The enemy is Simon Cowell (& Co)

[skelter]

Not sure if this should be posted in here or in the General Music Discussion, but since I mean enemy to U2, I'll put it here 

Simon Cowell and his manufactured fan-magnet bands and their radio hitz are the direct enemies of what U2 must go up against. It's not other (lesser/rip off) rock bands, it's not even the rappers. Jay-Z et all write their own lyrics, and Bono has shown his admiration for that. Radio dominators like Adele, Lady Gaga have their own substances (neatly packaged by their recording companies, nonetheless), and even the Black Eyed Peas produce/mix/have creative input into their music.

Cowell only sees each fan as a money contributor (towards uying albums and concert tix). I read that he forbade One Direction "cutie" <name forgotten> from dying his hair black, for fear that it might lose the band fans. Who cares about the music? Each screaming pre-teen is only a dollar sign to him (and other execs like Cowell. Cowell is just the most prolific). Again, I'm so glad our band enjoys so much autonomy. No one would ever force Adam to dye his hair black to make the band look younger

[I threw a brick]

The biggest enemy to U2 is ....U2 !!!   
Simon Cowell can do whatever he wants it shouldnt matter to what U2 do ?  If you remember back to when U2 brought out "TJT" the charts was full of rubbish like Stock, Aitken & Waterman songs/acts it didnt stop them from doing their own music but for some reason Bono/U2 have  changed their idealogy from back in those days and now want to follow trends which unfortunately means falling in line with Cowell acts...Sad really for a band of U2's stature to even consider this to be their One Direction (pun intended!!) for the future. 

[satellitedog01]

Well one thing a U2 fan can do is to inflict physical harm on anyone who supposedly likes U2 but also listens to Cowell's creations. That will draw a nice clear line in the sand :-) Do it for true art, kick some ass.

[Sugarcube]

SC has nothing to do with what U2 are doing. And to be fair, I don't know why everyone demonises him so much - sure the music he's involved with is mostly crap but that being the case, just ignore it. No one forces artists to get involved with him. Rubbish manufactured music was around way before he arrived. As the Jam said, the public wants what the public gets. Which is why stating sales figures and tour revenues on this site with regards to U2 is totally pointless and no reflection at all on the quality (or otherwise) of the art they produce.

As I threw a brick rightly said, the only people U2 are up against is themselves. I noticed there was a Mullen quote that said U2 need a total reinvention. They do - but let's hope they reinvent themselves well.

[U2OnceAgain]

The biggest threat is not American Idol or X Factor. Its the general public. The more the public buys the pre-formed pre-made junk music and real talent gets no where the more junk we are going to get. Music is a business. they want to make as much money as possible with as little investment as possible.

This is not new, we had New Kids on the Block, Tiffany, Debbie Gibson, Milli-Vanilli etc... and we still got the Joshua Tree and Actung Baby.

U2 needs to grow a pair and it will all fall into place.

[The Exile]

I think this premise is silly. Bono is not in junior high anymore, and any temptation to bow to peer pressure is simply juvenile. What next? Is Bieber the enemy because he will force Bono into getting one of those swooshy haircuts?

PS - I wouldn't put it past Bono, actually, but thankfully hair implants can't swoosh like that....

[satellitedog01]

But he can always take a liking to hairpieces. I'd like him to sport an elderly Roy Orbison style for starters.

[tigerfan41]

Much as I can't stand Simon Cowell and the trash music he's responsible for, he's not the enemy of U2. U2 don't have to "one-up" the artists played on radio; all they have to do is get back to making great music. They're capable of that.

As for Cowell, well, I wish he and all of the other people responsible for the crap we currently hear on the radio would leave the music business. I miss the days growing up where I could actually listen to the radio and not hear crappy song after crappy song.

[Sugarcube]

Much as I can't stand Simon Cowell and the trash music he's responsible for, he's not the enemy of U2. U2 don't have to "one-up" the artists played on radio; all they have to do is get back to making great music. They're capable of that.

As for Cowell, well, I wish he and all of the other people responsible for the crap we currently hear on the radio would leave the music business. I miss the days growing up where I could actually listen to the radio and not hear crappy song after crappy song.

Some people like the music you think is 'crap'.

As for U2 being somehow 'outside' being manufactured take a look at the quote and article in the link below. People assume it was U2 getting cold feet about NLOTH - they were actually being told what to do by a load of suits.

