Originally posted by pleasegone:Was on a general music site, and somebody was scathing U2 for making Discotheque the first single...and here's how I responded, good points? Or my usual psycho-babble? :
Discotheque was a fine single. It hit #10 in the states, and nothing on Pop would have been higher. It was their final top 10 hit in the USA. Pop is my 3rd favorite U2 album, but a singles album? It's not. Nothing else on Pop would have gone higher than 10, though in my heart, I hoped Staring At The Sun would do better...but it got to #26 for a reason. Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me from the Batman Vs Rocky soundtrack is to me, a far better song, and it only got to #16. U2 just wasn't that young anymore, and were still getting on the charts, but were no longer getting people under 25 much anymore. Vertigo only got to #31, but it was #1 or Top 5 on all the geezer charts geared to those over 35, and it had the apple commercial tie in...but #31 is no great achievement. A great single for an aging band for sure. "Boots" was a terrible single choice but still got to #37 based on their name, and that only. Magnificent would have been a better choice for the fans, but likely would not have done much better. U2 was a legacy act by 2009 anyways. Boots remains their final top 40 hit in the USA. Joey Ramone did not even make the hot 100, and SOI is perhaps their weakest album. By the time SOE came out, they were no way going to hit the top 100 in a world dominated by Auto Tune, and charts where someone over 35 was not going to get airplay. And they were pushing 60...so single choices were inconsequential at that point.
Originally posted by zooropa93:Do singles matter now anyway… for any band? The best things about the POP singles was Disco got to No.1 in the UK and Last Night, Please and God Will Send were all better than the album versions.
I’m more bothered about a decent set of songs on an album as a collection as opposed to a hit single. No Line was OK as a collection of songs but SOI and SOE were brill and flowed so well, I’ll stick them both on, got lost in them both and they seem to go really quick.
Originally posted by u2wanderer1:[..]
The Hot 100 you are looking at in the USA is based on commercial sales. There wasn't a commercial song released in the US for "Joey Ramone" - and downloads for the first month were free via Apple, so there were no sales for that song. Not saying it would have made the Hot 100, but there was absolutely zero chance it could have based on the way it was released...