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Why do people hate U2

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    #32
    Vinnie L
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 56 ✭✭Vinnie L


    Neither of them would be my type of person, but I never really understood the harm in the likes of Geldof or Bono speaking out on these issues, it makes a change from ignoring and accepting them.


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    #33
    Mister Vain
    Registered Users Posts: 6,091 ✭✭✭Mister Vain


    endacl wrote: »
    Yeah, but he's a 'Sir', so sold-out west-brit something something rant rant?

    Plus, he made his millions behind the scenes, so he's not as easy a target.

    Sir or no sir, he's still annoying. He was even annoying on Top Gear.


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    #34
    Cyber Ghost
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 382 ✭✭Cyber Ghost


    endacl wrote: »
    I remember the hate starting in the Dublin of the 1980s, with the FOAD2U2 scrawls on walls all over town. Cheek of them. Bunch of lads who grew up in Ireland having the gall to imagine they could be successful. I'm not a huge fan. Well, not really any kind of fan at all, but I do admire what they've achieved.

    What are Paranoid Visions up to these days? FAIRPLAY2U2.
    :D

    What does FOAD2U2 mean?


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    #35
    porsche959
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,499 ✭✭✭porsche959


    Cienciano wrote: »
    No one dislike them because of the boring bland generic "rock" sound of theirs? Around the mid 90's they stopped being a band and became a business.
    Around the mid 90's they stopped being a band and became a business

    See, tbh, this is just naive. U2 always were run as a business. All successful rock groups are, really. I'm pretty sure they are on the record as saying they went with McGuinness as manager because his pragmatism and commercial awareness impressed them from day one.

    I do agree with about you their sound being bland and generic in recent years. Seemingly this was a reaction to the poor sales of 'Pop' in the US market. Personally I loved that album but it was too much for the conservative US fanbase.


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    #36
    Sciprio
    Closed Accounts Posts: 790 ✭✭✭Sciprio


    All because of you, all because of you.


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    #37
    Larry Wildman
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,460 ✭✭✭Larry Wildman


    Cienciano wrote: »
    No one dislike them because of the boring bland generic "rock" sound of theirs? Around the mid 90's they stopped being a band and became a business.
    I hate bono, but I really dislike john lennon and Roger waters, but love the Beatles and pink floyd. Its a lot more than bono being a wánker

    Yeah, 'cause bands like the Stones and AC/DC are all about the music man...zero commerciality about them.


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    #38
    endacl
    Registered Users Posts: 22,311 ✭✭✭✭endacl


    Cyber Ghost wrote: »
    What does FOAD2U2 mean?

    Fcuk off and die to U2. Dublin can possibly claim to have invented txtspk!


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    #39
    Icaras
    Registered Users Posts: 926 ✭✭✭Icaras


    It thinks its because they (or us maybe) hype up their new albums saying they have gone back to their Joshua Tree or Achtung baby days gets me all excited and then the release another generic rock album that starts off with everyone saying its great and then 6 months later realising its poor.


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    #40
    Cyber Ghost
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 382 ✭✭Cyber Ghost


    Apparently the FOAD2U2 campaign was started by paranoid visions!

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranoid_Visions


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    #41
    Lyger
    Closed Accounts Posts: 103 ✭✭Lyger


    fluke wrote: »
    We (as a nation) don't like people getting too ahead of themselves. We like to knock them down a bit and (we) build them back up.

    Bono never played by the humble unspoken rules that we ask of people, so as a result he gets burned big time.
    I have heard of this view - I don't agree with it.
    What about Phil Lynott? There isn't disdain towards him.

    I don't despise Bono the way some do, but he can be very smug and pontificating; it's nothing to do with him doing well.

    U2 were brilliant in the first half of the 80s and remained good until the early 90s. But since the late 90s they've become quite bland and samey (with the odd exception) in my opinion - they just seem to be using a template and churning the same kind of thing out over and over, based on that template. Same with lots of bands/artists of course.
    So I wouldn't say I hate U2, but they just don't appeal to me anymore.


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    #42
    AllGunsBlazing
    Registered Users Posts: 3,654 ✭✭✭AllGunsBlazing


    fluke wrote: »
    We (as a nation) don't like people getting too ahead of themselves. We like to knock them down a bit and (we) build them back up.

    Bono never played by the humble unspoken rules that we ask of people, so as a result he gets burned big time.


