John J. Hlavaty ([email protected])
Thu, 21 Jan 1999 00:48:57 -0500
I remember that note.
While I feel the person who sent it was unduly chastised on WIRE,
I must admit that as I read his note, I thought it nothing
more than a joke.
The biggest argument for my beliefs came from Bono's supposed
comment about the whole 90's era U2 and Adam's dissapointment
over the "flopped" POPMart tour.
>From a purely statistical viewpoint, it's difficult for me
to see how anyone, including U2, would consider themselves
as "failures" this decade. "Achtung Baby", a '90s release,
is U2's second biggest selling album and, in time, its sales may actually
exceed "The Joshua Tree's"! The last report I read stated
that AB's global sales were now more than 12 million whereas
JT's sales - an album released 4.5 years before AB - were
15 million. U2 have also won 3 Grammies this decade indicating
their superior work has not gone unnoticed by the critics.
"POP" may not have sold well in the U.S, but it was one of U2's
most highly acclaimed albums to date! Furthermore, "POP"
produced U2's second GOLD single in the U.S. - a feat
that JT and AB could not do. U2 sold over 24 million copies
of their albums globally this decade (not counting the "Best Of").
This is hardly something requiring apology.
U2's 90's tours have also grossed far more than any of their
80's tours. POPMart was the #1 grossing tour in North
America and the world in '97 and was the #2 grossing tour for
the whole world in '98 even though the tour ended in March!
While some shows did not sellout in the U.S., U2 enjoyed
sellout performances in L.A., Las Vegas, Salt Lake City,
Chicago, Boston and New York, just to name a few. Furthermore,
every show outside the U.S. did sellout. Therefore, Adam
would hardly be one to call the tour a "flop".
With that type of statistical success, it's hard to envision Bono
"apologizing" for anything or Adam disappointed at a
tour that sold 4.5 million tickets.
On a personal note, the various personas the 90's Bono took
on during U2's 90's tours have allowed him to fully
express every aspect of U2. U2 still had their strong
message of hope, peace and love, but now it was combined
with so many more messages, such as doubt, conviction
and fame. Had U2 remained true to their 80's format,
they would have faded as so many other 80's artists did
this decade. The likelihood of Bono apologizing for
presenting U2 as "humans" instead of "saints" is minimal.
The re-issue of "The Joshua Tree" also seemed comical,
especially when one considers that "The Best Of + B-Sides" not
only contained JT's biggest hits, but that the B-Side CD
contained almost all of those "left out" songs. How much
more could a band profit from one album - especially when
their recent work continues to do quite well?
In other words, logic dictates that the note was a farce.
Perhaps it was a joke. Perhaps someone heard some
wild speculations. Either way, it immediately became
a non-issue for me. U2 will retire, just as Michael Jordan
did. And when that happens, the world won't end.
It just won't be quite as nice.
Ciao,
John
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b2 on Wed Jan 20 1999 - 21:51:29 PST