Get On Your Boots, Vertigo or Elevation?

[miami]

Boots. It does rip off Vertigo's riff, and it has silly lyrics a la Elevation, but there are enough strange experimental things in the song to hook my imagination more than the other two. The chimes during the choruses, and the strangeness of the chords and vocals during the "you don't know"s. Also, the "let me in the sound" section is a stomping rouser unlike anything U2 has ever done before.

agree with everything above. boots also has a grimey/dirty feel which the other 2 songs lack. vertigo and elevation seem too polished to me. boots is just a more interesting, groovy song imo.

[Canadanne]

I thought GOYB seemed an odd choice for lead single, until I got the album and realised it was the *only* track that sounded anything like a single to me. Then it seemed the obvious choice. I wasn't surprised that Magnificent and Crazy Tonight did badly in the chart, especially considering all the changes since the last album - no more music shows to promote the new singles, no more physical copies available in the shops, and no original B-sides to make them worth buying. They just weren't strong enough to overcome those obstacles.

[InThisHeartland]

If I was forced to choose, I'd pick Boots, but in reality I'd rather listen to peace and quiet than any of them.

[@lmighty DS]

I thought GOYB seemed an odd choice for lead single, until I got the album and realised it was the *only* track that sounded anything like a single to me. Then it seemed the obvious choice. I wasn't surprised that Magnificent and Crazy Tonight did badly in the chart, especially considering all the changes since the last album - no more music shows to promote the new singles, no more physical copies available in the shops, and no original B-sides to make them worth buying. They just weren't strong enough to overcome those obstacles.

wait what? they were on alot of shows performing the singles. in fact they were on Letterman each night of the week. and i bought alot of physical singles but yea not one original b-side sucked

[MLP Midnight]

I thought GOYB seemed an odd choice for lead single, until I got the album and realised it was the *only* track that sounded anything like a single to me. Then it seemed the obvious choice. I wasn't surprised that Magnificent and Crazy Tonight did badly in the chart, especially considering all the changes since the last album - no more music shows to promote the new singles, no more physical copies available in the shops, and no original B-sides to make them worth buying. They just weren't strong enough to overcome those obstacles.

wait what? they were on alot of shows performing the singles. in fact they were on Letterman each night of the week. and i bought alot of physical singles but yea not one original b-side sucked

The shows they were on are not directed at the audience who really controls the Top 100.

[Canadanne]

wait what? they were on alot of shows performing the singles. in fact they were on Letterman each night of the week.

They did a bunch of TV promotion around the time the album came out, but nothing when the second and third singles were being released, so it's hardly surprising if people didn't know about them. In the past they would have been on shows like Top Of The Pops to promote each new single, but all those programmes have sinced been axed in the UK. I've no idea what the situation is like in other countries.

and i bought alot of physical singles but yea not one original b-side sucked

I did find the physical singles for Magnificent and Crazy Tonight eventually, but I had to search for them online and there seemed to be very few copies in stock. None of our high street shops sell CD singles any more, and I very much doubt many U2 fans went to the effort of seeking them out.

[Bundang Dave]

GOYB is great live...I still think its single worthy, but not lead single worthy, which might be why its one of NLOTH least liked songs it seems. That should've been Breathe or Magnificent as the lead.

Breathe would of been a bigger flop than GOYB. It's really not that great of a song IMO. The first single should of been Magnificent followed by Crazy Tonight. Then Boots perhaps. A single version of NLOTH might of worked as well

But Magnificent WAS a bigger flop than Boots, which in the end probably was the best choice for lead. Though I too would have liked to have seen No Line released as a single (especially the ballsier, higher-energy No Line 2).

I think GOYB set a negative tone for the single to follow, in this case Magnificent. . . .

I think this is a big stretch, and pretty much just rationalization for people who happen to prefer Magnificent and want to explain away its low charting. . . . or maybe I just think that way because I find Magnificent to be pretty bad (and Boots pretty good) and its low charting supports that.

