Author Topic: The history of U2 v. Discography Thread: Songs of Innocence  (Read 22956 times)

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Online King Postwhore

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Re: The history of U2 v. Discography Thread: The Unforgettable Fire
« Reply #70 on: March 15, 2015, 04:47:25 AM »
I remember the sense of something building for U2 in America.  Pride was on MTV every time you turned it on and the was chatter in our high school about them.  What shocked me was the average fans at school talking about U2.  While I was the guy that was tooting their horn to all my friends, those who shunned them a year ago was talking about them during study hall and lunch time.  I mocked them for not paying attention when I was trying to get friends into them.  (The music snob in me. :lol)

So a weekend of 2 shows were coming with U2 on a Thursday and Triumph on a Saturday. (The Thunder 7 tour)  I took this girl I was dating at the time.  U2 was  like a religious experience.  I was on the lodge side of Adam Clayton and watched as Bono owned the stage like a maddened preacher, waving his bibble which was his microphone, preaching his work.  I swear he mesmerized 15,000 people at this show.  From all the standard like Gloria, I Fall Down, Two Hearts...,  New Years Day, I Will Follow, Pride,  Bad, to the album cuts I Through A Brick Through a Window, Out Of Control & Seconds.

I chanted along to every song waving my hands in the air.  It was truly an emotional show.  The last song was 40 live where slowly, one by one, Adam, then The Edge, then Larry left the stage until it was Bono and 15,000 singing together, "How long, to sing this song" until Bono left and we sang for 5 more minutes until the lights came on.

We left the show like a heard of blissful true believers going out to spread the work of U2.  The next week at school a ton of people had their U2 concert shirts on.  I was jealous.  This was my band, these folks we not a fan of U2 like myself!  This was the beginnings of the popularity of U2.  They were no longer, "My band".
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Offline hefdaddy42

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Re: The history of U2 v. Discography Thread: The Unforgettable Fire
« Reply #71 on: March 15, 2015, 05:00:23 AM »
Was Triumph a letdown?  Or just different?
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Re: The history of U2 v. Discography Thread: The Unforgettable Fire
« Reply #72 on: March 15, 2015, 05:02:13 AM »
Just as good.  Obviously a rock vibe.  They had lasers and a stage show that was amazing.  2 different beasts but both enjoyable!
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Offline Kotowboy

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Re: The history of U2 v. Discography Thread: The Unforgettable Fire
« Reply #73 on: March 15, 2015, 05:21:10 AM »
I can start contributing to this thread a bit more soon......


 :biggrin:

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Re: The history of U2 v. Discography Thread: The Unforgettable Fire
« Reply #74 on: March 15, 2015, 09:29:16 AM »
I can start contributing to this thread a bit more soon......


 :biggrin:

 :facepalm:

I remember the sense of something building for U2 in America.  Pride was on MTV every time you turned it on and the was chatter in our high school about them.  What shocked me was the average fans at school talking about U2.  While I was the guy that was tooting their horn to all my friends, those who shunned them a year ago was talking about them during study hall and lunch time.  I mocked them for not paying attention when I was trying to get friends into them.  (The music snob in me. :lol)

So a weekend of 2 shows were coming with U2 on a Thursday and Triumph on a Saturday. (The Thunder 7 tour)  I took this girl I was dating at the time.  U2 was  like a religious experience.  I was on the lodge side of Adam Clayton and watched as Bono owned the stage like a maddened preacher, waving his bibble which was his microphone, preaching his work.  I swear he mesmerized 15,000 people at this show.  From all the standard like Gloria, I Fall Down, Two Hearts...,  New Years Day, I Will Follow, Pride,  Bad, to the album cuts I Through A Brick Through a Window, Out Of Control & Seconds.

I chanted along to every song waving my hands in the air.  It was truly an emotional show.  The last song was 40 live where slowly, one by one, Adam, then The Edge, then Larry left the stage until it was Bono and 15,000 singing together, "How long, to sing this song" until Bono left and we sang for 5 more minutes until the lights came on.

We left the show like a heard of blissful true believers going out to spread the work of U2.  The next week at school a ton of people had their U2 concert shirts on.  I was jealous.  This was my band, these folks we not a fan of U2 like myself!  This was the beginnings of the popularity of U2.  They were no longer, "My band".

