Why the hate?

[Woodinblack]

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1470775472' post='3108427']
I roadied for them in '79
[/quote]

Could have told [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif] [/font][/color][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Adam to pull his finger out a bit [/font][/color]

[Billy Apple]

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1470771242' post='3108371']
No hate, however when your my age, these guys are not relevant to me. The guys I like and have influenced, me cone out of the 60s & 70s.

Blue
[/quote]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1470772264' post='3108388']
U2 were formed in the 70s.
[/quote]

He means 1870's

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1470775472' post='3108427']
I roadied for them in '79
[/quote]

He means 1770's

[RhysP]

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1470775890' post='3108433']
fwiw I do not hate anyone, the internet term "haters" is nonsense really isn't it? I hate ISIS, but not old Adam, I do not even hate Donald Trump, hate is a strong word IMO.
[/quote]
I can't see why you would hate ISIS, they were a pretty good band.

[neilp]

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1470750780' post='3108146']
Surely anyone who's been playing for that long would be able to do something more impressive, and yet he doesn't. Isn't that remarkable restraint? Purely playing for the song and never once indulging yourself? Pretty impressive if you ask me

...although obviously he could be sh*te and playing at the top of his ability, we wouldn't know
[/quote]

If you've ever experienced U2 live you'll know how incredibly tight they are. Adam Clayton is definitely not sh*te. There are loads of bass players with impressive chops who couldn't do what he does anywhere near as well. Less is almost always more

[stingrayPete1977]

I don't even think he is sh*te, I just don't enjoy his band's music.

[xgsjx]

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1470776558' post='3108445']
I can't see why you would hate ISIS, they were a pretty good band.
[/quote]
Not as good as Was Not Was though.

[ivansc]

[quote name='NancyJohnson' timestamp='1470748950' post='3108128']
Mr Tauzero, thanks for the namecheck! Don't forget to put your hand up and tell teacher they've forgotten to give us homework as well.

Aah, Mr Clayton. My nemesis.

As I've posted before, I don't think it's quite hate because that's something I would apply to root vegetables, moreover I simply don't like the guy and like his playing even less. You know, for the record, I met him just the once and he was thoroughly unpleasant, smug and arrogant. He just had this air of incredulity about him, akin to that of someone who had reached the giddy echelons of a given field without having a credible bone in their body to support where they'd got to. On the shoulders of giants. Which I suppose is where I came in.

We do live in a world where we have a degree of freewill and comes with that the ability to like and dislike things, people, places. We also seem to live in a world where it seems it's OK to heap praise on things but it's bad to castigate, unless it's Nigel Farage I suppose.
[/quote]

The classic line here is, of course, what exactly have YOU done that makes you feel entitled to not just say you don`t like his playing, but refer to him as talentless?
I have a confession to make - I have never EVER sat down and listened to a U2 song all the way through, so I am not making a case either for or against A.C.s talent or lack thereof, but for someone who is supposedly talentless, he seems like he is doing alright, doesnt he?
So - you met him and you thought he was smug and rude. Did that automatically make his bass playing chops crap as well?
I am now curious as to what he actually plays for U2 that is so naff. I may even be forced to listen to them! At least he hopefully doesnt rely on a multi tap echo pedal like the guitar player.....

[molan]

[quote name='Billy Apple' timestamp='1470776250' post='3108441']




He means 1870's



He means 1770's
[/quote]

Just checked and it appears my memory fails me

It was 1980 not 1979!

I am pleased to say that I know more about the gigs I worked on than the main U2 fan site though

[Geek99]

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1470755401' post='3108204']


I haven't met Mr Clayton but I saw him coming down an escalator at Earl's Court one time.

As he descended he seemed to be staring blankly into the upper middle distance which I suppose some might interpret as being 'aloof'. OTOH it's entirely possible that Mr Clayton suffers from very poor eyesight and his optician isn't up to the job. Lovely frames, shonky lenses, mayhap?
[/quote]
He does actually

I do wish I had half as much talent - or time to develop it anyway

Edited August 10, 2016 by Geek99

[the boy]

[quote name='Billy Apple' timestamp='1470753311' post='3108174']
An ex's uncle made a good living on the Northern club scene in the 60's. He was primarily a joke and song man, but very accomplished on the keys, although didn't get the breaks to move into TV. Anyhoo, he knew Ringo Starr from his club days before the Beatles. He said Ringo was an excellent drummer and couldn't understand why he came in for so much flak.
[/quote]
Ringo is an excellent drummer, I think the "thing" about him being crap was a wind up started by the two smart Arse pricks Lennon and McCartney.

[tauzero]

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1470769750' post='3108344']
Shall we settle this once and for all with a Bass-Off?

I nominate two bands each comprising three bassists thus:[list]
[*]In the red corner -
SMV (Stanley Clark, Marcus Miller and Victor Wooten)
[*]and in the blue corner -
MAJ (Mark King, Adam Clayton and Jaco Pastorius)
[/list]
[/quote]

I think the second team are slightly disadvantaged. Could I suggest Mark King, Adam Clayton, and Chris Wolstenholme for that team, and Jaco Pastorius, Bernie Edwards, and John Entwistle for the dead team?

[Number6]

What have i missed? Who are we hating today?

[Mickeyboro]

How do we know The Edge doesn't write the bass lines? 😈

And what if he did?!

