New York: TMZ is reporting this morning that U2's song "The Fly" maybe the creative work of Paul Rose, a writer, guitarist with 12 solo albums of his own.
The claim is that the boys straight up copied the music for the "The Fly" from his 1989 song "Nae Slappin" Rose states that he provided Island records a demo that happened to be around the same time that U2 was signed to the label.
U2 headed back to where is all started for them. Island Records discovered them in the 70’s and the band left them more than 7 years ago, unhappy with the treatment at Island the boys moved on. However, the return to Island comes with new management, new possibilities and a new album.
Once Jason Iley moved over to Mercury, everything began take on a sour note. The boys packed up and followed Jason over to Mercury a sister label to Island. Early this year, the parent company Universal closed down Mercury, moving many of the acts to a new company, Virgin/EMI, although a question mark remained over where U2 would end up, with the band and record labels remaining silent on what would happen.
Sources have confirmed that the band will head back to Island, which has had a change of management since their departure. "They are going back to their spiritual home," the source said.
U2 displayed their affection for the label by continuing to include its logo on their releases even though they had headed to Mercury.
The boys dropped by Island to meet the staff and check out their new home and everything seems to be shaping up for something big for 2014. New management, New label its clear that the band has a lot riding on this next release.
This message posted on the website may suggest that the band plans for another world tour. Or it might be just a reference to way they feel about Paul.
"Sometime soon, U2 will begin a new adventure around the world and we totally understand and respect Paul's desire to not run away with the circus – AGAIN."
The Edge, Adam, Bono
U2 have finished recording their new album, the follow-up to 2009′s No Line On The Horizon, and are currently mixing in New York City with producer Danger Mouse, according to reports, after three members of the band were spotted in NYC, most notably Bono outside Electric Lady Studios.
U2 are saying that recording of the new album is done and dusted, with a
playback happening last week. Tweets from Island Records head Chris Blackwell( posted earlier)
seem to confirm this, with the honcho saying “Listened to some new
music at Electric Lady Land studios earlier with U2 and Danger Mouse
#betterthanever”. Blackwell has since deleted the tweet. ( Yea wonder why )
Globe journo Brad Wheeler added fuel to the fire, sharing quotes from former Daniel Lanois, who produced The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby amongst other U2 records. Lanois seems to have sat out of production duties this time around but has heard the new material, with Wheeler tweeting “Lanois tells me Bono dropped by his house in LA and that the new U2 album sounds ‘amazing’ and ‘big’, with some Achtung Baby adventurism”.
Sounds pretty promising, considering Bono confirmed that band were working on lucky album number 13 back in January, but the frontman also warned us not to hold our breath, stating that the band didn’t care if it took 10 years to get the album right.
Before The Joshua Tree, U2 had released four studio albums and were an internationally successful band, particularly as a live act having toured every year in the 1980s. The group’s stature and the public’s anticipation for a new album grew following their 1984 record, The Unforgettable Fire, their subsequent tour, and their participation in Live Aid in 1985. U2 began writing new material in mid-1985 following the Unforgettable Fire Tour.
Band manager Paul McGuinness recounted that The Joshua Tree originated from the band’s “great romance” with the United States, as the group had toured the country for up to five months per year in the first half of the 1980s.
In the lead up to the album sessions, lead vocalist Bono had been reading the works of American writers such as Norman Mailer, Flannery O’Connor, and Raymond Carver so as to understand, in the words of Hot Press editor Niall Stokes, “those on the fringes of the promised land, cut off from the American dream”. Following a 1985 humanitarian visit to Ethiopia with his wife Ali, Bono said, “Spending time in Africa and seeing people in the pits of poverty, I still saw a very strong spirit in the people, a richness of spirit I didn’t see when I came home… I saw the spoiled child of the Western world. I started thinking, ‘They may have a physical desert, but we’ve got other kinds of deserts.’ And that’s what attracted me to the desert as a symbol of some sort.”
