Ditch the cat and mouse game with that preview clip, in honor of yesterday’s inaugural concert (not really) U2′s given us a full stream of No Line On The Horizon‘s first sounds. 2/3 of the blockbuster production mindmeld enlisted for the album take credit for “Get On Your Boots” (Eno and Lanois, leaving Lillywhite for other cuts). Danny believes “rock ‘n’ roll has been reinvented one more time.” That is a big claim. At the very least, “Get On Your Boots” reinvents Costello, Escape Club, and Billy Joel one more time.
Also streaming at goyb.u2.com, where you can learn about Horizon‘s various release formats. The single’s on iTunes now. Album’s out first week of March.
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not as bad as vertigo.
but that isn’t saying much. pass.
bad.
Worser.
worser??? you’re a fucking moron….go take a long walk off a short pier
Overreact much?
yeah i was getting a “we didn’t start the fire” vibe too. and the drum into was “fake tales of san francisco”
At least we know U2 can still kick Coldplay’s ass. This song doesn’t suck, actually.
Lesser than recent successful rocking singles…One of the negatives in embracing huge advertising as part of your promotion is that your new music might immediately leave a lame ass sneaker ad aftertaste…that said…nice Band of Gypsies and a cup of coffee bass line…would love to here the Stone Roses “Don’t Stop” complementary freak out piece on the flip…I’ve never known the first 30 or forty seconds of a U2 album to be anything less than John Williams…
what the fuck are you talking about?
I understand him perfectly. Cup of coffee bass line was the first thing I thought of too, although the first 20 or so seconds of Pop was a bit John Williams.
Seems a bit of a mess
Yeah, I love how he so easily lifts the verse melody straight off “Pump It Up”…I thought Coldplay took their cues from U2…not the other way around.
generic AOR dreck. uninspired.
Sounds like dc Talk to me.
ha. this comparison is so brilliant.
yep, i thought the same – more so it sounds like kevin max’s solo stuff
bleh. fuck u2. fuck coldplay.
haha DC talk.
hahaha. Oh you Pitchfork commenters. Its like
u2 sucks
u2 sucks
u2 sucks
coldplay sucks
u2 sucks
u2 sucks
u2 and coldplay suck
We get it. you guys like Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear and whatever else pitchfork tells you to like. I kind of wish Stereogum wouldn’t even post news about Coldplay or U2 (or the killers for that), because the threads just turn instant negative, and hipsters trying to be cooler than they are.
I totally know what you’re saying, but this song is just fuckin’ annoying, to tell the truth.
Funny you should say that.
Pitchfrok: “…so yeah, the new U2 single is here and it ain’t bad.”
Another possibility, beyond non-non-non-conforming, is…well…maybe some people just don’t like this song. I think it’s OK, and am still very excited for the new album. Wow. Opinions.
Haha, are U2 so uncool now that they have become cool again? hilarity.
NO. Jesus Christ. FUCK. It’s a song. People like it, people don’t like. It’s not fucking about being fucking cool or uncool. It’s not about irony. It’s not about fucking anything except being A FUCKING SONG. GAAAHHH.
Thank you. I’m in the pro-U2 camp but I’m just not feeling this one at all.
Looking back, I don’t know why people dump(ed) on “Vertigo” so much: I liked it to begin with, but compared to this, it’s a lean little masterpiece.
well, pitchfork said it was pretty decent so…. i just don’t think that card works any more.
I read Stereogum primarily, and happen to agree that this shit blows ass.
Oh, and they plagiarized my song.
Bono was at my show last year and heard me playing this exact chord structure.
I swear to God!
ok, satriani
It’s not the greatest U2 song of all time, but its a fun, fast song that has a lot of layers- makes for a good listen. Sure there are hints of Elvis Costello’s pump it up and Escape Club’s wild wild west, but its not a rip off of those songs.
That guitar sound is evil, evil stuff…
Love it!
as a u2 fan (and NOT one of those indie hipster haters), im unsure how i feel about this. on the first listens, it didnt immediately grab me. it just seems to be a much worse/less experimental version of fast cars from htdaab.
i expect more from the rest of the album.
-oh hey, there’s that cannonball guy. he’s cool…
-are you being ironic?
-i don’t even know anymre…
nice simpsons reference.
I have not formed an opinion one way or the other about this song yet.
ahem, i read pitchfork and i must say animal collective fucking blows and grizzly bear didn’t even deserve a full listen from me. so how about you go ahead and fuck right off. wait. coldplay sucks! this new shit from u2 kinda sucks… i’ll take early u2 any day, but this shit sucks.
i got a submarine. you got gasoline.
nuff said
to quote a comment from above..
“what the fuck are you talking about”
Agreed, this song is bad… the music is ok but what is bono doing lyrically anymore? There’s no feeling behind it, and I usually love U2
this is an ok joke, but when do we get to hear the real single?
