Too bad the Hip only made #30... but at least they're on the list, they don't seem to get as much love from radio stations as they used to.
There are actually some good tunes on that list... but some real crap as well. Jet? Nickelback? Hoobastank? Courtney freakin' Love???? Brutal!!!!
chicagoblackhawks77 Wrote:U2 (or at least Bono) should have pulled a Buddy Holly after Rattle. Then, all of us would lament, "How many more great albums would they have made?!" Then, if they had gone the way of Richie and the Big Bopper, none of us would be so let down that this once great band had then gone on over the course of the last 15 years to produce 5 shitty additional albums and sunk so low as to do asshole yuppie commercials for apple. What the hell happened to "Sunday Bloody Sunday"? This band has sold out and compromised the music that made them, and that they continue to allegedly celebrate. Bobby Sands and Michael Collins are rolling over in their graves.
Bah! No way. I totally disagree. Did you see them on the Elevation tour? Best freakin' concert I've ever witnessed, and that includes Hip shows. The energy they gave off was incredible. Apple commercials or not, since 2000 this band has been back at the top of it's game. No Zoo TV, no giant lemons. Just 4 guys on stage playin some rock n' roll. And I can't believe you're calling Achtung Baby a shitty record. I agree their 80s output was brilliant, and The Joshua Tree sits firmly on my list of greatest albums of all time, but Achtung still blows that stuff out of the water any day of the week. It's their masterpiece. Overall I wasn't a huge fan of Zooropa and Pop, but even those records had some great moments that easily rival anything they did in the 80s.
Roy-at-tth Wrote:Okay, so you like U2, but you don't like recent U2. Which is fine, but there are several Million people who would disagree with you. Just saying.
read the article I posted up, you'll like it.
i do like the article very much..there also several million people who think that britney spears should be on that list..i don't go for numbers...
or good music. kidding kidding.
well got opinions. I just think vertigo should be 1 with American idiot as 2.
chicagoblackhawks77 Wrote:This band has sold out and compromised the music that made them.
Huh? Sold out? Because they appeared in an iTunes commercial (which they took no money for, by the way)? U2 are big fans of the iPod and iTunes (Bono has gone as far to say that Apple has single-handedly saved the future of the music industry). Of all the bands you can label as sell-outs, U2 is pretty much at the bottom of the list.
I have to interject here, only to say the word "sell-outs" or they "sold out" gets tossed around quite a bit, and I still dont get it, can someone really explain this and get to the heart of the matter, what really constitues selling out? Seeing Britney dancing around in a Pepsi commercial, it reeks of bad taste and its obvious its only about money and she has no problem doing it to help her career and she doesnt really care how her songs get used, its all about endorsements and money and that to me seems like selling out, so does U2 singing in an Ipod commercial rate the same? I know when the Doors sold Light My Fire to Ford or GM back in the day, they did it without Jim's approval and he was furious when he found out, and I would of done the same, I would of smacked Ray in the head. It cheapens the song and it loses its true meaning and allure, moreso for the writer of the song and the band itself, I think its more about the songs than about the people, if someone like Bono wants to do car commercials for his own personal gain and to get some publicity thats one thing, but when the songs are sold out to be used in the same way, it cheapens them and I hate that. When I hear one of my favorite classic rock songs played in a commercial it irks me. Personally if I was an artist I would cherish my songs, they would be personal and I wouldnt want them associated with anything else, thats me. And if I flippanlty sold them to companies to be used in commercials like they meant nothing to me that would be selling out I guess.
I have to agree with Dire Wolf as far as the U2 Evolution tour goes. Just a take a look at the two dvd's from that tour. U2 are 1st and formost one of the best live bands ever, period. Sometimes the subdude studio recordings including the new cd really turn me off. But when all the layers of compressed guitars, uneccessary drum loops and wierd noises are elliminated during the live setting...They simply rock.
