Original/Current U2 fans, a question for you?

Question

I'm curious as to what U2 fans think. If you're a current U2 fan, what do you think of the older (pre achtung baby) stuff? If you're an original, old school U2 fan, what do you think of the newer (achtung baby and later) stuff? I find it hard to reconcile the fact that the band that did "in the name of love", "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "All I want is you" can also do songs like "vertigo" and "lemon".

**M to the G: It's one thing for a fave band to go from boyband to serious band, like the beatles. U2 is different in the fact that they went from serious band to cheesy pop rockers**

**icouldbeagain: QOUTING JOE STRUMMER? He's the guy who threw Mick Jones out of "The Clash" due to Mick's "serious pop tendencies". No doubt Joe would have tossed Bono the moment he tried to convince everyone that the song "Lemon" was a good idea. It's kind of hard to be "digging the new" when every new song sounds just like any other song. Strummer never did a pop song, so :p **

Answer 1

My wish is for them to go back to their roots.The "in your guts" kind of music,like Pride in the Name of Love,Sunday Bloody Sunday,Where the Streets Have No Name,All I Want Is You,With or Without You. I missed their Joshua Tree album style of music.

Answer 2

I can't say that I've ever been a big fan of U2, although I can't deny that they have had a number of songs that I enjoy. All of which are older songs. In fact, the majority of the songs I like are from Joshua Tree or before. I don't have any hopes for U2 to go back to their roots - I only wish they would hang it up. I think some solo efforts would be a better route. Not to change the subject, but The Cure should also hang it up. I was a big Cure fan for years, but I can't say I enjoyed anything after Wild Mood Swings and that one was only good - not great.

Answer 3

*Green Day More, But U2's Good Too. I Pretty Much Love Every Green Day Song, Too But Im Not A Big Fan Of 'The Saints Are Coming' It's Ok Though

Answer 4

The "jump the shark" debate is always a hot one. I remember a conversation with a friend when Achtung Baby was released. "If you love old U2," he said, "you might not like this album." Personally, I've always secretly enjoyed Achtung Baby - "One", "Until the End of the World", and even the oft-maligned pseudo-Madchesterish "Mysterious Ways". Though I haven't listened to much of U2's recent music, some of the singles have been pretty catchy and I would recognize them if I heard them. That's more than I can say for a lot of newer bands!

It's kind of the same deal when talking old REM vs. new REM. But where do you place the cut-off point? For some fans, it's Green, which was a huge commercial success. For others, it's Out of Time, for having a MTV friendly video (Shiny Happy People) after years of being vehemently anti-MTV. And I've seen the Cure mentioned here... I saw them on the Wish tour in '92 - great show, but haven't followed much of their more recent stuff. Maybe I'm just getting older... it makes me feel like a bit of a dinosaur to realize that I still like a lot of the bands I listened to 15-20 years ago!

It's hard for a band to maintain critical and commericial success for an extended period of time, retaining old fans while gathering new ones. Many of the bands mentioned here are now attracting a second generation of fans. That second generation doesn't carry the emotional baggage of "oh, I bought that album on vinyl, replaced on cassette and then CD - it's one of my all-time favorites". They'll probably download the catchy new single to their i-pod, and, then, if they like it enough, explore the back catalog.

Most bands evolve over time.... it's difficult to stay locked into one style and keep it interesting. The Clash, for example, brought in elements of reggae and rockabilly to their work. Though London Calling is consistently listed in the top ten rock albums of all time, Sandinista, Combat Rock, and (ahem) Cut the Crap aren't often mentioned. But there were still great songs on those albums. (Rock the Casbah, Should I Stay or Should I Go, Know Your Rights, anyone?)

Perhaps it's best to close with a quote from the Clash's Joe Strummer. From Digging the New, from 1999's Rock Art and the X Ray Style:

I can see we're really close to something
It's a feeling so near
But I got no time for the Luddites
Always lookin' back down the track
Saying, "Can you spot one more detail, Jack."

You gotta live in this world, go diggin' the new
Live in this world - boy, tran or girl
Live in this world, oh, get diggin' the new

Crashing head-on into the future
It won't even leave a dent
Just walk in like you own it
Remember, it ain't set in cement...

Answer 5

I love the BOY album and still listen to OCTOBER without skipping a song. It was the WAR album however that made U2 my favorite band. Besides making spiritually inspired heartfelt music with Edge's original otherwordly guitar, Bono infused Cold War politics and their songs seem to have both Who and Clash influences.

I reacted with lackluster to the arrival of the next two albums -Unforgettable Fire and Joshua Tree. Of course after about five listens they became two of my favorite U2 albums.

Achtung Baby is my Alltime Favorite U2 album-A Sonic Masterpiece. Right there with London Calling by the Clash as my two favorite Rock albums ever.

The next two Zooropa and POP grew on me over time and I really appreciate the creative risk and the electronic influenced reward.

2000's It's A Beautiful Day might be U2's best song ever. The rest of that CD (still can't remember the title!) was almost as great as Joshua Tree.

2004's How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb is by far the most underrated album the band has made. There is not one track I skip over. Brilliant Rock for a new century!
I saw U2 on the Vertigo Tour in Oakland and it was the best of the 5 U2 concerts I have had the pleasure of going to.

I put U2 above the Beatles as my favorite band because 1980-2007 is an amazing run of putting out outstanding Rock albums that matter. The Rolling Stones last great album was almost 30 years ago.