This is absolute garbage, pandering tripe. Bono’s self-proclaimed savior of the world has worn thin. Shut up and sing dummy.
Lighten up ppl! Its a song, its U2 having some ‘fun’ and its different and catchy, its a grower so go listen to it a few more times, THEN makeup your own mind. Like it, don’t like it, why let other ppl decide for you? I’m a longtime U2 fan and prefer their classic type songs, but I appreciate this song for what it is, just like ‘Party Girl’, there’s no need to dissect it. geeeeeeeez!
Kinda gets stupid after a few listens… especially when you get to the “let me hear the sound – sound, let me hear the sound now, let me hear the sound-sound” part.
I definitely love the layered production aspects…. but that’s about it.
The overall structure of the song is a trite, nauseating wallet grab. God if I was tripping and someone started playing this it would drive me, 180 degrees, in the other direction… and not just because it’s “catchy”. I love some catchy songs but this has the same tired old pretentious, forced vibe that U2 is mostly about. Try listening to a full U2 album… these guys never get into a groove to speak of. Even the Rolling Stones, the capitalistic cream puffs that they are, still at least managed to find a groove in between all their “hits”.
U2 is all about milking the golden musical cow… and the enchanted, molested udders have given their last drop.
I don’t think you can truly judge a U2 single without hearing it within the context of the album. I think it’s track 6-interesting place to put a first single considering that ‘Beautiful Day’ and ‘Vertigo’ opened their respective albums.
Is Bono allowed to say the word ‘sexy’? It’s awkward.
I think Apple found their new song for an ad campaign. I can see the black silhouettes dance now. But in all seriousness, it’s an average song. Maybe some kudos on Edge playing more than just the delay.
first thing i thought… ‘we didn’t start the fire”
second… “pretty fly for a white guy”
and third, well, it’s still the same U2 — kinda the same, kinda different… kinda boring.
I have to say that the song is awful. And next time I hear it I will resort to chopping off my ears. I shudder to think people still buy this bands garbage. And this is coming from someone who used to love them.
its hip to be square
Who cares.
That is so insightful. You add so much to the discussion. You are probably quite a character in person.
My goodness, whutta weak track. All of those great producers and a band of legends like U2, and this is the dreck they come up with? Wow. Ok, Coldplay, you are the new U2 now……I mean, the new record has yet to drop so I won’t be too critical, but if this is an indicator of things to come then it looks like we’re in for a year or two of weak U2 singles….Anyone spin “Elevation” lately? Didn’t think so.
It’s as if U2 suddenly turned into Perry Farrell’s Satellite Party. The latter band was bad enough; we don’t need other bands trying to copy their sound!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1080636/What-St-Bonos-wife-say-partying-teenage-girls.html
bono is tryin on some new boots looks like
At least ‘we didn’t start the fire’ had interesting lyrics and a solid tune and catchy melody in the bridge. Other than the opening riff, this song sucks in so many ways I don’t have enough room to list them all. (and I am a longtime U2 fan)
I liked the song Vertigo ? nothing like a Telecaster being played through an overdriven amp. With that stated???????
However, this song, ?Boots? is just plain bad. It?s like an Elvis Costello?s ?Pump It Up? type song got dropped into a lava lamp in hopes of putting a pscycodelic spin on rehashed music. The guitar does not even sound like a guitar; it?s just a bunch of noise.
I guess U2 has decided to repeat their blunders of ?Pop? and forgot that it was good music such as that found on ?All That You Can?t Leave Behind? that inspired new listeners to notice U2 and that brought their old fans back to their new music.
Reinvented rock? Not hardly. Rehashed, bad interpretations of always been around.
~U2 Fan
I’m scared if this is any indication of what to expect on the rest of the album. I thought it would be much stronger. Oh well, at least there is TV On The Radio to keep us going.
A ready-for-the-ESPN-weekly-montage song…
And people seriously need to come up with better arguments than “you just like whatever pitchfork and stereogum says it’s good”
As far as I know, we are not 12 year-old kids. Everyone has a right to an opinion. Just because I read this blog does not mean I like every second-rate band they blog about – heck, I don’t even read all the posts either!
“rock ‘n’ roll has been reinvented one more time.” what’s next, the wheel?
that last album and U2 collapsed in the first moments of the countdown to the first song “veritgo”
“uno, dos, tres. catorce” – —translation—–”one, two, three, fourteen”
sweet christ bono
jbean, There were plenty of legitimate foibles you could have said about HTDAAB, and you take offense with the incorrect spanish (is jbean short for mexican jumping bean? cause if so I understand your vexation a little more).
