U2 Headed In A New Direction

U2 has accomplished everything a band could possibly hope to accomplish. The Irish rockers have had top-selling, critically acclaimed records. They are responsible for several rounds of massively successful world tours. And Bono has become one of the world’s foremost spokesmen for just about every philanthropic cause in existence today.

The band has enjoyed more than its fair share of success. With that in mind, Bono has his eye on taking everything in a completely different direction.

Billboard reports that the U2 frontman would like to reshuffle the deck and start over, taking his band’s sound down previously unexplored musical avenues. "Our band has certainly reached the end of where we've been at for the last couple of albums,” he said. “We're gonna continue to be a band, but maybe the rock will have to go; maybe the rock has to get a lot harder. But whatever it is, it's not gonna stay where it is.”

The last time Bono talked like this, Zooropa and Pop were the result. These eclectic (some might say misguided) experiments in electronic songwriting left fans confused and clamoring for the band’s return to the earnest rock on which it made its name. U2 obliged with All That You Can’t Leave Behind and How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. This movement, however, has reached its apparent conclusion.

Bono described the sound he’d like to pursue, focused mainly on acoustic guitar and vocal arrangements.

Share |