    All of that. And the fact the he is really a bit of a twat.


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    #43
    fluke
    Registered Users Posts: 1,697 ✭✭✭fluke


    Egg Council Guy wrote: »
    I have heard of this view - I don't agree with it.
    What about Phil Lynott? There isn't disdain towards him.

    I don't despise Bono the way some do, but he can be very smug and pontificating; it's nothing to do with him doing well.

    U2 were brilliant in the first half of the 80s and remained good until the early 90s. But since the late 90s they've become quite bland and samey (with the odd exception) in my opinion - they just seem to be using a template and churning the same kind of thing out over and over, based on that template. Same with lots of bands/artists of course.
    So I wouldn't say I hate U2, but they just don't appeal to me anymore.

    Phil was a bit more of a man's man, he was a rocker. That how he's remembered. Same as Rory Gallagher. These guys were purely about the music.

    On the other hand Bono and the guys don't really come across like that. I think a key problem with them is they are not relatable.


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    #44
    bnt
    Registered Users Posts: 13,005 ✭✭✭✭bnt


    U2 is to me as Ronald Reagan was to the Democratic Party: "I didn't leave them, they left me". The albums from Unforgettable Fire to Pop still sound great to me today, but then I don't know what happened. Then they stopped using Brian Eno and/or Daniel Lanois & friends for production, which might explain a few things ...

    (I'm surprised that no-one's mentioned that half of U2 are, literally, "West Brits" born in the UK.)

    From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, ‘Look at that, you son of a bitch’.

    — Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14 Astronaut



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    #45
    TheShow
    Registered Users Posts: 1,157 ✭✭✭TheShow


    Bono is the main reason


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    #46
    blackdog2
    Registered Users Posts: 852 ✭✭✭blackdog2


    Original sounding band (powered by a guitarist with an affection for 15 million delay pedals) turning into rock by numbers tripe and releasing three more albums afterwards


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    #47
    seachto7
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,863 ✭✭✭seachto7


    I was flicking through the radio and heard a new song on one channel followed by New Years Day on another channel. The obvious difference in quality would be plain to anyone with a passing interest in the band.
    Not really a fan of the band.


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    #48
    adox
    Registered Users Posts: 19,018 ✭✭✭✭adox


    I hate the "jealously" and" we love to knock our own" lines.

    How about their music is ****e, always has been, not my cup of tea.

    Its as simple as that really.


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    #49
    The Humble Sausage
    Registered Users Posts: 50 ✭✭The Humble Sausage


    fluke wrote: »
    We (as a nation) don't like people getting too ahead of themselves. We like to knock them down a bit and (we) build them back up.

    Bono never played by the humble unspoken rules that we ask of people, so as a result he gets burned big time.

    That's not an exclusively Irish trait. Every nation does it. The proof is that it seems Bono is not very well liked anywhere in the world.
    Personally I think hes a bit of a knob but he is the lead man in the biggest band in the world and he seems no more of a pric or have any bigger a head than the captain of your local junior football team.


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    #50
    Links234
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,944 ✭✭✭✭Links234


    I definitely agree it's not just an Irish thing, Bono gets the piss ripped out of him everywhere, even on South Park and Family Guy

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJXqnYCWW7Y


    FamilyGuy3.jpg


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    #51
    Greenmachine
    Registered Users Posts: 5,063 ✭✭✭Greenmachine


    rubberdiddies wrote: »
    Is that a serious question?
    Research it

    a hint though: anyone who earns income and is resident in Ireland must pay tax here.

    Denis O Brien for example is a tax exile. Bono isn't. Not yet anyway

    Edit: anyway it's kinda going off topic. I believe the majority of Irish people who don't like U2, actually don't like Bono and by association U2. I don't feel it's anything to do with music. I'm not their biggest fan (of their music) by a long shot but I have no reason to 'hate' them

    Of course it is a serious question.


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    #52
    emeldc
    Registered Users Posts: 2,597 ✭✭✭emeldc


    When I was a young lad I was living in Stillorgan so I'm old enough to remember U2 playing in Stella house Mt Merrion. I never went to see them then either ;)


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    #53
    endacl
    Registered Users Posts: 22,311 ✭✭✭✭endacl


    adox wrote: »
    I hate the "jealously" and" we love to knock our own" lines.

    How about their music is ****e, always has been, not my cup of tea.