Actually I have no vested interest in how well Magnificent charted or for any other song on NLOTH for that matter as I find the whole album underwhelming. My point is that since GOYB was widely rejected by fans, it set a preconceived notion that the rest of the album was not going to be good. Whether you like Magnificent or not, it should of charted better than Boots as I feel it's a "catchier" and more main stream tune hence appealing to a wider audience. Its funny because if any of these songs were actually great we wouldn't even be having a conversation about which order they were released. Release dates do not make or break a great song. It seems that strategies like the one we're discussing only apply to mediocre work. If a song has greatness, then there's no denying it. Great songs will shine regardless of what order it was released in.

You certainly don't have to like a song to want to rationalize your opinion of it. I'm just saying that those who cling to the idea that Magnificent is more accessible than Boots, which charted higher, might be rationalizing their opinions rather than changing them to match the facts.

And of course, greatness is purely subjective. I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who find Boots and/or Magnificent to be great and songs you find great to be not-so-great. Purely subjective.

[satellitedog01]

If U2 were still putting out original B-sides on singles, I would be hunting for them, just for those tunes (the singles)... Kind of self defeating to want to be a pop act without singles with added value, or frequent update.
Pop acts issue singles almost consistently. There surely are statistics as to how this is done, dividing the year, but airplay and tv/internet presence is paramount, you can't be a mass-pushing pop act starting from scratch (with your target audience) every 4 or 5 years, that's illogical. :-/

[Velvet Dress]

If U2 were still putting out original B-sides on singles, I would be hunting for them, just for those tunes (the singles)... Kind of self defeating to want to be a pop act without singles with added value, or frequent update.
Pop acts issue singles almost consistently. There surely are statistics as to how this is done, dividing the year, but airplay and tv/internet presence is paramount, you can't be a mass-pushing pop act starting from scratch (with your target audience) every 4 or 5 years, that's illogical. :-/

Honestly I think that's their age showing.   They seem to underestimate how short the general public's attention span and memory are.   Not that I'm being snobbish or anything 

[wraitii]

I think the way they record songs also kind of goes against "releasing a single every year". It looks like songs require a good 2 years to mature with U2 (at least, it holds true for a lot of stuffs since AB).

[satellitedog01]

That's not true, they just can't commit to them. They are afraid of the music. :-) When they released albums every 2 years, we didn't have a problem with the output, actually those were their golden years both commercially and creatively, their artistic growth was scheduled in measurable lengths of time and thus remained focused and self assured (up until the first Best-of and from then on Behind and the rest). I do believe the luxury of time they enjoyed was the poison apple.

[Canadanne]

That's not true, they just can't commit to them. They are afraid of the music. :-) When they released albums every 2 years, we didn't have a problem with the output, actually those were their golden years both commercially and creatively, their artistic growth was scheduled in measurable lengths of time and thus remained focused and self assured (up until the first Best-of and from then on Behind and the rest). I do believe the luxury of time they enjoyed was the poison apple.

Yep. Bono keeps talking about how he wants this to be their heyday, releasing an album every year or two, but it just doesn't happen. If only it would! There would be so much less pressure on them if they released stuff more frequently (even if it was just EPs or standalone singles). The longer we have to wait between albums, the higher our expectations, and the more crushing it is when those expectations aren't met - which in turn has a damaging effect on the band's self-confidence. I wouldn't be half so bothered about a disappointing album if I knew it wouldn't be too long until the next one.

[mdmomof7]

That's not true, they just can't commit to them. They are afraid of the music. :-) When they released albums every 2 years, we didn't have a problem with the output, actually those were their golden years both commercially and creatively, their artistic growth was scheduled in measurable lengths of time and thus remained focused and self assured (up until the first Best-of and from then on Behind and the rest). I do believe the luxury of time they enjoyed was the poison apple.

Yep. Bono keeps talking about how he wants this to be their heyday, releasing an album every year or two, but it just doesn't happen. If only it would! There would be so much less pressure on them if they released stuff more frequently (even if it was just EPs or standalone singles). The longer we have to wait between albums, the higher our expectations, and the more crushing it is when those expectations aren't met - which in turn has a damaging effect on the band's self-confidence. I wouldn't be half so bothered about a disappointing album if I knew it wouldn't be too long until the next one.

This sums it up for me. Well put.

[MLP Midnight]

They can talk the talk, but they can't walk the walk.