U2 May Be a Great Concert Draw, But What Happened to Their Music
In just 20 days on the concert trail last year, U2 racked up the highest-grossing North American tour of 2009, pulling in $123 million at the box office. U2 was the only act to cross the $100-million mark last year, at nearly 7.7 million per show. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band followed U2 with nearly $95 million from 58 shows.
This is an amazing statistic considering that U2 just cannot seem to do anything wrong, except make a good album! As a longtime fan and seeing them for the first time as way back as 1981 in a small Jersey theater, I have been an avid collector of anything this band has put out over the years. If Bono sneezed and recorded it, there was a time that I most likely would have purchased that on CD too.
Their latest effort "No Line on the Horizon" is the worst to date. This is the bands 12th album and was produced by the infamous Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. Here we have a great band tied to top producers (who have worked with the band countless times in the past) and yet the finished product is a lack-luster collection of 11 songs.
I believe that the trouble started to grow in 2005 when the group fired their then producer Rick Rubin and shelved the sessions. Rubin wanted the band to get back to basics and bring finished songs to the studio. This ideology conflicted with the bands free-form writing philosophy and Rubin was asked to leave. Two of these songs did see the light of day on compilations "The Saints Are Coming" (the Skids cover) sang with Green Day and "Window to the Skies".
I recently purchased the reissued 2 disc versions of Boy, October, War, Under A Blood Red Sky, The Unforgettable Fire and Joshua Tree and I am certain that a reissue of Achtung Baby will follow. But that was U2 when they had power, passion and a message to their music.
Since 1991 it seems that U2 just gets more popular and I blame this on the glut and lack of originality of music in general. When the choices are Britney, Miley, Lady Gaga, Shakira and U2, what is one to do?
In 1993 the band released Zooropa - an underwhelming collection of what I consider b-sides. 1997's Pop utilized several different producers (Nelle, Flood, Steve Osbourne) and results were interesting as they provided the band with an almost techno vibe. This release included "Discoteque" that happens to be one of my favorite songs of the newer U2. All That You Can't Leave Behind in 2000 reunited Lanois and Eno as producers and sold a stunning 12 million copies, followed by 2004's How To Dismantle and Atomic Bomb. This time reuniting the boys with Steve Lillywhite who was responsible for giving the band their sound on the first three albums. Dismantle sold an impressive 9 million copies and was the 4th largest selling cd that year. No Line on the Horizon came out nearly a year ago and despite mega concert ticket sales the album is still well under the 3 million sales mark!
Any old fan of U2 would agree that the band has lost their sizzle and is not aging like a fine wine but rather following in the footsteps of the Rolling Stones as their wealth grows through concert sales. At least the Stones took some time off before becoming a self-imposed cover band. I once heard a story that Mick Jagger said he wasn't going to be singing Satisfaction in his sixties. So instead of stopping the show he merely took that song off the playlist.
I am certain that U2 will once again create an album of pure intensity similar to War or an album of stellar beauty like The Joshua Tree. Until then, I will keep adding this bands sneezes and coughs to my collection and wait for that day.
http://www.musesicman.com
This is an amazing statistic considering that U2 just cannot seem to do anything wrong, except make a good album! As a longtime fan and seeing them for the first time as way back as 1981 in a small Jersey theater, I have been an avid collector of anything this band has put out over the years. If Bono sneezed and recorded it, there was a time that I most likely would have purchased that on CD too.
Their latest effort "No Line on the Horizon" is the worst to date. This is the bands 12th album and was produced by the infamous Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. Here we have a great band tied to top producers (who have worked with the band countless times in the past) and yet the finished product is a lack-luster collection of 11 songs.
I believe that the trouble started to grow in 2005 when the group fired their then producer Rick Rubin and shelved the sessions. Rubin wanted the band to get back to basics and bring finished songs to the studio. This ideology conflicted with the bands free-form writing philosophy and Rubin was asked to leave. Two of these songs did see the light of day on compilations "The Saints Are Coming" (the Skids cover) sang with Green Day and "Window to the Skies".
I recently purchased the reissued 2 disc versions of Boy, October, War, Under A Blood Red Sky, The Unforgettable Fire and Joshua Tree and I am certain that a reissue of Achtung Baby will follow. But that was U2 when they had power, passion and a message to their music.
Since 1991 it seems that U2 just gets more popular and I blame this on the glut and lack of originality of music in general. When the choices are Britney, Miley, Lady Gaga, Shakira and U2, what is one to do?
In 1993 the band released Zooropa - an underwhelming collection of what I consider b-sides. 1997's Pop utilized several different producers (Nelle, Flood, Steve Osbourne) and results were interesting as they provided the band with an almost techno vibe. This release included "Discoteque" that happens to be one of my favorite songs of the newer U2. All That You Can't Leave Behind in 2000 reunited Lanois and Eno as producers and sold a stunning 12 million copies, followed by 2004's How To Dismantle and Atomic Bomb. This time reuniting the boys with Steve Lillywhite who was responsible for giving the band their sound on the first three albums. Dismantle sold an impressive 9 million copies and was the 4th largest selling cd that year. No Line on the Horizon came out nearly a year ago and despite mega concert ticket sales the album is still well under the 3 million sales mark!
Any old fan of U2 would agree that the band has lost their sizzle and is not aging like a fine wine but rather following in the footsteps of the Rolling Stones as their wealth grows through concert sales. At least the Stones took some time off before becoming a self-imposed cover band. I once heard a story that Mick Jagger said he wasn't going to be singing Satisfaction in his sixties. So instead of stopping the show he merely took that song off the playlist.
I am certain that U2 will once again create an album of pure intensity similar to War or an album of stellar beauty like The Joshua Tree. Until then, I will keep adding this bands sneezes and coughs to my collection and wait for that day.
http://www.musesicman.com
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