Dec 14

U2

Greatly Appreciated

U2
 
 
U2  are an Irish rock band from Dublin.  Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono (vocals and guitar), The Edge (guitar, keyboards, and vocals), Adam Clayton (bass guitar), and Larry Mullen, Jr. (drums and percussion).  U2’s early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music.  Their lyrics, often embellished with spiritual imagery, focus on personal themes and sociopolitical concerns.  U2 have released 13 studio albums and are one of the world’s best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 150 million records worldwide.  They have won 22 Grammy Awards, more than any other band; and, in 2005, U2 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility.  Rolling Stone ranked U2 at number 22 in its list of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time”, and labelled them the “Biggest Band in the World”.  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 
It is easy to argue that “they don't make ’em like they used to”, and that would also be my main argument I suppose.  For every Beatles and Cream and Beach Boys and U2 and White Stripes that made the big time, there are hundreds of bands that were every bit as good and were also well regarded enough to get a record deal – they just missed out on all of the stardom.  (There are thousands more that didn’t even get signed, but without some recordings, I have nothing to talk about).  

(January 2012)
 
*       *       *
 

The 2008 documentary, It Might Get Loud shows rock guitarist legends from three generations discussing their music and their careers and their influences:  Jimmy Page (the Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin), The Edge (U2), and Jack White (the White Stripes, the Raconteurs).  Needless to say, they all three made the Rolling Stone list of 100 Greatest Guitarists also:  #3, #38 and #70, respectively. 

 

At one point, Jimmy Page starts flipping through a pile of 45’s and pulls out “Rumble” by Link Wray and His Ray Men.  To see a rock legend grooving along with that song, to see that big beaming smile on his face, to hear him discussing how the song developed, to see Page actually doing “air guitar” to “Rumble”:  that really is something special.  The clip from It Might Get Loud is well worth a viewing:  www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLEUSn8y9TI . 

 

(February 2013)

 
*       *       *
 

The truly heartbreaking part of his Alzheimer’s diagnosis is that Glen Campbell had just launched a comeback a few years before, with his 2008 album Meet Glen Campbell that features Campbell covering songs by U2, Foo Fighters, Tom Petty, and Green Day – “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” being the latter song – plus one of the last songs written by John Lennon, “Grow Old with Me”, and an early Jackson Browne song, “These Days” that was first recorded by Nico in 1967. 

 

(February 2015)

 

*       *       *

 

An Emotional Fish, An Emotional Fish – Here is the story on this Irish band according to Allmusic; I knew nothing about them myself at the time:  “Since they come from Dublin, are righteously political and their first two singles were on U2’s Mother record label, An Emotional Fish is frequently written off as a blatant U2 imitator; and there is no denying that they owe a large debt to those Irish superstars.  While their music has the same droning guitar of U2, there are more Celtic touches than U2 at a similar stage, along with straighter pop hooks.  Unfortunately, they were involved in a nasty scandal in the U.K. involving Radio 1.  After that, their debut album was massacred by the critics; and the band essentially vanished, releasing records like 1993’s Junk Puppets and 1996’s Sloper to little notice.”  What I have is their debut album, An Emotional Fish; the article on that album, with a rating of 4½ stars, has a different story:  “The disappearance of An Emotional Fish was one of the great disappointments of the 1990s.  Released in September of 1990, An Emotional Fish likely was a victim of the Rattle and Hum era U2 backlash.”  Since Allmusic is written by a host of writers, there are sometimes different points of view shown.  In any case, despite the odd name (hardly any band names start with “a” or “an”, other than A Flock of Seagulls – perhaps they got the idea from the 1988 hit film A Fish Called Wanda?), this is probably the best album that I got that day. 
 
(December 2015)
 
Last edited: March 22, 2021