1. Originally posted by germcevoy:“Remember, U2 has always been a band that does what they want to do, not what the masses want.”

    I don’t think this has been the case for quite some time. The band seem desperate to appeal to the masses. I fully believe they would make some fantastic music if they completely removed themselves from external influences, pressures and demands.
    Interesting thread, but this reaction is just the truth. Since that Pop failed to sale as much as they were used to they have been playing it safe. With the exception of some songs, but the fact that SOE sounds like they're going back to ATYCLB says enough.
  2. Good post!
    I love this forum and also despair at it from time to time.
    An album is a piece of work, let’s not analyse track by track as it’s fed to is like hungry wolves. All five tracks I’ve heard I like....a lot more than SOI which I grew to love live, but we cannot expect every album to be an achtung baby moment! No band ever has this.
    The bile that has been sent out this week over pre sale like it’s a right to have tickets, I usually do 1 or 2 gigs per tour, a lot of people on here seem to feel they’ve a right to see the band as often as they want, then moan at setlists when a show is designed for everyone not hardcore fans who think they own GA queues. It wears on me.
    This is an awesome site, truly the best U2 online portal, but the over analysis and expectation people have of a band who’ve been doing this for 40 yrs is a little OTT
  3. Maybe we just wait until we hear the full album! Put yourself in their shoes, how would you want your work to be judged.

    Tough crowd on here!
  4. Originally posted by mattfromcanada:[..]
    Good stuff in that article, but I'll be honest, I still stand behind my original post. Yes they've wanted to appeal to the masses, but I don't think they've ever put out anything solely for that purpose. Critics and some fans will say to that 'then why aren't they playing Pop' and the answer to me is in this article

    "Instead it became a niche record. " Some love, others not so much. It seems that it served it's purpose to the band at that time, and they're comfortable with it in its place.



    Only U2 would describe an album that sold millions of copies as a niche record

    I full agree with your posts never the less.
  5. Great post. A real fan of a band simply accepts what his or her favourite band is doing and likes or dislikes it. I'm very glad that U2 always tries to reinvent themselves. That keeps them fresh and sometimes that results in milestone albums like Boy, The Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby, in outstanding albums like War or Songs ofInnocence, in albums where they are clearly still searching for something new like The Unforgettable Fire or No Line on the Horizon but never in trash. People who are still longing for 'remakes or duplicates' of their best songs of the 80's are living in the past and not in 2017. Or do we want them to become a jukeboxband like The Rolling Stones who haven't written a single great new song since the eighties? I take U2 as they are and they keep surprising me and that's one of the reasons why I'm such a big fan of them.