With Coldplay's recent release of X and Y, it's apparent that the band's angling to become the "next U2." Anointed by critics and music fans alike, interviews have focused on both band's similar sounds.
Coldplay had better get in line with the other list of U2-heirs such as Keane, Snow Patrol and The Thrills. Whenever a European band comes out with the broad, echoing guitar and earnest, heart-felt lyrics, they're called the New U2. If that's the case, why do I like U2 and hate those whiny motherfuckers?
To me they're more of a strange hybrid of Radiohead and U2 -- the lead singers lack that nice raspy tenor that Bono has and instead, go for the falsetto yowling of Thom Yorke (sans crazy eye). A little bit of falsetto is fine -- Bono does it all the time -- but to do it for the ENTIRE fucking song makes me want to howl loudly in pain.
These male singers lack a certain aggression found in U2's songs. Yeah, they're known for earnestness as well as love and peace, but listen to Sunday Bloody Sunday, New Year's Day, Until the End of the World or Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own.
Despite the spiritual tone found in the lyrics and the songs, there's still a certain amount of aggression and body to U2's music that anchors it down and adds that spark to it. Part of it has to do with Bono's voice -- his voice (which isn't as pure as it once was)isn't wispy or too high-pitched. It brings an earthiness of loss, anger, desire and a plethora of other emotions to the lyrics. His voice anchors those songs. Imagine Chris Martin singing Sunday Bloody Sunday and snarling out the words -- I can't imagine it. The closest he got was with God Put a Smile Upon Your Face, and even then, his voice lacked a fire to it to match the music.
The bands also have that echoing, pinging guitar that Edge has practically patented. But it takes more than Edge to make a U2 sound -- both Adam and Larry help anchor Edge's guitar firmly anchored. As Bruce Springsteen put it (in a brilliant induction speech):
"The deep sureness of Adam Clayton's bass and the rhythms of Larry Mullen's elegant drumming hold the band down while propelling it forward. It's in U2's great rhythm
section that the band finds its sexuality and its dangerousness."
That's the thing for me that makes this band great to me -- the connection with the spiritual and the gonads. Bono's said often that there's a strong connection between sex and spirituality. While the imitators have nailed down the spiritual part correctly, they lack that fire, that heat, the sexiness of the music.
For me, music needs that heat, that sensuality to really stick with me. That heat's also necessary to ensure that they lyrics slide into my brain and stay there. Maybe if these imitators to the crown want it so bad (and frankly, who the fuck cares? I mean, keep doing what you do, and fuck the "next so-and-so bit") maybe they should inject some stronger rhythms and singers to root the music in reality.
2 comments:
Like I said before, you can do falsetto and still convey a sense of aggression or passion. QOTSA's Josh Homme is the King of Falsetto and I would not want to cross him in a bar fight because that man is a thug. Ditto Soundgarden-era Chris Cornell.
And while Thom Yorke's falsetto is like his calling card, don't forget, he's a tenor, too. That's no falsetto in "Wolf at the Door." or "Airbag" Chris Martin's delivery is so placid and safe, I just want to knee him in the groin. I don't need things to be all angst all the time, but Coldplay really lacks in passion and energy.
I'm indifferent to Bono as a vocalist, but I will take that anyday to Chris Martin's fucking ...whatever the fuck it is he does.
It's really a combination of all things for me. The problem is that if you're going to do a constant whisper/falsetto thing, have some music that adds a contrast. Make the music angry or aggressive, or the lyrics. If everything is striving for that ethereral tone, after awhile, it sounds like the male version of Lilith Fair -- and we know how I feel about that shit.
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