This is good stuff. :hat

Offline Kotowboy

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Re: The history of U2 v. Discography Thread: The Unforgettable Fire
« Reply #75 on: March 15, 2015, 06:45:07 PM »

 :facepalm:


BECAUSE I'M MOSTLY FAMILIAR WITH JOSHUA TREE ONWARDS IF THATS OK WITH YOU




bellend
« Last Edit: March 15, 2015, 06:51:47 PM by Kotowboy »

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Re: The history of U2 v. Discography Thread: The Unforgettable Fire
« Reply #76 on: March 15, 2015, 07:43:45 PM »


 :biggrin:

Offline Kotowboy

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Re: The history of U2 v. Discography Thread: The Unforgettable Fire
« Reply #77 on: March 15, 2015, 07:46:12 PM »
Error ! Witty comeback not found ! Insert pic instead !


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Re: The history of U2 v. Discography Thread: The Unforgettable Fire
« Reply #78 on: March 16, 2015, 06:58:24 AM »
...anyway...

Listened to The Unforgettable Fire again this morning.  Stunning.  U2 at their height had such power.  Pride remains one of my favorite songs.

I remember DT covering Bad.  Wasn't bad, but wasn't U2.
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Re: The history of U2 v. Discography Thread: The Unforgettable Fire
« Reply #79 on: March 16, 2015, 07:03:00 AM »
So it was Bad but it WASN"T Bad ?


Anyway - Joshua Tree up next :)

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Re: The history of U2 v. Discography Thread: The Unforgettable Fire
« Reply #80 on: March 16, 2015, 05:35:36 PM »
  Pride remains one of my favorite songs.
 

That remains one of those songs that no matter how many times I hear it, it always sounds great. :coolio


Anyway - Joshua Tree up next :)

I'll be curious to see if this thread gets more participants with that.  Right now, it's basically 4-5 of us talking in this thread.

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Re: The history of U2 v. Discography Thread: The Joshua Tree
« Reply #81 on: March 19, 2015, 08:06:19 PM »


When 1987 rolled around, I still only really knew a few U2 songs: "Pride," "New Year's Day" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday," plus I think I might have heard a few songs from War since my brother Tim had that on cassette and listened to it a lot.  So when a song called "With or Without You" came out in the spring and instantly got played seemingly every hour on MTV, I was initially a tad turned off. It just didn't grab me for the most part, except for the outro (the last minute), which I did think was great, and slowly but surely, I grew to like the whole song.  Before I knew it, a second single from the new album, "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," was all over the place, and that was one I did like a lot at first.  When the third single came out, in the form of "Where the Streets Have No Name," I was hooked. i think it wasn't long after that that I went out and bought the cassette of The Joshua Tree.

It sounds like a cliche, but you really had to be there at the time to recognize just how truly massive this album was.  Even in, 1987, a year where hair metal was nearly at its popularity peak, U2 dominated, thanks to those hits and the overall greatness of the record. The record is an easy listen, and the running order couldn't be any better, and the story behind that is kind of funny. When the band was finishing up the album, they hadn't decided on a running order, but the wife of Steve Lillywhite, who was there to remix the potential hits, said she'd do it, and they let her do with it, with the only caveats being that "Streets" had to first and "Mothers of the Disappeared" had to be last.  Tracks 2-10 pretty much consisted of her putting them in order of how much she liked them, her favorite being track 2, 2nd favorite being track 3, etc.

Back to "Streets," even back then, even though I loved it, I knew it had that "it could have been better" feel to it.  Edge specifically wrote the song to be their ultimate live song, and in that regard, he slammed it out of the park; it is their best live tune.  The band themselves have even said they really didn't play the song to its full potential for years.  Tweaks over the years have only made it better and better. 

During my initial stage of getting to know this record, the back-to-back of "Bullet the Blue Sky" and "Running to Stand Still" were real eye-openers for me. I listened to those songs as much as any songs that year, and the band, knowing how well they go together, have always played them back-to-back live.  "Bullet" is another tune that is far better live, and it is pretty awesome in the studio, so that says a lot.  It's hard to top the studio version of "Running," but I think the version on the Zoo TV tour came pretty damn close. I still listen to both versions a ton.

