major_panic
Rock n' Roll Doggie ALL ACCESS
Also, the comment earlier about U2 leaving you hanging on the edge of a cliff is totally true. They used to be masters of letting you know what you want from a song, but never quite giving it to you. Whether that’s literally in the music or in something about the mood or emotion. They either wouldn’t hand it to you, or they’d just give you a just a little bit here and there. Like With or Without You never exploding. Where the Streets Have no Name is pure elation, but it could also have been taken to another level if they wanted to, just blown the thing out. One never clears it’s throat to become a big anthem. The Fly never gives you time to savour it as a super killer riff rock song, it just gets more and more chaotic and then just spits you out. Think about almost every single song from the 80s and 90s. None of them really, truly, give you what you want from them. They just wink it at you and then pull it away, and that's the magic.
That’s a difference with U2 on Atomic Bomb. They are beating you over the head with all the bits you used to want, and I think a lot of people have come to understand that the magic was in them just giving you a glimpse and taking it away again, over and over and over, rather than milking those moments, over and over and over again. That’s why you can keep going back to the great U2 songs decades later and still not be satisfied, whereas a lot of people were bored with the Bomb within a matter of weeks.
I also think it's exactly where bands who mimic U2 have forever gotten it wrong.
I nominate this for "Most Sensible Post in EYKIW of the Year". And yes, I know 2009 only just began.