Wading in....

Knetsch, Robert ([email protected])
Tue, 15 Sep 1998 10:40:21 -0400

Well, I left Wire 6 months ago, but I am back...and back into the fray
regarding the misnamed "Greatest Hits" debate (someone made an excellent
point that in fact this is the BEST OF, not GH...) It is good to be back to
be a part of the passion that is U2. I will be brief...I recall several
months ago, when we were wondering what the "new" album they were making
woul dbe like, I do recall several of our wise members saying something all
too true: whatever U2 did next we could not predict.

Whether you like it or not, you must admit we pretty well are ALL thrown for
aloop on this one. Who would have thought that the man you said "Fuck the
past" would put out a Best Of album? Yet, that is the ambiguity of U2.
Come on, they did it! They surprised us! We just can't figure out what
they'll do next, and for that I think they are brilliant.

On the whole "fuck the past" line....I once again would like to point out
that U2 is characteristically ambiguous about MANY things, this being one
them. How can he mean that when he sings Elvis songs at his concerts? Or
when he tips his hat to the foundations of American rock in Rattle and Hum?
U2 is many things to many people. They have a foot in the past while making
giant leaps onto new music levels. THAT'S whats so amazing about them.

Besides...let's face it...this Best Of thing is less about something U2 is
doing than what Paul McGuiness has done. The only real work they've done in
addition to what they've already done to make these songs over ten years was
to re-make The Sweetest Thing. Again, this is the baby of
Islan/Polygram/MsGuiness more than the boys themselves.

Okay, I said I would be brief...guess I lied.

Rob Knetsch

"If you want someone to blame, throw a rock and you'll hit someone guilty"

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b2 on Tue Sep 15 1998 - 07:51:11 PDT