I'm skipping this "deal" on purpose. Seems like a massive sell out by U2 and I love rock music, but U2 does not qualify now. I'm sure not going to help them set records by getting it. Super cheesy promo, but I'm sure they are banking a ton of money on the deal.
I don't really care about corporate sellout stuff. It doesn't bother me. I don't mind given the album a listen and if its good then cool if not then its a delete. Every week I get a free song from apple and most weeks one from the Starbucks app. I don't look the artists up and see what their political views are or anything just smash the button to get the free music. Sometimes I get something I end up loving and often that also means discovering a new artist. I think people overthink this stuff too much. I mean yeah if the artist has been convicted of murder or rape or something then i can easily say that I don't want any of their music. But I don't take time to research everything first. So U2 sold out. They did that when they had albums for sale and made music videos. Every artist ends up selling out to gain fans and potential fame. Either you are cool with there being a market for this stuff or you aren't. It's like indie game devs. Either you think they deserve some money from time to time or you just only take the freebies because they are artists and making money means selling out.
Very nice read. I go back and forth on the sell out thing. Countless times. When bands do things to get more fans, they are not playing real music anymore, and their music suffers. How many "first albums" are so raw, so good, only to find, a few albums later, it's lacking. Then they sell tickets for a couple hundred dollars, for a show that really comes off as a manufactured tour not worth 3 dollars. This scenario has gotten worse. Especially when people think Beyonce, and Brittany Spears are the best musicians ever. U2 also does not play music anymore. Manufactured slop. So many killer musicians out there that will never get airplay, because they don't fit the mold, Of the music exec money rakers. I remember the day, when Led Zep were considered a bunch of long hairs, not too attractive. That didn't affect their rise.
Lot of hate for a freebie. Maybe they are being true to themselves, maybe what used to occupy their themes is no longer relevant in their lives now, maybe the angst has died down. Who knows, who cares, they're people that have done something they've chosen to do yet because they're not like they were when they started they're sell outs. Maybe they have, but to expect them to stay the same their entire careers is pretty unrealistic, especially when you consider their starting environment. No I'm not a huge fan, but people get so tribal over what they think other people should be, take it or leave it. Listen to something else you like better if it worries you, support the bands that fit your own personal vision.
Robert Plant lately looks like he's been ridden hard and put away wet, but "not too attractive "?? Oh the blasphemy!!!! 35 years ago he was so hot. Yes, I'm that old LOL!
What. Apple owes me a new iPhone, because I had to cleanse this one with fire after finding a U2 album on it; damn you, Apple! It's unbelievable that Apple has spent 100 million bucks for that. Why have those braindeads not simply put a a price cut on the new iPhones instead of that trash? Would have made millions of people much happier. Or maybe they should have donated that money to a much better cause instead of blowing it into the butts of some ship-wrecked "artists". “Don’t shove your music into people’s homes,” wrote the New Yorker’s Sasha Frere-Jones. “A U2 album that some would have taken seriously was instead turned into an album that seems as pointless as it probably is.” True, that. Most people don't even want it in their iTunes library. As it looks now, album should have been called "Songs of Ignorance" for various reasons. Most stupid move of the year, Apple.
So basically what i get from hearing this album is, instead of giving money to starving desiese riddled children, Bono will instead just give them a itunes voucher to redeem his new album? Poor them, cant even afford a first generation iPod Pure evil bono, you suck
Amazing. Apple gives away for free the latest album from a band that has sold over 150 million of them, has won 22 Grammys, more than any other band, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their very first year of eligibility, is ranked number 22 by Rolling Stone in their 100 Greatest Artists of All Time list, has a lead singer with three Nobel Peace Prize nominations and they contribute to and promote multiple human rights organisations and charities of which there are simply too many to even attempt to list but a combined number (taken from the ones that each band member supports) well in excess of 100. And still we end up with a thread with comments like the ones on here. Probably typed up on the very devices that the Apple "corporation" sells. Truly staggering. This is either a saint filled arena or it just exemplifies how much of a shitty world it is when people go around with these kind of (hateful, jealous, angry, bitter, ungrateful, ??) viewpoints. Just unbelievable.
The world must be about to end, I actually agree with one if Rip's super defensive posts. I'm downloading the album now. I was going to iTunes and iTunes on my phone said to go in the music app and it would automatically show. I think it didn't because I have the auto download of purchases feature turned off for songs. Anyway for anyone not finding it... (iOS6, should be similar on other iOS versions) iTunes app -> Other -> Purchases ... then scroll down and it should be listed under U2. For anyone that wants to disable auto downloads... Settings -> iTunes and AppStore ... Then Scroll down an look for the sliders to turn autodownlaods off for iTunes and the AppStore. I did this a long time ago because my kid would want some cheesy freemium game and if I didn't turn this feature off then when I put my password in his device I would get any garbage he downloaded. Also if I locked in purchases on my PC with iTunes they would start to autodownload which would quickly fill my 16gb.
I honestly don't see hate here at all. Maybe pity or disgust, and that comes from saying one thing and doing the opposite. Kind of like how they boast about how "born again" they are, and anti drug, yet they get busted at an airport. People do not like that stuff. Personally, I want musicians to change. I love that. But I want them to grow, and possibly improve. I do not want, nor respect putting out manufactured slop, because its time to toss something out, with the thought "our fans will like anything "I" do". I don't remember which U2 album that came out in recent years, but It reminded me of the days being a grunt in a hard core factory. That "machine" sound was identical. U2 needed this promotion badly.
Most music is manufactured if we're going to be honest, it's genre is irrelevant, as is how 'hardcore' it sounds as that is really just personal preference and doesn't stop it from being any less formulaic. My point was simply, another person can't say "be true to yourselves and your music" when they may very well being that with where there lives are at this point in time, whether you like or dislike their music, direction, personalities or whatever doesn't really change that.
Manufactured, or Created. There is a difference. One is harmonious that evokes emotions. Love, hate,anger, peace, sadness, joy, sex and so on. The other evokes frustration, and complete boredom. Watching Shakira dry humping a monitor, lip syncing does not classify as music to me and evokes embarrassment. This is such a sore topic for me. Growing up in the 70's and seeing and hearing the real McCoy,, has set a very high bar. I brought my kids to a show recently, and I couldn't even see the musicians. They were almost backstage behind a drape. I thought I was at an aerobics seminar. That's manufactured choreographed slop. Well choreographed however, but not music. Your points about personality's make perfect sense. Who am I to say who is being true to themselves. Point taken well.
