New U2 Song .. Windows in the skies [Audio]

Igottago wrote:

I like U2, which is why I totally disagree with you. If you think they aren't corporate whores then you are blind. They even admit they are a corporation. Their music is secondary these days, the main thing is getting the U2 brand out there through many means. Like redundant hits packages, new crappy songs with popular pop punk bands, ipod commercials, tomb raider themed music videos, being on oprah every year, going on muchmusic and claming they love Destiny's Child, doing duet's with Alcia Keyes, having an Irish boyband in their music video for "the sweetest thing", superbowl performances, proclaiming the killers as an important band..im sure there's some things i'm forgetting. They are about as far away from "rock and roll" as you can get these days. Its sad, because like I said, there's a lot of U2 material that I like. In fact they are not even corporate whores, they are pretty much just corporate. Name me another credible rock band that has done as much as U2 to make sure their branding remians popular? They are savvy business men, no doubt. Better businessmen than musicians these days, that's for damn sure.

PS - fogot to add, moving their "corporate" offices from Ireland to the Netherlands so they pay less taxes. I'll come back and add more as I think of them.

1. we've discussed the hits packages ad nauseum. it was a record company decision to fill a gap in their catalogue: a one disc compilation spanning their career. neither excessive nor unreasonable.

2. you may not like green day, but they were making their music long before that sound became hip. i think they've established that they are no more imitators than pearl jam is. to dismiss green day becos they spawned a shit load of crappy imitators is stupid. we ought to dismiss pearl jam for giving us nickelback and creed if you're gonna go that route. that said, i think green day sucks, but i dont think u2 collaborating with them is in any way shameful.

3. i already discussed the ipod commercial. try reading it. then tell me what other commercial they've done. i admire the fact that their support of ipod is a big fuck you the the record industry. do you prefer the metallica approach to what u2 is doing?

4. destiny's child... ive got no defense except that sometime people have poor tastes. ed likes sparta (who blows), i consider hootie and the blowfish a guilty pleasure. we've all got them. given that they are diehard music fans, i dont think you can condemn the band just for liking a group you don't.

5. alicia keyes is a legitimate talent. i dont care for her, but ive no qualms and i respect them for branching out a bit. did you bitch when pearl jam dueted with victoria williams? or when ed played with bryan adams and noel gallagher?

6. pearl jam has also contributed to soundtracks. any band that does this and does videos will tie the two together. not every band has pearl jam's oppositions to videos.

7. i dont know a thing about irish boybands, but they appear in a video. big frickin deal. if the band starts choreographing dance moves and letting other people write their songs, then ill worry that they've gone boy band.

8. the killers is again a matter of taste. i think pearl jam's on crack when they talk up kings of leon or sparta. but there you have it.

9. super bowl performance. that's crappy, no doubt. i didnt watch it. it's the only point i might give you. didnt they do a big 9/11 tribute with it?

10. ah-ha... your REAL reason for the u2 hatred... you dont like their music anymore. they're too soft for you and you want something harder. fine. knock yourself. i never said you had to like them. but own up and admit that they've gone soft and stop acting like you were betrayed or trying to create some objective criteria by which we should all see things your way.