U2 Appreciation Thread:

A Primal Nut

Kharn wrote:

I wasn't criticising his use of effects at all, I'm all for it! Edge has come out with some unique sounds alright, but compared to Tom Morello or Wes Borland (as 2 easy, popular examples off the top of my head), he don't do jack shít As a result of this, I'd say he was a very ordinary guitar player. Where Edge excells (and I think this of Larry too) is that he plays exactly the right thing for U2 and he writes very good tunes with them. This is what gives the impression that he's a good musician but I would draw a distinction between Musicians and Writers. Some bands are good at both, U2 are good at writing but I feel their technical skills are lacking.

Yeah this sums it up, I was just responding to the guy who called his guitar playing hideous, which is just wrong.

I later discovered that thier lyrics are,in fact complete gibberish

I've probably related to more U2 songs than any other band. Songs like With or Without You or All I Want Is You have simple, beautiful lyrics. Sunday Bloody Sunday is well-written I think, and Achtung Baby is possibly one of my favourite albums lyrically. Admittedly their last three of four albums have been mostly nonsense lyrics, I mean "Stuck In A Moment" what the ****?

they wouldnt even do a free gig for the city that made them what they are.

America made them what they are, not Dublin. And what other band has ever done a free gig for their city? Just curious.

I agree they've gone downhill lately but they sustained an incredible level of creativity for such a long period of time, longer than most bands. Like what happens all bands they have long passed their creativity peak. Led Zeppelin had passed it with their last album and would have continued had John Bonham not died. Metallica are doing the same now. Should they quit? I hate their last two albums but as long as so many fans are liking their music, then why should they stop?

Agree with most of what Doctor J said. An amazingly technical drummer or bassist would ruin U2. The simple bassline to With Or Without You is the key to that song.
My favourite U2 songs:

1. All I Want Is You
2. Bad (live)
3. Hawkmoon 269
4. Without Or Without You
5. Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
6. Until The End Of The World
7. One
8. When Love Comes To Town
9. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
10. Acrobat

Karl Hungus

evad_lhorg wrote:

but if this had've been an appreciation thread about some death or black metal band you love and people came in and started saying they were crap and talentless youd be arguing the other way to be honest. And this isnt a shot at you. its the way it is on most "appreciation threads".

Hardly. If you've seen the thread about Death Metal that Motley Crue started a while back, you'd know that it got extremely indepth and heated in the discussion, and the thread was all the better for it.

Backtoblack

Dave H wrote:

Jaysis, it did'nt stay an appreciation thread for long did it?

I know!!! Baxters!!!

Backtoblack

Doctor J wrote:

Ah this oul nugget again

Put simply, I like this band. They're not my favourite band and I'll never be queuing up outside of HMV in the rain to buy their new album or a ticket to a gig, but I admire what they've done and I dig some of their tunes.

The Edge is never going to win Guitarist Of The Year but I think he is superb for what he does. He's not about leads, shredding, tapping or other forms of ****, he's not about big-cock guitar playing at all, so it continually amazes me when people go on about his technique, or lack of it. What he does is provide simple and memorable riffs and melodies, sometimes effects laden, sometimes not. His use of effects has been clever, rather than revolutionary which is, again, no bad thing in my book. When he plays, you know it's him playing, which is, in my opinion, one of the highest compliments you can give a musician. Adam Clayton is far from being the best bass player in the world but what he does, like Cliff Williams of AC/DC, is play what's right for the song. Granted, he may not be able to play more than that but surely that's enough? Same goes for Mullen, he's no Gene Krupa, but he's been part of a solid rhythm section for the last 30-odd years and I've yet to hear him play something out of place, or something that doesn't embellish the song in some way. Ok, so he's not throwing in Moon-esque fills all over the place and impressing drum forum internet world champions, but then again, you're not hearing his timing slip, you're not hearing him overwhelming the song with pointless overplaying. He provides a solid beat, himself and Clayton are a rock solid foundation upon which all their songs are anchored. You don't have a good band with a **** drummer. Fact. All three of them serve the song and, to be honest, I think it'd be great if there were a lot more musicians around here who could do that. As for Bono, he's no Bob Dylan lyrically, he's no Jim Morrison vocally, but I can recall more of his lyrics and vocals melodies than I can most other bands out there. Say what you want about his crusading, but the ****er's actions and persistence have put more food in the bellies of more starving kids than you or I will ever do. I would hope people here aren't petty enough to let begrudgery get in the way of recognising his exceptionally positive achievements which have made the world a better place for some of the most unfortunate people out there.