As for Side 2, my favorites are "One Tree Hill" and "Red Hill Mining Town," the latter of which, unbelievably, has never been played live.  "In God's Country" is a fun little rocker, and "Exit" was a pretty good tune that really came to life when played live (imagine that :lol). The aforementioned "Mothers of the Disappeared" is a fine closer, ending the album on a depressing note, but really showed how well the band could do other things.  "Trip Through Her Wires" is just kind of there for me, although it's fine when listening to the whole album; it's just not a song I seek out on its own.

Overall, I would call this the 2nd best album U2 has ever done.  It's a true classic, in every sense of the word.

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Re: The history of U2 v. Discography Thread: The Joshua Tree
« Reply #82 on: March 19, 2015, 08:13:08 PM »
 :hefdaddy

Finally ! It's 2am now and I need to focus on a decent reply to this one !

Shortlist :

One of the greatest albums ever. Probably still U2's greatest moment. Just so many great songs. The intro to Where The Streets Have No Name live is

just an absolute joy. The version of this on the Elevation DVD is fantastic. I still regularly rip off Exit's bass line for my own songs and it's the album that

got me firmly into the band :)

Amazing album.



** Oh and Streets live is absolutely far and away their best song. I can't imagine what it would be like to hear / see it in person. I'd be in bits.

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Re: The history of U2 v. Discography Thread: The Joshua Tree
« Reply #83 on: March 19, 2015, 08:17:15 PM »
I'm going to bed and not enough time to post what I'd like to say.  I'll do that tomorrow when I get home
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Offline bosk1

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Re: The history of U2 v. Discography Thread: The Joshua Tree
« Reply #84 on: March 19, 2015, 08:39:21 PM »

Anyway - Joshua Tree up next :)

I'll be curious to see if this thread gets more participants with that.  Right now, it's basically 4-5 of us talking in this thread.

Honestly, I hadn't been paying attention.  I am not a hardcore U2 fan by any stretch.  I got onboard with War, but wouldn't really consider myself a "dedicated" fan until Joshua Tree.  LOVED that album.  But then my interest began to taper off.  After Achtung Baby, I stopped actively following.  I still like them, but am not an active fan.

"Streets" . . . Edge specifically wrote the song to be their ultimate live song, and in that regard, he slammed it out of the park; it is their best live tune. 

It is a great live tune, but I would without hesitation put Bullet The Blue Sky in the "best live U2 song of all time" slot.  But take that as a VERY minor disagreement, because BOTH songs are outstanding in ANY format.  They are my top 2 on the album, and probably top 2 in the U2 discography.

My band added Streets to our set last year.  No song gave us fits like that one.  It is an absolute bear to pull off.  We should add Bullet The Blue Sky this year.  Do 'em back to back.

Out of curiosity, what would you say is the definitive live version of Streets?

During my initial stage of getting to know this record, the back-to-back of "Bullet the Blue Sky" and "Running to Stand Still" were real eye-openers for me.

Yup.  GREAT combo.

Overall, I would call this the 2nd best album U2 has ever done.  It's a true classic, in every sense of the word.

I would call it their best, easily.  This makes just about any "desert island" list I would compile.
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Re: The history of U2 v. Discography Thread: The Joshua Tree
« Reply #85 on: March 19, 2015, 09:01:42 PM »
To me, the definitive live version of Streets is undoubtedly the one on the Zoo TV live DVD.  While musically it has gotten better over the years, Bono's aging voice has made the newer versions not as great vocally, as he simply does not give the song the sheer power that it needs vocally.  Many rave over the Elevation Boston version, and it is unreal musically, but he talks his way through a lot of it, and I don't like him talking over the intro either.  The Zoo TV version has that amazing build-up from Running to Stand Still and the band is hitting on all cylinders during that version.  I've never heard a better version of it.

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Re: The history of U2 v. Discography Thread: The Joshua Tree
« Reply #86 on: March 19, 2015, 09:09:33 PM »
I can see how he would struggle with it in later years.  It is deceptively difficult to sing.

I will check out that version.  I really should get that DVD.  I wanted to years ago, and never got around to it.