IN2U2 has me inspired:

If I had to pick twenty favorite tracks:
Out of Control (boy)
Sunday Bloody Sunday (war)
New Years Day (war)
Like A Song (war)
Surrender (war)
11 O'Clock Tick Tock (under a blood red sky)
Pride (unforgetable fire)
Three Sunrises (wide awake in america)
With or Without You (joshua tree)
Red Hill Town (joshua tree)
In God's Country (joshua tree)
All I Want Is You (rattle n hum)
Even Better Than the Real Thing (achtung baby)
End of the World (achtung baby)
Acrobat (achtung baby)
Stay (zooropa)
MoFo (POP)
It's A Beautiful Day (A.T.U.C.L.B.)
Vertigo (how to dismantle an atomic bomb)
City of Blinding Lights (how to dismantle...)

Answer 6

I am a newer fan ~I am only 13, so... I have enjoyed the last couple of years digging deeper into their stuff. About a year ago I bought the U2iPod and the Complete U2. In 2005 I saw them on the Vertigo Tour and was hooked. It changed my life. Ever since I have been reading everything I can on them, listening to everything I can, and collecting singles and books. Okay, to answer your question. I absolutely love ALL of their earlier stuff. It was so light hearted and fun. Just great music. You can tell from these recordings, and everyone on, that they were meant to be the band. If I had to pick favorites, I simply couldn't. Gloria, Tomorrow, I Will Follow, New Years Day, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Pride, 11 O'Clock Tick tock, Desire, A Day Without Me, The Electric Co., Where the Streets Have No Name, With or Without You, Exit, One tree Hill, Running to Stand Still, the list goes on and on! All of the songs are just brilliant! As I was listening to Achtung Baby I was sort of like, "Okay this is U2, I like it. this is a totally different side I never thought could be them." I really like it though because it was more I could explore and a totally different sound. Then the concerts! Oh my gosh, I wish I could have been at those shows! Zoo TV and Pop mart... They can make songs like Sunday Bloody Sunday and All I Want Is You and Vertigo and Lemon because they are very versitile and talented. Yes, Beautiful Day was overplayed, but that doesn't make it a bad song. It is still just as Brilliant as before. I love Achtung Baby, Pop, Zooropa, All that You Can't Leave Behind, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, so, yeah, all of them. They are just incredible albums and can never be matched. Eventhough Pop was labled as the worst album, it was just because it was a different sound. In fact I am listening to it right now. Again I couldn't pick a favorite song. I love all of them. Just simply stunning songs. Vertigo and Beautiful Day were very overplayed, but are still great songs. One is genius. Zoo Station is fun. Stay - amazing. To list, The Fly, Until The End of The World, Mysterious Ways, Ultra Violet, Mofo, Last Night On earth, Numb, Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed car, Elevation, Walk On, The Ground Beneath Her Feet, Miracle Drug, Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own, City Of Blinding Lights, Original Of the Species, Fast Cars, the list can go on. It's okay if you can't seem to "reconcile" the fact that they can go from one sound to the next, but they did, and I love it 100%. I will always be a fan and support them. What ever way they choose to go with their music, "I will Follow". I love each and every piece they put out and no one can change that. Obviously, you like the older music and that is your prefence. Can't wait until the next album!
Oh~ Window in The Skies and the Saints Are Coming were brilliant also! For a record of how much I listen to them, is at leaste every day. I know the words to almost every single song, so that is many hours worth of listening right there! For other U2 fans, thanks for being there and supporting the band!
Will you quit with the criticizing! You are not out saving the world are you?

Answer 7

I disagree with you complete on the fact that they went from serious band to cheesy pop rockers. There is still much substance in U2's music. Particularily "Vertigo." How is that song any different from "11 O'Clock Tick Tock", one of U2's earliest singles?

U2 faced a dilemma in the late 80s after recording "The Joshua Tree." The band had so set in stone their image of four serious young men with a political and spiritual axe to grind. They felt a lot of pressure to maintian this image and knew it would eventually force the band into obsoletion. Rather than trying to re-record "The Joshua Tree" again and again, the band decided while embarking on their "Achtung Baby" album to change the way they wrote, recorded and performed music.

There is a deeper context to each U2 song than is on the surface. I was a fan since "Under a Blood Red Sky" and was there when the band first became the superstars they still are today. I think U2's music has grown up with the band and its fans as well. I think a lot of people want to slack them off because "they sold out" or "their music isn't as good." I think that's crap. I think the band's worst material is still better than most bands' best work.

Yes, they recorded "Vertigo" and "Lemon" (by the way, those are two great songs!), but they've also recorded "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)," "One," "Original of the Species," "Staring at the Sun," "Mysterious Ways," "Please," "Beautiful Day," "Walk On" and "Elevation."

I think what has happened is you once liked U2 but you got old, cynical and jaded and you just decided their music was crap now. But there are a lot of people who still stand by that band and a lot of them are like me and have been a loyal fan for decades. I think you should just relax and enjoy their songs... they're still better than any other band around.

Answer 8

I've been listening to U2 since the early 80's. I've seen them 3 times in concert. They continue to change but end up going back to the basics in terms of sound and song writing. There are some songs that I do not like as much, like you mentioned Lemon, but others stand out as great songs for many years.

Cheers

Answer 9

I greatly enjoy most of their "ater music, and to a lesser degree, their earlier music. Perhaps I am just more familiar with the post-Achtung Baby material...with the exception of The Joshua Tree. I adore "One Tree Hill" "Red Hill Mining Town" "Where the Streets Have No Name" "In God's Country" "Trip Through Your Wires" et cetera, all from that album.

Answer 10

That's like saying how do you reconcile the fact that the Beatles did "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" and "For the Benefit of Mr. Kite". Bands, like people change and grow and mature and try new things. Who wants to hear the same song with different lyrics for 25 years?