U2 through the lens of a startup
June 12, 2011 12:25 PM Subscribe
The Quora answer for "Why is U2 so popular?".
This post was deleted for the following reason: This is rather too thin (and glib) to make an interesting post. -- restless_nomad
A person can't just like U2 because they make good music?
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 12:28 PM on June 12, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 12:28 PM on June 12, 2011 [3 favorites]
Your favorite band sucks, especially if they are popular, for popularity begets inauthenticity, and authenticity is more important than anything else.
posted by jenkinsEar at 12:31 PM on June 12, 2011 [7 favorites]
posted by jenkinsEar at 12:31 PM on June 12, 2011 [7 favorites]
It's funny because it's true.
posted by Ron Thanagar at 12:33 PM on June 12, 2011
posted by Ron Thanagar at 12:33 PM on June 12, 2011
In other words, U2 is Generation X's "Big Chill."
(I have some of the "early stuff" on my iTunes -- War and The Unforgettable Fire are evocative of a time that's vanished into the ether.)
posted by blucevalo at 12:35 PM on June 12, 2011 [2 favorites]
(I have some of the "early stuff" on my iTunes -- War and The Unforgettable Fire are evocative of a time that's vanished into the ether.)
posted by blucevalo at 12:35 PM on June 12, 2011 [2 favorites]
That guy needs to write commercials for charities, because if he could make me feel sympathy for U2 fans...
posted by Etrigan at 12:36 PM on June 12, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by Etrigan at 12:36 PM on June 12, 2011 [2 favorites]
I chuckled, but I don't like U2 so my opinion probably doesn't count for very much.
posted by thsmchnekllsfascists at 12:36 PM on June 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by thsmchnekllsfascists at 12:36 PM on June 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
It's funny because it's true.
posted by Ron Thanagar at 3:33 PM on June 12 [+] [!]
No, it's loathing people who aren't like me because they're not like me. But it's got a good possibility of being true.
posted by Sk4n at 12:37 PM on June 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Ron Thanagar at 3:33 PM on June 12 [+] [!]
No, it's loathing people who aren't like me because they're not like me. But it's got a good possibility of being true.
posted by Sk4n at 12:37 PM on June 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
In Britain and Ireland we say "Why are U2 so popular". The answer is that they used to be quite good and then not enough people noticed when they started to suck. This happens with restaurants and artists, too. Oh, and spouses.
posted by Decani at 12:38 PM on June 12, 2011 [4 favorites]
posted by Decani at 12:38 PM on June 12, 2011 [4 favorites]
In the early 80s, I had just moved to the sticks in Connecticut, far from the New York City suburb I had lived in prior.
I wanted to sell my stereo, an Emerson with turntable, FM, and 8-track.
I put on a U2 album. A potential buyer quizzically, earnestly asked me if this was New Wave music.
I put on The Beatles and sold the stereo soon after.
posted by zippy at 12:38 PM on June 12, 2011 [3 favorites]
I wanted to sell my stereo, an Emerson with turntable, FM, and 8-track.
I put on a U2 album. A potential buyer quizzically, earnestly asked me if this was New Wave music.
I put on The Beatles and sold the stereo soon after.
posted by zippy at 12:38 PM on June 12, 2011 [3 favorites]
Seriously, did you make this thread just so MetaFilter can get it's overly-tired, overly-stated U2 Hate™ on for a Sunday afternoon? Because that's all it's going to turn out to be.
posted by hippybear at 12:38 PM on June 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by hippybear at 12:38 PM on June 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
Maybe hippybear's right about how this will end up, but the start of this thread reminds me of when somebody posted a mildly mocking bit about Mom email forwards on Mother's Day and got all the "MY MOTHER FARTS FLOWERS HOW DARE YOU" responses.
posted by queensissy at 12:40 PM on June 12, 2011 [5 favorites]
posted by queensissy at 12:40 PM on June 12, 2011 [5 favorites]
I find it interesting that, less the "progressive" politics, U2 have essentially become for the NOW what the Rolling Stones were for big middle-of-the-road audiences back in the mid-80s, 90s etc. That is, the circus that just came coming to town -- the elephants kept getting a bit older, the clowns a bit more predictable, but good safe fun nevertheless.
posted by philip-random at 12:41 PM on June 12, 2011 [7 favorites]
posted by philip-random at 12:41 PM on June 12, 2011 [7 favorites]
Seriously, did you make this thread just so MetaFilter can get it's overly-tired, overly-stated U2 Hate™ on for a Sunday afternoon?
