U2 / You Too

[Sits]

So they should be Maroon 6.5? Or does Maroon 5 mean something? Which brings us back on thread, sort of I suppose.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

I remain bewildered that Bono hasn't done a solo album yet. I can literally think of nobody it would fit more than he.

Bono does loads of duets, and when he isn't doing that, he's writing stuff with just the edge. They wrote a musical about spiderman that never happened. He genuinely doesn't need the hassle of a solo album, particularly since his voice has been on the slide. believe it or not, he may actually get all the individual adulation he needs as the front man of U2. and the duets and stuff are all about building his status in the wider musical community. If he brought out a solo album, it likely wouldn't do well, and he'd get hammered for all sorts of things that would have little to do with the actual album itself

Something worth remembering about U2 is that there's actually five members, with paul mcGuinness, their manager getting one fifth of the money. He's really important to the whole thing. HIm and adam had to convince the other three to not break up the band after the first album because bono wanted to go off and become some kind of preacher or missionary. I believe he was encouraged by Paul mcguinness to carry on his ministry through his music.

I don't know what to think about U2 really. They've always just been there, like a big mountain. After a while you just take for granted that its there and it's huge. by the time I started listening to popular music they were kind of over. That discotheque album came out when I was in college, and It was a bit meh. I got my hands on a copy of achtung baby, and that was quite good. (Apart from Acrobat, which contains everything that irritating about U2 in one song) it's also easy to see from a lot of their earlier stuff, why they got so big. They're one of my favourite american stadium rock bands. well ahead of bon jovi

[Patrick Thistle]

Yeah, Bono did the Passengers side project. I thought he did a covers album as well.

And I'd heard that Adam Clayton had been to rehab.

One thing that surprises me is that they used to churn out a song for a film soundtrack or something where presumably they'd been convinced for commercial reasons or paid upfront. There has always been a strong commercial side to their success.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

Yeah, Bono did the Passengers side project. I thought he did a covers album as well.

And I'd heard that Adam Clayton had been to rehab.

One thing that surprises me is that they used to churn out a song for a film soundtrack or something where presumably they'd been convinced for commercial reasons or paid upfront. There has always been a strong commercial side to their success.

Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen did a version of the Mission Impossible theme, for the 1996 movie version, which got to No.7 in the proper American singles chart (and coincidentally No.7 in the UK singles chart as well). They could have easily have put it out under the U2 name for the "brand recognition", so I wonder if it was a case of letting the rhythm section have a few quid on the side, and a bit of their own spotlight, to keep them happy.

[WOM]

They wrote a musical about spiderman that never happened.

Never happened? It opened on Broadway....twice!

And I hear what you're saying, but he has a pretty fucking legendary ego. Those guys usually convince themselves the world is clambering for their solo oeuvre. Mick Jagger being the worst-best example.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Never happened? It opened on Broadway....twice!

Shhh. Much Like rumours of Ireland being at euro 2012, It never happened. That's our story and we're sticking to it.

Tales that it was the greatest financial disaster in broadway history are just lies printed by the fake news media.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

There's one big difference between Bono and mick jagger. Bono isn't remotely as driven by money as Jagger. Don't get me wrong, he loves money, but Jagger is a special case. Bono wants to sing duets with tony bennett and think he's frank sinatra, and he doesn't seem to be interested in writing music without the edge. Those lads are pretty tight. I've related the account of my meeting the Edge. He's a pleasant, calm, relaxed, if slightly dull middle class north dublin guy. I could see how working with him would be a pleasant enough experience, And why U2 have lasted so long. It's hard to imagine having a temper tantrum around him.

[WOM]

Shhh. Much Like rumours of Ireland being at euro 2012, It never happened. That's our story and we're sticking to it.

Tales that it was the greatest financial disaster in broadway history are just lies printed by the fake news media.

This is remarkable. I wonder if I conjured Boy George's Taboo, too.

[caja-dglh]

TAB!'s downplaying of Spiderman: Turn off the Dark has me suspecting he is on Bono's payroll. "Never happened" because it nearly killed the guy playing Spiderman, amongst other things.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

The whole thing is a real seventh line of cocaine idea isn't it?

Speaking of the seventh line of cocaine, here's the moment of cringing crushing disappointment that elevates gay byrne's mortifying final episode of the late late show beyond anything Larry David could imagine

[WOM]

TAB!'s downplaying of Spiderman: Turn into the Dark has me suspecting he is on Bono's payroll. "Never happened" because it nearly killed the guy playing Spiderman, amongst other things.

Your intentional mangling of the title to throw off google searches makes me wonder if you're in on the plan.

