U2- cool or not

tech77 · 17-09-2007 6:40am #1

OK there's a fair amount of U2-bashers out there and it's cool to say you don't like U2 (last time i checked anyway it was..).

Anyway I used to be one of these people as well who didn't really get u2 and was more into my Radiohead/Smiths/Pixies etc- that was until i listened to Achtung Baby and started to appreciate their stuff a bit more.

So i'm just wondering can anyone who has listened to Achtung Baby for example honestly say they don't like U2.
I'm talking about tracks like Zoostation, Bad, Ultraviolet, Love is blindness, Acrobat etc.

Not mad about their most recent stuff to be honest but there's something about that album specifically don't know what it is...
Anyone else feel similar.

Karl Hungus · 17-09-2007 6:45am

tech77 wrote:

it's cool to say you don't like U2

Oh of course, that's why people say it. It's got nothing to do with them actually not liking the music? It's because it's "cool" obviously!

:rolleyes:

tech77 · 17-09-2007 6:56am

No, don't think i said/meant that.

Saying you don't like them is possibly a combination of:
1) genuinely not liking their music
and/or
2) because it's (arguably) cool not to like them.

ie not solely because it's cool not to like them (which is what you seem to be refuting).

Karl Hungus · 17-09-2007 7:10am

Well I don't believe there is many (or any) people who would dislike them for the reason of it being 'cool' so even if you do say it's a combination, I'd still refute that.

tech77 · 17-09-2007 7:47am

Karl Hungus wrote:

Well I don't believe there is many (or any) people who would dislike them for the reason of it being 'cool' so even if you do say it's a combination, I'd still refute that.

OK, let's put it this way:
I'm sure there's a hell of a lot of people who wouldn't take the time to get into U2 stuff simply because U2 are often regarded as uncool maybe by their peers and thus they remain relatively unexposed to them.

Specifically i'd say there's a lot of people who would have written off U2 on the basis of such a perceived uncoolness without hearing their better stuff like Achtung Baby.

bubonicus · 17-09-2007 7:51am

I don't like U2. I never have, Their music just bores me. If that's cool or not, that's for the cool kids to decide.

sweetie · 17-09-2007 10:35am

Some of their stuff seems a tad bombastic and he massive exposure plus bono's ubiquitiousness (sic?) can put off a lot of people, me included. However, they have produced some great songs over the years and I have softened a little towards them in recent times.

loyatemu · 17-09-2007 11:40am

Achtung Baby\Zooropa are the only albums of theirs that i've found even vaguely listenable, but they still wouldn't be favourites of mine.

Can you really claim to be a U2 fan if you only like the 2 albums that are least representative of their overall career?

Mossy Monk · 17-09-2007 12:09pm

Maybe you should ask if people like their music or not. Not U2- cool or not.

Put me in the not liking all their music category. Some stuff I like but the majority is donkey cock.

Rigsby · 17-09-2007 12:38pm

bubonicus wrote:

I don't like U2. I never have, Their music just bores me. If that's cool or not, that's for the cool kids to decide.

I agree 100%. Their music does absolutely nothing (except bore the pants off me

) for me, and I'm long past the age of being a "cool dude". BTW I have always held this view.

biko · 17-09-2007 12:46pm

I like U2's early stuff, Achtung Baby was the last great album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_BcLjtG3eY

MrJoeSoap · 17-09-2007 12:49pm

I like very little of the U2 stuff that I've heard, granted that I haven't heard a great deal of the stuff they didn't release as singles. The singles I have heard haven't made me want to buy an album, put it that way.

tech77 · 17-09-2007 3:20pm

Mossy Monk wrote:

Maybe you should ask if people like their music or not. Not U2- cool or not.

"cool" in the thread title is meant to be a bit tongue-in-cheek- by equating coolness to worth (which obviously as you say are totally different).

Should've put the word cool in quotes to denote this.

What i was really asking is who here likes U2's music despite their (undoubted) perceived uncoolness.

Obviously not many people.
Fair enough.

lordgoat · 17-09-2007 10:09pm

tech77 wrote:

"cool" in the thread title is meant to be a bit tongue-in-cheek- by equating coolness to worth (which obviously as you say are totally different).

Should've put the word cool in quotes to denote this.

What i was really asking is who here likes U2's music despite their (undoubted) perceived uncoolness.

Obviously not many people.
Fair enough.

Ah right now it's clear what you meant... right?

u2 do nothing for me. i've a good friend that haas tried to convert me but i've tried and still find them mundane at best. If they are cool or not, (sorry "cool" or not) really matters only slightly less than this thread.

NoQuarter · 17-09-2007 11:58pm

i think their great, good drivin/drinking music!

lordgoat · 18-09-2007 6:15am

king-stew wrote:

i think their great, good drivin/drinking music!

I'm glad you think their great and you could be right, their could be great.

I know it's terribly smug but it kinda sums up u2 fans! (arrogant eh? -sorry bar)

bostonian · 18-09-2007 6:57am

U2 are awesome as far as I'm concerned. After hearing their hits for so long, I've had to move into their b-sides. I bet many people who say they aren't cool would enjoy the band again if they listened to the other songs on the albums.

Saying U2 are overrated is a very "in" thing to do now... the same goes with the Beatles. It's cool to say they're overrated now also.

highlydebased · 18-09-2007 11:00am

Absolutely hate the vertigo album.