I mostly posted it because I thought the framing was amazing. And yea, I think that the author was a little self-satisfied, but his mocking of U2 fans was entirely within good humor.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 12:43 PM on June 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
I mostly posted it because I thought the framing was amazing. And yea, I think that the author was a little self-satisfied, but his mocking of U2 fans was entirely within good humor.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 12:43 PM on June 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
I always figured that U2, like Be Stupid jeans, were just targeted at a different audience from me.
posted by found missing at 12:45 PM on June 12, 2011
posted by found missing at 12:45 PM on June 12, 2011
not enough people noticed when they started to suck.
About two bars into "Sunday Bloody Sunday".
posted by Faze at 12:45 PM on June 12, 2011 [4 favorites]
About two bars into "Sunday Bloody Sunday".
posted by Faze at 12:45 PM on June 12, 2011 [4 favorites]
Your favorite band sucks, especially if they are popular, for popularity begets inauthenticity, and authenticity is more important than anything else.
You realize that that is 100% your own weird projection, right? That the answer as written doesn't talk about authenticity even a little bit?
posted by enn at 12:47 PM on June 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
You realize that that is 100% your own weird projection, right? That the answer as written doesn't talk about authenticity even a little bit?
posted by enn at 12:47 PM on June 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
I don't like U2, and I laughed at the link. Not sure "I laughed at it" qualifies something for a MetaFilter post, though.
Really I have to give it to U2 -- how many cross-generation big arena bands are there? Someone mentioned The Stones above, which is a good example, but it's a pretty rarefied niche I think. (I used to think REM, who I also don't like, would be on this list, but they kind of fell off the radar.)
posted by jess at 12:48 PM on June 12, 2011
Really I have to give it to U2 -- how many cross-generation big arena bands are there? Someone mentioned The Stones above, which is a good example, but it's a pretty rarefied niche I think. (I used to think REM, who I also don't like, would be on this list, but they kind of fell off the radar.)
posted by jess at 12:48 PM on June 12, 2011
This could easily describe any arena show. Music quality of various big acts aside, once you reach the point where you're playing arenas, you're going to have quite a few audience members who are there based solely on name recognition, and the fact that they want to say they've seen the band.
I'll never forget the shock of being a teenager and taking my mom a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers show, and seeing people start to leave midway through the set. And then my mother wanting to leave, because she had heard most of the songs she recognized. It was a real surprise to me that people could drop all this money on a show for a band they presumably like, and then not even stick around. I'm just glad that this was the pre-cell era, or my mind would have probably exploded from seeing people who spend the whole show looking at their phone, like when I took someone to see Elton John and Billy Joel at an arena show last year. Don't you want to hear the music, people?
posted by Benjy at 12:49 PM on June 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
I'll never forget the shock of being a teenager and taking my mom a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers show, and seeing people start to leave midway through the set. And then my mother wanting to leave, because she had heard most of the songs she recognized. It was a real surprise to me that people could drop all this money on a show for a band they presumably like, and then not even stick around. I'm just glad that this was the pre-cell era, or my mind would have probably exploded from seeing people who spend the whole show looking at their phone, like when I took someone to see Elton John and Billy Joel at an arena show last year. Don't you want to hear the music, people?
posted by Benjy at 12:49 PM on June 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
It would be funnier if this was a series and the author did the same takedowns of everyone from Fugazi to Far East Movement, but standing alone it just sounds bitter.
posted by Bookhouse at 12:49 PM on June 12, 2011
posted by Bookhouse at 12:49 PM on June 12, 2011
Because they wrote timeless classics like "Don't you forget about me" and "Lay your hands (on me)."
posted by boo_radley at 12:50 PM on June 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by boo_radley at 12:50 PM on June 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
My wife just went to a U2 concert on Oakland. Wearing a tasteful North Face jacket.
She went for the reasons described: huge stadium concert with songs she knows, good sound system, not too loud, no shoving and pushing. Getting a little dose of the excitement we got from concerts in high school and college, without all the discomfort of being 34 in a concert full of college students.
The woman next to her was having a loud conversation during one of the political songs, while everyone else was being solemn and waving their phone slowly above their heads.
My wife told the woman, playfully, to keep it down because "this is a serious song, about Sarajevo", the woman answered "who's this bitch Sarah whatever?"
True story.
posted by Dr. Curare at 12:51 PM on June 12, 2011 [25 favorites]
She went for the reasons described: huge stadium concert with songs she knows, good sound system, not too loud, no shoving and pushing. Getting a little dose of the excitement we got from concerts in high school and college, without all the discomfort of being 34 in a concert full of college students.