[caja-dglh]

That, plus a lot of extremely successful people practicing improv by continually say "Yes! And..." to generate ideas. Wouldn't it be fun if Spiderman could fly all around the theatre! The largest loss on a musical of all time. How they burned through $75 million is rather impressive for a theatre production (beyond the budget spent on Peruvian flake)

[caja-dglh]

Your intentional mangling of the title to throw off google searches makes me wonder if you're in on the plan.

My bad. That was sloppy as I couldn't remember the name but I could remember the weeks of "will Spiderman die?" after he fell shortly before the previews.

[WOM]

That, plus a lot of extremely successful people practicing improv by continually say "Yes! And..." to generate ideas. Wouldn't it be fun if Spiderman could fly all around the theatre! The largest loss on a musical of all time. How they burned through $75 million is rather impressive for a theatre production (beyond the budget spent on Peruvian flake)

It's a staggering loss. If you ever have the chance to see Come From Away, you'll know why it's one of the 'fastest-profitable' Broadway opens ever. The 'set' is basically 12 chairs and 36 costumes. But what they manage to do with it is really quite remarkable.

[Satchmo Distel]

I can hear an isolated U2 track on the radio and really like it, but I know that if I tried to listen to a whole CD's worth, I'd be chucking it across the room after 15 minutes at the pretentious self-regard of the twat on vocals, despite liking the guitars and the overall drive of the music.

However, I'll admit to a double standard here: I don't apply the same principle to The Smiths, but the cases are actually quite similar. Sometimes we'll tolerate, even enjoy, the pretentious self-regard of the twat on vocals, if there are enough other virtues there to keep us coming back, but with U2, I don't think there are.

[Satchmo Distel]

I bet quite a lot of bands grow out of their frankly silly early names. The Police. The Who. Wham!. The Beach Boys. I bet it's only the Eagles and the Rolling Stones who grew into their names.

With The Beach Boys, the contrast between the shallow name and deep music has become a big attraction for me (and presumably others) but I also wonder how many potential converts just can't get past the surfboard and over-privileged white boy image. OTOH it was a deliberate strategy in the 70s to keep the band selling by pushing that image, even as the albums they were putting out (Surf's Up, Holland) became more of a cult taste.

[Billy Casper]

If I remember correctly, The Beach Boys considered changing their name around the time Brian Wilson was in bed. Beach was going to be the new name.

[The Bean Counter]

Apparently when Capitol put out their first single, they stuck 'The Beach Boys' on the label, and that was the first time it had been used. Think they always had mixed feelings about the name. Obviously, by the mid 70s they were certainly not boys, and spent more time in rehab than at the beach, so a change of name at that point if not before would have made sense.

[The Bean Counter]

On the main thread topic, I think TAB summed up nicely what U2 are for any Irish person of my generation. I probably like their music more than most, went to see them in the Point in 2015 and really enjoyed it, and found myself recognising all the tunes, even the ones I didn't know I knew. And Bono, easy to see why he annoys people but he could be worse. With all the money he has, he could quite easily settle down to spend the rest of his days snorting cocaine off the naked buttocks of virgins, but he still - in his own way - prefers to try and make the world a better place.

Though surely the reason he has never put out a solo album is because even he realises nobody is going to want to listen to his songs if The Edge isn't playing on them?

[Stumpy Pepys]

The Beach Boys had previously been The Pendletones.

[Stumpy Pepys]

Speaking of the seventh line of cocaine, here's the moment of cringing crushing disappointment that elevates gay byrne's mortifying final episode of the late late show beyond anything Larry David could imagine

I found out recently that Paul McCartney asked Gay Byrne to manage the Beatles, prior to them meeting Brian Epstein.

[Lang Spoon]

Is that true or just shite Gay Byrne/Rte wanks would come it with?

[Sits]

When they were the new thing in town my mate’s sister and her friends used to go and see them with the Alarm in London on a regular basis IIRC. I taped her copies of the first two albums, then War when that came out. I found the whole idea of them quite exciting back then. By the time Unforgettable Fire and Joshua Tree arrived they were just the there, forever. Those were the last vinyl bums I bought before the CD player arrived.

But a mate taped Rattle & Hum for me and the sheen had worn, it was all a bit bombastic and slightly dull. That’s what made Achtung Baby so good, it was less pompous and a bit edgier (sorry). Far too long though.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Is that true or just shite Gay Byrne/Rte wanks would come it with?

https://extra.ie/2019/11/04/news/iri...eatles-manager

It sounds pretty plausible, up until the point you remember that epstein started to manage the beatles a full year before they appeared on tv, not after

[WOM]

Hugh Fatbastard, formerly of this parish, had some kind of 'old country' connection to either Bono or The Edge. I don't recall if it was him or his best mate, Steve, but one of their mothers was good friends with B/TE's mother, and they were told that they should go see their lad's band. They caught the first show they ever did in Toronto, which was probably 50 people. They had a friendly chin-wag with the boys after the show. I may ask him for exact details again at some point.