The band have continually re-invented themselves (ok maybe not over the last couple of albums) but they previously have never been stuck in a rut, never rehashed their old sound again and again. They have used technology cleverly to embellish what they do. Their stage shows are always inventive and they perform, they really put on a live show, unlike so many other bands out there. They have taken huge risks where others have remained content to re-write the same chords and sounds and they've done it all with a sense of humour. They still write songs by the four of them getting in a room and jamming for hours, which is admirable, it says to me that they're a real band, even after all this time. Fair play to them, I say.

Well delivered Dr. J!

dr.bollocko

I just cannot let this one go without throwing in my equally biased two cents.
U2 suck. They always have sucked and they always will suck. They're the Irish equivalent to the likes of Bon Jovi, or Aerosmith, and should be viewed as the same except for their endless soul searching bull****, their cynical attempts to gain rock n' roll mystique and their endless search for money, musical credibility, and to be seen as some voice of a disaffected generation that frankly, never existed and doesnt give a ****.
Bono cant even sing. His lyrics are frequently hilarious but the way he delivers them, like a modern day roboJesus, permascowling in his ridiculous visors out at the world, moaning about world poverty from one of his 153 Mansions, its a hilarious sick world that this jumped up little prick's opinions on world issues are ever given a stage. They're just another cog in the godawful wheel of the Irish music mafia and should be buried forever in a deep vault, where they belong, with the cranberries, the goddamn corrs, Louis's endless parade of musical muppetry and all the rest of the ****e that we have inflicted on the world.

Backtoblack

dr.bollocko wrote:

I just cannot let this one go without throwing in my equally biased two cents.
U2 suck. They always have sucked and they always will suck. They're the Irish equivalent to the likes of Bon Jovi, or Aerosmith, and should be viewed as the same except for their endless soul searching bull****, their cynical attempts to gain rock n' roll mystique and their endless search for money, musical credibility, and to be seen as some voice of a disaffected generation that frankly, never existed and doesnt give a ****.
Bono cant even sing. His lyrics are frequently hilarious but the way he delivers them, like a modern day roboJesus, permascowling in his ridiculous visors out at the world, moaning about world poverty from one of his 153 Mansions, its a hilarious sick world that this jumped up little prick's opinions on world issues are ever given a stage. They're just another cog in the godawful wheel of the Irish music mafia and should be buried forever in a deep vault, where they belong, with the cranberries, the goddamn corrs, Louis's endless parade of musical muppetry and all the rest of the ****e that we have inflicted on the world.

ah come now.. Bono can't sing??? :eek:
& At least he gives a ****e to try to do something whilst wearing his fabulous eye fashion.. not like a lot of other musicians who generally do nothing but fill themselves with junkie drugs and do less than less & give newspapers like tabloid of the world something to fill their senseless pages with... etc etc..
You're just jealous!!!

Giblet

Anyone who says "pfft playing 3 notes through a delay pedal, sure he's crap" about the edge, yet, he came up with Mysterious Girl, and that rocks the **** out. And he rocks some **** live too. Who are you comparing the edge to anyway? Shred? Jesus I can pump out that ****e while taking a dump it will never get anyone anywhere compared to say, writing the joshua tree.

Saying bono can't sing? That's talking crap right there.

GLaDOS

A Primal Nut wrote:

America made them what they are, not Dublin. And what other band has ever done a free gig for their city? Just curious.

Lordi did one I think, after they won the eurovision

dr.bollocko

Bono CANNOT sing. There I said it again.
I can say it lots and lots. Cos the ****er can't sing. Its not my fault, its not yours, he has the singing range of a raped goat, always sounds the same, has deteriorated completely over the years, and looks like a melting Timmy Mallet.

John

Ah, astute criticism there.