I would agree that the U2 of late has taken some lyrical turns that make me pine for the days of Unforgettable Fire. But the irony there is that the reason they went from “under a blood red sky, a crowd has gathered, black and white” to “yeah, get your sexy boots on, yeah” is U2 attempting to shed the dour, high-and-mighty, heads-up-their-asses image that they had been getting flack for pre-Achtung. and It doesn’t help when Lanois (or Bono) hypes shit so bombastically.
that said, I popped my man-cherry to “Bad”, and U2 will always occupy a special place in my… heart?
Well having listened to this single I was dissapointed, being a fan since Achtung Baby, embracing the difficult POP album which in places has some good songs, some average. It pains me to say but over the last fews years they have become average and this song does not help one bit. I think its a good opening song for the tour, but first single I don’t know, well in fact I do. So whats next, I might not buy the next album until I hear something positive. This song is dividing people, but honestly I think its just not good. As a big U2 fan, I think Muse may take their crown as they can do it live like no other band can!!
wow. that was a complete shit sandwich. sounds like eno and lanois just showed up for their usual paycheck.
almost shamelessly apes dylan’s subterranean homesick blues
at least they know not to end with a preposition ie: franz ferdinand’s eleanor put your boots on
Oh dear. Huge U2 fan, here. I usually don’t listen to them much in the 2 or 3 year gap between the end of a world tour and the next album. My fandom hibernates. Then, the first single drops, and it’s on.
But this song, dear god, I almost want to say it’s horrendous. It’s like I woke up and everything anyone has ever hated about U2 is packaged in 3 and half minutes.
And I wish I didn’t come on here and see mentions of DC Talk. I thought the same thing upon first listen.
I used to hear about how when Achtung or Pop came out, that a bunch of fans just dropped off after hearing the new sound. I fear I’m going to be one those people.
Sexy boots? Are you kidding me? Can’t you just be the big, starry-eyed U2 of the past that never apologized for being a bleeding heart? This is just weak (or musically offensive, not sure yet).
I’ve got to go purify myself with somebody singing “ADOBE SLABS…FOR MY GIRLS” like they fucking mean it.
pretty righteous…second by second analysis of the song.
http://www.blender.com/BlSecond-By-Second-U2—Get-On-Your-Bootsender-Blog-New-Post-01-23-2009/Blender-Blog/blogs/1168/48057.aspx
man!!!
have y ppl lost ur sense of music….with only few good tracks u ppl hav lost it probably….man,get livin…do somethin good..or “ok” at least
Horrid. Why. Just plain awful, they recorded in open-air Morocco just to sound like this juvenile shit?
bono needs to go on a man vs. wild episode to get some balls back, this bubble gum rock just doesn’t cut it for a man nearing 50. i agree leave the juvenile stuff to the juveniles, PLEASE! it is like he is Benjman Button or something, you wrote your adult music when you were young and now your writting kiddie rock when your getn old, i said getn old u2 still has time to right the ship unless they fear the loss of their 8yr. old to 18yr. old demographics they have been courting with songs like this.
There is a great review of U2 at
http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.com
Die hard U2 fans will love what he has to say about awesome songs like this.
this is a combination of the worst of the worst stuff they have put out over the past 15 years. nothing groundbreaking or new about it, same old u2 tricks, i will take discotech over this tune any day cause i thought the video was funny. break out the lemon fellas this one is sour and maybe put on some walking shoes to find some refreshing tunes. i am still hopen you can pull out one more meaningful album, goodluck or has money and megafame ruined those prospects.
this song doesn’t make me want to jam a pencil into my ears, but…that’s about as far as I can go
AVOID SINGLES LIKE THIS IN THE FUTURE, PLEASE
First, I’m a huge fan of U2, but this song sucks
So here is some things u2 have to consider in the future:
(AGAING, THIS IS CONCERNING THE NEW SONG)
1. Enough with Eno and Lanois (Maybe Nigel Godrich).
2. Enough with catchy songs (Elevation, Vertigo, and this one) in every new album.
3. Enough with “We’re cool and lets make a song that say that”
4. Enough with songs to get new fans. You have all the fans in the world.
PD Does anyboby knows if ‘Mercy’ is included on the new album (with another name, of course)? That’s a song!
U2 reversed evolution. They came from “Bullet the Blue Sky” to this Yeah, Yeah, Oh, Oh crap. Then, they are going to sell it in million versions from $10 to $250, playing on emotions of their now mostly middle aged fans and frantic collectors. I think they are in it for money, and Bono for fame too, because he thinks he is also uber. Bottom line, if you want to support them, pay for it, if not, keep your money in your pocket. Without $$$ music is going to stop, or change to better when they discover blues again.
Crap.
“my best friend was born in a manger” is a much more unforgettable statement. Thank you to those who brought up the DC Talk comparisons. It really made my night
Subterranean Homesick Blues anyone? Verse part seems totally ripped off.