EDIT:  :lol  I proposed BTBS to the band and just got an email back from our guitar player asking who is going to breathe into his saxophone.  I responded, "Well, The Man, obviously.  (presumeably, the same one peeling off those dollar bills, slappin’ ‘em down)"
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Re: The history of U2 v. Discography Thread: The Joshua Tree
« Reply #87 on: March 20, 2015, 07:06:23 AM »
Great, great album.  I will be listening again this weekend.

Surprised me to hear that Red Hill Mining Town has never been performed live by the band.  Hell, DT has played it live, so it's kind of weird that U2 hasn't.

In God's Country used to be performed by a Christian band I loved, Caedmon's Call.  They actually did a pretty good rendition of it.

And the hits on this album are just amazing.
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Re: The history of U2 v. Discography Thread: The Joshua Tree
« Reply #88 on: March 20, 2015, 01:41:06 PM »
Caedmon's Call

great band.  Just listened to 40 Acres.
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Re: The history of U2 v. Discography Thread: The Joshua Tree
« Reply #89 on: March 20, 2015, 02:07:35 PM »
Caedmon's Call

great band.  Just listened to 40 Acres.
Boom, there you go.

I love them as a whole group. but I remain convinced that Derek Webb is a genius.  And of course, he was the one behind them covering In God's Country.  I'll see if I can find that lying around anywhere.
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Re: The history of U2 v. Discography Thread: The Joshua Tree
« Reply #90 on: March 20, 2015, 02:08:07 PM »
The Joshua Tree is my favourite album of theirs :tup
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Re: The history of U2 v. Discography Thread: The Joshua Tree
« Reply #92 on: March 21, 2015, 02:41:35 AM »
Finished listening.  What an awesome, awesome album.  I'm glad this thread is happening, giving me a reason to listen to it again.  Probably one of the greatest albums of any genre to come out of the 80s.
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Re: The history of U2 v. Discography Thread: The Joshua Tree
« Reply #93 on: March 21, 2015, 04:55:24 AM »
Living in New England, we were lucky enough to here the songs before they album was released.  WBCN were playing songs off the album daily.  The first time I heard Bullet The Blue Sky I was going nuts.  The Guitar sounded like bullets flying overhead.  They played ever song from this album on WBCN.  Did it take away from getting the album when it was released you might ask?  Not at all.  There was such a build up of anticipation for it, hearing the songs early did not matter.  This album is a masterpiece.

The only problem for a guy like me was that now, everybody was talking about the band I promoted and was shunned.  I was loosing my band to these non music people.  It was wrong of me at the time but call me the music snob when I was the guy on the pedestal preaching the word of U2 when no one was listening.  This also was the time of them playing football stadiums which, I HATE as a music fan.  I've only been to 3 shows in my life at a stadium.  U2 was blowing up.
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Offline KevShmev

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Re: The history of U2 v. Discography Thread: The Joshua Tree
« Reply #94 on: March 21, 2015, 08:09:11 AM »
I can see how he would struggle with it in later years.  It is deceptively difficult to sing.

I will check out that version.  I really should get that DVD.  I wanted to years ago, and never got around to it.


EDIT:  :lol  I proposed BTBS to the band and just got an email back from our guitar player asking who is going to breathe into his saxophone.  I responded, "Well, The Man, obviously.  (presumeably, the same one peeling off those dollar bills, slappin’ ‘em down)"

Heh, exactly.

The chorus is what is so hard to sing just right. 

We're still building
Then burning down love
burning down love

If those lines are not sung just right, then the chorus simply doesn't come off nearly as well. 

Surprised me to hear that Red Hill Mining Town has never been performed live by the band.   

I think they view it as a song that they didn't get quite right in the studio, and when they tried it in rehearsals back then for the live tour, they struggled to get it what they considered "right" again, and seemingly just chucked it aside for all of eternity.

The Joshua Tree is my favourite album of theirs :tup

 :coolio

Finished listening.  What an awesome, awesome album.  I'm glad this thread is happening, giving me a reason to listen to it again.  Probably one of the greatest albums of any genre to come out of the 80s.

Agreed.  People love to rewrite the late 80s and early 90s and act like it was all hair metal and then grunge, but people forget that from 1987-1993, U2 were THE dominant band in music, and The Joshua Tree was a big reason why.