The woman next to her was having a loud conversation during one of the political songs, while everyone else was being solemn and waving their phone slowly above their heads.
My wife told the woman, playfully, to keep it down because "this is a serious song, about Sarajevo", the woman answered "who's this bitch Sarah whatever?"
True story.
posted by Dr. Curare at 12:51 PM on June 12, 2011 [25 favorites]
Also, the concert did not end too late, but my wife and her friends were pretty proud of the fact that they left before the encores and could get into BART before it got crowded, had time to get noodles in SF and still go to bed early enough for work the next day.
posted by Dr. Curare at 12:54 PM on June 12, 2011
posted by Dr. Curare at 12:54 PM on June 12, 2011
I just saw them in Oakland on Tuesday.
A friend's wife couldnt make it so I said "sure" and went with.
I tend to be pretty snobby about music and I was somewhat indifferent to the whole thing going in.
But then a funny thing happened on the way to the snark: I was pretty well blown away.
It was the best U2 show I'd ever seen and easily one of the best shows I've ever seen. It was one of the more exhilarating sets I've seen in recent memory.
It can be easy to be dismissive of an act once they reach the size that they become more of an idea than a group of musicians, and of course it's easy to have a hard time these days seeing Bono as anything more than a cartoon. But what hit me tuesday night is that there is literally no other band in the word (Stones included) that can do what these guys do. Nobody.
Nobody can pull off the scale, the real feeling of intimacy within that scale, the songs (and U2 seem to have dozens of them) that always seem to be forgotten when discussing acts of this size, whathaveyou.
So yeah, had I not been there to see it, I would probably be siding with the snark here. But it really was something else. I go to 2 or 3 major festivals, lots of shows, and dozens of small club shows every year and I can very plainly tell you that what they do is special. If you're not into it then that's fine, but to dismiss it as just Stones-level nostalgia flogging is a bit lazy.
I was deep in the crowd and not only did the demographics span generations, it skewed quite a bit towards teens and early 20-somethings.
We all like smaller bands that politely play their zithers and fentoozlers with their odd time signatures and their krautrock influences and that's great. I love that too. But sometimes, not always but sometimes, you want one of those mighty bands that sets out to be life-changing. And sometimes it feels like it works.
posted by Senor Cardgage at 12:54 PM on June 12, 2011 [21 favorites]
A friend's wife couldnt make it so I said "sure" and went with.
I tend to be pretty snobby about music and I was somewhat indifferent to the whole thing going in.
But then a funny thing happened on the way to the snark: I was pretty well blown away.
It was the best U2 show I'd ever seen and easily one of the best shows I've ever seen. It was one of the more exhilarating sets I've seen in recent memory.
It can be easy to be dismissive of an act once they reach the size that they become more of an idea than a group of musicians, and of course it's easy to have a hard time these days seeing Bono as anything more than a cartoon. But what hit me tuesday night is that there is literally no other band in the word (Stones included) that can do what these guys do. Nobody.
Nobody can pull off the scale, the real feeling of intimacy within that scale, the songs (and U2 seem to have dozens of them) that always seem to be forgotten when discussing acts of this size, whathaveyou.
So yeah, had I not been there to see it, I would probably be siding with the snark here. But it really was something else. I go to 2 or 3 major festivals, lots of shows, and dozens of small club shows every year and I can very plainly tell you that what they do is special. If you're not into it then that's fine, but to dismiss it as just Stones-level nostalgia flogging is a bit lazy.
I was deep in the crowd and not only did the demographics span generations, it skewed quite a bit towards teens and early 20-somethings.
We all like smaller bands that politely play their zithers and fentoozlers with their odd time signatures and their krautrock influences and that's great. I love that too. But sometimes, not always but sometimes, you want one of those mighty bands that sets out to be life-changing. And sometimes it feels like it works.
posted by Senor Cardgage at 12:54 PM on June 12, 2011 [21 favorites]
WTF is up with the weird symbiotic relationship between U2 and Rolling Stone*? Honestly if you read and believed everything RS writes about them, which is between 20 to 60% of any given issue, you would think U2 to be the sun around which the Earth revolves.
* we ended up with a subscription by accident.
posted by Artw at 12:55 PM on June 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
* we ended up with a subscription by accident.
posted by Artw at 12:55 PM on June 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
English comedian Bill Baily pays out on U2 and their "one sound." [SFW, 1:09]
posted by uncanny hengeman at 12:55 PM on June 12, 2011 [11 favorites]
posted by uncanny hengeman at 12:55 PM on June 12, 2011 [11 favorites]
Also, the concert did not end too late, but my wife and her friends were pretty proud of the fact that they left before the encores and could get into BART before it got crowded, had time to get noodles in SF and still go to bed early enough for work the next day.