<Universal certainly didn’t think this album would sell. This is why they had internal arguments with U2 and its people, and it’s why the album changed direction midway through the project and was delayed in its release>

http://www.examiner.com/article/universal-worried-about-u2-s-album-sales-potential

[JamietheEdgefan]

WOW. So, that really happened? I had always suspected NLOTH had a sudden change during it's development (although it's obvious if you listen to the middle 3 songs). Actually, what surprises me isn't that they changed to album to get more hits, but that universal had enough power to derail u2's creative process.
Given that the album didn't do that well anyway makes it even more of a shame that they consciously 'diluted' it for commercial appeal...

[Sugarcube]

WOW. So, that really happened? I had always suspected NLOTH had a sudden change during it's development (although it's obvious if you listen to the middle 3 songs). Actually, what surprises me isn't that they changed to album to get more hits, but that universal had enough power to derail u2's creative process.
Given that the album didn't do that well anyway makes it even more of a shame that they consciously 'diluted' it for commercial appeal...

Yes - my feeling is it would have been a pretty decent album but as things turned out, it was an unholy mess.

One shouldn't make the mistake of thinking U2 have total autonomy over their output. I don't know what kind of deal U2 have with Universal but it's clear U2 aren't as in control as you might think

[JamietheEdgefan]

WOW. So, that really happened? I had always suspected NLOTH had a sudden change during it's development (although it's obvious if you listen to the middle 3 songs). Actually, what surprises me isn't that they changed to album to get more hits, but that universal had enough power to derail u2's creative process.
Given that the album didn't do that well anyway makes it even more of a shame that they consciously 'diluted' it for commercial appeal...

Yes - my feeling is it would have been a pretty decent album but as things turned out, it was an unholy mess.

One shouldn't make the mistake of thinking U2 have total autonomy over their output. I don't know what kind of deal U2 have with Universal but it's clear U2 aren't as in control as you might think

Yeah, that's quite an eye opener.
The thing i disliked most about NLOTH is not the commercial aspect, but the way it's not coherent at all (i can't listen to it all the way through, it sounds like a playlist someone made by mistake). Even if the next album is more dance-focused, or more commercial, i won't mind just as long as it's more consistent than NLOTH.

[MLP Midnight]

U2's enemy is U2 themselves.

Always has been

[Sugarcube]

WOW. So, that really happened? I had always suspected NLOTH had a sudden change during it's development (although it's obvious if you listen to the middle 3 songs). Actually, what surprises me isn't that they changed to album to get more hits, but that universal had enough power to derail u2's creative process.
Given that the album didn't do that well anyway makes it even more of a shame that they consciously 'diluted' it for commercial appeal...

Yes - my feeling is it would have been a pretty decent album but as things turned out, it was an unholy mess.

One shouldn't make the mistake of thinking U2 have total autonomy over their output. I don't know what kind of deal U2 have with Universal but it's clear U2 aren't as in control as you might think

Yeah, that's quite an eye opener.
The thing i disliked most about NLOTH is not the commercial aspect, but the way it's not coherent at all (i can't listen to it all the way through, it sounds like a playlist someone made by mistake). Even if the next album is more dance-focused, or more commercial, i won't mind just as long as it's more consistent than NLOTH.

Agreed. The title track, MOS, Breathe and Fez sound like one album. The whole horrible middle section sound like HTDAAB outakes. Then they threw in White as Snow just to complete the confusion. Plus there was Cedars which seemed to be a mishmash of everything. I don't like HTDAAB much but at least it was consistent

[Tumbling Dice]

Much as I can't stand Simon Cowell and the trash music he's responsible for, he's not the enemy of U2. U2 don't have to "one-up" the artists played on radio; all they have to do is get back to making great music. They're capable of that.

As for Cowell, well, I wish he and all of the other people responsible for the crap we currently hear on the radio would leave the music business. I miss the days growing up where I could actually listen to the radio and not hear crappy song after crappy song.

Some people like the music you think is 'crap'.

As for U2 being somehow 'outside' being manufactured take a look at the quote and article in the link below. People assume it was U2 getting cold feet about NLOTH - they were actually being told what to do by a load of suits.

<Universal certainly didn’t think this album would sell. This is why they had internal arguments with U2 and its people, and it’s why the album changed direction midway through the project and was delayed in its release>

http://www.examiner.com/article/universal-worried-about-u2-s-album-sales-potential

U2 should have got their people to tell Universal's people to go shove it.  That's what Helen Daniels said to Paul Robinson when he wanted to add Home James to the Lassiters empire.  Or words to that effect.