What I like a bit though, are the first few albums they produced.

Rigsby · 18-09-2007 2:52pm

bostonian wrote:

Saying U2 are overrated is a very "in" thing to do now...

A lot of the posters who said they did n't like U2 said they always held that view and it had nothing to do with being "in" or "cool" (myself included). You either like them or not.

lordgoat · 18-09-2007 5:10pm

bostonian wrote:

U2 are awesome as far as I'm concerned. After hearing their hits for so long, I've had to move into their b-sides. I bet many people who say they aren't cool would enjoy the band again if they listened to the other songs on the albums.

Saying U2 are overrated is a very "in" thing to do now... the same goes with the Beatles. It's cool to say they're overrated now also.

I'm not a beatles fan either but they are miles ahead of u2 and most music fans can clearly say the were a great band regardless of if you like them. Def not over rated.

u2 started out mediocre and went downhill from there.

Here's a simple example of how great they are.

A mole livin in a hole.

Really stretched the mind for those ones eh?

Jack Sheehan · 18-09-2007 5:13pm

They're alright but they havn't done anything new in donkeys years.

Roxy* · 18-09-2007 5:14pm

u2 are for LOSERS hahahahahahahahha

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSER

Mr Alan · 18-09-2007 5:32pm

the . . . mole living in a hole...thing is nonsense. name a band that if you pick one lyric in isolation, it doesn't sound ridiculous, now i aint defending the song elevation (no where near any of my favourite U2 tracks), but according to U2 themselves, the song was pretty much written as a bit of crack to open gigs with a bang, and if you listen to any gig or watch a dvd (slane), i think it was mission accomplished on their part, absolutely beltingly good live song.

As for U2 themselves, i think they are a genuinely great great great band, in the league of the Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, thats how highly i rate them.

Granted some of their albums have not set the world on fire, but you can guaruntee on every album, there will be a song that will remind you of just how good they are. And they are still, imo, capable of making another "classic" album

nyarlothothep · 18-09-2007 8:53pm

Their mid 90s era was ok, cant say I like anything else by them though

lordgoat · 19-09-2007 6:23am

millersangel wrote:

the . . . mole living in a hole...thing is nonsense. name a band that if you pick one lyric in isolation, it doesn't sound ridiculous,

Elliott Smith. But i'm guessing he's way above you. I could also have said leonard cohen or neil young (and you know nothing about good music if you put u2 in the same category as neil young).

I could have chosen a lyric from any number of ****e u2 songs.

Mr Alan · 19-09-2007 1:36pm

lordgoat wrote:

Elliott Smith. But i'm guessing he's way above you. I could also have said leonard cohen or neil young (and you know nothing about good music if you put u2 in the same category as neil young).

I could have chosen a lyric from any number of ****e u2 songs.

Are you really that pretentious? Way above me? Based on wat-that fact that i think U2 are a great band? So you are saying i couldnt go through one of Neil Youngs many albums and find a brutal lyric?

MrJoeSoap · 19-09-2007 1:46pm

millersangel wrote:

the . . . mole living in a hole...thing is nonsense. name a band that if you pick one lyric in isolation, it doesn't sound ridiculous,

It sounds equally ridiculous with the rest of the lyrics around it.

A mole, digging in a hole
Digging up my soul
Now going down, excavation

To answer your question though, Bob Dylan, Rage Against The Machine and many more.

Neo# · 19-09-2007 2:16pm

I love a lot of U2s stuff. Even the albums that arent that great like POP or ZOOROPA have great tracks on them like staring at the sun or stay. But my tastes are all over the place. For instance I like Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Led Zeppelin, Bob marley, Muse, Arcade Fire, Led Zeppelin, Tool! Whatever! I love NEIL YOUNG too. U2 always seem to provoke a hostile response here because their HUGE and their from this country. Probably mostly because of BONO. Sometimes I cant stand the little **** either but the music is or certainly was great. I get the OPs question on U2 and coolness too being in a band myself. If I mention I like U2 in the presence of other bands at a gig (or actually my own band!) it doesnt go down well. And for the above reasons.

lordgoat · 19-09-2007 3:32pm

millersangel wrote:

Are you really that pretentious? Way above me? Based on wat-that fact that i think U2 are a great band? So you are saying i couldnt go through one of Neil Youngs many albums and find a brutal lyric?

Not pretentious, just pointing out that yes you couldn't go through neil youngs' catalogue of albums and find a lyric worse than whatever the drivel, mole in a hole song is called... And Elliott Smith and Leonard Cohen have not one bad lyric between them

Mr Alan · 19-09-2007 4:39pm

lordgoat wrote:

And Elliott Smith and Leonard Cohen have not one bad lyric between them

yet neither cohen or smith can rock a crowd like a song 'elevation' will.
great artists should have different strings to their bow, U2 have that.

NoQuarter · 19-09-2007 10:13pm

how can anyone say whats a bad lyric or not, sure you have no idea what it could mean, it could be a metaphor for something and its ridiculous sayin that ya couldnt find a bad lyric from neil young, that maybe your opinion but you say it like its gospel!

lordgoat ya havent a breeze about music yourself, ya might not like them for whatever reason but that dont mean they are not great, they sold millions of albums so they are doin somethin right no doubt!

im not a huge fan of u2 but ya gotta respect what they done, not all their songs are amazing but theres definitly a few great ones in there!

U2- cool or not

Comments