RE: "Two more myths (both false):...U2 is a good band"
Surely you jest. U2's The Joshua Tree is the most majestic, beautiful, truly inspiring album I've EVER heard, a real life-changer. I play it for everybody that'll listen, all the way through and I NEVER get tired of it. In fact, I discover something new every time I hear it, and I have a new "fave" every month or two. Right now, the immortal "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" is battling it out with the stunning "One Tree Hill" for top honors.
Tip: It plays even better in the night, rolling down the Highway with the wind in your hair and the road stretched out for miles around you...pure Zen. Pure.
Joshua Tree is original, innovative, and at times, beautiful -- I'll give it that much.
I still contend that THE BAND U2 is very...very highly overrated. I - I MYSELF - find most of their music hard to listen to. Then again - I like outstanding guitar if it's gonna be called "rock".
I've heard very little U2 music I would even label as "very good" in the guitar department. That whole "ching-a-ling - echoing" sound The Edge has going on in so much of U2's music annoys me to no end.
Play the damn guitar and quit relying on technology to do it for ya!
Guitar. Distortion pedal. Tube amp. Bend strings. Play hard. Period.
THAT'S rock 'n roll.