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Off Topic: U2’s Get On Your Boots
by Mike Chen on 01/20/09 at 07:20 PM ET
Comments (8)
From time to time, I’ll post fanboy reviews of different new releases in entertainment. In most cases, it’ll either be music (mostly notable indie rock releases) or geeky genre movies (it’s too bad my server crash deleted my review of The X-Files: I Want To Believe over the summer). If none of this interests you, feel free to politely ignore these posts.
Is it better to be innovative or comfortable? I have a feeling that people who listen to U2’s new single Get On Your Boots (check it out here) will fall into one of three categories:
-They prefer “mainstream” U2 and will hate it because it’s not a straightforward pop song.
-They’re music snobs that will hate it for the sake of hating it.
-They like experimental U2 and will give it a chance.
The latter two categories crave innovation but only one of them will accept this new song. As for the first category? If you’re looking for the comfortable, straightforward sounds of Beautiful Day, you still haven’t found what you’re looking for.
I fall into the last category. For a long, long time, I considered U2 one of my favorites, an artistic stalwart that could be counted on for trying something new and different though still maintaining their identity. Sure, some of it succeeded and some of it failed, but at least they weren’t complacent.
Then the 2000s hit, Bono got preachy, and the band homogenized itself, peaking with the utterly banal and predictable How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. Which is why I was dreading the upcoming No Line On The Horizon; however, as early reports leaked that Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois were once again steering the U2 ship into uncharted waters, my interest perked up a little bit. When comparisons to The Fly were made just a few weeks ago—a song that beautifully incorporates a dense, layered mix, strong lyrics, and absolutely nothing that sounded like pop music—I actually started to get excited.
What have we got here with Get On Your Boots? The simple way to explain it is that for anyone willing to give the song a chance, reserve your judgment until you hear it ten times.
My first reaction was that it was nothing like The Fly. Or, for that matter, anything else U2 had done before. Instead, I found myself instantly thinking of British bands Kasabian and Muse. Fuzz bass and a wicked guitar riff carry forward through a driving beat as Bono yells still-banal-but-not-awful lyrics about war and love and meaning before the song takes a series of strong, direct turns, first into a very Eno-esque wash of synths and harmonized vocals. Later, the abrupt shift is a drum breakdown out of nowhere that sounds like it was stolen from Trent Reznor’s library of overproduced percussion. And then it ends. Short, to the point, and almost modular, like different songs were cut and pasted together from the production library.
At first listen, you’ll probably be confused. On subsequent listens, you’ll probably be intrigued. And at some point, if you’re like me, something goes off in your head and you feel like you get it.
The lyrics? At his peak, I considered Bono to be one of music’s top word smiths. He knew how to blend metaphor and imagery so that emotions were carried, not explained. At least, he did this up until 2000. Once he started singing about causes, his words became straightforward preaches formed out of a rhyming dictionary. (Sorry, Bono, but for all your philanthropic efforts, you’ll never live down writing songs called Peace On Earth or Miracle Drug.) If he wrote Bad (1984’s brilliant musings on heroine addiction) today, it would simply be “Take the needle out of your arm/Otherwise you’ll die in a barn.”
As for the Boots’ music, it’s rock, but it’s not boring rock. Is it good? It’s innovative and different, though slightly borrowed from bands that have hit the scene since Atomic Bomb released. I wouldn’t say it’s an instant classic by any means, but it gives me hope that the band decided that they didn’t want to venture into Rolling Stones-style comfort. Instead, they’re still absorbing the sounds of the world, both the popular and obscure, and trying to channel it into something that’s still distinctly them.
Another way to look at it: As much as I liked Morrissey’s I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris, it still sounded like the same ol, same ol. It lacked the muscle or life of Moz’s comeback single Irish Blood, English Heart, and as such, it was a nice song that I’ll listen to a few times and probably never come back to. It was comfortable. Get On Your Boots is different than that.
It’s disjointed, in some cases disharmonious, and very unpredictable. In many cases, when those elements are brought together, you get something that is utterly unlistenable and awful. In other cases, you get Radiohead’s OK Computer. I highly doubt No Line On The Horizon will approach OK Computer levels of greatness but Get On Your Boots works in a very bizarre way that whets the appetite of this jaded U2 fan. For the first time in years, I can’t wait to hear what they’ve got up their sleeve.
Now Bono, about those lyrics…
Filed in: Non-Hockey | Mike Chen's Hockey Blog | Permalink
Tags: Morrissey, Music, U2,
Comments
I used to idolize U2 when I was in high school. Seriously. I had a completely ridiculous shrine in my bedroom. Unfortunately, “Zooropa” completely turned me off of them forever. Truth be told, “Achtung Baby” already had me going in that direction and Zooropa was the final straw.
I imagine I fall into category two, or at the very least some subsection of that category.
Posted by David Lee from Greensboro, NC on 01/20/09 at 11:05 PM ET
Mike, I fall into the wait and see category. I know not to trust my initial instincts when I hear a song to judge whether or not over the long term it will grow on me or not, and whether or not I will like the album. If you want great singles, go back and listen to All That You Can’t Leave Behind or Joshua Tree. When U2 went into their experimental stuff with Achtung/Zooropa/Pop, their songs didn’t single well at all, but those albums were still great.
Posted by bcrt on 01/21/09 at 02:38 AM ET
Haven’t heard their newest yet, but I still think Achtung Baby was their best. Enough of a left turn from their “sound”, but not as abstract as Zooropa.
Posted by dave in Rocha on 01/21/09 at 10:59 AM ET
I’m a huge u2 fan (have seen them 53 times) and just downladed the song, and it certainy is fast. Really looking forward to the new album, and I am surprised “Fast Cars” is not on the albulm. They were playing it on a few of their last shows in Dec of 05. I agree, Zooroppa was not a good albulm, and the first dates on the tour were not good performances. Cant wait until March 9th or I get a bootleg of the new album!
Posted by U2 Fan on 01/22/09 at 07:22 PM ET
My generation has only grown up with the preachy, Beautiful Day/Atomic Bomb era U2.
I still think it’s kind of lame, but Bono hasn’t written a lyric worthy of his talent in 20 years. It’s got a crunchy groove, it’s listenable. Not great, but a better song than either of U2’s last couple first singles.
Posted by Steve from New Jersey on 01/23/09 at 06:41 PM ET
This song is certainly different to other U2 tracks - I’ve always been dissapointed with U2’s output as I felt it is so hard to match the Joshua tree. At first I absolutely hated this latest song, but it does grow on you a little when listened to a couple of times.
Posted by Mike Ireland from Dublin on 02/04/09 at 04:32 PM ET
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“I have a feeling that people who listen to U2’s new single Get On Your Boots (check it out here) will fall into one of three categories:
-They prefer “mainstream” U2 and will hate it because it’s not a straightforward pop song.
-They’re music snobs that will hate it for the sake of hating it.
-They like experimental U2 and will give it a chance. “
What about people who heard it for the first time, not even knowing it was the new U2 single and hate it because it’s a shitty, shitty song?
Posted by Garth on 01/20/09 at 08:50 PM ET