Living in New England, we were lucky enough to here the songs before they album was released.  WBCN were playing songs off the album daily.  The first time I heard Bullet The Blue Sky I was going nuts.  The Guitar sounded like bullets flying overhead.  They played ever song from this album on WBCN.  Did it take away from getting the album when it was released you might ask?  Not at all.  There was such a build up of anticipation for it, hearing the songs early did not matter.  This album is a masterpiece.

The only problem for a guy like me was that now, everybody was talking about the band I promoted and was shunned.  I was loosing my band to these non music people.  It was wrong of me at the time but call me the music snob when I was the guy on the pedestal preaching the word of U2 when no one was listening.  This also was the time of them playing football stadiums which, I HATE as a music fan.  I've only been to 3 shows in my life at a stadium.  U2 was blowing up.

They stopped being "your band," right? ;)

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Re: The history of U2 v. Discography Thread: The Joshua Tree
« Reply #95 on: March 21, 2015, 09:48:19 AM »
You know how it is.  You're the guy tooting U2's horn that not many listen to you.  So now you think your the ambassador for everything U2.  I was a jack ass. :lol  A snob and now, everybody liked them.  In hindsight, U2 was killing it and what band didn't want that.  Just a jerky teenage thing to think.  Now I'm just an ass. :lol
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Re: The history of U2 v. Discography Thread: The Joshua Tree
« Reply #96 on: March 21, 2015, 10:02:47 AM »
If someone had told me, when I was watching MTV back in 1981 and that band with the weird, kinda punky live video for a song called I Will Follow was going to become, in six or so years, the biggest band in the world, I'd have laughed my ass off.

Boy was I wrong.

I don't think you can understand how it was back then when this album came out, but there was this massive, very real sense that U2 had finally arrived. That for all their success, especially on MTV, the band had finally arrived as one of those ones that people would remember for the rest of their lives. The Joshua Tree was huge, and was the album that moved the band to full time arena and stadium band status. Turn on the radio and wait ten minutes, someone off of it was getting played. I didn't particularly like U2, but I could tell how big this album was and how big the band was becoming. One of the biggest albums of the 1980s, and possibly the biggest rock album of the decade, and one of the biggest ever.
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Offline KevShmev

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Re: The history of U2 v. Discography Thread: The Joshua Tree
« Reply #97 on: March 21, 2015, 06:32:57 PM »
You know how it is.  You're the guy tooting U2's horn that not many listen to you.  So now you think your the ambassador for everything U2.  I was a jack ass. :lol  A snob and now, everybody liked them.  In hindsight, U2 was killing it and what band didn't want that.  Just a jerky teenage thing to think.  Now I'm just an ass. :lol

I know what you mean.  It's like, "Where were all you clowns for years when I was telling you how great they were?!" :lol :lol

If someone had told me, when I was watching MTV back in 1981 and that band with the weird, kinda punky live video for a song called I Will Follow was going to become, in six or so years, the biggest band in the world, I'd have laughed my ass off.

Boy was I wrong.

I don't think you can understand how it was back then when this album came out, but there was this massive, very real sense that U2 had finally arrived. That for all their success, especially on MTV, the band had finally arrived as one of those ones that people would remember for the rest of their lives. The Joshua Tree was huge, and was the album that moved the band to full time arena and stadium band status. Turn on the radio and wait ten minutes, someone off of it was getting played. I didn't particularly like U2, but I could tell how big this album was and how big the band was becoming. One of the biggest albums of the 1980s, and possibly the biggest rock album of the decade, and one of the biggest ever.

So true.

Oddly enough, as huge as it was, it probably wasn't even the most successful rock album of 1987 from a singles standpoint (Hysteria had four top 10 singles, while Joshua Tree had two), but there is no doubt that the test of time has shown The Joshua Tree to be far more iconic and legendary.

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Re: The history of U2 v. Discography Thread: The Joshua Tree
« Reply #98 on: March 21, 2015, 10:48:52 PM »
If memory serves though, it took Hysteria about a year to blow up, so it was actually a bigger album in 1988 than 1987. 1987, to me, was three albums: Whitesnake, The Joshua Tree, and A Momentary Lapse of Reason. Though the last one might be there because I got it as my 21st birthday present and was the first album I got legally drunk to.  :lol
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Offline KevShmev

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Re: The history of U2 v. Discography Thread: The Joshua Tree
« Reply #99 on: March 21, 2015, 11:06:09 PM »
Haha, that's great.

