Tag Archives: U2

by

U2 – No Line on the Horizon

nolineonU2’s latest album has been hailed as a masterpiece in such publications as Entertainment Weekly and Rolling Stone. It’s also been dismissed as something close to tuneless garbage by Time, Pitchfork and many in the blogosphere.

What we seem to have here is the old love-it-or-hate-it situation…. all or nothing. Except that I, well, like it. It is definitely not tuneless garbage, but neither is it on par with the band’s best work (The Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby, or even their last two studio albums).

Continue reading →

by

‘Put the chicken fingers down!’

bruceI’ve always heard what an amazing live performer Bruce Springsteen is (particularly when backed by the E-Street Band) but last night’s Super Bowl halftime show was the first time I got to experience it… televised, at least. And the rumors of his greatness were not exaggerated.

Alex, never a huge fan of The Boss, turned to me after the show and said “We have to see Bruce Springsteen live the next time he comes down here” and I was right with her.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #191: ‘City of Blinding Lights’ – U2

u22I’m not a U2 fanatic by any means, but I completely understand why they’ve been dubbed the world’s greatest rock band. They exude unparalleled star power and their music is grand and powerful in a way that belongs totally to them. You always hear about other bands mimicking U2 but you never catch them being anything but themselves.

They are also the masters of the song intro. The best example is ‘Where the Streets Have No Name,’ which kicks off The Joshua Tree so effectively that the rest of the album seems almost like an afterthought. ‘Zooropa,’ the opening track of the underrated album of the same name, is another great one.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #14: ‘In God’s Country’ – U2

In 1987, U2 released The Joshua Tree and pretty much changed the face of popular music. The album not only propelled them to superstardom but made the marketplace safe for hyper-literate rock anthems, influencing the work of both contemporaries like R.E.M. and descendants like Coldplay.

This was my first U2 album and I went nuts over it, playing it nonstop in my bedroom that whole summer. It was also right around the time Paul Simon’s Graceland and Peter Gabriel’s So came out, and those three albums formed my holy trinity of new music.

But I write about The Joshua Tree (and my selected track, ‘In God’s Country’) not just to sing its praises 21 years later, but to reflect on the geeky association it forever carries in my mind.

Continue reading →