E.E.Espinoza ([email protected])
Thu, 24 Sep 1998 13:40:28 -0500 (CDT)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 24 Sep 1998 22:22:38 +10:0
From: Kevin Garber <[email protected]>
Reply-To: [email protected]
Subject: teardrops on the fire
I have been off wire for quite a while, as the
institutionalisation of fandom started to overwhelm my
fandom itself
I had to crawl into the real world to get a job, and reality has been biting,
this over and above the screaming of my thesis...hence the delayed email about
my thoughts on the U2 greatest hits bombshell.
I was suprised to say the least, on hearing the news a greatest hits will be
released. From the outsiders perspective it has always seemed like U2 have
made an explicit effort to keep themselves, their orientation, and their
products fresh. A greatest hits reeks of staleness, and cliche. Their small
token offering of a bonus b sides disc for the first week sale - as wonderful
and worthwhile as it is - however only partially offsets the dullness of a
greatest hits feauturing mainly their high profile tracks.
I am surprised that they did not take a different approach to their greatest
hits. They could have done something like what Plant and Page did for their
No Quarter album, essentially reinterpreting their own stuff. Alternatively,
they could have dished out a live album, besides Under a Blood Red Sky and
elements of Rattle and Hum, live U2 material has been limited to bootlegged
stuff, which is far from ideal
I find it odd that they did not rather decide to use live tracks for the
albums, at least then everyone would have been happier.
Notwithstanding, I think U2 have far from sold out.
I mean who did they sell out to ? I think the only people they sold out to
are the elitists, the U2 Fan borgoise (sp?) who feel that u2 belong only to
them, and the fans that have been around for a long time, and feel that since
they got there first, who the hell are these new fans, who know "nothing"
about u2, going around calling themselves fan
in a sense i suppose, it *is* an artistic sell out, after all, should beauty
be something that is shoved in ones face ? or should it not only be available
to those that at least make some sort of effort to search for it. nothing is
more in your face than a well known artitst's greatest hits
most of the people in the world cannot be bothered to search for beauty, let
alone truth, should either of the 2 be shoved in their face ?
i do not however think this greatest hits will comprmise u2 artistically at
all.....
sting, queen, bob dylan etc etc have all released greatest hits and
successfully moved on from there, managing to keep themselves fresh and
creatively innovative
then again, some other artists, like bon jovi, elton john, billy joel seemed
to whither after the release of their greatest hits, not recovering from the
staleness that followed as result of the overexposure of their greatest hits
material
whatever the case - it is gonna be interesting to see what is going to happen
to u2 from here..........i still think that somehow, they gonna manage to turn
this cliche into something more than that
one thing that can be sure the greatest hits will spread U2's music ... far
from the worst thing on the planet.........whether the externalities will be
postive or negative though, remains to be seen.......
anyway..........i gotta go, i think im gonaa bite reality back and tell my
thesis to shut up
always
kev
"...in a big country, dreams stay with you, like a
lover's voice across the mountainside..."
=-=-
Kev D. Garber
Sydney Australia
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~kdg/uni
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b2 on Thu Sep 24 1998 - 11:45:49 PDT