    Its as simple as that really.

    That doesn't explain 'hate'. I don't like Lady Giggliegoogliegaga. I don't like what she does. I don't like her sound. I don't like her songs. I don't like anything about her public persona. I don't hate her though. In fact, I'm completely indifferent to her as a performing artist. She doesn't show up on my radar.

    On the other hand I acknowledge her talent, and I admire the hard work that got her to where she is. Luckily for me, she's not compulsory.

    There's an extra dimension to U2 vis a vis the irish, and it's an unpleasant dimension.


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    #54
    Links234
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,944 ✭✭✭✭Links234


    endacl wrote: »
    There's an extra dimension to U2 vis a vis the irish, and it's an unpleasant dimension.

    I don't generally dismiss that begrudgery exists, but in this case the dislike of U2/Bono is far from an exclusively Irish thing, aside from the aforementioned South Park/Family Guy appearances, you've got plenty of stuff like this:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cA9TT3c2C-Q


    So it's far from a solely Irish attitude towards them.

    The other thing is, we often latch onto something, take the whole Napster thing for example. Metallica were not the only ones to have sued, Madonna, Dr. Dre and many others sued Napster, but it's something that's always stuck to Metallica in particular. Likewise, Bono is far from the only pontificating celebrity, but he's simply become the premier example of it, and that just seems to have stuck to him in particular.


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    #55
    endacl
    Registered Users Posts: 22,311 ✭✭✭✭endacl


    Yeah. Bonbon really doesn't do himself any favours...


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    #56
    porsche959
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,499 ✭✭✭porsche959


    Links234 wrote: »
    I don't generally dismiss that begrudgery exists, but in this case the dislike of U2/Bono is far from an exclusively Irish thing, aside from the aforementioned South Park/Family Guy appearances, you've got plenty of stuff like this:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cA9TT3c2C-Q


    Like the way (Irish born) Jimmy Carr pulls him up over pronunciation of Bohnio's name.


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    #57
    buck65
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,969 ✭✭✭buck65


    Liked them as a kid growing up, back in the 80s. They got very political in the late 80s so much so that the music took a backseat to the message. Music suffered as a result not to sat there weren't some interesting songs in the early 90s but for the most part the filler swamped the rest I think.

    Music went from decent and innovative to downright bland and unimaginative as the 90s wore on and to be honest they haven't written a really good tune in a long time. Not the only ones though whose music loses quality as the band become rich and fat actually it happens to most bands. Even Radiohead are laboured and irelevant now.

    Actually of the rock oldies on the go now, who is writing decent stuff? Bruce Springsteen still has the knack but who else?


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    #58
    Links234
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,944 ✭✭✭✭Links234


    buck65 wrote: »
    Actually of the rock oldies on the go now, who is writing decent stuff? Bruce Springsteen still has the knack but who else?

    Rush?


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    #59
    endacl
    Registered Users Posts: 22,311 ✭✭✭✭endacl


    Links234 wrote: »
    Rush?
    Better...


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    #60
    porsche959
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,499 ✭✭✭porsche959


    buck65 wrote: »
    Liked them as a kid growing up, back in the 80s. They got very political in the late 80s so much so that the music took a backseat to the message. Music suffered as a result not to sat there weren't some interesting songs in the early 90s but for the most part the filler swamped the rest I think.

    I find it a strange analysis to say their music suffered as they became more political. Their most political album, the Joshua Tree, is surely among their best? Many would say it is their best, and I'd certainly put it in their top three. I don't think even people who dislike U2 in general would say it is anything other than a decent album.

    As for your impression that they only became political in the late 1980's, 1983's "War" features political themes, though perhaps not as overtly as The Joshua Tree.


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    #61
    SilverScreen
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,113 ✭✭✭SilverScreen


    In all fairness Pearl Jam get a lot of hate too, particularly in North America where they're seen as the cause of all the turgid, radio-friendly post-grunge which dominated mainstream rock radio there for years. Personally I like their first two albums. Metallica get a lot of hate for the whole Napster thing and for the Some Kind of Monster doc.

    As for U2 I don't hate them either. It's just that there's 473537354800 other musical artists that I'd rather dedicate my time to.
    buck65 wrote: »
    Actually of the rock oldies on the go now, who is writing decent stuff? Bruce Springsteen still has the knack but who else?
    Swans.


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