Is U2 the most hated band in America?

[Lucky_Devil]

Read an interesting article this morning about how U2 became the most hated band in America.

While I’ve never really been a fan of U2 (I have harbored an “irrational celebrity hatred” for Bono for as long as I can remember), I can appreciate that they have written & recorded a handful of good songs… in the past mostly. Usually when I tell people that I don’t like U2, it’s followed by a deep gasp and a look of horror... like I had just drop-kicked a kitten.

Anyway, the article mentions that liking or disliking U2 is a modern day Rorschach test:

This is quite a comedown for a band who, just over a decade ago, could still call itself the biggest band in the world. Their 2000 record, All That You Can’t Leave Behind, not only sold a staggering 12 million copies, but it gave the band a renewed relevance in the wake of 9/11, when songs like “Walk On” came to symbolize an America figuring out how to pick up the pieces. Songs like the anthemic “One” had always found a universal relevance, but this was a reminder of exactly why U2 was so popular: It united the types of people who would normally never agree on liking anything.

But in 2014, they seem to be disliked with the same intensity that they used to be patriotically beloved (despite their overt Irish heritage). The reason why depends on your perspective. According to a webpage helpfully titled “Why U2 Sucks,” the litany of reasons runs the gamut of “they are pretentious” to “they are derivative” and “they just plain suck.” The Guardian theorizes, however, that we hate U2 because we hate Bono, while the New York Observer thinks they’re the Guy Fieri of music, which one assumes means selling bombastic, tacky crap to as wide an audience as possible.

Time for a Barf Rorschach test: Do you hate U2 or are they one of the best bands EVA?!?!? Has U2 really become an internet punchline?

 

[Bay Arean]

What a buncha haters. I'm so out of it, I thought everybody hated Cold Play!

I still laugh at One, Two, Three, Fourteen! however.

 

[MtnRacer]

How is that not Nickelback?

Steve

 

[Lucky_Devil]

Oh, people hate Coldplay & Nickelback too...

I think the latest Apple download shenanigans/backlash pushed them over the top.

 

[Bay Arean]

Oh and to answer the question, I don't hate 'em. I just think people have a problem with Bono because he's so ubiquitous. As is that Cold Play dude. Their personalities overshadow the music legacy kinda.

I can't understand why Kiss isn't the most hated band. Terrible music, stupid costumes and a reality show that rubs in what an a-hole at least one of 'em is. The Nazi ss in their name always turned me off, too. I put Gene Simmons right up there with Dog the Bounty Hunter as weird, unfortunate and I-wish-they'd-get-off-my-teevee-licious.

And the other feller beat me to it, but I thought about Nickelback but just didn't post it, because I'm not sure they are even a rock band, or maybe I'm thinking of Nickel Creek or something. They haven't been shoved down my throat enough by the media to even know, so I'd have to give the nod to the other two choices.

 

[carries an axe]

U2 is that girl in high school who stands up in front of everyone at the wrong time and starts preaching about saving the orphaned whales in Nigeria with breast cancer.

 

[wazzuFreddo]

iPhone herpalerps

 

[Lucky_Devil]

U2 is that girl in high school who stands up in front of everyone at the wrong time and starts preaching about saving the orphaned whales in Nigeria with breast cancer.

Yeah, the article touches on that a bit

That shift particularly affected the public perception of Bono. As theGuardian notes, the singer often comes off as “holier than thou” to his detractors, “rich beyond his wildest dreams and hanging out with princes, presidents and preachers [but one who] nonetheless won’t shut up about poor people.” For some, he’s less the musical poet who wrote “One” than a celebrity blowhard who wants to browbeat them into caring, like Susan Sarandon or Sean Penn. There’s a general mistrust around celebrity activism, and when you throw in Bono’s penchant for religious imagery, it reeks of Kanye West.

 

[wazzuFreddo]

Yeezus died for your rims

 

[Bay Arean]

The guys spends more on fancy eyewear than the GDP of some countries. That, combined with all the Mother Teresa shit just makes him a very weird and updated Elvis. Vegas needs more U2!!

