Joyful noise: U2's Songs of Innocence

WORLD Mag ^ | October 31, 2014 | Arsenio Orteza

[This Just In]

MUSIC | U2 pans for wisdom in Songs of Innocence

“There is only one thing … worse than being talked about,” says a character in Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, “and that is not being talked about.”

The Irish rockers U2 and their partners at Apple tested that idea by placing free copies of U2’s latest album, Songs of Innocence (Island), in the accounts of iTunes subscribers on Sept. 9—a date, coincidentally, that also marked the 124th birthday of Colonel Harland Sanders and the 48th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s debut on The Ed Sullivan Show.

[Terry L Smith]

dear this,

I have had a YT account since before google stole youtube, so the connection never really comes to mind, sorta like the bank i used is the same building, same people, just the sign outside changed.

[Dallas59]

Ear of the beholder. A few good songs but that’s about it.

[xp38]

Thanks for your post and view

[minnesota_bound]

#2 you have summed up their ‘singing’
caterwauling

Gene Simmons is correct about music.
The ‘suits’ are in control.

[minnesota_bound]

#19 a flaming peacock with a bullhorn
Yep that is Bono.

[canuck_conservative]

Best to separate the artists’ music and politics, lots of good music was (is) made by political idiots - like the afore-mentioned Bono and Eddie Vedder.

Don’t forget Tom Petty - love the music, but the guy is so communist he carries around a bust of Joe Stalin when on tour!

[Hot Tabasco]

We are in a dark ages, and it is clearly reflected in our music and our “art”.

No, WE ARE OLD and that is not "our" music, it is theirs. You're sounding just like your father.......LOL!

[antidisestablishment]

I agree 100%. Gene Simmons has a lot of nerve, since he has made his money on massive promotion and market saturation that created and polluted the modern era. (And I was a big KISS fan in grade school. LOL) All the big names have been corporate creations since the 70s.

There’s a lot of indie bands and small groups or individuals making some amazing music, but they won’t make the money or see the distribution that that big names did. The industry has changed, and Apple, Google and Sony can make millions without marketing the small artists. The big acts will remain marketing constructs, with the occasional breakout by an exceptional artist.

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

U2 were good then after the Joshua tree they went mediocre. They had a few good songs after that but nothing that compared to the energy and vibe they had pre-Joshua tree. It goes to show how success can have a negative effect, it’s like they were hungry then got the food then went to sleep. Probably the best I ever seen them was when they played Red rocks 1983. Everything was right in the pocket, great songs with a great unique sound and just the band playing, none of this Broadway show crap.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BrJ_2xf8Rg

[Fiji Hill]

Polikarpov U-2

[Covenantor]

Looks like a flying windsock. Don’t see a reason for the raised fuselage behind the pilot. Are side windows and wind screen missing from the drawing?

[NorthstarMom]

I, too, am a huge fan. The Irish tend to be a poetic people, perhaps their history has led them to be less superficial. When over there as a college student I chatted with guys in a pub & even with the normal flirting, the conversation was much deeper & more sincere than any one I had ever had at a bar in the US.

I love the music of U2 and thought the one concert I went to was amazing.

[Big Red Clay]

I blame the state of new music now on the freakin’ Disney Channel. Kids and the young people who are now in bands watch that crap with their manufactured sanitized “Partidge Family” music all the time. Like you said, not a lot of rebellion available in that environment and hence the crappy music.

I grew up listening to my older siblings play the music that they were in to, Hendrix, the Beatles and Led Zeppelin. These kids got Miley. No wonder the new music being created today sucks.

[Poison Pill]

Here's a frightening thought: from 1958 to 1983, name 100 musical anythings that are iconic, that seem to last beyond their time.

It's kind of a trick question. A Baby Boomer naming things he finds iconic that were created by Baby Boomers. Well of course he remembers his time the most.

But, that era did have two natural advantages. 1) The cohort is so huge that whatever they consumed became iconic by definition. It wasn't better, but due to demography and technology, more available. For every "Beatles" there were 100 "Stark Naked and the Car Thieves". With so many acts, something was bound to bubble up and get consumed. 2)The delivering technology forced everyone into a very focused space (40 songs more or less at any given time). Now, you don't have to wait around to be spoon fed the latest music by Kasey Kasem, or one of the suits at Capitol Records. Music that used to be esoteric, now has viable delivery channels.

[Darksheare]

Eddie Vedder, mr goat voice.

[chris37]

Nah, my farther had awful taste in music.

He was a New Age Hippie and listened to the weirdest stuff ever.

But I understand what you are saying, and it’s pretty funny :D

However, I really do believe we have already enjoyed the Golden Age of music, and we are moving very far away from that age now.

From my perspective it started with rap and boy bands, but I am sure others will say that it started much earlier than that. I still find worth in much form the 70’s and some from the 80’s.

[Fiji Hill]

The Polikarpov U-2, also known as the Po-2, was designed as a trainer but used extensively by the Soviets as a night bomber during WWII. It was often painted black. During the Korean War, its use in nighttime raids against UN Command targets earned it the nickname “Bedcheck Charlie.”

[Ransomed]

Your Gene Simmons excerpt was more interesting than the article.

“...but it is true that bands like the Stones, Van Halen, the Beatles, as well as U2 are fewer and farther in comparison to what we are seeing today.”

There is tremendous new music being made in all sorts of different styles. It just won’t be popular in the foreseeable future. Finding non-popular good music is easier than it has ever been thanks to the internet.

Yes, it stinks that millions of people will never be exposed to it together like they used to be. But if you are more than a casual music fan it is a great time to find the sort of stuff that you dig.

FReegards

[Covenantor]

I’ve been aware of the Polikarov-po-2 since I read about the Soviet all women’s squadrons. Just had never seen one with an enclosed cockpit, hence the windsock comment on the drawing.

Interesting that in Korea we had a hard time nailing them with the PO-2’s max speed being lower than the F-86 stall speed.

Under some conditions very low tech has the advantage.

[Fiji Hill]

Some of those Po-2's are still flying.