They had no choice. The stadium's BART station closed at midnight (posted prominently on screens at the show) and the show ended at 11:50ish.
posted by Senor Cardgage at 12:56 PM on June 12, 2011
They had no choice. The stadium's BART station closed at midnight (posted prominently on screens at the show) and the show ended at 11:50ish.
posted by Senor Cardgage at 12:56 PM on June 12, 2011
Apparently they pissed off a shitload of people at the recent U2 360° Oakland Coliseum appearance (I loathe calling it the ORACLE Arena) mentioned by Dr. Curare and Senor Cardgage because they were playing at a venue that seats only 20,000 people and many, many, many more arrived than that. The overflow and the traffic nightmare would have been just as bad if not even worse at Shoreline (though I assume they wouldn't have been able to do their Claw set-up there) but at least the ticketholders wouldn't have had to deal with the unspeakable outrage of getting lost in East Oakland.
posted by blucevalo at 12:57 PM on June 12, 2011
posted by blucevalo at 12:57 PM on June 12, 2011
(I loathe calling it the ORACLE Arena)
It's not even that anymore. It just become the O.co Arena. Lol.
I guess for Overstock.com
posted by Senor Cardgage at 12:58 PM on June 12, 2011
It's not even that anymore. It just become the O.co Arena. Lol.
I guess for Overstock.com
posted by Senor Cardgage at 12:58 PM on June 12, 2011
Haha, that was great.
I have to admit I enjoy U2 music a lot, but I am admittedly not very cool.
Also hearing 'Elevation' about 8 thousand times on the radio did not make me a bigger fan. U2 is good at music and great at business, but how can you not listen to Bono belting out Angels of Harlem and not have your heart rate and quotiant of fellow man/woman love increase significantly...is that possible anybody???;)
posted by lonelid at 12:59 PM on June 12, 2011 [2 favorites]
I have to admit I enjoy U2 music a lot, but I am admittedly not very cool.
Also hearing 'Elevation' about 8 thousand times on the radio did not make me a bigger fan. U2 is good at music and great at business, but how can you not listen to Bono belting out Angels of Harlem and not have your heart rate and quotiant of fellow man/woman love increase significantly...is that possible anybody???;)
posted by lonelid at 12:59 PM on June 12, 2011 [2 favorites]
Their latest concert series is more early to mid 90s nostalgia and not the Joshua Tree stuff implied in the article.
So the article makes shit up, and my answer to the question posed is "The Fly" from "Achtung Baby".
posted by sleslie at 1:01 PM on June 12, 2011
So the article makes shit up, and my answer to the question posed is "The Fly" from "Achtung Baby".
posted by sleslie at 1:01 PM on June 12, 2011
That the answer as written doesn't talk about authenticity even a little bit?
it presents U2 as a perfectly safe product for middle class, middle aged people who want a live rock experience without the rough edges
the implication of the lack of authenticity is obvious
me, i like them, but the last couple of albums didn't do much for me
posted by pyramid termite at 1:01 PM on June 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
it presents U2 as a perfectly safe product for middle class, middle aged people who want a live rock experience without the rough edges
the implication of the lack of authenticity is obvious
me, i like them, but the last couple of albums didn't do much for me
posted by pyramid termite at 1:01 PM on June 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
This could easily describe any arena show. Music quality of various big acts aside, once you reach the point where you're playing arenas, you're going to have quite a few audience members who are there based solely on name recognition, and the fact that they want to say they've seen the band.
First time I saw U2 was 1981. Small club (1000 people). It was the first album and they were scorching. Punk's visceral kick with some genuine positivity. They were hard not to love.
Second time I saw them was 1983. A three thousand seater. WAR was the big album and you could feel a profound difference. The songs were slowing down a touch, getting BIGGER, more important. Still, it was a great show ... even though some of the moves and gestures were getting a bit too ... something.
Third time I saw them was 1987. Joshua Tree. 50,000 arena show. They opened with Where The Streets Have No Name and it was like Jesus rising. And then it went downhill. The songs themselves may have been masterpieces (I'm not going argue against Joshua Tree here) but that show just didn't have what the other two had in terms of audience-connection-with-band ... just like every other arena show I've ever been to.
I haven't seen U2 since.
posted by philip-random at 1:02 PM on June 12, 2011 [2 favorites]
First time I saw U2 was 1981. Small club (1000 people). It was the first album and they were scorching. Punk's visceral kick with some genuine positivity. They were hard not to love.
