addition by subtraction

Way back in 2002, there was an article that went around titled something like "100 Records to Purge From Your Collection." I don't recall where this came from, but while cleaning up some odds and ends on my computer, I came across a copy. Here, then, are a few choice nuggets:

#2 U2 - The Joshua Tree
Oh, to be earnest, politically correct, Christian, and filthy rich. It's been 15 years since the birth of this critical and popular favorite, and U2-worship still hasn't been eradicated. When will it stop? When you do the right thing and retire this pompous collection of religious rock songs, that's when.

#26 U2 - Zooropa
After capably adding techno touches to the masterful Achtung Baby, U2 spent the rest of the '90s vainly chasing after the muses of trip-hop, acid jazz and rave. Although Zooropa was deemed challenging and ahead of its time by fans who listened to nothing but anthem-rock, time has proven tracks like "Stay," "Daddy's Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car" and "Dirty Day" to be mediocre songs that were considered cool because they sounded weird.

And my favorite:

#69 U2 - War
"We do make, and we will continue to make, soul music. Soul music is when you bring what's on the inside to the outside." (Bono, 1983) --Actually, defecating is when you bring what's on the inside to the outside, Mr. MacPhisto. Well done with 1983's War.

the who sell out. U2 want to.

U2 Say No to TV Commercial

The relevant quote:

In the end the band agreed not to accept the offer because “Where the Streets Have No Name” was a song they did not want associated with a commercial.

In other words: "We want the dough, but not for THAT song."

priorities

Sometimes, a headline says it all: Forget U2; we've got a bus shelter

yellow eye of the tiger

   

See the resemblance? Coldplay does.

"What matters is trying to write the best tunes in the world. And having a picture of U2 on the wall, and trying to pump enough logs to take out the Drago that is U2 - that's our mission."

windbaggery

In case you didn't check out the link to the Sun-Times review in the last post (and I urge you to), here's the best part:

The 45-year-old front man's hubristic sins went on and on... Still, while he was the most obnoxious presence, it would be wrong to single him out as the only offender.

Guitarist The Edge, bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. gave their silent approval while providing the music that served as background and afterthought for all of this speechifying, and they did so in a rote, autopilot fashion that created a disturbing contrast between the impassioned windbaggery and the passionless rock 'n' roll.

It's not just Bono. It's the whole damn band.

Sun-Times Rides Bono'

Our man at the Chicago Sun-Times comes through with this most revealing negative review of the show.

"Wearing a mock fascist uniform and goose-stepping around the oval catwalk jutting from the stage at the United Center on Saturday, the first of U2's four sold-out shows here, Bono repeated an odd little chant during an encore of "Zoo Station": "We put on a show / We do the business / But this is not / Show business."

"Yes, it most certainly was, and it was every bit as phony, bombastic and manipulative as a Britney Spears concert, the Republican National Convention or a televangelist's miracle-working dog and pony show.



"As a fan who's seen the group a dozen times and who ranks 1992's Zoo TV tour on the short list of the best concerts I've ever experienced, U2 has never seemed as pointlessly pretentious and preachy."