Morf

I shall sit on the fence for now but this U2 bashing is highly entertaining

Xavi6

dr.bollocko wrote:

I just cannot let this one go without throwing in my equally biased two cents.
U2 suck. They always have sucked and they always will suck. They're the Irish equivalent to the likes of Bon Jovi, or Aerosmith, and should be viewed as the same except for their endless soul searching bull****, their cynical attempts to gain rock n' roll mystique and their endless search for money, musical credibility, and to be seen as some voice of a disaffected generation that frankly, never existed and doesnt give a ****.
Bono cant even sing. His lyrics are frequently hilarious but the way he delivers them, like a modern day roboJesus, permascowling in his ridiculous visors out at the world, moaning about world poverty from one of his 153 Mansions, its a hilarious sick world that this jumped up little prick's opinions on world issues are ever given a stage. They're just another cog in the godawful wheel of the Irish music mafia and should be buried forever in a deep vault, where they belong, with the cranberries, the goddamn corrs, Louis's endless parade of musical muppetry and all the rest of the ****e that we have inflicted on the world.

I salute you sir. Fantastic post.

Doctor J

There's no Irish music mafia :rolleyes: . There's just a bunch of whiny bands who aren't as good as they think they are and who have to cop on and realise it's the music business and haven't the vision to do anything about it. Business means they need to be economically viable in order to attain success. It is the same all over the world. Very few bands seem to realise this. They need to demand more from themselves than playing **** songs to four of their mates in Dorans on a Tuesday evening. They need to develop an actual work ethic and stop using imagined excuses to validate their repeated failures

Then on the other side there are the bands who understand marketing and business who put the consistent effort in over long period of time combined with varying degrees of talent and "made it"

But I stray from topic. U2, ahhh they're alright.

Backtoblack

Xavi6 wrote:

I salute you sir. Fanplastic post.

Read his following post.. it stank of the same crap only worse!!

Xavi6

Backtoblack wrote:

Read his following post.. it stank of the same crap only worse!!

Next time you quote I'd appreciate if you used the actual word I said. Nice one. Oh and yeah I did read it and it was equally as good. The only crap going is the opening post.

Backtoblack

Xavi6 wrote:

Next time you quote I'd appreciate if you used the actual word I said. Nice one. Oh and yeah I did read it and it was equally as good. The only crap going is the opening post.

Mushy

Who are you comparing the edge to anyway?

Im one who said the Edge was bad. Id compare him to, lets say Mike McGreedy or Stone Gossard. Not shredders, not the most technically brilliant guitarists in this world, but, like the Edge, play to suit the band more so. Except they do it differently. Not just whipped-up, delay pedal stuff. They do it better than anyone.

Xavi06, with what you said about Dr. Bollocko, I salute you then. Dr. Bollocko's rant was quite amusing, specially the "singing range of a raped goat". Although I might not describe Bono's singing as THAT bad.

Giblet

Mysterious Ways even

Black NG-60-90

Attention moderators, please move this thread to another forum before i start having spasms.

Karl Hungus

Black NG-60-90 wrote:

Attention moderators, please move this thread to another forum before i start having spasms.

What, am I your servant or something?

Go spasm you brain out, there's no reason to move it.

Black NG-60-90

Karl Hungus wrote:

Go spasm you brain out, there's no reason to move it.

That's not very nice.

sbEdge

If U2 had nothing left to contribute to music would they be selling out all their shows in the worlds biggest stadiums?

And calling Edge rubbish is just stupid, nobody can create an atmosphere with a guitar like he can, most top guitarists have huge respect for Edge because of his originality and creativity. Saying that he shouldn't use delay is like saying that those empty headed metal guitarists shouldn't use distortion. Their aimless egotistical shredding wouldn't sound much good without distortion would it?

ExoduS 18.11

sbEdge wrote:

And calling Edge rubbish is just stupid, nobody can create an atmosphere with a guitar like he can,

Wooooo hold the phone there Mabel...

It wasn't me!

aye, I believe the comment was directed at the fact that the Edge is hardly the most technically able player on a stage, not whether he's accomplishing what he's aimed to do, which he's damn good at, but ask him to play some Cynic? Not got a hope in hell I'm afraid.

Shiminay

sbEdge wrote:

If U2 had nothing left to contribute to music would they be selling out all their shows in the worlds biggest stadiums?

