Why are people so quick to ignore U2's legacy, reducing them to nothing more than Bono being a douche, "Vertigo", and that forced iTunes album?
They rose up in the late 70s alongside and directly influenced by a myriad of post-punk acts, worked with Brian Eno and Martin Hannett, played shows with This Heat, The Fall, and Mission of Burma, got Einstürzende Neubauten to open for them at the height of their fame, and did the whole "OK Computer -> Kid A" thing several years before Radiohead. Oh and their guitarist once made a collaborative album with the members of Can and PiL featuring contributions from Arthur Russell.
It's pretty widely accepted they made great albums in the 80s and 90s and disseminated their influence pretty widely. Not just your Coldplay and the Killers, but Radiohead, Arcade Fire, Kanye West too. Hell, even Mac Demarco and Father John Misty have been known to break out the occasional U2 cover.
It's cause the amount of good songs they have can be counted on one hand and the only great one is Sunday Bloody Sunday.
Ryder Turner
because mu is full of high schoolers who only listen to death grips and swans and trendy modern hip hop and other assorted memeable things because thats what other immature people like right now. i guarantee 90% of people who shit on U2 haven't even heard a single album by them and only do it because its a meme and they want to fit in on le edgy secret club anonymous website.
Ryder Martinez
hating on u2 is literally just a stupid meme. i've never listened to a full u2 album so i have no strong feelings on them, but there are way too many fags who saw an episode of south park and allowed it to inform their understanding of a band they've never actually listened to either.
Christopher White
what's the best U@ album
Blake Carter
Joshua tree encapsulates THE U2 sound, but technically speaking Achtung is probably their best. Unforgettable fire and war are great too
Blake Brown
Negativland
Bentley Flores
Wrong
Joseph Green
They were never good. Literally the first Pop Punk band
Colton Murphy
Do you really believe this? Mu hasnt changed much pal
Jaxon Young
U2 is literally responsible for Radiohead's career, the most acclaimed band of the past two decades. U2 forever transformed the sound of music
Luis Nelson
he's actually 100% correct, Sup Forums is a shell of its former self
Jack Perry
It really hasnt, all thats happened is the rise in contrarians and the loss of board identity So? Radiohead drew from many bands, and u2 wasnt even their biggest. Can, The Smiths, Aphex Twin are all bugger influences on them
William Perez
i thought that was the buzzcocks
David Baker
The story goes that U2 only got signed in the first place because the singer of the band they were opening for was drunk and told the record label guy to fuck off. It's stupid to ignore their influence on popular music, but for the most part U2 have always been shite. The good bits lodged in that shite are great all the same.
Lincoln Bailey
>rise in contrarians false >u2 wasnt even their biggest, Can, The Smiths, Aphex Twin Are you for real? Aphex Twin influence only started on Kid A and Amnesiac, Can on like 4 songs total. U2 is essentially Thom's singing style and Greenwood's main guitar style. U2 is their absolute biggest influence, especially prominent on The Bends and OKC but it's the backbone of their entire sound
William Robinson
achtung baby or war
Anthony Jackson
Bullshit. Thom detests that sort of crappy adult contemporary music.
Adrian Lewis
>mfw people like you exist
Caleb Parker
People are shortsighted and based their opinions on the most recent, significant thing that happened
If U2 all died in a plane crash in the mid-90s, they'd have and deserve universal acclaim today. Instead, fir the reasons you mentioned, they're an cartoonish shadow of themselves, so much that people go out of their way to avoid them.
Gavin Lee
>Thom detests that sort of crappy adult contemporary music then why does he make it? Could it be he cites Can and Aphex Twin for indie/critic cred, yet secretly his career has always largely been based off U2? Sure some smiths in Pablo Honey but they were quick to disown that shitfest. The U2 formula has worked for them
the mfw is mutual
Gabriel Perez
This. As usual, nu-Sup Forums is at fault
Sebastian Murphy
No way in hell does anyone in Radiohead like U2
Henry Long
>Among Radiohead members' earliest influences were Queen, Pink Floyd and Elvis Costello, post-punk acts such as Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Magazine, and significantly 1980s alternative rock bands such as U2, R.E.M., Pixies, the Smiths and Sonic Youth.[12][20][36][238]
Jose Bell
Shh, the dads are out
Jose Morris
radiohead aren't fulla soopastars, they're fulla nonces as you were LG
Levi Smith
>Literally the first Pop Punk band Pop punk has been around since the British Invasion though.
Jeremiah Ross
I mean I lowkey like some of their early stuff but like they are dad rock desu senpai
Jonathan Ross
I will never grow tired of posting this picture.
Owen Stewart
undeniable proof. Radiohead noobs just unironically got btfo, showed that even U2 dads know more about Yorke lore than they do
Jack Thomas
> Part of the reason O’Brien is perceived as Radiohead’s designated rocker is that he’s the most interested in classic rock; he especially enjoys discussing U2, who appear to be Radiohead’s third-biggest musical influence (the first two being the Smiths, whom all five members love unequivocally, and the Pixies, from whose records Jonny Greenwood learned how to play guitar).
> “I’m interested in bands as beasts,” O’Brien says. “I’m interested in U2 and the Rolling Stones and Neil Young & Crazy Horse. I love the dynamic of musicians working together and all the voodoo shit that comes with it. It’s a complicated thing to do over the expanse of time, which is why I respect U2 so much. Don’t get me wrong–I adore the Stones, but they haven’t made a good record since 1972. Exile on Main Street was the last great Stones album. But U2 have been at it for 20 years, and that song ‘Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get OutOf’ was amazing. And that’s after 20 years. That’s when the Stones were making Still Life.”
