The enemy is Simon Cowell (& Co)

[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

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.

You can't mess with a woman like that...

[kango]

I remember a good Bono quote which is very fitting

"There is no us and them. There is only us."

[Tumbling Dice]

I actually like Simon Cowell personally, and you can't deny that Britain's got talent:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGt_6foIZDU

[xy]

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.

I find it hard to believe U2 would bend over to record execs like that (maybe it was another Adam/Larry vs Bono/Edge argument, like Bomb).
For example, Jimmy Iovine's reported favourite song, Every Breaking Wave, didn't even make the cut.

What U2 should have done all those years ago is tell McGuiness or whoever booked Popmart to zip it and wait until the album is really ready.

The enemy ? They're old. Too old. Having BD and Vertigo was stunning enough...past 50 they just might not pull of a hit like that.

[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

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.

I find it hard to believe U2 would bend over to record execs like that (maybe it was another Adam/Larry vs Bono/Edge argument, like Bomb).
For example, Jimmy Iovine's reported favourite song, Every Breaking Wave, didn't even make the cut.

What U2 should have done all those years ago is tell McGuiness or whoever booked Popmart to zip it and wait until the album is really ready.

The enemy ? They're old. Too old. Having BD and Vertigo was stunning enough...past 50 they just might not pull of a hit like that.

Honestly, people here are hilarious. You read something you don't like (never mind that is came from Universals head of international marketing), and you find it 'hard to believe'!

[xy]

"This is why they had internal arguments with U2 and its people."

Which is it ? The record execs are in fine position to talk directly with the band, who's "its people" ? McGuiness never had that kind of influence on the band (and early on he talked with Bono how they would have a one-two punch with NLOTH and SOA the way they did it with AB and Zooropa).
It's likely that Larry and Adam distrusted the allegedly more experimental Morocco material though.

[Sugarcube]

"This is why they had internal arguments with U2 and its people."

Which is it ? The record execs are in fine position to talk directly with the band, who's "its people" ? McGuiness never had that kind of influence on the band (and early on he talked with Bono how they would have a one-two punch with NLOTH and SOA the way they did it with AB and Zooropa).
It's likely that Larry and Adam distrusted the allegedly more experimental Morocco material though.

Don't ask me - I'm not the head of international marketing at U2s record label. However I think the head of marketing at U2s record label probably has a pretty good understanding of what went down during the recording of their last flop. More so than a bunch of loonies on a forum anyway

[xy]

Unlike AB and Bomb, we don't know what really happened with NLOTH. We can assume, given their history, that there was a disagreement within the band rather than record label blackmailing them (though no doubt they were worried about the lead single).

[Sugarcube]

Unlike AB and Bomb, we don't know what really happened with NLOTH. We can assume, given their history, that there was a disagreement within the band rather than record label blackmailing them (though no doubt they were worried about the lead single).

Ah I see - so a direct quote from the head of international marketing at U2s record label doesn't trump what a bunch of loonies on a U2 forum think. How queer.

[xy]

"This is why they had internal arguments with U2 and its people."

So...the label okays something like UF, or AB, or Zooropa and Pop (all FAR bigger departures than NLOTH, which is arguably the least innovative U2 album with Bomb) but they chicken out on NLOTH ?

[Sugarcube]

"This is why they had internal arguments with U2 and its people."

So...the label okays something like UF, or AB, or Zooropa and Pop (all FAR bigger departures than NLOTH, which is arguably the least innovative U2 album with Bomb) but they chicken out on NLOTH ?

Don't ask me - I'm just quoting the head of international marketing at U2s record label.

It would also go some way to explain the bizarre mess that NLOTH was. Lurching as it was between something approaching a Zooropa style experience, the truly shite single, onto the awful middle section with its chart friendly feel, into some bland balladeering and finishing with a yawnathon that has become the staple of their last 3 albums.

It's no wonder the head of international marketing at U2s record label was so upset

[xy]

And here's one of the producers talking : http://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/7723-brian-eno/

Brian Eno: In Morocco. And the reason none of that really appeared on the record, even though we did quite a lot of stuff there, was because it sounded kind of synthetic. It sounded kind of like "world music" add-on. I'm sure it would have got a few people saying, oh, how interesting, they've broken out into North African music, but actually it just didn't sound convincing. We were very impressed by the music while we were there, but there was no realistic or emotionally satisfying way of marrying it using the music that we were doing, so in the end not very much of it at all showed through. But influences aren't always in terms of sound. As I was saying earlier, they're in terms of how you approach music and what you use it for. I think that was picked up, and it was absorbed.

[mattressjedi]

The only influence a record company has on U2 these days is towards release dates, not content.

No one from Universal is telling what kind of music to put on the album with them having open ears.

This guy just wants to justify his salary.

[Sugarcube]

The only influence a record company has on U2 these days is towards release dates, not content.

No one from Universal is telling what kind of music to put on the album with them having open ears.

This guy just wants to justify his salary.

And you know this how?

[Tumbling Dice]

"This is why they had internal arguments with U2 and its people."

Which is it ? The record execs are in fine position to talk directly with the band, who's "its people" ? McGuiness never had that kind of influence on the band (and early on he talked with Bono how they would have a one-two punch with NLOTH and SOA the way they did it with AB and Zooropa).
It's likely that Larry and Adam distrusted the allegedly more experimental Morocco material though.

Don't ask me - I'm not the head of international marketing at U2s record label. However I think the head of marketing at U2s record label probably has a pretty good understanding of what went down during the recording of their last flop. More so than a bunch of loonies on a forum anyway

Maybe the music exec was fibbing.