Second time I saw them was 1983. A three thousand seater. WAR was the big album and you could feel a profound difference. The songs were slowing down a touch, getting BIGGER, more important. Still, it was a great show ... even though some of the moves and gestures were getting a bit too ... something.
Third time I saw them was 1987. Joshua Tree. 50,000 arena show. They opened with Where The Streets Have No Name and it was like Jesus rising. And then it went downhill. The songs themselves may have been masterpieces (I'm not going argue against Joshua Tree here) but that show just didn't have what the other two had in terms of audience-connection-with-band ... just like every other arena show I've ever been to.
I haven't seen U2 since.
posted by philip-random at 1:02 PM on June 12, 2011 [2 favorites]
It's not even that anymore. It just become the O.co Arena. Lol.
You're right. I totally forgot about the Overstock thing. Jeez.
posted by blucevalo at 1:04 PM on June 12, 2011
You're right. I totally forgot about the Overstock thing. Jeez.
posted by blucevalo at 1:04 PM on June 12, 2011
Article's kind of a nasty piece of work, but I have to admit that this:
is just so correct.
posted by meadowlark lime at 1:05 PM on June 12, 2011
And the kicker: not one but TWO encores, the ones you know best – the ones you first heard that summer you painted houses or kissed Katie at the beach party. You’re closing your eyes now. This is sad and sweet. You put your arm around your wife. You’re wondering if Katie ever got married.
is just so correct.
posted by meadowlark lime at 1:05 PM on June 12, 2011
I "saw" them twice. Once, they were supporting the Stranglers in the Top Hat in Dun Laoghaire. We hated them - ponces form the Northside with stupid leather and attitude, in the warm up slot at a punk gig.
The second time, an art gallery, the Project, had eviscerated itself for remodeling, and they took advantage to stage a 24 hour gig in the cavernous rooms with no proper floors. Everybody in Ireland played, and then some. But you had to sleep sometime. Unfortunately, not only was I on the floor asleep for U@ (who cares), but I slept through Throbbing Gristle! 1978, I guess.
haven't bothered since.
posted by stonepharisee at 1:05 PM on June 12, 2011 [5 favorites]
The second time, an art gallery, the Project, had eviscerated itself for remodeling, and they took advantage to stage a 24 hour gig in the cavernous rooms with no proper floors. Everybody in Ireland played, and then some. But you had to sleep sometime. Unfortunately, not only was I on the floor asleep for U@ (who cares), but I slept through Throbbing Gristle! 1978, I guess.
haven't bothered since.
posted by stonepharisee at 1:05 PM on June 12, 2011 [5 favorites]
"Joshua Tree" is not U2's "early stuff". "Boy" and "October" are U2's early stuff, and they were pure and good.
posted by nicwolff at 1:05 PM on June 12, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by nicwolff at 1:05 PM on June 12, 2011 [2 favorites]
Let's examine this post and compare it with reality, shall we?
Let's begin with the whole "answer summary" bit at the top.
1) Big Market: Okay, I'll grant you, they have a huge market. Over 7 million people will have seen U2 on their current tour by the time it ends.
2) Product marketability fit: No Line On The Horizon hasn't even sold as well as POP, and generated zero hit singles. Daniel Rosenthal must be thinking of some other band, because their latest product hasn't really been a hit with the public.
Oh, but wait... the author talks about listening to The Joshua Tree on the way to the concert. Yes, 24 years ago they were the biggest rock band ever. They were on the cover of Time. That was 24 years ago. Was Daniel Rosenthal even born in 1987? Looking at his photo, he couldn't have been more than, say, six years old, and that's probably me guessing a bit high.
3: Useability: So people are dancing and singing badly at a rock show. Has Rosenthal even been to any other rock shows? This is hardly the exclusive domain of U2 audiences. Even the Lady Gaga tour has people singing and dancing badly. And she's not even really rock.
But let's look at his claims in more detail. Here is the setlist U2 is playing for the current leg of their U2 360° tour. It's actually from the night I saw them last weekend, but that's beside the point. It's going to be basically the same setlist every night for the tour.
Rosenthal says "The set is basically a greatest hits playlist.". Out of the 24 songs U2 plays during this leg of the tour, most of them have, indeed, been released as singles. But how many listeners will know any songs from the new album at all? That makes up a full sixth of the set list. None of those songs made the top 20 on the charts. Of the twenty songs which aren't off the new album, another 4 have never charted at all in the US, many never have cracked the top 50 on the charts, and several were never released as singles. In fact, one song has never been recorded on any album at all. So, a "greatest hits" playlist which includes two top ten hits and nearly half the set which has never charted... Not sure that actually is a collection of greatest hits.
