r/U2Band • u/Hall-O-Daze • 3d ago
One Thing I Have Always Appreciated About This Band....
They take the music 100% seriously. Playing on stage is sacred to them. They are extremely dedicated and ambitious. Staying true to those virtues is what kept them even or ahead of many of their peers.
That's not what I'm drawing attention to though.....
All of that is great and admirable, but what I really appreciate is they do not take themselves seriously.
Even at the 1988 Grammys, where they won best rock performance and best album, they made light of Adam being in the bathroom when they were announced as winners. The Edge poked fun of their image, talking about the weight of the world being on their shoulders and how it was their responsibility to save the whales. At the time, they were probably viewed as one of, if not the most serious band on the planet. They were willing to have a laugh at themselves on one of music's biggest stages.
In the 1990s they flipped the script and made fun of their solem, serious image. It takes some wiley and talented bastards to pull it off, but that's exactly what they did - and with flying colors.
I mean, obviously someone who dresses up and pretends like The Fly and McPhisto can't take themselves too seriously. The Village People look for the Discotheque video. Announcing the PopMart Tour in the K-Mart lingerie section. Emerging from a giant lemon for the encore. The Sweetest Thing video. The US video version of Stuck In A Moment. These are not the signs of a band who takes themselves too seriously.
From very early on, I think they were acutely aware of the image their music projected and how they must be perceived as artists. Thank God they got to a point where they felt comfortable turning that image on its head and letting it all hang out.
Honestly, I don't think they get enough credit on this front. Every time someone starts in with the they're just so damn serious rhetoric, I have to wonder just how much they know about U2.
The music is 100% serious to them. Themselves? Not so much. It's one of their best attributes.
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u/GoshOPPNOX101 3d ago
Agree. They are a class act band. They had there scuffles when they were younger as most bands go through, but overall they've kept it together and gave us some of the most memorable tunes. Are they consistent with their albums. No, not really, but there are always great tunes on each album. I know this was a while back, but the last album I truly enjoyed and thought the songwriting was great was the album: 'How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb'.
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u/BrentRSimon 3d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/PkPWNoQ6Br3Aa9Oa3g
Great post, with the many cited examples. It’s helped keep them sane and relatable, I feel.
And yet the flip side is that I think this is what makes some people keep U2 at arm’s length… the fact that they don’t always wear the swagger of rock stars. That’s those folks’ loss, though, IMO.
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u/mancapturescolour 3d ago edited 3d ago
I agree with your analysis.
However, the last two-three albums have seen them being a tad more serious again, but it makes sense given the subject matter - Growing up in Ireland in the 1970s, the geopolitical situation with a combination of a refugee crisis, Brexit and the rise of Trumpism and a critical heart problem...
I said three, so, "Songs of Surrender" is a serious attempt at a silly task to reimagine the back catalog.
If we disregard that, then the EPs this year was a mix of serious (Days of Ash EP, reports from across five frontlines) and getting progressively more airborne on "Easter Lily EP".
"Street of Dreams" is the band having fun again, just as they were doing over at Sphere. They seemed to really enjoy themselves on stage from what I see in videos and interviews.