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  1. My hope for 2012 is that U2 release a great and consistent album, with no cheesy lyrics. Also, they shouldn´t leave songs like Mercy, Winter and EBW out of the album to put songs like Crazy Tonight, Boots and Stand Up. Being in the radio shouldn´t be the goal, but the consequence. The goal should be to make a nice work of music. Of course, in my opinion !
  2. Originally posted by clover68:Hopes and Fears for 2012
    Hope: U2's 2009 album No Line On The Horizon was an extremely ambitious record that sold millions of copies all over the world. Songs like "Moment of Surrender" and "Magnificent" rank with the band's best work, but the singles failed to connect with a mass audience and by U2's standards it was a disappointment. We hope that they realize that radio is unlikely to put any song they ever write into heavy rotation; instead, they should just focus on making another great record, and then hit the road on an arena tour that drops some of the old warhorses in favor of great songs from the past. How about "Acrobat," "Drowning Man" and "Numb"? "Pride (In The Name of Love)" is a great song, but enough's enough.

    Fear: U2 tends to end each decade with a commercial disappointment, and then begin the new decade with an album that's the exact opposite of their last work. The failure of Rattle and Hum gave the world Achtung Baby and the failure of the (criminally underrated) Pop led to the back-to-basics approach on All That You Can't Leave Behind. They have spent much of the last two years working with a rotating cast of producers, including Danger Mouse and RedOne. We fear their primary focus is competing with Lady Gaga on the radio. It's a fight they're going to lose. Hey Bono, don't overthink this next record. Just make it great. It'll serve you better in the long run. Remember that awful charity single "Stranded" you cut with Jay-Z and Rihanna? Never do anything like that again.


    RollingStone


    I feel exactly the same.
  3. Yep. There's almost too much truth in that statement about fighting a losing battle of trying to compete for radio play with artists such as Lady Gaga.
  4. i'm quite agree with what's written
    i always find curious that always only Bono is named in certain sentences
    they are 4!
  5. Rolling Stone hit the nail on the head. make the next album/tour cycle for the fans, not the public.

    like a wise man once said, they might lose some of the pop kids, but they don't need them.
  6. Originally posted by clover68i'm quite agree with what's written
    i always find curious that always only Bono is named in certain sentences
    they are 4!


    Because Bono is the only one flapping his gums about relevance and radio play.
  7. ok but they're not Oasis or Bono & the E Street Band
  8. I guess "lead vocalist" goes beyond just the music.

    Rolling Stone is sometimes right and sometimes wrong.

    They are right this time - very right.
  10. Bravo!

    I think I'll go and have a beer now.
  11. I certainly hope U2 doesn't decide to wage war with Lady Gaga and other artists who base their entire careers on pumping out songs to be played on the top 40 or top 100 or whatever they are calling the radio these days.

    Look at all of the big rock acts out there. Coldplay and Muse songs aren't getting any plays on the radio simply because the work they do isn't what the radio stations want. But frankly speaking, what the radio stations want are generic, shallow tunes. U2 needs to recognize that they are not a radio band. They are a record band. It's a formula that has worked for them repeatedly. Release a stellar record and take the world by storm with an otherworldly tour.

    As for their direction, I suspect they will try to go back to basics and look at what worked and what didn't. I personally hope they revisit their HTDAAB album and play around with that motif again. While people may hate that album, I personally think it was their most relevant album regarding the sound and lyrics.
  12. and do you really think Bono is totally in comand for the directions to take and whatever?!
    we would have had an album labeled U2 - Spiderman flies to mars lately .. just for making one example.
    the only true thing is that he's a big mouth since .. uhm .. ever