And calling Edge rubbish is just stupid, nobody can create an atmosphere with a guitar like he can, most top guitarists have huge respect for Edge because of his originality and creativity. Saying that he shouldn't use delay is like saying that those empty headed metal guitarists shouldn't use distortion. Their aimless egotistical shredding wouldn't sound much good without distortion would it?

Bollix. Give me enough Marshalls and a heap of FX boards and I'll give you athmosphere. It's not difficult, anyone who's been playing the guitar for a year (hell, 3 months if you're trying) can replicate most of what he does - it's a case of learning the fx as much as the guitar. Now remember, I respect U2 and The Edge but he simply doesn't rate as a guitar player. I don't think he shouldn't be using these fx, it's his style. Metal can work without distortion btw, you can use Over Drive

Why do U2 sell out stadia? Because they are a massive band who have massive following amongst the more "casual" music listener. By this I mean the GAA wearing rednecks that frequent the "festivals" of this hole of a country. They live all over the world these kinds of people. There are an awful lot of people who can't tell how bad U2 are (from a technical POV), but they love the music they write. These people aren't wrong or anything like that, but they might be labeled sheep. 70% of the time you wouldn't be wrong for such a label. I have friends who would go to one of these events simply cause it's something to do. I go to gigs for the music. They don't get that. They have fun listening to the music, but it's the day out they're interested in. This is the same the world over. Band like U2 are the perfect headliner to these events, they're relatively mindless, easy enough on the ear, and for some, they're cutting edge (see what I did there ) musically. These are the people who don't and may never understand music.

That said, ZooTV was a show worth seeing and I wish I had. U2 at that time were at their peak and were making very interesting music.

None of the above mentioned friends would go to a metal gig, but year in and year out they ask if I'm going to whatever. I laugh in their faces. What's wrong with some people? They'd expect me to go to something I know I won't enjoy but won't even think about going to a metal gig. That's another debate however.

buck65

Hey whats wrong with GAA rednecks??
Have to agree with your controversial comments Khan. We all know some of these guys who go to U2 gigs in this country, because they were at the Eagles as well and Queen in 86 or whatever, they will just go to any gig and fair play to them that's what theyre into.
I would bet that a large ammount haven't bought u2s last albums but thats another story.

stooge

"These are the people who don't and may never understand music."


It's annoting when I see these comments. "If you like <band name here> then you don't understand music" "if you like their recent music then you are just a sheep", "if you don't like <music genre here> you don't have a clue"....shut the hell up I say.

What is there to understand about music? if it sounds good to me then it's good music as far as I am concerned. I don't give a crap whether the drummer or guitarist does a perfect solo as long as the song sounds good to me. I don't give a fcuk whether they use effects for the whole song, I don't give a fcuk whether the lyrics don't mean sh!t to the heavy metal liking, leather-jacket-wearing freak down the road. I really dont give a toss whether I, like millions of other people across the world like U2.

U2 sell out the world over because:

a) a lot of people like the music
b) they put on a good show

now, who gives a rats ass whether the edge isn't the best guitar player in the world, who gives a flying kite if bono talks ****e....they will still sell more records and appeal to more people than Black-Mega-Hurt-Death-Pain with the amazing guitar player and cult following of 50 people. Plus, when all is said and one, they will have done more good for less well off people across the world than most bands.

So don't ****ing rant on about how 70% of people are sheep and don't understand music, 100% of poeple understand music, they understand it in their own way, and they like whatever the hell they want.


p.s. just realised my post was littered with profanities so I have taken a few out..sorry!

buck65

Stooge - you just don't understand mu....
I better shut up

Karl Hungus

stooge wrote:

they will still sell more records and appeal to more people than Black-Mega-Hurt-Death-Pain with the amazing guitar player and cult following of 50 people.

And you think that makes them better?

U2 are like the Paris Hilton of music. Famous for the sake of being famous, or in U2's case, it seems like they're selling records for the sake that they've sold lots of records.

Any thread like this that comes up, there's always people who come along, there's always people who make a point of saying how much U2 sell and how they sell more than anyone else.

stooge

Sorry, I kinda went off on one I know.. but it's just annoying when people say what music should or should not sound like and try to force their opinion on you.
Let everyone decide for themselves, if they think the Edge is good for using the same notes over and over again yet still producing some good songs then so be it.