band. Remember when they couldn't find what they were looking for, with or without you, on that Sunday, Bloody Sunday, etc.
As for saving the world, I have full confidence that Bono isn't in this for cynical purposes. Enough people buy their $40 tshirts and CDs. [And I'd suspect a percentage of that goes to charity.] What I find more compelling is that in his quest for debt and AIDS relief for Africa, he's got the cajones to come from the left, sit down with guys like Jesse Helms, and George W. and say "this is what I need, when can you give it to me," and he gets it. About a year ago (?) I read a Rolling Stone interview with him and he was talking about all the shit he took because he publicly praised Bush for this. He got, like $10 billion more than they'd ever gotten. This is not crap. This is good politics.
I honestly don't remember if I voted crap or not in general. OK.
Crap WF 8.
Edit: Spelling.
band:U2
24I was talking to my friend about U2 the other day. This is what he said:
"I remember when their first record came out and everyone was saying it was like Joy Division. So I picked it up. It indeed had a lot of the same elements as Joy Division, but put together in the gayest manner possible."
Anyway, I hate U2.
"I remember when their first record came out and everyone was saying it was like Joy Division. So I picked it up. It indeed had a lot of the same elements as Joy Division, but put together in the gayest manner possible."
Anyway, I hate U2.
band:U2
25I don't get this band. When I was in high school, I tried, since I was into "alternative music" by most people's estimation.
I remember the guitar magazines blabbing about the Edge. The genius of his playing. I thought "great, he knows what a delay is."
I cut him some slack, because he had his own style.
So I thought.
Years later I heard Steve Fellows of the Comsat Angels and Adrian Borland of The Sound.
The Edge, busted.
Does he pay these guys royalties?
Adam Clayton is the Dan Quayle of rock - right place at the right time. You'd think by now he would run with the idea of *playing bass guitar* since it's his job and all. I guess he deserves a pat on the head for making loads of cash by only playing root notes.
They are far from the worst thing out there. They are a band that got successful by playing their own music. Cool.
What I don't get is HOW the hell they got so big. They are boring.
Because of that, I say CRAP.
Because they are just doing what they are doing and the public is buying it, I say W/F 8
-A
I remember the guitar magazines blabbing about the Edge. The genius of his playing. I thought "great, he knows what a delay is."
I cut him some slack, because he had his own style.
So I thought.
Years later I heard Steve Fellows of the Comsat Angels and Adrian Borland of The Sound.
The Edge, busted.
Does he pay these guys royalties?
Adam Clayton is the Dan Quayle of rock - right place at the right time. You'd think by now he would run with the idea of *playing bass guitar* since it's his job and all. I guess he deserves a pat on the head for making loads of cash by only playing root notes.
They are far from the worst thing out there. They are a band that got successful by playing their own music. Cool.
What I don't get is HOW the hell they got so big. They are boring.
Because of that, I say CRAP.
Because they are just doing what they are doing and the public is buying it, I say W/F 8
-A
band:U2
29I don't own any U2 records, but I usually quite like 'em when I encounter 'em on the radio/TV.
Bono is the easily best traditional contemporary rock and roll singer. He is a magnificent singer. I think a great deal of this comes down to his ego, but it serves him well.
I reckon I could make a fair stab at any U2 song on the guitar after one listen, but I wouldn't assume that The Edge plays the way he does because he's inept (although this may have been the case when they started). Stating that simple guitar parts are necessarily indicative of poor technique is a rather daft position in my opinion.
The drummer always seems to have put a great deal of thought into his parts; I reckon you could name a fair number of U2 tracks by drums alone.
I actually prefer U2's recent output to their older (more fashionable) stuff.
NOT CRAP.
Bono is the easily best traditional contemporary rock and roll singer. He is a magnificent singer. I think a great deal of this comes down to his ego, but it serves him well.
I reckon I could make a fair stab at any U2 song on the guitar after one listen, but I wouldn't assume that The Edge plays the way he does because he's inept (although this may have been the case when they started). Stating that simple guitar parts are necessarily indicative of poor technique is a rather daft position in my opinion.
The drummer always seems to have put a great deal of thought into his parts; I reckon you could name a fair number of U2 tracks by drums alone.
I actually prefer U2's recent output to their older (more fashionable) stuff.
NOT CRAP.
band:U2
30U2 is kind of remarkable to me, because it is one of two bands that are so singularly unremarkable that I can't even be bothered to have an opinion of them.
That their blandly competent, almost-rockin' songs are so meaningful to some, but so reviled by others, is a phenomenon that I just can't fathom.
It's not that I fail to either like or dislike U2, it's just that most of the time I hear them, I don't even recognize their songs as actual sound coming from the speakers. It's so singularly unaffecting to me that it might as well not even be there.
And I do recognize that Bono is a pretty good singer and Edge is a pretty good guitar player and they even have some songs that, had they been played by probably any other band in the world, might inspire a tepid NOT CRAP from me, but still: I just can't bring myself to give a shit.
The only other band that can inspire this kind of ambivelance in me? Steeley Dan.
It just occured to me that perhaps, like Buddha, or the symbol of the yin and yang, U2 and Steeley Dan are the living embodiment of CRAP and NOT CRAP existing simultaneously, harmoniously, floating on a lotus petal, blissfully detatched, yet One with All. And I'm just too unenlightened to know it.
If Kerble were to add a "Tao Te Ching" option to the poll, I'd consider voting for it.
That their blandly competent, almost-rockin' songs are so meaningful to some, but so reviled by others, is a phenomenon that I just can't fathom.
It's not that I fail to either like or dislike U2, it's just that most of the time I hear them, I don't even recognize their songs as actual sound coming from the speakers. It's so singularly unaffecting to me that it might as well not even be there.
And I do recognize that Bono is a pretty good singer and Edge is a pretty good guitar player and they even have some songs that, had they been played by probably any other band in the world, might inspire a tepid NOT CRAP from me, but still: I just can't bring myself to give a shit.
The only other band that can inspire this kind of ambivelance in me? Steeley Dan.
It just occured to me that perhaps, like Buddha, or the symbol of the yin and yang, U2 and Steeley Dan are the living embodiment of CRAP and NOT CRAP existing simultaneously, harmoniously, floating on a lotus petal, blissfully detatched, yet One with All. And I'm just too unenlightened to know it.
If Kerble were to add a "Tao Te Ching" option to the poll, I'd consider voting for it.