U2 Disappointed With ‘No Line On The Horizon’ Sales

To say I wasn’t impressed by No Line On The Horizon, U2’s latest album, is a bit of an understatement. When I reviewed it back in February, I ended up scoring it a 3/10 after enduring the ignominy of listening to it a few times straight through. Suffice to say, I haven’t listened to it again since.

I wasn’t alone in not liking the album, with even longtime, die-hard fans expressing their dislike for it. No Line On The Horizon has sold in excess of a million copies, but U2 have now come out to say how disappointed they are by the album’s reception and (by their standards at least) poor sales figures.

Talking to ABC News, Bono whined about how the public’s “diet of pop” may have directly affected sales of their latest LP. He said:

“We weren’t really in that mindset. We felt that the album was a kind of an almost extinct species, and we should approach it in totality and create a mood and a feeling, and a beginning, middle and an end. And I suppose we’ve made a work that is a bit challenging.”

Adam Clayton added:

“The commercial challenges have to be confronted. But I think, in a sense, the more interesting challenge is, ‘What is rock ‘n’ roll in this changing world?’ Because, to some extent, the concept of the music fan – the concept of the person who buys music and listens to music for the pleasure of music itself – is an outdated idea.”

Sure, the industry is changing, with digital downloads and an increasing number of ways to easily obtain and consume music. But don’t U2 have it in themselves to realize that maybe, just maybe, No Line On The Horizon just wasn’t good enough?

Sometimes it isn’t about market forces or because an album is too challenging but merely because it sucks. As is the case with No Line On the Horizon. Not that U2 would ever admit to putting out an inferior work because they are clearly above all that.

[Photo Source: Amazon.co.uk]