Two encores? I haven't seen two encores by U2 since I saw them in Honolulu in 2006, and that was only because it was the absolute last show of the Vertigo tour. They're doing one encore and one encore only during this tour.
So, let's boil this down. Daniel Rosenthal has no knowledge of what U2 is like in concert, is completely unaware of what their setlists are like, doesn't attend enough concerts to know what all concert crowds have in common, and probably wasn't born when U2 actually was a popular as everyone thinks they are.
Okay, yeah, he's an authority. I'm so glad he's offering definitive answers about such things.
posted by hippybear at 1:05 PM on June 12, 2011 [12 favorites]
Let's begin with the whole "answer summary" bit at the top.
1) Big Market: Okay, I'll grant you, they have a huge market. Over 7 million people will have seen U2 on their current tour by the time it ends.
2) Product marketability fit: No Line On The Horizon hasn't even sold as well as POP, and generated zero hit singles. Daniel Rosenthal must be thinking of some other band, because their latest product hasn't really been a hit with the public.
Oh, but wait... the author talks about listening to The Joshua Tree on the way to the concert. Yes, 24 years ago they were the biggest rock band ever. They were on the cover of Time. That was 24 years ago. Was Daniel Rosenthal even born in 1987? Looking at his photo, he couldn't have been more than, say, six years old, and that's probably me guessing a bit high.
3: Useability: So people are dancing and singing badly at a rock show. Has Rosenthal even been to any other rock shows? This is hardly the exclusive domain of U2 audiences. Even the Lady Gaga tour has people singing and dancing badly. And she's not even really rock.
But let's look at his claims in more detail. Here is the setlist U2 is playing for the current leg of their U2 360° tour. It's actually from the night I saw them last weekend, but that's beside the point. It's going to be basically the same setlist every night for the tour.
Rosenthal says "The set is basically a greatest hits playlist.". Out of the 24 songs U2 plays during this leg of the tour, most of them have, indeed, been released as singles. But how many listeners will know any songs from the new album at all? That makes up a full sixth of the set list. None of those songs made the top 20 on the charts. Of the twenty songs which aren't off the new album, another 4 have never charted at all in the US, many never have cracked the top 50 on the charts, and several were never released as singles. In fact, one song has never been recorded on any album at all. So, a "greatest hits" playlist which includes two top ten hits and nearly half the set which has never charted... Not sure that actually is a collection of greatest hits.
Two encores? I haven't seen two encores by U2 since I saw them in Honolulu in 2006, and that was only because it was the absolute last show of the Vertigo tour. They're doing one encore and one encore only during this tour.
So, let's boil this down. Daniel Rosenthal has no knowledge of what U2 is like in concert, is completely unaware of what their setlists are like, doesn't attend enough concerts to know what all concert crowds have in common, and probably wasn't born when U2 actually was a popular as everyone thinks they are.
Okay, yeah, he's an authority. I'm so glad he's offering definitive answers about such things.
posted by hippybear at 1:05 PM on June 12, 2011 [12 favorites]
hippybear, did you just allow us to witness a U2 fan having a Comic Book Guy moment on the internet?
Thank you, hibbybear.
posted by meadowlark lime at 1:10 PM on June 12, 2011 [21 favorites]
Thank you, hibbybear.
posted by meadowlark lime at 1:10 PM on June 12, 2011 [21 favorites]
"Why is everyone trying to sound like U2?
That's not a very cool thing to do
Why would you want to sound like U2?
Just press record and play it straight through"
posted by Rangeboy at 1:10 PM on June 12, 2011
That's not a very cool thing to do
Why would you want to sound like U2?
Just press record and play it straight through"
posted by Rangeboy at 1:10 PM on June 12, 2011
Bruce Springsteen is the top arena performer currently touring at that level.
posted by EJXD2 at 1:12 PM on June 12, 2011
posted by EJXD2 at 1:12 PM on June 12, 2011
"Why is U2 so popular?"
I always figured it's because of their charismatic lead singer, Sonny Bono.
Wasn't he married to Cher back in the day?
posted by sour cream at 1:13 PM on June 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
I always figured it's because of their charismatic lead singer, Sonny Bono.
Wasn't he married to Cher back in the day?
posted by sour cream at 1:13 PM on June 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
hippybear, did you just allow us to witness a U2 fan having a Comic Book Guy moment on the internet?
