Like other bands in the digital age, U2 is struggling to grab new listeners. Its members admit to frustration at the average album sales for its most recent release and wonder, as bassist Adam Clayton put it, whether the idea of an impassioned rock 'n' roll fan is becoming a thing of the past.
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"The commercial challenges have to be confronted," Clayton said during an interview backstage at "Saturday Night Live," as he awaited the band's performance on the show's season kickoff. "But I think, in a sense, the more interesting challenge is, 'What is rock 'n' roll in this changing world?' Because, to some extent, the concept of the music fan — the concept of the person who buys music and listens to music for the pleasure of music itself — is an outdated idea."
Err... no. Something else is outdated.
If arrogance was a commodity, U2 would be rich beyond belief … oh, wait …
I rarely listen to any U2 recorded before the ’90s and have never been a massive fan. However, if they tried something different now and again, who knows.
Ack, I meant I rarely listen ti any U2 recorded after 1990. Long day, clocks went back but no-one told our 1 year old son, so I’ve been awake since 5:30AM.
I rarely listen ti any U2 recorded after 1990
yup.
U2 and REM stopped being interesting at the same, for me: 1991.
‘Achtung Baby’ is their last good album IMHO and even though they have released some decent singles since, the albums seem to be mostly filler.
As for REM’s 90’s output, I do like ‘New Adventures in Hi-Fi’ rather a lot probably because I got into later REM before I discovered their earlier stuff.