U2's Songs of Innocence....Five Year Later

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by americanscientist, Sep 9, 2019.

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  1. hollywoodswag

    hollywoodswag Forum Resident

    Location:
    Central Florida
    I was respectful in my response and would appreciate the same. As for what the competition was, I don't know, but I was just pointing out that it clearly had enjoyed some popularity before 9/11 happened.

    I'm not sure I'd call anything U2 did "cashing in on 9/11." I'd be more inclined to give them credit for having the right songs to help lift people's spirits in a dark time. As I understand it, though, Walk On was the song that seemed to carry on a special meaning after 9/11, but I'd argue that Beautiful Day had an appropriate sentiment.
     
    Twilight likes this.
  2. Popmartijn

    Popmartijn Senior Member

    Location:
    The Netherlands
    Where were you then? In a meeting with U2 where they discussed cashing in on 9/11?
     
  3. Bug80

    Bug80 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Netherlands
    I found the public reaction to the way it was released completely over the line. And it's interesting stuff for psychologists: why do people react in this way to something that is free? Why do they translate this in their heads to "I am forced to listen to this", or "I am forced to like this"? Or is it simply the notion that Apple can upload stuff to your phone without consent, so what else can they do without us even knowing?

    Another thing I find very interesting about it is that two masters of marketing (Apple, and U2) apparently made a huge miscalculation regarding how this would be received by the public.

    As for the music: I found and still find the album so-so. Some good songs, some not so good. However for me it's the best since ATYCLB, which was the last relevant U2 album for me personally.
     
  4. Bug80

    Bug80 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Netherlands
    Yes I think it was Walk On too.

    And you have to be so careful with blaming bands for taking advantage of terrible events like 9/11. Usually it's more that a song gets "adopted" by fans as a comforting song in difficult times. The same happened with Live: lots of people blamed them for using their song "Overcome" post-9/11, but it was actually a fan who made a video for it (the song had a whole different meaning to the band before that).
     
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  5. Partyslammer

    Partyslammer Lord Of The New Church

    No offense, but you have no idea what you're talking about.

    As it's already been mentioned, Beautiful Day as the first and lead single from the All You Can't Leave Behind album came out over a year before 9/11 and quickly received not only massive airplay and an overwhelmingly positive critical response. The single was a major reason that album quickly became and remains U2's 3rd biggest seller in physical media after The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby. Also, U2 was 3/4ths the way through their Elevation tour *before* 9/11 happened - they only did 2 months worth of shows in the US starting a month after 9/11.

    As far as "downloading" is concerned, well, 1999-2001 was the CD formats best sales years. Downloading really didn't start putting a significant dent in CD sales until around 2005.
     
  6. Bug80

    Bug80 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Netherlands
    Yes, this. I don't know about the US, but over here you could not switch on a radio without hearing Beautiful Day. The song was everywhere, well before 9/11.
     
  7. Ghost of Ziggy

    Ghost of Ziggy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hell
    Care to share some proof? Metallica sued Napster back in 2000. Many thousands of people around the world were illegally downloading music, even on dial up.
     
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  8. Bug80

    Bug80 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Netherlands
    I believe just before 2000 the CD sales were at peak height, and started to decline in 2000-2001. There's even an official report by the RIAA claiming that this is to a large extent due to downloading. They could not proof, however, that the subsequent drop in 2002 is due to illegal downloading too:

    https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...FjAAegQIAxAB&usg=AOvVaw3NuTMGuWNRUBBVG44uoFHK

    In conclusion I think itsi fair to say that the industry started noticing a decline due to illegal downloading first in 2000, but I don't think you can say that people were downloading *instead* of buying CDs. CD sales were still very high.
     
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  9. twicks

    twicks Forum Resident

    Location:
    Detroit
    I agree "It's a beautiful day" is sort of a trite statement, but you can't deny it clicks a lot better than this earlier draft.

     
    ARK likes this.
  10. via_atx

    via_atx Forum Resident

    Location:
    Austin, TX
    [​IMG]
     
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  11. Partyslammer

    Partyslammer Lord Of The New Church

    On the other hand, many hundreds of millions of people were buying CDs in 2001.

    [​IMG]
     
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  12. lonelysea

    lonelysea Ban Leaf Blowers

    Location:
    The Cascades
    I think the reaction to the free album foisted upon everyone with an iPhone had more to do with the fact that most everyone was already sick of U2 and their anthemic garbage by that point. It had nothing to do with politics or “entitlement” or any of the other lightning rod terms people employ these days to brandish their own ideologies.
     
  13. Gavaxeman

    Gavaxeman Take me back to dear old Blighty...

    Location:
    West Midlands U.K.
    I hand to say the hate for u2 at times is annoying, but to state they cashed in on 9/11 is a biggest load of balls yet ... did they cash in on the Ethiopian famine , the Bataclan shootings etc .. no they did not, life happens around bands and they deal with it accordingly. Walk On just became an incredibly moving moment in their concerts
     
  14. twicks

    twicks Forum Resident

    Location:
    Detroit
    I just watched a clip of them doing "Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way" in Japan and was reminded of how, during the making of Achtung Baby, they had a list of words to describe their music that were to be avoided:

    earnest, polite, sweet, righteous, rockist and linear

    Might be time to bring this list back to the studio?
     
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  15. Ghost of Ziggy

    Ghost of Ziggy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hell
    I tried to listen to this today, couldn’t even make it past the first 2 tracks.
     
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  16. Meyer

    Meyer Heavy Metal Parking Lot Resident

    It was priced appropriately.
     
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  17. Jimmy Disco D

    Jimmy Disco D Forum Resident

    Location:
    Shropshire, UK
    Bingo. And it’s still hanging around on my phone to this day unfortunately.
     
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  18. sunking101

    sunking101 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Yorkshire, England
    The second side of ATYCLB absolutely blows, talk about a top-loaded album. I've always found it to be a sterile U2-by-numbers album and it put me right off the band at the time. Both 'Songs of' albums are middle of the road borefests but I'm finally coming around to HTDAAB!

    However, by far the best post-POP album is NLOTH. That album almost, almost touches the greatness of old. If they had delayed release by another year or so and written a couple more quality songs it could have been right up there with their very best work. As things stand I still really like it though...
     
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  19. Phasecorrect

    Phasecorrect Forum Resident

    Location:
    WI
    Was a major disappointment then, still is to this day. Just look at the song list, nothing remotely memorable. That being said, U2 has for the most part always delivered live, so these songs in that setting would be interesting....sort of
     
  20. Phasecorrect

    Phasecorrect Forum Resident

    Location:
    WI
    At least Line had. a great 1-2 punch with the title track and a strong single in Magnificent to start the lolo. . Granted, it was downhill from there. Songs to me is dud from start to finish.
     
  21. houseofglass83

    houseofglass83 Forum Resident

    ATYCLB is hands down their best album released in the 21st century.
     
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  22. sunking101

    sunking101 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Yorkshire, England
    :tsk:
    NLOTH
    >>
    >>
    HTDAAB
    ATYCLB
    SOE
    SOI
     
  23. Phasecorrect

    Phasecorrect Forum Resident

    Location:
    WI
    Plus it was a crap album
     
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  24. Panther

    Panther Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tokyo, Japan
    Well, which U2 albums do you rate as good then?
     
  25. Phasecorrect

    Phasecorrect Forum Resident

    Location:
    WI
    Boy to Achtung: hell of a run
     
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