The group referred to this approach as working within the “primary colours” of rock music—guitar, bass, and drums. Guitarist The Edge was more interested in the European atmospherics of The Unforgettable Fire and was initially reluctant to follow the lead of Bono, who, inspired by Dylan’s instruction to “go back”, sought a more American, bluesy sound.
Despite not having a consensus on musical direction, the group members agreed that they felt disconnected from the dominant synthpop and New Wave music of the time, and they wanted to continue making music that contrasted with these genres.
In late 1985, U2 moved to drummer Larry Mullen, Jr.’s newly-purchased home to work on material written during The Unforgettable Fire Tour. This included demos that would evolve into “With or Without You”, “Red Hill Mining Town”, and “Trip Through Your Wires”, and a song called “Womanfish”. The Edge recalled it as a difficult period with a sense of “going nowhere”, although Bono was set on America as a theme for the album.
Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records, has admitted he was not a fan of U2 when he first saw them live in a London pub.
The label boss was reminiscing in a wide-ranging interview with US radio network NPR’s show ‘Weekend Edition’ on Saturday Blackwell said: “I didn’t love the music. It was a little rinky-dink, but I believed in them.”
Thankfully for the Irish group, Blackwell followed with his instinct and signed them, sticking with them through some lean times until they secured global fame. Nowadays, though, the industry veteran mourns the loss of identity for today’s labels.
“I don’t know what record labels there are now that mean what they used to be to me when I was a fan,” he said. “For example, Blue Note Records was a guarantee of quality. They signed great musicians, and they recorded them absolutely brilliantly. That can happen when you’re independent. When it’s a major company, they can’t do that in the same way. It’s changed really a great deal, because also people don’t even see a label.”
For new artists, Blackwell advises they show patience and own rights to their music. “They can sell their music; they can market themselves on the Web. Takes a long time, because it’s sort of going bit by bit, but they can promote their concerts and they can gather email addresses or Facebook pages … and grow like that,” he said. “They don’t need to give that up to a record label, which happened in the old days.”
U2 picked up three nominations Thursday for the 2010 Meteor Ireland Music Awards: Best Irish Band, 
Best Irish Album (No Line On The Horizon), and Best Irish Live Performance (for the U2 360 shows at Croke Park). The public can vote for winnes in all three categories via the Meteor Awards web site. The awards ceremony will take place on February 19 at RDS in Dublin, and will air on RTE television two days later.
U2 are expected to dominate the Meteor Music Awards having been nominated in three categories including best Irish band. Calling Out all U2TOURFANS readers sign up today for meteors facebook page and vote.
Be sure to comment with #U2TOURFANS
The 11-time winners are also nominated for best Irish album with No Line on the Horizon , which has had neither the commercial success nor critical acclaim of most of its predecessors.
The band were also nominated for best live performance for their three shows at Croke Park last year.
Bell X1, who had a successful year in 2009, have also been nominated in the same three categories. Their album Blue Lights on the Runwa y went to number one in the Irish charts and spawned their most successful single to date, The Great Defector .
The Coronas were nominated in the best Irish band category and for their album Tony was an Ex-Con .
Lead singer Danny O’Reilly, who is the son of singer Mary Black, said the nomination was a reward for the effort they put into their new album which peaked at number three in the Irish charts. The band have just completed a Asian tour of Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia.
“We spent a lot of time on the record and put everything into it. It’s nice to be nominated alongside bands that you grew up listening to like U2 and Snow Patrol,” he said.
There were few surprises among the nominations, except the inclusion of the relatively unknown Dublin singer Valerie Francis ahead of last year’s winner Imelda May in the best Irish female category.
The public will be able to vote in eight categories: best radio DJ, best regional DJ, best Irish band, best Irish male, best Irish female, best Irish pop act, best Irish album and best Irish live performance.
For the first time in the 10 year history of the awards, there will be a most promising new artist category and unsigned acts will be able to upload their music videos on Youtube to be judged by an expert panel.
The awards take place on February 19th at the RDS and will feature Florence and the Machine, the Script, Westlife, Paulo Nutini, The Coronas and Pixie Lott.
Nutini and Florence and the Machine have been nominated in the best international album category for Sunny Side Up and Lungs respectively.
