Why the big backlash against U2 in recent years?

[dm]

Genuine question.  I’ve always been fairly indifferent to them myself. I like some of their singles, but never felt motivated enough to buy any of their albums, apart from the Best of 1980-1990 singles compilation.  When I did try one or two of their albums they weren’t unpleasant but just a bit dull and samey. 
 But over the last four or five years a big backlash seems to have built up around them. 

[BRANDED]

Basically, they got the piss taken out of them



 

[honky cat]

old farts - joshua tree
new farts - zooropa

[SurfaceAgentX2Zero]

I reckon it's because they've been shit since Joshua Tree.

Plus people have spotted The Edge stole his guitar style from John Martyn.

[Pi Alpha Nu]

Well, aside from shit music i dont think apple users were too pleased when their album appeared on everyone's devices whether they wanted it or not

A bloke I worked with was having a right moan about it when it happened. I just said delete it you daft cսnt he then started moaning that I called a daft cսnt.

[Swiss.]

One is a great song and like said many good covers. Mysterious Ways is also excellent.

[Bungo]

 i dont think apple users were too pleased when their album appeared on everyone's devices whether they wanted it or not

With the benefit of hindsight, I don't think ANYONE would think that was a good idea!

[Mike Oxsaw]

Whoever gave "The Joshua Tree" as a peak defining point is probably about right. After that album they simply became a formulaic Irish show band, albeit with very slick production (and PR).

I remember listening to their first 2 studio albums when they were released, thinking "Meh! There's a band in there, but not on these two albums". Live at Red Rocks suggested, to me. that they'd found the spark.

I've never, ever though "What I need now is a U2 song", but there are several other bands/artists of whom I do often pick out a song of theirs that hits that sweet spot of that moment called now.

[Mad Dog]

Well, aside from shit music i dont think apple users were too pleased when their album appeared on everyone's devices whether they wanted it or not

[honky cat]

Have had to put achtung baby on now, just to make sure it's still shit

Now "One" what a song. And so may good covers as well.

[dm]

Liked the early stuff, probably up to The Joshua Tree. Pretty much everything after is a bit meh, imho.
The Unforgettable Fire is a great album, probably get's played a couple of three times per year in my houshold.

 

 

Vertigo is a great track.  I’d imagine that must be good live.  

[El Scorchio]

[Far Cough UKunt]

Bono is a bit of a helmet but Edge is alright though.

[violator]

Kirsty MacColl sequenced the running order for The Joshua Tree

[El Scorchio]

They've a distinctive sound and some really fucking great songs (albeit most of them at least 25-30 years old) but they have a constant habit of disappearing up their own arse both creatively and as people (ok that's Bono particularly) if unchecked, and delusions of grandeur/an overstated sense of their position and importance in the world definitely politically, which rubs a lot of people up the wrong way.

Sometimes they forget they are just a fucking band.
 

[MaryMillingtonsGhost]

Liked the early stuff, probably up to The Joshua Tree. Pretty much everything after is a bit meh, imho.
The Unforgettable Fire is a great album, probably get's played a couple of three times per year in my houshold.

[Council Scum]

Think most of it was Bono (or is it Bozo?) coming across as pompous & holier than thou 
Is it true that he rabbited on about famine or something at one concert & said ‘ Every time I clap my hands someone dies’
With someone shouting ‘Stop clapping your hands then ‘
I HOPE that is true

It's not true. 

[Fauxstralian]

Quite liked them when they started & bought a couple of albums
Havent listened to them for years though. Are they still going ?

Think most of it was Bono (or is it Bozo?) coming across as pompous & holier than thou 
Is it true that he rabbited on about famine or something at one concert & said ‘ Every time I clap my hands someone dies’
With someone shouting ‘Stop clapping your hands then ‘
I HOPE that is true

Oh and the guitar bloke calling himself The Edge
When his name is Dave Englehump or something similar 

[Swiss.]

Sunday, bloody sunday.

 

A great song about the futility of war and violence that doesn't take sides. Ditto Zombie by the cranberries 

Indeed. And although maybe not relevant but U2 are all protestants. 

They all went to a Church of Ireland school 

Mount Temple Comprehensive School - Wikipedia

Edge is Welsh and Clayton English. 

[goose]

'Sunday Bloody Sunday'. What a great song. It really encapsulates the frustration of a Sunday, doesn't it? You wake up in the morning, you've got to read all the Sunday papers, the kids are running round, you've got to mow the lawn, wash the car, and you think "Sunday, bloody Sunday!".

yeh this is where i was going with it...............

[Mad Ferret]

They're just your typical micks with a victim complex. 

[Bungo]

'Sunday Bloody Sunday'. What a great song. It really encapsulates the frustration of a Sunday, doesn't it? You wake up in the morning, you've got to read all the Sunday papers, the kids are running round, you've got to mow the lawn, wash the car, and you think "Sunday, bloody Sunday!".

 

 

Thing that irks me now is how early they seem to put Songs Of Praise on.

When I was a kid it kind of signalled the end of the weekend around Sunday late afternoon. Flick the tv on now around lunchtime and you can get hit by earnest singing without any warning.

Quite disturbing!

[RBshorty]

Don't forget them Non-Profits. The Tax shelter for the Hipters.!

[Swiss.]

Sunday, bloody sunday.

 

A great song about the futility of war and violence that doesn't take sides. Ditto Zombie by the cranberries 

Indeed. And although maybe not relevant but U2 are all protestants. 

[violator]

'Sunday Bloody Sunday'. What a great song. It really encapsulates the frustration of a Sunday, doesn't it? You wake up in the morning, you've got to read all the Sunday papers, the kids are running round, you've got to mow the lawn, wash the car, and you think "Sunday, bloody Sunday!".

[Bungo]

It's probably the fact they constantly go on about helping the needy and then do things like buy a hotel and make a fortune off of it, when asked if they could help homelessness in Ireland by using the hotels empty rooms (after they made a big deal about the homeless in Ireland) got told to fuck off, or the begging us and Governments to help with third world debt, whilst they moved their affairs' abroad, to avoid paying tax in Ireland, the usual completely hypocritical "do as I say not as I do"  especially when they can afford too and the people they are asking can't. 

Hence my use of the phrase 'however well intentioned' which can of course mean many things.

Obviously I wouldn't presume to know the detail, as all we know is fed to us through filters which will inevitably be skewed to reflect the organisation providing the information.