U2 is overrated

Listen to Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby and then you might want to rethink that OP.

R1, I don't think i can stomach a whole album of Bono's atrocious singing.

They had something in the 80s but hardly the greatest thing since shamrock shakes.

Bono's an asshole. He wanted NOTHING to do with AIDS activism in the 1980s but tried to present himself as an aids advocate hero when it became the cause du jour in the 1990s.

Hate him.

Great band.

Every goddamn song sounds the same. Can’t stand them.

Bono is insufferable but The Edge is an awesome guitar player.

Totally agree: The Edge is great. Very distinctive style.

Bono is insufferable, that is true. They were good live to a point but their music feels dated now, or something. I would certainly never play it voluntarily.

I like their really early stuff, and they were also going in a really interesting direction in the early Nineties. "One" is, IMO, a little masterpiece.

From there, it was all downhill.

I agree with you, 1990s!

These fuckers were an 80s band. They weren't easy to attach to any genre. Alt rock, rock, stadium rock quickly. But you never could pin who would be a big fan.

Op. This is the hill you’re gonna plant your flag on? Really?

Anthem Band ugh

I love their earliest albums, which had a post punk feel. As they became more popular, Bono became more pretentious and insufferable. I don't like what they morphed into, but the first few albums were totally different and great.

They've got some good songs, but I can't stand that hypocrital wanker Bono so don't listen to them.

^hypocritical

U2 and Bono are the very dictionary definition of self-important rock stars who take themselves too seriously. Bono at the height of the band’s fame had a messiah complex. Privately he was even worse, he ingratiated himself with celebrities and rich people while publicly making sure he’s portrayed as a man of the people. Total bullshit artist. As if that wasn’t enough his singing is atrocious, like fingernails scraping the blackboard. Thin and screeching.

U2 (probably moreso Bono) set out to be a great band. Not strive to make great music because that was there passion, but to be known as great. I have read the same of Coldplay. Their music is well crafted, but calculated and dispassionate. The songs do not inspire any sort of attachment. Personally, whenever I hear their music I think of malls.

Zooropa was their last great era for me aside from All That You Can't Leave Behind but they got too pretentious (well, Bono, really) in the mid-to-late '90s and plain insufferable as the 2000s continued.

I saw them on one of their recent tours and while they still put on a good show, Bono's messiah complex as described earlier was on full display. It's a turn off.

I have avoided these people because I don't like over-sentimental, whiny, SJW, Irish-Catholic, whiny, holier-than-thou whiners.

They were really cool when I was in my seventh or eighth year at school. It was 1980 or 1981 I think when my friend gave me a U2 pin to add to the ever growing collection on my jean jacket. We really liked them; they were still somewhat new and everyone cool was raving about them at the time.

Big, loud, passionate rock sound, and lyrics which had a lasting impression on us. Lost interest after [italic] Joshua Tree [/italic]. [italic] BOY [/italic] was probably my favourite.

The were a good band with a couple of great albums but in all fairness I don't think very few people give them much thought these days and rightfully so. Bono is always trying to self prompt but I imagine most young people simply scratch their heads thinking 'who the fuck is that old guy'. Aside from die hard U2 fans there is little love for the band these days.

This song introduced me to U2 in 1980. Thought they were great.

Check out the drummer -- young!

OP , may I ask your age? I think they're one of those few bands that you need to have been (alive) and young and impressionable when they were "it". Most people who really liked them are at least in their fifties now. There may be some fans who found them later at their 90s height, but If you're much younger, or really older I can see how they wouldn't be for you. It seems somlong ago now to me, yet I remember the time feeling indistinguishable from the 70s.

I was a teenager in the 80’s, and yes they were the coolest rock band in the world at the time. Their albums were huge hits, and frankly very good. Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby are obviously absolute classics. I remember going to see them during their Zoo TV tour in Marseilles, and it was the most impressive show I’d seen in my (short) life. However I lost interest after Zooropa, probably due to Bono’s personality.

Really good band in the 1980s - and I had a bit of a crush on drummer Larry Mullen, Jr

Yes, zoo whatever was the pinnacle. And actually not that good of a concert.

R12 your reply is oddly dramatic. By your logic, every post created on DL could be a 'planting your flag' scenario.

Bono loves cock.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

They were (are?) popular because they appeal to those like them - bland, white, straight people. Coldplay followed their act. Snooze.

When Bono was in that horrible bike accident and he said he may never play guitar again I thought GOOD. Now only one more bike ride to take out that stupid voice of his.

One of my favorite songs ever

I could listen to this one all day.

And this... oh God. That opening still gives me chills. I used to love getting fucked to this song.

They're OK. Some good stuff. Definitely overrated.

I can see why people get tired of Bono, but U2 is not overrated. The Joshua Tree is one of the greatest albums ever made.

At the peak of success they were considered a great band but since then they’ve been demoted as a sometimes-good band but nothing particularly memorable. Compare to REM who is still considered a great band many years after their peak.

Everything up to Achtung Baby was pretty good. Since then, the only album remotely any good was All That You Can't Leave Behind.

For a while, I thought The Killers were going to assume their mantle. But, no. Just no.

Just repeat to yourself, 'It's just a song, I should really just relax.'

I was always an R.E.M. man myself. U2 sucks.

Someone said it best: “R.E.M. wants to be the best band in the planet. U2 wants to be the biggest”. Therein lies the important difference and why U2’s music does not appeal to me.

R40, I love both. Why choose between them?

I also love both the Stones and the Beatles.

I also thought the Killers were going to take their lead r38 but didn't happen. Same with Coldplay although I think Coldplay was able to reach greater heights than the Killers.

Coldplay just became too same-y for me.

I’m not saying you have to choose, just saying I like one’s music over the other.

[quote] Every goddamn song sounds the same.

They were Nickelback before there was Nickelback.

R39 I do see your point about relaxing insofar as hating any band, but I wouldn't categorise them as Pop. They're a Rock band.

A couple of their songs are on my permanent playlist. But I never could understand the use of the name Bono. I mean, Sonny & Cher.

R40 - How many bands have you been in and what did you play? Besides, who do you think really cares about your preference?

Childish, self important, and pedestrian. . I’ve seen both bands multiple times. They have both gotten a little bit long in the tooth as of late. But why you can’t just enjoy one band without disparaging the other says more about you than it does about them.

I enjoy their music, I liked their music better in the 1990s and 2000s. However, in my opinion, U2 has transitioned from an underground alt rock band to the definition of mainstream rock. Initially they were music one would only hear on indie college stations, but now U2 is so overplayed and formulaic that their music is nothing new or groundbreaking. It seems to me the same thing happened to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. I can't tell one U2 song from another anymore. They all sort of blend together. U2 is covered by so many other artists now that they're just mainstream background music. I'd imagine there will be new artists who will strive to be the opposite of what U2 is and stands for.

R46, it was short for “Bono Vox” = “good voice. I agree that it was a poor choice though for that reason.