Growing up, I didn’t really question why this band would be played along side Nirvana, Bush, Soundgarden, Linkin Park, etc. because my radio station of choice was not just grunge, but also “adult alternative.” So it would play pop shit, too, sometimes.
But I still, to this day, often find U2 listed among grunge artists, or their songs get played on grunge playlists. The fuck? How is this shit grunge? It doesn’t fit in any way! It doesn’t have the sound, it doesn’t have the style, shit it doesn’t even have the same emotional resonance. It’s happy and hopeful.
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It’s spelled “gringe”
Possibly the same way Fallout Boy and System of a down can be grouped. There is a phenomenon in music ‘similarity’ systems (remember Pandora?) that, because the process of actually analyzing music and classifying it is work, tries to offload the work to elsewhere, and often what really happens is things get grouped not by qualitative similarities like mood, rhythmic complexity, tone etc. but by the quantitative and easy ‘these two were liked by the same group of people, aged X~Y, so they must be similar.’
I have never heard of U2 being considered Grunge. If anything they were Pop.
They first broke during the New Wave era, and were considered one of the quintessential New Wave superstars, along with The Cars, Talking Heads, Duran Duran, Flock of Seagulls, etc.
Eh. I’d give them Alternative Rock. The thing that would likely classify them as pop is that they were so famous for a part of their career.
Is this post an attempt to disprove the title “no stupid questions”?
They have never been considered grunge by anybody. They released the album Achtung Baby in 1991, which recieved much critical acclaim, but so did a lot of other non-grunge bands. Just because a band released popular music in the early 1990s, doesn’t mean they are grunge.
Who the fuck considers U2 to be grunge? Kenny G?
People who think Kenny G is too edgy.
Prob U2.
“Look at us kids, were cool grunge music just like that Nirvana band on the shirt you’re wearing!”
“How do you do, fellow grunge bands?”
U2 is considered grunge for the same reason Black Sabbath is considered reggae.
Because whoever made the list is an idiot?
Most likely. But which list are you talking about?
Haha what the fuck I never knew they were called grunge. Ayy lmao
They are absolutely not and I find it sus you make this bizarre claim without providing a single example.
Link and shame them. I will fight every one of their authors in a 1v1 dual to the death
in Helldivers 2
I was listening to a satellite radio station that is supposed to be exclusively grunge. It’s usually fine, except when Tom Morello is guest DJing. It was just the normal programming tho, and suddenly Mysterious Ways starts playing. I was annoyed by this.
Did you misspell garbage?
I’ve never heard of or seen that.
Yeah, I cannot recall ever hearing U2 referred to under a specific subgenre of rock, especially not grunge. Personally, if I had to choose, I think classifying them as generic rock is more accurate.
‘pop rock’ seems appropriate.
Yeah, I was tempted to write that myself, as it fits at least a few of their songs. I decided against it because I feel that I haven’t listened to enough of their discography to have an informed opinion on the matter.
Fair. There are a lot of bands that usually have a completely different sound from their popular songs (which can be pretty disappointing when you like listening to albums).
- shakes fist at blur *
Yeah, it’s kind of ironic that their only popular song in n the US is Song 2 that was meant to mimic the US grunge sound that they don’t like.
It isn’t.
The only thing U2 has in common with grunge is that both were popular in roughly the same time period (give or take 5 years or so).
U2 began in the mid 1970s and grunge was a thing in the 1990s.
Early U2 was a bit like punk though.
Yeah if U2 is grunge based on time period, then Motley Crue and Michael Jackson is grunge.
Michael Jackson is disco.
Don’t forget about the grunge artists Dire Straights, Phil Collins, MC Hammer and Whitney Houston…
If peeing your pants is cool, then I’m Miles Davis.
I would be more okay hearing Motley Crue on such a playlist than the other two, tbh.
I’m starting to think you don’t understand how to identify grunge music.
I’m not saying it fits, just that it would be less jarring.
Since they were the kind of hairspray rock which grunge was largely a response to, that would be much more jarring. U2 grew out of the new wave/post punk scene, which has much more in common with the origins of grunge than Motley Crue ever had.
They’re not. They’re basically the one band out of the Echo & The Bunnymen, Teardrop Explodes, Flock Of Seagulls mini-genre that really broke into the mainstream.
I call it non-progressive pop, or also corporate treadmill music. Because the harmony never gets anywhere or do anything interesting, but always feel like it’s moving
Whoever told you that I would consider “dumb”.
