Saturday, August 06, 2016

A long time ago....

2 comments:

Meep said...

I went back to listen to Joshua Tree a few years ago. I miss their music from that period. The experimentation, the rock, the exhilaration from their grandiose anthem like music. It was a breakaway from everything else. Which makes me realize I haven't listened to anything from them since 2004. lol. I guess I should.

Why do you think they've remained together for so long while most other bands fall apart? Also, are they still popular?

spaceman said...

That's a good question, why they've remained together for so long while other bands splinter. I think they were lucky in that they were all good friends. That helps. And I think all four continue to want to make music. So that's another plus. And yes, I think, for sure, they're still massively popular. I mean they sell out all their tours and millions of people continue to go see them. Not many people really listen to their new albums though which I don't blame people as the new stuff is kind of lame.

I still think the music U2 produced in their first 15 years (roughly 1980-1995) is pretty great. A few duds here and there but nothing terribly embarrassing. And including some incredible highlights (Boy, The Unforgettable Fire, The Joshua Tree, Zooropa). I think they passed their shelf-life around the late 1990s and since then have just been coasting, producing mostly mediocre music. That's normal for most bands though. It's rare for a band to produce consistently excellent music for more than 10 years, let alone 15. So they had a good run.