Go to Itunes, go to radio, go to alternative music - go to krock. Listen to that whilst you read this because i am not posting any music on the site in this post. it is too upsetting.
One of the things i think I should make clear to people is that i hate U2. I really do. I have for a long time.
i want to make it clear though, i love ireland. i have been to Ireland many times and I love the place and the people. irish people get really upset if you say you hate U2, it is like you are telling them their mother is a whore or something. i respect and understand national pride. But honestly they are just a band, sorry just a rubbish band and not at all representative of a nation.
So, why do i hate U2? Well in one of my favourite truisms, because they suck. that's why I hate them.
When i thought about writing this, I paused for thought. trying to work out why it would be that I still, after all these years disliked this immensely popular band so much. Maybe i am wrong? Maybe I have misjudged and i need to re-visit a long held almost cherished dislike of what is in reality a form of popular entertainment put together by four men from Ireland.
Nope, nothings changed. Still hate them.
let's start with Bono. the prentious peoples poet. I mean really what has this guy actually written lryically that stands up to greats? With or without you? Streets have no name? please . . . fortune cookie philosophy.
i usually admire a person that is able to do a lot of work for charity. But this guy, this guy preaches and preaches about how we should all be helping out the less fortunate. Sure we should, some of us do. Not him though. i do not expect him to donate all of his money, that would be unreasonable. but he doesn't actually donate. His charity was exposed for not actually making very much of a donation to the people it was supposed to be helping. Like less than 5 % actually went to the cause. What the hell is that?
here is a thought. U2 got their big break and first taste of a world wide audience during Band Aid. A cynic, i.e. me, could suggest that they realised the charity thing worked for them. So here is a publicity machine designed to generate the right kind of publicity for the band to keep them selling records. i do know that probably isn't the case, but i am a little blinded by hatred here.
Then you get The Edge. Firstly, what kind of a wanker calls himself the Edge? The Edge of what? His real name is David Evans. Which is a perfectly fine , common (as in popular) Irish name. Is it supposed to mean he is edgy? or he is at the Edge of something. let's hope it's a cliff.
I hate the way he acts so pious and so minimal. The guy is a very wealthy man, he doesn't have to be anything other than what he is, but the pretense that he lives in a hut somewhere whilst exporing the mysteries of the guitar makes me want to punch him in the face. have you seen the documentary ' This might get loud' there is a brilliant part in it. It has Jimmy Page, Jack White and the Edge in it. Jack white is explaining how he loves the guitar sound and hates using machines to generate music. Jimmy page is all over it saying there is no better sound. the Edge then talks about his love of machines and the sounds they make for him. He is just exposed as this massive fraud guitar player. I know guitar playing isn't all about shredding at 200 notes a minute, but he literally trys to explain with excitement about how he plays one note and the machines twist it up into a sound beat. pathetic.
The other guys in the band. Who cares , don't know there names, i know they must be reasonable musicians and have become hugely wealthy exploiting the lack of taste of the public.
That is it, that is what i hate. there is soo much brilliant music out there. People ignore this and go and buy U2. I want to shake them. i want to play them Sabbath. i want to play them Radiohead, the Cure, Aphex Twin, Public Enemy, Tool, Opeth, Faith No more, System of a down, Rage against the Machine, Boards of Canada, I want them to listen to music with passion, with virtuosity, with some content. Not just ' it's a beautiful day. No it fucking isn't a beauitful day mate. it is a day filled with excitement, passion, longing, brilliant sunshine or pouring rain. it is a day where we go all out in attack or retreat, do everything we can fit into it. Were we try, try just as hard as we can to be just that bit better than yesterday.
Not where sit on the fence. trying to please everyone. tryng to blend in so no one makes fun of us. Because we don't want to live like that. That is not the way you make the most of your life.
When people tell me they like U2, a little part of me dies inside if I liked them before hand. Because it upsets me they have chosen to ignore all the good stuff and go with the stuff everyone else likes.
This is just my opinion , i don't expect you to share it. i just want to give you that little shake you see.
Consider me shaken, but not to worry, I don't like U2 either. I have never owned an album of theirs, or downloaded a song. I didn't even know there were 4 band members.
ReplyDeleteI am curious of some of the bands you listed, and will have to look them up.
Wanting to ask ... are you okay,H?H?
well thanks for not only responding but asking. A mad person will never understand why the rest of the world thinks them crazy. However, do not worry, I am not sitting in a basement under a bare 40 watt bulb writing hate letters to U2. My rant , if you read the other posts, is somewhat isloated and U2 are a focus for what I see as different from my love of music. That is all.
ReplyDeletei would be very interested to hear what you have to say when you listen to some of the music i mentioned.
Will do. You post so many videos, I have to find the time to really listen. I may have to do it in chunks, not all at once. All I know is that I want to own a coconut puppet. Bizzare funny. I like off the wall humour. I am under the impression you possess this positive attribute.
ReplyDeleteanonymous: somewhere on this planet
I do post a lot of videos, that is mainly because i want it to be about the music, rather than what i say about it.
ReplyDeleteYes I would say that I like off the wall humour, I see that as positive also.
I don't mind your hate on U2 in the least. I love U2 and have every album. At the same time I tend to agree with you on the cringe inducing St. Bono the benevolent.
ReplyDeleteAlso (to keep that little part of you from dying inside), I have nearly every album by nearly every group in your little list above and then some.
But U2 are one of my favorites, partially because they hit me during my adolescence in the early '80s and it's stayed with me.
Other notable artists I adore:The Beatles, Pink Floyd,Yes,PiL,Miles Davis, Voivod, NIN, Skinny Puppy, Wagner, John Coltrane, Boris, Sunn o))), Echo & The Bunnymen, Mayhem, John Cage, Nadja, Frank Zappa, Stravinsky.....
As I always say, The middle of the road might seem spacious but beyond the ditch, if you can get across it, there are wide fields of music to be discovered that...who knows...might be right up your alley. Cheers
Harsh...but fair on St. Bono angle.
ReplyDeleteU2 from 1983 to 1991 (War to Achtung Baby) were the best band in the world...Boy and October were also quality if not up there with what was to come. However I must say they went downhill pretty rapidly, even if the 1993 Zoo TV tour was brilliant. I also saw Pop tour a few years later and to say it was shite would be over generous.
Then again I did see them in 2001 at Earl's Court and it was a great show...
re: Edge...if I recall correctly, they are his full initials. David is his second name. Also Evans, as far as I know,, is a Welsh name. I believe he was born there but grew up in Dubs. Likewise Adam Clayton was born in England. All can be verified by Wikipedia but I can't be bothered to check...
Again, thanks for commenting, no matter how wrong. The best band in the world from 83 to 91. They were certainly the biggest band in the mainstream world. I agree with that.
ReplyDeleteSo they were better than Guns and Roses, Metallica, The Pixes, The Cure? No Sorry they weren't. Nor will they ever be. interestingly , they do not even make the top echelon of albums sales either, falling wel below what their hype machine says. (That said, i of course would be happy with it)
they are just not that good. their music was not forging new frontieers, nor is it particularly well remembered. Only a couple of their songs ever make top 500 type lists. Certainly none of their albums ever do. So it isn't just me.
Hater and ankle biter all that is you.
ReplyDelete