>U2 is literally responsible for Radiohead's career, the most acclaimed band of the past two decades And they are still shit and overrated, so what's your point?
Jaxson Davis
Alright boys, let's post songs to change his mind.
Who was around when /mutracker/ happened? Those were the days
John Barnes
Everything except Moon and TKOL
Listen to more music instead.
/mutracker/ was shit, but it was so much fun Still, wcd though ;_;
Jaxon Bailey
What about U2's discog though?
Colton Thomas
I only talked about how Radiohead are unremarkable and overrated.
Jackson Cook
Yeah but what do you think about the '2, homie?
Mason Bailey
Better than Radiohead, which is not saying much.
Gabriel Rodriguez
Not too much anymore, but they were one of my most formative artists. They were how I discovered post-punk, industrial, shoegaze, Eno's whole back catalog, The Velvet Underground, etc.
Ryder Powell
See, this type of argument makes no sense because U2 are almost just as acclaimed, just in a different time period
Radiohead would also be hated on like U2 is if they continued making music regularly and having a real career rather than just popping up every now and then to release an album
U2 are just like The Rolling Stones or even Bob Dylan, a highly acclaimed band that then spent decades ruining their legacy for onlookers (while their real fans still love their earlier work)
Ethan Walker
It's sad
Ethan Ross
are there any popular bands (aside from The Beatles) that managed to end on a high note or before they went downhill and maintained that high acclaim as their legacy? Not counting "one album wonders" like the Sex Pistols.
Would ABBA count? I would say Bowie since he definitely ended on a masterpiece but his releases were peaks and valleys in terms of quality after the 70s but it somehow never affected his standing as one of the best of all time, so I suppose that makes him an outlier which is an incredibly fitting description of David Bowie anyway.
Easton Butler
How fucking new are you? Listen to more music ffs
Aiden Lopez
cunt
Luis Phillips
lmao ok dad
Leo Morales
The Poloce is the only one I can think of. And maybe Talking Heads.
Oliver Nguyen
*The Police, I'm feeling kinda tipsy, fuck.
Connor Bell
fucking shit song btw
>im pretentious and gay, I think U2 is good and I want other people to confirm my shitty taste so i can listen to it without feeling like a pleb
Henry Turner
Pavement, Galaxie 500, Pixies
Nathan Adams
man the way he over sings everything is so fucking shit where the fuck are these U2 fans coming from why are you even here. Go back to r9k and post music threads there, you fucking cunts
who cares if Sup Forums is filled with edgy high schoolers, that's better than having people who unironically think this is good.
Levi Ramirez
U2 is the worst band of all time holy shit
Nathan Gonzalez
>Radiohead fans being this delusional
Charles Walker
This is the only answer.
Rattle and Hum is worth checking out too. That is objectively the best performance of Sunday Bloody Sunday.
Robert Sullivan
Achtung Baby - 10/10 The Joshua Tree - 9.5/10 War - 9/10 The Unforgettable Fire - 8.5/10 Boy - 8/10
Luke Fisher
"they worked with eno!!!"
so did ultravox
Christian Reed
And did Ultravox play gigs with The Fall and This Heat? Or have EN open for them?
Jackson Sullivan
Fuck U2
Jaxon Butler
depeche mode opened for them in february of 1981 before even their first non-album single
eno produced their DEBUT album directly in between his work on low and "heroes"
granted it's more difficult to find tour information about ultravox than u2 because one band has had the benefit of being overrated and fellated about two decades past their sell-by date, and that's being GENEROUS
Christopher Bennett
Sup Forums is pro-U2 (pro-Bono if you will) anyway October's a pretty good album, it just gets shat on a bit because it's DUDE JESUS LMAO: the album Ultravox are great as well, what you saying?
Easton Ward
actually this is closer
Xavier Morales
Fuck you too
Hunter Gray
Why do you care what an artist's fans look like? Are you some kind of fashion diva? KYS.
Henry Powell
...
Tyler Rogers
Say what you want but their 87-92 period was pretty good, so they really deserved the attention back then but it all went downhill pretty quick
Ian Thomas
>92 Not 93?
Jacob Hill
>Best argument going for U2 is that Yorke likes it lmao
Caleb Roberts
Being this self-unaware
Caleb Hall
And how much of their music have you heard mate?
Luis Bennett
This but In the name of love instead of SBS
Aaron Davis
it's time for Sup Forums to apologize
Levi Ramirez
Both are their best, IR>AMSP>TKOL>HTTT>Amnesiac>Kid A>Ok Computer
Luis Edwards
I ain't apologising for shit, I've always liked them
Ethan Ward
Its shopped idiot
Evan Parker
You're shopped
Jose Roberts
Are you autistic
Bentley Gonzalez
this but New Year's Day
Brayden Sanders
But they arent
Wyatt Ross
So did coldplay
Jordan Wright
Pitchfork is a joke, U2 is dumpsterdadcore
Asher Scott
btfo again
Jose Johnson
I'm just waiting for one last good album from them. The recent song Blackout was pretty good. A bit lead-single-elevation-vertigo-boots-itis, but if the sound carries onto the rest of the album, could be great.
