U2 - Articles - Zimbio

Not Bad At All Actually

Thu, 7 Nov 2008 08:03:00 GMT

posted by lr-jono

Regular readers of the blog will know that I am rather a big fan of U2. I have been a fan ever since the October album was released way back in 1981 and although I have liked some of their material more than others over the years, I remain a huge fan to this day. I have seen them live, I have met several of them and I have an extensive collection of their music, much of it never released. I am of course looking forward to the new album as well. But my all time favourite song has not changed since I first heard it in 1984. So I thought perhaps a post dedicated to it was in order.

Bad was never released as a single as it was considered a little long for radio play, but has nonetheless became a firm fan favourite because of Bono's passionate live performances of the song, especially at Live Aid. The vague lyrics are about heroin—specifically, about a friend of Bono's "who was given, on his 21st birthday, enough heroin into his bloodstream to kill him". I cannot explain exactly why I love the song so much, but I can tell you that when I hear it, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I think part of it is the fact that it has what musos call an extendable bridge that Bono often uses to slip in parts of other songs. I think I have managed to hear around thirty different versions so far.

Anyway, with the help of YouTube, lets play some of the best examples. If you know of better ones, please feel free to point me to them in the comments. If you're not familiar with the track, enjoy the rolling drums, driving bass line, the haunting repeating guitar riff and the soaring vocals.

The first one is the definitive live version in my opinion despite the mullet haircut. Performed at Wembley Arena in 1985 and featured on the "Wide Awake In America" EP. This is what I want played at my funeral.

Later that same year came the Live Aid performance. The mullet is still there but now we get some examples of Bono's talent for mixing in snippets of other songs. Lou Reid's Satellite of Love and Walk on the Wildside and The Rolling Stone's Sympathy for the Devil and Ruby Tuesday. This performance really launched U2 on the world stage. Sorry this version is so poor but it's the only one I could find.

We jump ahead now to 1987 and Dublin's Croke Park. The sound quality isn't the best but at least the mullet has gone.

Forward again now to 1992 and the Zoo TV tour. This time Elton John's Candle in the Wind makes an appearance.

Finally, forward again to 2001 and the Elevation Tour. This time another U2 song, 40, is featured.

Bono leaks new U2 record by playing stereo too loud.

Sun, 18 Aug 2008 01:02:00 GMT

posted by thebigklosowski
From the news of the weird pile, here's one I just had to share.

According to TorrentFreak.com:

Proving that if media can be seen, heard or touched it can be copied, songs from U2’s forthcoming album have been leaked online. Four tracks from the album, provisionally entitled ‘No Line On The Horizon’, have appeared on the Internet. The mechanism of the release is pretty comical - Bono blasted the tracks from a stereo in his villa in the South of France so loudly, that a passer-by recognized his voice and recorded them.

Apparently four songs have been put online already, including the title track, the first single from the album ‘Sexy Boots’, ‘Moment of Surrender’ and ‘For Your Love’.

So go out and get it if you want, but I'm not sure the quality would be worth listening to. Well, I haven't heard a U2 album worth listening to in almost 10 years, but that's just me.

U2 Roundup

Fri, 26 Apr 2008 10:06:00 GMT

posted by lr-jono
Thanks to the kind folks at U2.com I can pass on what is going on with the band at the moment.

The band are back in the studio continuing to work up new material with Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno. It's going well, is what we hear, fingers crossed for a new record in 2008.

The three landmark records the band made before ever going into a studio with Brian and Danny - Boy, October and War - are about to be re-released. Following the recent remastering of The Joshua Tree, Edge has now overseen a similar remastering of U2's first three albums from the original audio tapes. They'll arrive in July. Read more here.

And finally, if you didn't catch John Legend's stripped-down, piano-based cover of 'Pride (In The Name of Love)', it was part of a two hour TV special marking the fortieth anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King. See below.

U2 Roundup

Fri, 26 Apr 2008 10:06:00 GMT

Ronnie Drew RIP

Sat, 24 Aug 2008 23:36:00 GMT

posted by lr-jono

The 16th of August saw the death of an Irish legend. Ronnie Drew, the lead singer of The Dubliners, passed away after suffering from cancer for some time, at the age of 73. Ronnie was born in Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin in 1934 and rose to become a national treasure in Ireland.

Earlier this year, a single (The Ballad of Ronnie Drew) was written to originally include Ronnie himself but was changed to be a tribute to him as his health was declining. Proceeds from sale of the single went to the The Irish Cancer Society at the request of Drew himself. The song was performed by a number of famous Irish musicians. These included members of U2, Sinéad O'Connor, Christy Dignam of Aslan, Robert Hunter of the Grateful Dead, Kila, Christy Moore, Andrea Corr, Moya Brennan, Shane McGowan, Bob Geldof, Damien Dempsey, Gavin Friday, Iona Green, Jerry Fish, Paul Brady, Paddy Casey, Mick Pyro, Mundy, Chris de Burgh, Ronan Keating, Jack L, Eleanor Shanley, Mary Black, Declan O'Rourke, Mary Coughlan, and Joe Elliott of Def Leppard as well as The Dubliners and The Chieftains.

Below I have embedded two versions of the song. The official video and a performance that took place on the Late Late Show earlier this year. RIP Ronnie Drew, you will be much missed.