RE: atmospheric minimalism (?)

Patrick Meagher ([email protected])
Fri, 25 Dec 1998 22:47:41 -0800 (PST)

Hey Pete, I don't know what constitutes minimalism, but as for U2's
material and its effectiveness in multi-media situations, I've notice
for a few years that television and radio productions often
incorporate U2's recent music into intros or outros or background
music or whatever... some examples that I remember:

-KJR (950 AM- Seattle) have used both intros to 'The Fly' and
'Mysterous Ways' ever since Auchtung came out as seques into
commercials during their Sonics broadcasts

-NBC's 1997 NBA Playoff coverage used the begining of 'Do you Feel
Loved?' as background when they offered charts and grafs to their
viewers

-KIRO (710 AM - Seattle) just last month used MOFO begining during the
intro to a talk show

-KVI (570 AM - yep, Seattle) used 'Until the End of the World' in an
advertisment back in '93 or '94. Interestingly, I only saw the ad
once with the real version of UTEOTW... now they have the same ad but
with cheesy background music meant to imitate exactly the feel of
UTEOTW...

-I also remember some music used in the '96 Olympics broadcast but I
can't remember the details..

Maybe this is just a Seattle media phenomenon, but it looks like lots
of people in the biz seem to think U2's music does contain an element
that transcends mere rock-n-roll.. I myself don't know what to think
of these occurances. On the one hand, it pleases me that their music
works on so many levels and is being recognized for that; but on the
other hand, I'm weary of the compromise that I fear is necessary in
order to make music that pleases the masses in the mundane fashion
that this use implies. I'm also weary that U2 isn't 'rocking the
boat' enough so that their music is so accepted by the world. It
seems this commercial use of their music indicates that the last third
of their musical carriers has been conducive to maintaining the status
quo somewhat... I like my U2 passionate, preachy and alienating.
Having fun is a necessary compromise in certain situations but how far
can one compromise???

I've shared this evidence with other people but haven't gotten any
understanding, just blank stares or the proverbial 'there he goes with
the U2 again' comments.. just nice to see that what's-her-name on
that-one-show perhaps came to a similar conclusion... I'd love to know
more about what she had to say.

Thanks, Patrick

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This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b2 on Fri Dec 25 1998 - 22:53:55 PST