Features
Thursday, December 1 2011
The 25 Best Re-Issues of 2011
The year's best reissues are highlighted by a massive re-issue campaign for the kings of English prog rock, a soul giant, and the masterwork of one of America's finest ever pop bands.
Wednesday, October 12 2011
It's All Right, It's All Right, Alllllll Right: U2's 'Achtung Baby'
Pretty much everyone under the age of 35 views U2 as a bunch of overzealous assholes, but this 25-year-old can't help but still blast the group's 1991 masterpiece.
Wednesday, January 27 2010
Part 3: From Porcupine Tree to Wye Oak
Slipped Discs continues with Norwegian electro pop, lots of Scottish pop goodness, two rock institutions, a Soviet born chanteuse and many more. All records that missed our top 60 list last year.
Friday, December 18 2009
The Best Singles of 2009
PopMatters kicks off our annual two-week-long best music of the year feature with the 50 best singles of 2009, highlighted by a trio of American indie rock headliners.
Wednesday, February 25 2009
Many Will See and Hear: U2's Prescient Youth
U2's first three albums are an opportunity to try and remember what their youth was like, to contemplate how they grew into mega-mega-mega-superstars, with action-figure-ready personas and their own blockbuster-sized iconography.
Columns
Tuesday, May 10 2011
Selling Sex: The Media, Fantasy, and How I Fell in Love with Britney Spears
It all started when I was in Walgreens buying deodorant and I saw her looking me right in the eye with a glossy glow from the cover of an October 2010 issue of US Weekly.
Tuesday, March 27 2007
Behind the Music
It's impossible to listen to music in a vacuum, to take the sound of a band on its own merits. There are so many outside factors at play – reviews, friends opinions, larger cultural influences . . .
Reviews
Friday, November 11 2011
U2: Achtung Baby (20th Anniversary Edition)
Say goodbye to the pious conscience of rock, enter the Fly: U2's daring sonic reinvention resulted in the artistic pinnacle of its career. Twenty years later, are remastered commemorative editions enough to tempt you into obtaining a record you should already own?
Friday, July 29 2011
U2: 20 July 2011 - E. Rutherford, NJ
While Aung San Suu Kyi reminded people that their voices "are louder than any rock band", the captivated audience stayed late to ensure they heard every minute of U2's ageless music.
Thursday, November 12 2009
U2: 18 October 2009 - Norman, OK
This is, to be sure, U2 at their touring highpoint.
Friday, May 22 2009
U2: Medium, Rare & Remastered
With long-lost B-sides, fantastic one-off experiments, drastically different alternate versions of some of their biggest post-millennial hits, U2's latest rarities collection proves to be one of their most surprisingly satisfying releases in recent memory.
Monday, March 2 2009
U2: No Line on the Horizon
Hip-hop drum beats, strange reflections in ATM machines, mournful church organs, and a female boot fetish. Without question, No Line on the Horizon sounds like no other U2 album that came before it; whether that's a good thing or a bad thing remains to be seen ...
Blogs
Thursday, January 26 2012
10 Songs That Will Make You Love U2
As the documentary From the Sky Down marks its arrival on DVD and Blu-Ray this week, Sound Affects list ten songs intended to help you warm up to the biggest band in the world.
Friday, June 17 2011
Counterbalance No. 38: U2’s 'The Joshua Tree'
In the locust wind comes a rattle and hum. Counterbalance wrestled with the album and the album was overcome. U2's The Joshua Tree is next on the Great List—Klinger and Mendelsohn have a listen.
Friday, February 4 2011
1991: A Landmark Year for Rock Albums
Whether it was by overthrowing the old guard, engaging in self-reinvention, or by modernizing a particular approach for the new decade, change was a concept that imbued many of 1991’s seminal rock albums.
Wednesday, August 18 2010
U2’s New Songs: Worthy of the Milky Way?
In Turin, Italy U2 debuted two new and official songs: “Glastonbury” and “North Star”; quite possibly both ditties will show up on the band’s forthcoming album.
Tuesday, May 18 2010
Walked in Line: The Musical Disciples of Joy Division
If any band is heir to the musical path Joy Division laid out, it would be the Cure, quite possibly the second-most influential band of the post-punk era.
News
Wednesday, January 11 2012
For U2, 2011 was a blockbuster year
LOS ANGELES — Demonstrating that there’s no substitute for the live concert experience, U2 has once again taken the crown in the Los Angeles Times’…
Tuesday, January 3 2012
U2’s big tour has a big payoff
LOS ANGELES — U2’s final spate of shows on its massive “360 Tour” lands as the top-grossing tour of 2011 across North America and throughout…
Wednesday, July 27 2011
Documentary about U2 will open Toronto Film Festival
Movies starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt, as well as a documentary about Irish rockers U2, are among the high-profile pictures heading to the Toronto…
Tuesday, April 12 2011
U2 sets record for highest-grossing tour
LOS ANGELES — U2 isn't a band that does things on the cheap. When frontman Bono and guitarist The Edge went to Broadway, they did…
Tuesday, November 23 2010
U2 preps live EP on vinyl for 'Black Friday' at indie record stores
LOS ANGELES — U2 is pitching in with other acts that are offering special releases in conjunction with "Black Friday" promotions Nov. 26 that support…