It's not the first time and it won't be the last. Especially here on MetaFilter, where U2 Hate™ is a regular pasttime.
posted by hippybear at 1:15 PM on June 12, 2011
It's not the first time and it won't be the last. Especially here on MetaFilter, where U2 Hate™ is a regular pasttime.
posted by hippybear at 1:15 PM on June 12, 2011
The author of that answer is quite the self-satisfied asshole, isn't he?
I guess Bono is his own harshest critic. *rimshot*
i thought it was a funny caricature of a certain archetypal and possibly imaginary U2 fan, and not so much a statement about the band itself. seems like there's an awful lot of U2 fans of all stripes here
posted by codacorolla at 1:16 PM on June 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
I guess Bono is his own harshest critic. *rimshot*
i thought it was a funny caricature of a certain archetypal and possibly imaginary U2 fan, and not so much a statement about the band itself. seems like there's an awful lot of U2 fans of all stripes here
posted by codacorolla at 1:16 PM on June 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
Imagine you have no idea who U2 is. Now read what this dude wrote. How much can you tell me about what their music is actually like? Anything?
It's sort of amazing to me that someone could answer the question "Why is Band X popular?" without even faintly touching on the subject of whether or not Band X's music is actually any good or not, or even whether or not it's better or worse than Band Y's music, but this guy sure managed it.
The framing was amusing, I'll give you that; but I get really annoyed by people who judge music based on which other people like the music. If you look at the other 9 answers to the question on Quora, there's a lot more actual insight and discussion of the technical aspects of the music, and the ways U2 is different from any other band middle-aged middle-class white guys might like, in those.
posted by mstokes650 at 1:19 PM on June 12, 2011 [4 favorites]
It's sort of amazing to me that someone could answer the question "Why is Band X popular?" without even faintly touching on the subject of whether or not Band X's music is actually any good or not, or even whether or not it's better or worse than Band Y's music, but this guy sure managed it.
The framing was amusing, I'll give you that; but I get really annoyed by people who judge music based on which other people like the music. If you look at the other 9 answers to the question on Quora, there's a lot more actual insight and discussion of the technical aspects of the music, and the ways U2 is different from any other band middle-aged middle-class white guys might like, in those.
posted by mstokes650 at 1:19 PM on June 12, 2011 [4 favorites]
I "saw" them twice. Once, they were supporting the Stranglers
Heh. My folks shared a phone line - a party line - with Hugh Cornwell's sister for a couple of years in the late seventies and he was always calling. They got quite blasé about it.
posted by MuffinMan at 1:21 PM on June 12, 2011
Heh. My folks shared a phone line - a party line - with Hugh Cornwell's sister for a couple of years in the late seventies and he was always calling. They got quite blasé about it.
posted by MuffinMan at 1:21 PM on June 12, 2011
Oh, and "hibbybear" is totally going to be the name of my sockpuppet account when I finally make one.
posted by hippybear at 1:21 PM on June 12, 2011
posted by hippybear at 1:21 PM on June 12, 2011
If I listened to, and heavily invested in, people's opinions about music, I must as well just hate everything.
U2? "Sorry, shitty generic pop."
Fleet Foxes? "A bunch of stupid hippies."
Talking Heads? "A weird sounding guy with some keyboards. Byrne who?"
Yeah. Screw that....
posted by Askiba at 1:24 PM on June 12, 2011
U2? "Sorry, shitty generic pop."
Fleet Foxes? "A bunch of stupid hippies."
Talking Heads? "A weird sounding guy with some keyboards. Byrne who?"
Yeah. Screw that....
posted by Askiba at 1:24 PM on June 12, 2011
> The author of that answer is quite the self-satisfied asshole, isn't he?
I dunno...he's seen U2 in concert twice, so is it possible he's poking fun at himself and "his people" as much as he is the band?
posted by The Card Cheat at 1:24 PM on June 12, 2011
I dunno...he's seen U2 in concert twice, so is it possible he's poking fun at himself and "his people" as much as he is the band?
posted by The Card Cheat at 1:24 PM on June 12, 2011
But then a funny thing happened on the way to the snark: I was pretty well blown away.
Yeah, this. I haven't been to see them since the ZooTV tour in 1992, but those shows were brilliant and I'll fight all comers on this. And, as I said to my ex (who was a hater), I would challenge anybody-- no matter what their opinion of U2-- to walk into the Pacific Coliseum (20K seating!) and not be moved by the crowd singing along to Mysterious Ways, louder than the PA. I'll never forget the thrill of those events (and events they were, not just gigs).