 

[carries an axe]

Clear sunglasses
Inside


Douchtastic

 

[Johndicezx9]

I saw them in concert in 1983 and 1987.

U2 of the early 1980's were great, "War" & "Joshua Tree" are personal favorites, but "Joshua Tree" was simply their last great complete album. "Rattle & Hum" was self aggrandizing drivel (the movie and the soundtrack) and you got the feeling that they felt they were much more important than they were (well, Bono at least).

As the 90's came in, and they came out with "Achtung Baby", everyone realized this was a different U2, a U2 caught up in their success, not the gritty "kids" from Dublin. This U2 was a band of "rock stars", and I remember hearing it the first time and thinking the songs all sounded ready made for commercials.

I can't name too many other albums after that without Googling, but I have downloaded a few of the songs, and as I said in the "iPhone Herpes' thread, this new album isn't anything special, but at least I didn't pay anything for it.

I doubt I will pay to see them in the future.

(Having said all that, I still think The Edge is up there with a few of the great guitar gods, but that's just my opinion.)

EDIT: and I freakin' h8 Nickelback!

 

[flying_hun]

I can't understand why Kiss isn't the most hated band. Terrible music, stupid costumes and a reality show that rubs in what an a-hole at least one of 'em is. The Nazi ss in their name always turned me off, too. I put Gene Simmons right up there with Dog the Bounty Hunter as weird, unfortunate and I-wish-they'd-get-off-my-teevee-licious.

This. :thumbup Terrible then. Worse now.

 

[Bay Arean]

I don't know any U2 songs except that 123,14 song. I don't know how I missed out but really, I am buried in various ethnic music so I'm not with it. Ms. BA, however, likes them and tells me they were great. I think her kids were just the right age when they were good so she heard them that way. She really likes the guy who calls himself "The Edge" while I sit and try and figure out how anybody would be called "The Edge."

 

[Lucky_Devil]

I dunno about KISS... I don't think KISS takes themselves seriously enough to become hated. They're just good old-fashioned sell outs, and admittedly so. If they were as preachy and self important as U2, I think they would rocket up the hated bands list.

 

[Squidly McSmearstain]

Usually when I tell people that I don’t like U2, it’s followed by a deep gasp and a look of horror... like I had just drop-kicked a kitten.

I have experienced the same reaction. I don't like U2 becuase they're not very good.

There are bands I don't like becuase their style/playing/genre isn't to my liking. However, I can see the ability and the talent and the attempt at craft. I REALLY don't like Pink Floyd, but I would never call them a bad band. I generally don't like the Rolling Stones, but I would never call them a bad band. U2 is a bad band, and that is why I don't like them.

The rhythm section (bass and drums) is passable for the music and genre they're in, but the "front men" (Bono and The Edge) aren't terribly accomplished.

 

[Abacinator]

(Having said all that, I still think The Edge is up there with a few of the great guitar gods, but that's just my opinion.)

Serious question, what's so great about the edge? I don't recall him being that spectacular a guitar player.

 

[Squidly McSmearstain]

...(Having said all that, I still think The Edge is up there with a few of the great guitar gods, but that's just my opinion.)

Really? I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum suggesting that The Edge is just slightly better than someone who has been taking guitar lessons for a couple of months.

 

[i_am_the_koi]

Yes /thread

 

[Bay Arean]

What's weird about KISS is that they have these super weirdly loyal fans, like the dude on Pawn Stars. What normal human being over the age of, uh, 12, in any kind of right mind would think there was anything good about that crap? The tongue thing and the kitty cat makeup guy? Really???? Yes, they are campy, I'll give ya that. If I want camp, I'll listen to Weird Al. To me, KISS is a giant, failed ripoff of Alice Cooper. Now, I don't know much about Alice Cooper except that "School's Out for the Summer" which is a great teenager anthem and perfectly expresses something. What are KISS songs even about????

(My understanding of the Edge guy is that he has a super-distinguishable riff sound. There are millions of great guitar players out there that you will never ever even know or hear about, but somebody who has a real distinctive sound and style catches attention).