On boring, lame music and those who make it

Why, oh why, do all the bands I used to love make such boring, lame music these days?

Michael Stipe and R.E.M., I’m talking about you. Bono and The Edge and U2, I’m talking about you.

Around The Sun? (2004’s R.E.M. album) You’ve got to be kidding me! Are these the same guys who rocked my world on New Adventures in Hi-Fi and Monster and broke new ground with Out of Time? I don’t think so! Someone has kidnapped them and replaced them with evil zombie clones from outer space, who make albums where every song is the same (painfully slow and boring) tempo and goes essentially nowhere, dynamic-wise.

I really wanted to like this album, because 2001’s Reveal was a high point – a reclamation of their long-ago title as America’s best rock band (or so I thought at the time). But try as I might – and I’ve listened to the darn thing several times now – I can’t find it in myself to want to ever hear any of the songs again.

How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb? (2004’s U2 album) I am not technically qualified to speak on this subject, as I’ve only listened to a handful of songs from this disc. But hey, this is pruitt-life v1, so I have the floor and will speak my mind ; )

I guess the songs are “okay”. Not as mind-numbingly boring as the aforementioned R.E.M. travesty. But you know what? “Okay” doesn’t cut it for a band as great as U2. There was a time – heck, there was an entire decade in the 1990s – where I eagerly awaited each new U2 release. And with each release, I was rewarded a thousandfold with new, exciting, and different sounds from a band at their creative peak. Achtung Baby!, Zooropa, Pop – what a trilogy of great albums. (okay, “great” is a bit of a stretch for Pop, but it’s not as bad as conventional wisdom would have you believe)

But Pop was considered a failure and the PopMart tour saw them playing to half-empty stadiums. They were lambasted for the excesses of the giant lemon and mirrorball.

(But you know what? I’ll say one word to you – a song title – that by itself makes Pop a worthy part of the U2 canon: “Gone”. )

So they decided to reel it in, get back to something safe and comfortable – U2 Classic! Like Coke Classic, it’s a feel-good blast from the past, almost as good as we remember the original being. Forget experimenting and trying new sounds and studio techniques – forget keeping it fresh and real and original and not repeating themselves – no, throw that all away and try to recreate the Joshua Tree-era U2 sound that first sold a zillion records.

The new stuff, like I said, does sound “okay” (anyone remember OK Cola besides me?) but honestly, I just don’t care. I didn’t buy Atomic Bomb when it came out – the first time since, let’s see, The Unforgettable Fire in 1984 that I haven’t rushed out to get the new U2 disc as soon as possible. Because I didn’t expect to hear anything on there I hadn’t already heard before from them – and after listening to almost the entire album, I have to say, sadly, that my expectations have been fulfilled. Blaaahh.

I will say this for U2, however, so I won’t come off as a hater. You will never see a better concert, so if you get the chance, see them live while you still can.