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San Francisco, 6:48 PM
Tue Dec 8
27 posts in the last 24 hours
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02/16/09
But I love U2 as well, so carry on! March the 3rd isn't it?...
02/16/09
02/16/09
I don't see any reason to mock people for liking them, but I don't really think they're too terribly science-fictional.
Bono's kind of a wiener, but no more so than most celebrities. He's certainly no worse than all those "charity concert" pukes. I'm just so motivated when people who are several orders of magnitude richer that I tell me I should donate money to a cause, since they're donating their precious, precious time.
-Kle.
02/16/09
02/16/09
Ive met more haters of the Stones, the Doors, and even Zeppelin than I have U2. They're like the Big Mac of contemporary classic rock- they tap a mainstream vain bulging on the cholesterol American classic rock radio.
I love io9, I do I do. But what about Sigur Ros? Or Trans Am? Or the Mars Volta? Or Porcupine Tree? Or even Rush for chrissakes, or a million other more bands whove taken time to influence the genre in some way?...
02/16/09
02/15/09
02/15/09
02/15/09
02/15/09
02/15/09
Second -- really? You think he hasn't put any money -- not to mention his time -- into his causes? You really think that?
02/15/09
02/15/09
Sometimes a celebrity's fame is worth more than a specific sum of money would be.
PS - Moff, I hope you'll forgive me for not liking Bono and being too serious since I'm defending your band! ;)
PPS - I don't think anyone's called me "serious" before! Whee!
02/15/09
This is rather enlightening as well: [www.bloomberg.com]
02/15/09
Anyway, neither of us has more than an assumption to go by, but yours seems predicated on some pretty bizarre behavior -- generally, people give money first, long before they actually get directly involved in a cause. (And even if Bono isn't giving any of his money, just calling what he has done "awareness" is pretty weak when he's not making PSAs but meeting with heads of state. His pet issue, Africa, is one of the only things Bush ended up getting much right on, and yes, some of it was because Bono was fighting for it, and pushing the president's religion in his own face.)
@Lee Waters: Oh, I was being tongue-in-cheek, too. ;-)
02/15/09
I mean, wow, dude -- it's no wonder more famous people aren't involved in good causes. If you try to do some good and then do anything less than saintly from that point on, you're somehow a worse person than all the celebrities who don't ever lend their time or money to anything worthwhile.
Bono and U2 haven't ever pretended not to be capitalists (I like how an article on Bloomberg.com makes that word sound like a pejorative), and they've always been very clear that they don't think they're saints. That so many people are eager to accuse them of it probably says more about those people, as is usually the case when people are throwing stones.
02/15/09
02/15/09
I mean, no, his charitable efforts don't coincide with the release of albums -- U2's media coverage increases as they get closer to releasing new albums, and Bono's coverage increases as a result of that; and he's never shy about promoting his activism. But he ends up going on at length about third-world debt relief to journalists who want to talk about music, not using questions about Africa to market his CDs. And U2 haven't released anything in four and a half years and he's kept plenty busy working on Africa stuff in the interim. He started doing it in the mid-'80s, even before The Joshua Tree came out and they were international superstars, after he took a break from music to do relief work in Ethiopia.
I'm just saying, he's logged the hours, and the record shows he uses his music as a platform to talk about the issues, not the other way around. God forbid rich and famous people should get involved in making the world a better place. That's something we need less of. :-p
02/15/09
02/15/09
I've been an SF fan since Original Trek was new, and if you'd asked me to name SF-ish bands, I'd have gone with Queen, Bowie, some of the punk and electronica bands, Wendy Carlos... I doubt I'd ever have gotten to U2, even in the 90's. I mean, I'd have thought of Blue Man Group before U2!
02/15/09
And there would have been all sorts of logistical problems trying to write about U2 for io9 back in the '90s.
02/15/09
02/15/09
1)spoiled, upper-middle-class babies,
2)hipsters who think success means you've sold out, or
3)racist
Maybe people who don't like them just don't like their music? It all sounds the same to me (your standard rock-pop), but I don't fall into any of those groups you mentioned.
02/15/09
4) Facebook commenters who take things too seriously
02/15/09
02/15/09
Sheesh.
02/15/09
Alright, since you've both shown how much smarter and wittier you are than me. How does one go about deleting Facebook Connect comments? This is more grief than I wanted for just commenting on an article.
Or am I stuck showing my inferiority to the world forever?
Thanks.
02/15/09
So seriously, it's nothing personal. It's just that there used to more gatekeeping, and those of us who've been around for a while have seen a slight decline in the quality of input in the comments, and that there (truly) seems to be a correlation between the incriminating comments and the tiny [f].
Your comments here have been totally fine, of course, as have many other Facebookers' (not that my opinion matters). But the old people here will probably continue to make fun of Facebook people until it gets old, because to do is funny to us and that sort of irreverence and rudeness has been for a long time the hallmark of these comment sections. On Gawker, we are still using "Jezebel commenter" as a derogatory term, and that doesn't stop the Jezebel commenters from doin' what they're doin' (mostly being crazy-screamy ladies).
02/15/09
02/15/09
Whether it should actually win BP is another matter, but when both the critics and the fans are left going "WTF" over the lack of a nomination in either Best Picture or Best Director, that's a pretty bad sign.
02/15/09
I have a special place in my heart for Zooropa, which is not only chock full of great tracks like "Numb", "Lemon", "Stay", and the title track, but it also introduced me to Johnny Cash via the last track "The Wanderer". The next year Cash had his big comeback with American Recordings, and I would not have snapped up that excellent album had it not been for Zooropa.
I'm just a little saddened that their newer albums have not been as experimental as their 90s output. There really weren't any songs on the last album that grabbed me like those on Zooropa. Even All That You Can't Leave Behind had songs like "Kite" and New Your" that really moved me.
02/15/09
I like the last album, but it really is their take on adult-contemporary rock. The bonus track that came with the deluxe versions, "Fast Cars," was easily the best song on it -- which is not a good thing.
02/15/09
As a child of the 80's and a musician, I should like U2. I don't. Mostly it's Bono. I know, I know... always separate the music and the musician, but it's hard when that guy is just so greasy and in your face.
That, and their music hasn't changed much from the ZooTV tour.
02/15/09
02/15/09
Anyway, I've heard the new album, and it's a step in the right direction.
02/15/09