catapult magazine

as I like frozen pizza. I tried to live on it, but it’s still junk food. I know this isn’t the most popular opinion on this board, but there has been so much praise lately. Are we deifying them yet?
Anybody else find them mediocre? Or am I a lone wolf here?

What don’t you like about them specifically? What does it mean when you call them “mediocre”?

It’s not that I don’t like them per se. I like frozen pizza, to a certain extent.
I think their talent as musicians is very limited. The Edge does not blow me away as a particularly emotional or technically proficient guitarist. Same goes for Clayton on base or Larry on drums (though he does have some interesting off-balance beats). Bono I find obnoxious though I do like the sound of his voice. I appreciate what he does for AIDS and other worthy causes, but he grates on me a bit. They write relatively decent songs and blend together well as a band, but they by no means impress me as a great rock band.

norbert, thank you for your bravery in coming out of the closet. i don’t like U2 at all. i find them uninteresting musically, and i don’t like when bono wears those tight black pants. lyrically, i don’t argue people who praise them, but i’ve been hearing much more profound, tighter lyrics that speak of grace and reality from dozens of other bands for years. that said, i am grateful for their permeation (?) quality.

jeremy huggins

U2 is very good at communicating emotion. Especially an ecstatic emotion. I feel like they’re always trying to achieve liftoff in their live performances.

Despite being low on the musical acrobatics and wanker guitar solo’s, nobody can play music like U2. Its in the way they hit each note. When you here BB King playing guitar it sounds simple but I dare you try bend a note with the same nuance.

I can feel for the lack of great instrumentalists in the traditional sense. Seems like people are more interested in how artists can make their stereo bump and not as interested in intricate performances. Ben harper and Dave Matthews seem to be filling a void. I wish they had more soul.

My current favourite artist is Kanye West. I don’t think he plays any instruments at all. He might trigger some samples on a keyboard. Sounds great on a car stereo

Most bands are good at communicating emotion. Metallica is good at anger and the Backstreet Boys are good at middle school affection. And I don’t think you can compare BB King and U2. BB is much more talented a guitarist than the Edge in both ability and soul. And that’s just my point. I find them mediocre in everything besides maybe the way they sell themselves and their longevity (and even that is a stretch when compared to the Stones, Tull or a handful of other bands and individuals that can put up influential albums over a period of 25 years).
Congratulations on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame though. I think they will eventually belong there. Maybe.

Okay, I’ll jump in here just briefly …

BB King can’t play chords; he can solo in his trademark style and that’s about it. I’m not intending to demean his abilities, but it’s mostly the inexpressible aspect of his style (what we commontly refer to as “soul”) that makes BB amazing. So if we’re comparing talent and only talent, the Edge could run circles around BB King. If you’d like an example of the Edge playing a knock-down, drag-out guitar solo, listen to “Bullet the Blue Sky” from the ZooTV tour video (I’m pretty sure that’s the right song). But it isn’t enough simply to compare talent; there is something else working, a spirit in performance, that separates technically brilliant musicians from artists who have the ability to move others. And here, I think, is where both BB King and the Edge excel, albeit in vastly different ways.

U2 cannot rightfully be compared to the Rolling Stones or Jethro Tull, particularly the latter. U2 has recorded genre-defining albums for the past 25 years, whereas the Stones were influential in rock ‘n’ roll only in the 60s and 70s and Tull has never, to my knowledge, wielded such influence. Additionally, both the Stones and Tull are guilty of coasting on their successes, literally playing the same material for 40 years while recording almost nothing worth mentioning. Once again, I don’t mean to degrade the accomplishments of these bands; they have both contributed (the Stones far more so) to rock music. But their longevity is built primarily on early success, not on perpetual artistry; therefore, the comparison with U2 is ill-founded. U2 has been stretching the limits of rock ‘n’ roll for 25 years, though, admittedly, the last two albums have been pretty straight forward.

I brought up BB in response to Space. Yes, BB isn’t the greatest example. But I think his inability to play chords is due to the size of his fingers than anything else. Nothing I have heard from the Edge has impressed me musically. Does he play with passion, certainly, but that doesn’t mean much. Passion should not be the defining attribute of a musician. If nothing else it should be balanced with ability.
Ok, the Stones were influential in the 60’s and 70’s. That’s nigh unto 20 years. Pretty good. Tull is not influential anymore but they could be. Anderson and Barre in particular (which is pretty much all of Tull as the move other people around so frequently). U2 is over-rated. That’s my point. In the last 20 years Tull has been under-rated. The point of my original post is not other bands but U2. They are not deserving of the praise they receive in my opinion. But Rob, I’ll check out the one song you mention to see if I can learn to respect the Edge for that one solo.
In the meantime, I’ll be listening to some Zeppelin, Alman Brothers and Pink Floyd.

You might check out Radiohead (OK Computer), Mooney Suzuki, and The Hives. These bands took some of the old rock and roll ideas and made them new again. Radiohead Doesn’t sound as pretentious as Pink Floyd comes across now. Mooney Suzuki feels more broken and humble than the rock with your cock out Zepplin and The Hives give the youthful 50’s/60’s rock sound a breath of fresh air.

I can understand how you relate to Classis rock more. Its so much more physical than U2. There are times where the Edge’s washed out guitar sound gets pretty anoying to me.
I think Edge works extra hard on his sounds and effects and thats why he’s interesting to me. There is a magic in the atmosphere he creates.

Doesn’t U2 deserve lots of credit for taking rock’n’roll, as a musical form, to new places? The thing that kept me from the blues for so long was that it is a “traditional” form that is best when it is most “traditional”. I’ve come to appreciate it for what it is now, but I think U2 has contributed to the idea of music as a mass media cultural event to a greater degree than any other band. As they say, even The Beatles couldn’t make a stadium show work like U2 (and that would go for the Rolling Stones too). And I would dare someone to find any other Christian band that is singing good lyrics about faith at the high stakes ambitious level that U2 is. It’s one thing to be singing about faith and doubt to small progressive Christian audiences, but a whole ‘nother thing to be able to move millions of people around the world with the Spirit of hope and life, whether they’re the praying kind or not.

In addition, I think U2’s strength can be seen in the way they rekindled the careers of B.B. King and Johnny Cash. U2’s gift is sharing great things with large audiences, despite their own musical limitations, and the guys who have the bluesy authenticity have benefitted from U2’s gift. But I would still defend U2’s musical ability. They have combined punk, the blues, gospel and glam rock in a radically new way and their influence on other bands will continue to be felt for many generations to come.

I just last year discovered Johnny Cash (til Armegeddon, No Shalom, No Shalom) and was thrilled…first time I was excited about music in a long time (probably my own fault for not listening to more stuff…I hear there’s good stuff out there)…but I didn’t know there was a connection with U2…fill me in…sounds exciting.

I definitely agree about them being more important to BB King than he was to them…kinda like Garth Brooks did for Chris Ledoux (I can hear the CINO teeth gnashing).

The other thing…At the U2 shows I’ve been to, the guitar solo that always impresses me the most is the song about Judas betraying Christ…I think it’s “Until the End of the World.” Is this just my musical ignorance or naivety to “rock with your cock out” or has anyone else been blown away by the Edge on that song?