We along with many of you have been reading stories about the value of U2 today. In today’s music culture does U2 really have a place?
Matt McGee along with others has captured some thoughts from music industry greats. However before we share the story we thought about the question.
If you judge how a band matters based on soundscan, or billboard you really just focused on the business side of the industry. Maybe what’s wrong with the whole music industry as band emerges their music grows on you, taking hold in a place that a void needs to be filled. You can look at the thousands of “one hit wonders” and see that some music ex had to produce a hit to keep the lights on.
Sometimes the hits take time to grow on you. Remember “Streets without names” that was not a hit at all. In fact MTV named it one of the best songs/video of all time that never won a moon man.
In order for music to move forward it may be time to view music as the true art that it is. A price on art has only the value that you would pay. Radiohead tried to blaze forward with “Pay what you think” concept moving the Music Ex’ out of the way of the fan. Truth is that we need those music industry ex’s because thats the only way money can be made to let bands like U2, Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones, Van Halen grow into their own.
Question: How does U2 matter to you? What would you say was the song that moved you, What U2 songs would be the sound track to your life? Share your comments below.
Bertis Downs: “Of course U2 still matters—they make music all their own, are many people’s favorite band, carry themselves in a manner like no one else, and make a huge difference with their approach to their responsibilities as a role model for so many others.”
Bob Lefsetz: “They’re meaningless in terms of new music. If only they’d realize this, and start to record and release new music that’s not overmanaged and overmanipulated to try and be successful, but is recorded for the pure joy of it.”
Quincy Jones: “Their relevance transcends music—it’s almost like its own belief system, which is probably why those four dudes have stayed together for so long.”
Bertis Downs, R.E.M. advisor
“Of course U2 still matters—they make music all their own, are many people’s favorite band, carry themselves in a manner like no one else, and make a huge difference with their approach to their responsibilities as a role model for so many others. And, to my ears, they are still pushing their creative envelope every time they release a record.”
RJD2 (a.k.a. RJ or Ramble Krohn), artist/producer
“U2 sells out venues that are literally 100 times the size of rooms that I play. So if U2 doesn’t ‘matter,’ then what is a degree 100 times smaller than ‘mattering’? Does it surpass ‘existing’? Whatever it is, that is what I am—sub-existence. Also, for the record, anyone who goes around saying things like ‘someone doesn’t matter’ is a status-obsessed douche.”
Glenn “G5” Gyorffy, bassist, Anvil
“Absolutely! U2 have been, and still are, one of the biggest bands in the world. They’ve inspired some of the greatest music of the past two-and-a-half decades as well. There was a time when they sounded unique but now you can hear their sound in just about every pop band. U2 will always matter! Just like the Beatles will always matter!”
Doug “Cosmo” Clifford, drummer, Creedence Clearwater Revival
“I have nothing but respect for U2 because they have managed to stay together as a band for decades. They have stayed viable at a very high level through the many changes in the industry over the years. They have given back so much to people in need, making a real difference in the lives of millions of people around the globe. They are truly a class act. Bravo!”
John Baldwin Gourley, singer/guitarist, Portugal. The Man
“U2 will matter forever, that is not up for debate. I just can’t imagine charging your fans, who have made you, that much for a concert or a T-shirt, but maybe I have no perspective of the size of things”
Kasim Sulton, bassist/singer, Utopia, session and touring pro
“Very few bands/musicians have the capacity to remain popular and contemporary after 25 years together. Much like a roman candle, there might be four or five truly good records before the magic sputters and the artists find themselves held hostage to their initial success, playing the same old songs because that’s all the audience really wants. U2 is one of the only bands that consistently tops the last record, the last tour, and continues to remain one of—if not the only—bands that can release an album and have it mean more than the previous one. Consistently. Case in point: The Rolling Stones, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, Aerosmith and most other artists in that stratosphere of success can still sell out tour after tour, yet nothing they’ve released in the last 15 years compares to their early material. U2 still matters.”
So whats your thoughts ? Do they matter and if not why not ?