The fourth track of U2's The Joshua Tree, Bullet the Blue Sky, is a brutal political commentary. Notice how the base has become more prominent. The title track from his album Stranglehold would become an instant hit and bring Nugent to the attention of guitar fans. Three years later, Ted Nugent had left the Amboy Dukes.
The base and steady drum of this song was later to be emphasised and expanded by a number of bands and artists. Even though the band was in decline, they touched on one of the catchiest riffs of modern rock. In 1972, Savoy Brown released Hellbound Train. This post will trace the career of one particular riff. Everything is deduced from something else literature, films, thoughts and of course music. As the film and its tell-tale title suggests, there isn't. Then the song takes us to the eerie nighttime depths of the synthesized ocean, where Bono is Poseidon and The Edge rides on the back of a giant winged dolphin, surfacing from time to time to whip up a minor guitar-driven monsoon.In the 2002 film Adaptation, Nicholas Cage's character asks himself "is there a single original thought in my mind?". "Exit" begins with a beautiful hymnal chorus that's bordering on gospel. I think I tend to like U2's darker songs, as evidenced by my immediate affection for "Bullet the Blue Sky" and the penultimate "Exit," a strangely disjointed cut that travels through some interesting and different musical landscapes. Suddenly, I'm excited to explore the album in greater depth. These subtle touches add a new dimension to The Joshua Tree. There's the harmonica howling, a guitar twanging or imitating a banjo, and all the varied rhythmic explorations, such as those on "One Tree Hill." Going back through the album now, I'm shocked I didn't hear it before. But when "Trip Through Your Wires" comes on, I start to hear something I've been missing: a serious nod to American folk music. "Red Hill Mining Town" and "In God's Country" could be the same song. I can even hear hints of The Mars Volta.Īs the album enters its second half, I'm hoping for something that surprises me, but I'm having trouble differentiating one song from the next. You can hear Zack de la Rocha in Bono's vocals, Tom Morello in the guitar work, Tim Commerford in the bass and Brad Wilk in the drums. I don't think there's any way that Rage Against the Machine, which formed four years after this song came out, could deny that it was a direct influence. Bono begins by growling out a few verses, but his theatrics serve this type of song well.
Larry Mullen starts it with that solid beat, and then the song really takes off into grungier, more dangerous territory. It's a refreshing departure from the sentimental, syrupy quality of "With or Without You," and I like the direction it's going. That said, "Bullet the Blue Sky" is a pretty sweet song. The '80s, defined by characters like Morrissey, Michael Jackson and Madonna, had different standards for what you might consider "overly dramatic." But their schmaltz seems sincere, while to me, Bono's doesn't. It's hard to put my finger on what it is about U2 that doesn't do it for me, but I'm beginning to think it's just Bono's melodramatic theatrics. As I get into the second cut, "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," an inkling of apathy starts to creep back.
0 kommentar(er)
