I'm sure all of us, in our indie greatness, still have a special place in our hearts for bands that are enormously, gigantically, hugely popular. And although fellow TIGer Betsy Boston might disagree, I still have a special place in my heart for U2.
Sure, Secretary General Bono and the lads haven't really made a good song in quite a few years, I still give them credit where credit is due. For one thing, they seem to be pretty comfortable which ditching a sound that made them popular and replacing it with something different (albeit still alternative rock – I'm not talking hip-hop to opera here), and the case in point is Achtung Baby. Now, many people I knew hated it when it came out — remember, this was the early nineties, people were expecting more Joshua Tree/Rattle & Hum type stuff from U2, but instead they get all dancy (well, dancy for the time) and release an album that is arguably a classic for the decade. OK, sure, the band might have gotten carried away a bit with the followups (Zooropa and POP, both of which I think get unfairly maligned), but the band was taking chances. "Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World" is U2 at its worst and best. The song a killer, low, rumbling Adam Clayton bassline, Larry's odd tin can drumming and The Edge playing a drifiting, ethereal guitar line doing what his does best (and you have to respect a guy who built his own electric guitar as a kid and played the keyboard with his feet during the ZOO TV tour). Bono's vocals are in that transistional, "I have a falsetto!" phase, but man, the lyrics are a truly Bono mess: I dreamed that I saw Dali/with a supermarket trolley? Huh?
Anyway, U2, no matter how ridiculous they become, will always have my love and respect — and I suppose I need to keep that up as we wait for Bono's inevitable rise to world leader, eh?
{iPod Roulette is a daily feature from TIG writer Erik Gonzalez, where he highlights the first track his 11,400 track iPod picks for each day. Think of it as your imaginary daily affirmation. For past rounds of roulette, check the iPod Roulette archives.}