Adam Clayton Does Not Suck.

[10cc]

Many English psychedelic bands from the sixties where making those sounds long before "The Edge" (haha), get real. He just played stuff that would sound good in big spaces like arenas. No emotion. Trailblazer he is not.

 

[96tbird]

I feel the same way about all metal guitarists. Just regurgitation. Now I'm gonna do a led zeppelinesque acoustic part, now I'm gonna do a black sabbathish riff, now I'm gonna do a Scorpionish riff, now I'm gonna do a Van Halen Tap solo, now I'm gonna bang my head like every other grind unit on the planet.

Whatever. If one sucks they all suck.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

Many English psychedelic bands from the sixties where making those sounds long before "The Edge" (haha), get real. He just played stuff that would sound good in big spaces like arenas. No emotion. Trailblazer he is not.

Totally, fully, full-on, without-a-doubt, absolutely, completely, utterly, wholly DISAGREE 100%.

 

[Plectrum72]

Adam must not suck because the discussion has now moved to how the Edge sucks (or doesn't) so comparatively speaking Adam must be better than the Edge. Ergo Adam doesn't suck the Edge does or neither suck but Adam is better.

 

[Relayer71]

Adam doesn't suck the Edge

Hey, this is a G rated forum!!!

This is getting ridiculous though. Seems like every member of U2 needs defending, lol. Next thing, someone will say Bono sucks because singing was invented before U2's first single and that one-armed Def Leppard drummer can play circles around Larry Mullen Jr.

 

[Space Pickle]

tell me more about this "porn chick band"

 

[faulknersj]

I challenge anyone on here to write a cooler catchier bass line using 2 notes than Adams line on Bullet The Blue Sky. Adam plays the right stuff for that band. U2 has great musical chemistry IMO and his lines really allow The Edge and the rest of the band to shine.

 

[Frozen J]

Two notes? Lmao. So he a pro wash basin/broom/double string tub thumper?

 

[LiquidMidnight]

Many English psychedelic bands from the sixties where making those sounds long before "The Edge" (haha), get real. He just played stuff that would sound good in big spaces like arenas. No emotion. Trailblazer he is not.

Luckily, Bono admitted that early U2 didn't have the chops to play other people's music, so you can like them for not ripping off other people by playing covers in bars.

 

[Helaskold]

I would be surprised if he didn't have secret chops. The rhythm sections in bands like U2 have to be good, even if they are playing simple stuff.

 

[Milk]

Many English psychedelic bands from the sixties where making those sounds long before "The Edge" (haha), get real. He just played stuff that would sound good in big spaces like arenas. No emotion. Trailblazer he is not.

I didn't even call him a trailblazer. I said he had a unique style. Seriously aside from the effects his playing has nothing to do with psychedelic bands so i don't even know what youre on about. Anyway i'm not gonna drag this on. People's definition of emotion differ obviously. I remember being a teen and getting goosebumps from where the streets have no names guitar intro. The outro to All i Want is You still moves me , i personally sense plenty of emotion in the way he's hitting these chords and the minimal notes "solo" in that last bit. Some for the outro to Love is Blindess, the solo to new year's day, the list goes on.

For a lot of people, Edge has managed to infuse emotion in his playing. Just because it doesnt do anything for you does not mean it's not there.

So again, not your cup of tea, however in the grand picture of rock music, your opinion is not widely shared.

Two notes? Lmao. So he a pro wash basin/broom/double string tub thumper?

God forbid someone write a song using two notes instead of the two dozens generally required to be accepted as a valid musician! Seriously the lesser notes it take a musician to make an impact, personally, i find, the better.

You'd probably laugh even more at the story behind this bassline and here it is (it was related by edge somewhere i forget). Edge was doing the guitar...erm...well its not really a riff but...part... and Clayton started playing bass on it. And Edge was frustrated cause he felt Clayton was not getting at all where he wanted to go with this, what he had in mind for a song. Not only that, Clayton wasn't even playing in the right key! And then after a bit of this going on...then Edge got it, understood the potential of the tune they now had and the end result speaks for itself. So maybe someone could say, what a hack, two notes and not even in the right key! And yet...yet it makes the song. Clayton was playing on gut, not common sense or theory.

There's far too may people in the music world judging songs quality by how complex or hard it is to play... Personally, I thought music was about feeling, not mathematics...