What U2 are is predictable: they are very good about what they do, and they deliver it every night. Springsteen as well; it's like ordering up some rapture and having it served up just as expected. There's most certainly a place for that. Why not? We can't all be standing in crowd of a hundred people at midnight cheering for Tuneyards to come on.
posted by jokeefe at 1:26 PM on June 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
Yeah, this. I haven't been to see them since the ZooTV tour in 1992, but those shows were brilliant and I'll fight all comers on this. And, as I said to my ex (who was a hater), I would challenge anybody-- no matter what their opinion of U2-- to walk into the Pacific Coliseum (20K seating!) and not be moved by the crowd singing along to Mysterious Ways, louder than the PA. I'll never forget the thrill of those events (and events they were, not just gigs).
What U2 are is predictable: they are very good about what they do, and they deliver it every night. Springsteen as well; it's like ordering up some rapture and having it served up just as expected. There's most certainly a place for that. Why not? We can't all be standing in crowd of a hundred people at midnight cheering for Tuneyards to come on.
posted by jokeefe at 1:26 PM on June 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
Oh shit. Do I admit I own every U2 album and look cool to the U2 fans, or pretend they belong to my wife and I hate them so I look cool to everyone else?
Panic. Panic.
I BOUGHT THEM ALL AND LISTEN TO THEM REGULARLY BUT I HATE MYSELF FOR IT!
Did I manage to walk the fine line there?
posted by Joey Michaels at 1:27 PM on June 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
Panic. Panic.
I BOUGHT THEM ALL AND LISTEN TO THEM REGULARLY BUT I HATE MYSELF FOR IT!
Did I manage to walk the fine line there?
posted by Joey Michaels at 1:27 PM on June 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
The framing was amusing, I'll give you that; but I get really annoyed by people who judge music based on which other people like the music. If you look at the other 9 answers to the question on Quora, there's a lot more actual insight and discussion of the technical aspects of the music, and the ways U2 is different from any other band middle-aged middle-class white guys might like, in those.
Well... it is a joke, after all. It's like someone answering a Yahoo! Answer about American history in character of a frenzied and confused Abraham Lincoln being pursued by time traveling Velociraptors. It doesn't have much to do with U2 at all. You could probably write the same thing about The Black Keys (a band I actually like) and be about as accurate at this stage in their career. Using U2 is a cheap way to say to your audience "hey, I'm talking about upwardly mobile white folks who can afford to drop 200 bones on a 'concert experience', U2, get it?"
It's not a very deep joke, but I think there's a kernel of truth to it. However, jokes that focus on poking at the stereotypes of a specific group (even yuppies, it seems) never do very well on this site, regardless of other merits. So it goes.
posted by codacorolla at 1:27 PM on June 12, 2011 [2 favorites]
Well... it is a joke, after all. It's like someone answering a Yahoo! Answer about American history in character of a frenzied and confused Abraham Lincoln being pursued by time traveling Velociraptors. It doesn't have much to do with U2 at all. You could probably write the same thing about The Black Keys (a band I actually like) and be about as accurate at this stage in their career. Using U2 is a cheap way to say to your audience "hey, I'm talking about upwardly mobile white folks who can afford to drop 200 bones on a 'concert experience', U2, get it?"
It's not a very deep joke, but I think there's a kernel of truth to it. However, jokes that focus on poking at the stereotypes of a specific group (even yuppies, it seems) never do very well on this site, regardless of other merits. So it goes.
posted by codacorolla at 1:27 PM on June 12, 2011 [2 favorites]
A) I love snippy music writing when it's snippy about the music or the artists or anything but "LOL THESE FANS ARE DUMB AMIRITE?"...maybe they are, but that doesn't make this writing witty.
B) Without U2 I wouldn't have one of my favorite Beavis & Butthead moments.
C) But sometimes, not always but sometimes, you want one of those mighty bands that sets out to be life-changing.
Electric Six. Maxwell's. Last week. 666.
posted by mintcake! at 1:27 PM on June 12, 2011 [2 favorites]
B) Without U2 I wouldn't have one of my favorite Beavis & Butthead moments.
C) But sometimes, not always but sometimes, you want one of those mighty bands that sets out to be life-changing.
Electric Six. Maxwell's. Last week. 666.
posted by mintcake! at 1:27 PM on June 12, 2011 [2 favorites]
What U2 are is predictable
That seems to be the Quora answer's explanation and criticism in a single nutshell. They're popular because they used to be popular.
posted by hattifattener at 1:33 PM on June 12, 2011 [2 favorites]
That seems to be the Quora answer's explanation and criticism in a single nutshell. They're popular because they used to be popular.
posted by hattifattener at 1:33 PM on June 12, 2011 [2 favorites]
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