As much as I've been into U2 for 2 decades now... Green Day's American Idiot blows me away. One loud, headphone listen to all 9+ minutes of Jesus of Suburbia...Damn!... I need to sit up in bed and have a cigarette! It's that good...... from an underdog band no less....
12 hip shows so far......
Perhaps I was too harsh in saying they should have gone out Buddy Holly style (ever see that kids in the hall skit?). But it really pains me to see how they have "sold out" and begun doing commercials. Seriously one of my favorite bands and have seen them 3 times live (unreal shows).
As for Achtung, I think it is solid, but no where near as heavy as War, Joshua, or the Unforgetable Fire.
Mick
spottrax Wrote:I have to agree with Dire Wolf as far as the U2 Evolution tour goes. Just a take a look at the two dvd's from that tour. U2 are 1st and formost one of the best live bands ever, period. Sometimes the subdude studio recordings including the new cd really turn me off. But when all the layers of compressed guitars, uneccessary drum loops and wierd noises are elliminated during the live setting...They simply rock.
As much as I've been into U2 for 2 decades now... Green Day's American Idiot blows me away. One loud, headphone listen to all 9+ minutes of Jesus of Suburbia...Damn!... I need to sit up in bed and have a cigarette! It's that good...... from an underdog band no less....
I couldn't agree more. American Idiot is amazing. Probably one of the best records released in the last 10 years.
chicagoblackhawks77 Wrote:Perhaps I was too harsh in saying they should have gone out Buddy Holly style (ever see that kids in the hall skit?). But it really pains me to see how they have "sold out" and begun doing commercials.
As already stated by Cferneyh, U2 didn't receive a dime for appearing in the ipod commercial. They did it because they're excited about the technology. These facts have been widely reported in Rolling Stone, Spin, and Time Magazine, as well as a couple of newspaper articles I read. So if they didn't get paid, then how is that selling out?? The Hip have appeard in a lot of beer promos over the years, and I don't hear you calling them sell-outs. Here's a great quote from Bono in a recent issue of Spin Magazine:
"We will do a commercial with Apple for our album, and no money will change hands, which is important, because we have been offered boat loads of money from many other people. But we will make an Apple commercial that's as good as any video. And next year you will be able to go to a U2 show and download the concert onto your ipod. We're going to make a digital box set, where you can get every U2 album and every U2 B-side and every U2 lyric, all at once. We want to do this because we like their company. It's art, commerce, and technology colliding.
I laugh at all these middle-class college kids who are preoccupied with the fear of selling out. I've never been afraid of commerce. I've never been afraid of people who run music companies. There is this cliche that artists are pure and business people can't be trusted. Well, in my life I've met a lot of artists who were real assholes, and a lot of businessmen who walk their dogs. So these things aren't true. We need new thinking."
direwolf74 Wrote:"We will do a commercial with Apple for our album, and no money will change hands, which is important, because we have been offered boat loads of money from many other people. But we will make an Apple commercial that's as good as any video. And next year you will be able to go to a U2 show and download the concert onto your ipod. We're going to make a digital box set, where you can get every U2 album and every U2 B-side and every U2 lyric, all at once."
That is really cool, I knew they were doing the Apple thing for free so I wasn't on the sellout bandwagon, but I never knew they were doing all that. It's a really fantastic idea, very creative, and I wish them luck with it because I would LOVE to see the concept spread to my favourite bands (I have half of U2 albums but I don't think I'll ever be hardcore). Bono is a mster marketer though, that quote is as carefully well phrased as any politician's speech!!
As far as "selling out" goes, I think some bands might be incredibly stupid if they had the opportunity to do so and decided not to. Just think about it for a moment; this question of integrity; I can understand how some might say selling a tune for commercial purposes might cheapen that tune but isn't every single band themselves somewhat of a corporation? From the packaging of an album, to it's layout, to what they wear on stage; hell, even music videos can be argued as commericials promoting the band...
