Hmm. I appreciate your personal opinion on current U2 music, and agree about MOS, but there are many people who do love the '00s stuff unconditionally, and some rate it on par with their earlier records.
As for Coldplay, I left them whe X&Y came out and they never convinced me to come back mostly because whenever I listened to songs off their last two records I couldn't get past the lyrics and vocals, even when I liked the music. The best thing I listened to recently was Major Minus, and that sounds like old Coldplay with some U2 and RH influences. I managed not to listen to the words (there are not that many).
Well it's people's right to rate in on par with their earlier records. I just don't see much of that around here with the fanatics(which we all are or we wouldn't be here arguing about the band when they're not even on tour or have a record out).
But I certainly wouldn't rate it as their best decade. It was their third best IMHO. And many of the tunes off of ATYCLB and HTDAAB are like extensive reworkings of earlier tunes with today's technology. They say basically the same things. That's not a bad thing, but it's not the best thing either.
There was a time when U2 were always forwards looking. When you would hear a song and it was U2 but it was new at the same time.
It was around the ATYCLB and especially HTDAAB time when the music started to seem a little near-nostalgic. COBL is a good song. It sounds cool. But it does evoke an earlier tune with WTSHNN.
Some of the songs are almost like remixes and rearrangements of earlier songs and imagery.
That's why I hope they follow their instincts and don't overthink and overproduce their next material.
When they follow their gut and are spontaneous we get MOS and One(both of which came together very quickly). When they are calculated we get Boots and other good tunes that are not good enough by U2's standards(which are rightfully high, even by their own words).
They need to trust their instincts.