 

[Frozen J]

Drummers with two drums ARE better! And an old lady grunting out two tones is just and emotional roller coaster. You don't even KNOW!

 

[96tbird]

Luckily, Bono admitted that early U2 didn't have the chops to play other people's music, so you can like them for not ripping off other people by playing covers in bars.

Spot on. If you never had a lesson, picked up a chord book and plugged in and began experimenting with sound and structure without doing covers and end up being as huge as the Stones, exactly how is that derivative? Not that's how.

 

[faulknersj]

Two notes? Lmao. So he a pro wash basin/broom/double string tub thumper?

Sounds like you accept the challenge. Let's see what YOU can do with 2 notes. I'm really looking forward to it.

 

[faulknersj]

I didn't even call him a trailblazer. I said he had a unique style. Seriously aside from the effects his playing has nothing to do with psychedelic bands so i don't even know what youre on about. Anyway i'm not gonna drag this on. People's definition of emotion differ obviously. I remember being a teen and getting goosebumps from where the streets have no names guitar intro. The outro to All i Want is You still moves me , i personally sense plenty of emotion in the way he's hitting these chords and the minimal notes "solo" in that last bit. Some for the outro to Love is Blindess, the solo to new year's day, the list goes on.

For a lot of people, Edge has managed to infuse emotion in his playing. Just because it doesnt do anything for you does not mean it's not there.

So again, not your cup of tea, however in the grand picture of rock music, your opinion is not widely shared.



God forbid someone write a song using two notes instead of the two dozens generally required to be accepted as a valid musician! Seriously the lesser notes it take a musician to make an impact, personally, i find, the better.

You'd probably laugh even more at the story behind this bassline and here it is (it was related by edge somewhere i forget). Edge was doing the guitar...erm...well its not really a riff but...part... and Clayton started playing bass on it. And Edge was frustrated cause he felt Clayton was not getting at all where he wanted to go with this, what he had in mind for a song. Not only that, Clayton wasn't even playing in the right key! And then after a bit of this going on...then Edge got it, understood the potential of the tune they now had and the end result speaks for itself. So maybe someone could say, what a hack, two notes and not even in the right key! And yet...yet it makes the song. Clayton was playing on gut, not common sense or theory.

There's far too may people in the music world judging songs quality by how complex or hard it is to play... Personally, I thought music was about feeling, not mathematics...

+ 1

 

[faulknersj]

Drummers with two drums ARE better! And an old lady grunting out two tones is just and emotional roller coaster. You don't even KNOW!

I always like to get a sense of where people making judgements are coming from. Could u Please share some samples of your playing with us? I'm looking forward to hearing you play bass.

 

[96tbird]

Stuff like this is what made U2 stand out. I really wonder if many of you've even listened to this old stuff. May not be your deal but to say there's nothing there is just stupid.

Invalid Link Removed

 

[Frozen J]

Lol. So a person looking at a famous artists work isn't allowed to critic/dislike a painting unless they can do better? Wow.

 

[faulknersj]

Lol. So a person looking at a famous artists work isn't allowed to critic/dislike a painting unless they can do better? Wow.

They are allowed too indeed, ...we are all armchair QB's from time to time I suppose and some fail to find the genius that can exist in perfect simplicity.


I can play my ass off, but I'm not sure I could write lines as emotive or evocative as Adams can be...and surely wouldn't feel comfortable criticizing a guy that had done more with 2 notes than I had.

I respect him tremendously and don't think U2 could have achieved the level of success they did without Adam's feel.

This is the 2 note bass line...brilliant IMO..
http://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PL3z_RoYq34CDk9OsK4nE1AsV5mRigiiBZ&feature=plpp&v=1Au88y0xS1I

 

[96tbird]

Lol. So a person looking at a famous artists work isn't allowed to critic/dislike a painting unless they can do better? Wow.

The one thing a critic can't say is the artist is not creating. People here have said exactly that and it's clearly false. Saying you don't like it and saying that they have no talent are different things:

The first one is certainly 100% true; the second is 100% false.

Metallica makes me want to puke: it's dreary, soggy, depressing, sophomoric and extremely derivative, but I don't go about saying they aren't creative. That's exactly what some posters have said and it doesn't fly.