Aside from the thought it may cheapen some particular tune, who wouldn't want their art (and/or their band) plastered all over the place? I think it depends on the situation but if I had the opportunity to "sell-out" I'd do it in a heartbeat. (I just wouldn't spend all that cash on stupid shit like 3 million-dollar necklaces)
Littleproud Wrote:And really, most of these songs are from 2003. WTF?
I'm glad someone else said that cuz I seriously thought I had screwed my long-term memory... or my short-term memory... whatever would apply here. I don't think songs from 2003 should be on a "best of 04" list... but maybe they had to fill out 102 spots or something?
Go®d, you took the words right out of my mouth about Bono's facile use of words. Bono is right that musicians arent the most perfect people, but he should be asking himself this question; Is it a good thing to let a music company control the shape your music takes and change it to make it more radio-friendly? To me it's all about the artists willingness to let the music companies influence the music making process in a way that makes it bland and tasteless. Corporations are both a good and negative influence in the music industry; look at Sirius and XM, the multitude of channels they offer to meet different tastes is proof that some corporations are willing to back different forms of music and make money doing so. But you also have Clear Channel and the amount of power they have and the way they wield it to weed out the un-commercial-radio friendly bands.
lord brazle Wrote:As far as "selling out" goes, I think some bands might be incredibly stupid if they had the opportunity to do so and decided not to. Just think about it for a moment; this question of integrity; I can understand how some might say selling a tune for commercial purposes might cheapen that tune but isn't every single band themselves somewhat of a corporation? From the packaging of an album, to it's layout, to what they wear on stage; hell, even music videos can be argued as commericials promoting the band...
Aside from the thought it may cheapen some particular tune, who wouldn't want their art (and/or their band) plastered all over the place? I think it depends on the situation but if I had the opportunity to "sell-out" I'd do it in a heartbeat. (I just wouldn't spend all that cash on stupid shit like 3 million-dollar necklaces)
True, just look at KISS, they are a corporation unto themselves and I don't begrudge them the money they are making; it's their right to market themselves the way they want to but as far as them having a significant influence on songwriting and musicianship, they don't pass muster in my mind. What if the Beatles had kept making the same kind of music that marked their early years? This is what Kiss has been doing ever since they got started and I think they will be remembered as entertainers, not voices of a generation like the Beatles.
VioletlightHeron Wrote:Go®d, you took the words right out of my mouth about Bono's facile use of words. Bono is right that musicians arent the most perfect people, but he should be asking himself this question; Is it a good thing to let a music company control the shape your music takes and change it to make it more radio-friendly? To me it's all about the artists willingness to let the music companies influence the music making process in a way that makes it bland and tasteless. Corporations are both a good and negative influence in the music industry; look at Sirius and XM, the multitude of channels they offer to meet different tastes is proof that some corporations are willing to back different forms of music and make money doing so. But you also have Clear Channel and the amount of power they have and the way they wield it to weed out the un-commercial-radio friendly bands.
You make some great points. I agree with Bono regarding his take on "selling out", and I think what U2 has done with Apple is pretty unique and innovative, but I'm also of the opinion that record companies and the corporations that run them are pure evil. Turn on the radio and you can easily tell that nothing has changed since 1994. For 10 years now, corporate radio and video stations have been shoving the same watered-down cookie cutter bullshit down our throats over and over and over again. I hate to sound like a pessimist, but the way things are going I'm not sure if we'll ever see another musical revolution like we did in the early 90s. The major labels won't allow it anymore. These days the revolutions are all happening underground. Most of the new artists I've come to love over the last decade (The Weakerthans, Hayden, Kathleen Edwards, Wilco, Cuff the Duke, Greg Macpherson, Drive By Truckers, the Constantines, Neko Case, Ron Sexsmith, etc...) are all mid-sized touring acts signed to indie labels. Radio and Muchmusic wouldn't touch these artists with a ten foot pole, and that's pretty sad. The last time I was actually blown away by something I heard on mainstream radio was way back in '95 when I first heard "Fake Plastic Trees" by Radiohead.