And that is true regarding Hysteria, which came out late summer 1987, but had a weak first single (Women).  I think it was early '88 when the singles really took off.

Offline Jaq

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Re: The history of U2 v. Discography Thread: The Joshua Tree
« Reply #100 on: March 22, 2015, 10:17:55 AM »
In the US at least (the UK had a different release of singles order), Women came out first and totally bombed, Animal came out next and didn't fare that much better, and then Pour Some Sugar On Me dropped in spring of 1988 and BOOM. So it wasn't quite a year. Took 8 months. The really big singles came out in 1988, especially Love Bites, which got to #1, and that's why to me Hysteria is more a 1988 album. Though even in 1988 (getting back to U2) The Joshua Tree was still everywhere. That album had some fucking legs, let me tell you.
The bones of beasts and the bones of kings become dust in the wake of the hymn.
Mighty kingdoms rise, but they all will fall, no more than a breath on the wind.

Offline KevShmev

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Re: The history of U2 v. Discography Thread: Rattle and Hum
« Reply #101 on: March 25, 2015, 07:03:04 PM »


The movie
Seeing this movie was what really catapulted them from being a band I liked to a band I loved. It's kind of an odd movie to watch even now, because it looks so old.  It's not just the black and white; it just looks like it is from a long time ago. I thought that even in 1988/1989, but it wasn't to the film's detriment. For me, this film was my introduction to songs like "Bad." I actually saw this film in the theater. Twice, I think.

The album
Rattle and Hum does have a weird flow, it being a combination of live and studio songs, not to mention kicking off with a Beatles cover, but most of the new songs here are dynamite. "All I Want Is You" has long been not just my favorite U2 songs, but one of my favorites by any artist; it remains so to this day. I have always been a huge fan of "Van Diemen's Land." Edge's voice is perfect for it, and this is a song I never not sing along to. "Hawkmoon 269" and "Heartland" are two of the most underrated U2 songs ever; both are tremendous. The band did take a crack at bluesy stuff for the first time, like in "When Loves Comes to Town," which features B.B. King. Some didn't like the end result, but I like it; it's a fun, enjoyable tune. "Desire" and "Angel of Harlem" were both good, albeit not spectacular, singles.

This album was hugely popular, largely because it came so soon after The Joshua Tree; I don't think any of the singles came close to matching the popularity of the hits from TJT.  But this is still a very good record.  It is kind of a shame that it is kind of a mess structurally - they could have released just the new songs as a new album and it would have been fine - but flaws and all, this is the what the band was at the time. Both the film and album are a good look at a band dealing with massive success following their 1987 monster release.


Offline Kotowboy

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Re: The history of U2 v. Discography Thread: Rattle and Hum
« Reply #102 on: March 25, 2015, 07:13:55 PM »
I love the songs in the huge warehouse. Desire & Van Diemen's Land. Edge has a great voice.

My favourite parts are the interview where the band simply cannot be bothered to take it seriously :lol

Like Adam trying to string a sentence together and then pausing and going " ah fuck it, I dunno. " and Larry mimicking him.

And then the interviewer looking round like  ::)


Offline jammindude

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Re: The history of U2 v. Discography Thread: Rattle and Hum
« Reply #103 on: March 25, 2015, 08:12:55 PM »
My first wife's best friend was totally into U2, and I had never heard much from them that interested me in the slightest.  (and I had heard all the hits up to that point...WTSHNN was pleasant, but not enough to sway over my boredom of the others)

But then, knowing my heavier musical tastes, she played me this version of Bullet the Blue Sky.   That is STILL my favorite U2 song, and probably the only U2 song I've heard that I genuinely LOVE. 
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Than the pride that divides when a colorful rag is unfurled." - Neil Peart

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Offline hefdaddy42

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Re: The history of U2 v. Discography Thread: Rattle and Hum
« Reply #104 on: March 26, 2015, 07:26:25 AM »
I will try to listen to this again in the next day or so. 
Hef is right on all things. Except for when I disagree with him. In which case he's probably still right.