[blue]

[quote name='neilp' timestamp='1470776637' post='3108447']


If you've ever experienced U2 live you'll know how incredibly tight they are. Adam Clayton is definitely not sh*te. There are loads of bass players with impressive chops who couldn't do what he does anywhere near as well. Less is almost always more
[/quote]

Now that is very debatable. I have never listened to Adam, however I thought he was one of those root note only guys.

Blue

[neilp]

If you could do it as well and as tight as Mr Clayton does it, root notes or not, you probably wouldn't still be playing in bar bands. In my opinion.......

[blue]

[quote name='neilp' timestamp='1470787555' post='3108527']
If you could do it as well and as tight as Mr Clayton does it, root notes or not, you probably wouldn't still be playing in bar bands. In my opinion.......
[/quote]

Yeah your probably right. Bar/Pub band stuff is a waste of time.

Blue

Edited August 10, 2016 by blue

[peteb]

[quote name='neilp' timestamp='1470787555' post='3108527']
If you could do it as well and as tight as Mr Clayton does it, root notes or not, you probably wouldn't still be playing in bar bands. In my opinion.......
[/quote]
Surely you're missing the point here. There are many far superior bass players to Adam Clayton playing in bars, but so what! AC is someone who 'got lucky in a band' but that band is U2, one of the biggest bands ever and he plays his part in that very well (made some terrific music as well IMO).

[kusee pee]

I'm a fan of quite a lot of U2 but also can't stand some of their overblown posturing nonsense. But their great work is often held up by the basslines. They are exactly what the songs need to allow the guitar the space to create the atmosphere. I've no idea if Adam Clayton could play complicated stuff but I'm sure it wouldn't add to the songs.

With Mark King, he is an exceptional player and I'm a fan of much of his playing. It fits perfectly with the rest of the band, particularly in the early days.

The only time I'd not like a bassist's playing would be where the bass detracts from the song or works against the other instruments. Can't think of an example off the top of my head. But neither AC or MK fall into that category so their playing is cool with me.

[sykilz]

I've never been a massive U2 fan, I , for my sins, was a massive metal fan in the 80's and they weren't quite heavy enough for me then, however I was obviously very aware of their music, the thing is as far as I know, they formed the band as a bunch of kids at school, and grew up together, as people and musicians. I'm sure that if AC was ever seen as not being up to scratch then the others would have sorted something out, but he played what was needed for their songs....and I think that's what gets lost when a bands "peak" of songwriting was a couple of decades ago..( IMO!!)..at the time people bought records/c.d's......and they bought them because they liked the SONGS, not because the bass line is twiddly.And they bought a LOT of U2 records!! I don't know if AC writes any of the songs or parts of, but if you're in a band then you tend to have a chemistry, and that's, for me, the most important thing about a band.
FWIW, heard With or Without You on the radio yesterday, and the whole song....bass line included....still just works perfectly.

[TommyK]

Not a massive fan or hater of the U2 but I play Vertigo in a band i dep in.

FWIW i think its a great fun track to play that goes down really well. I think the bassline is actually pretty cool...

(also it was nice and easy to learn) whats not to like?

[Wolverinebass]

Adam Clayton was actually one of the reasons I play bass. However, I've had no time for him as a player for a long time. The reason being is simple. Everything post 1997 has been immensely boring. Look at everything up to Pop and there are a few moments here and there that are interesting. After that, there aren't any. I don't hate him for that at all. I'm just disappointed and it's very difficult to reconcile this apparent lack of effort to someone who wrote New Year's Day or Lemon. Maybe it's just that U2's output since then I haven't liked at all, but that's probably just a component of it.

However, there are plenty of people who are much more suitable for derision as being utterly talentless and have made truckloads of cash. To name but 2, Paul McGuigan (formerly of Oasis), a man so proficient at bass that he couldn't actually play the songs and Noel Gallagher plays bass on Definitely Maybe. How rubbish must you be to not be able to play that?!!

Secondly, Guy Berryman of Coldplay. I regard him as Adam Clayton's talentless nephew. The band's are kind of similar, but Berryman has never played anything even remotely interesting. Nor will he ever do so.

I don't hate either of these guys, but I do think that they are without imagination. Which to me is quite depressing that they've got so far on that basis.

[BigRedX]

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1470771242' post='3108371']
No hate, however when your my age, these guys are not relevant to me. The guys I like and have influenced, me cone out of the 60s & 70s.

Blue
[/quote]

I'm sorry but IMO that's a really sad attitude to have.

I'm only a little bit younger than you but I'm still finding all sorts of new and interesting music all the time and without even having to look all that hard. It doesn't matter if it come from the 70s when I was just discovering pop/rock or a brand new band who just stuck up their first recordings on Bandcamp last week. If I like it, then it's worth my time and money.

If I felt like you I'd probably give up both playing and listening to any kind of music.

[NancyJohnson]

[quote name='ivansc' timestamp='1470777296' post='3108462']
The classic line here is, of course, what exactly have YOU done that makes you feel entitled to not just say you don`t like his playing, but refer to him as talentless?
[/quote]

Strange, but an albeit interesting question and something I've given a bit of thought to this morning.

OK, entitlement. Hard to quantify, if wholly necessary, from a musical perspective . I can give you my full 30+ year bass-playing backstory tour if you want ('[i]Paul Anthony; My Life In Music'[/i]), but fear it'll be a bit on the boring side, albeit juxtapositioned with sadly infrequent peaks of excitement ([i]'Chapter 3; Polydor' [/i]and [i]'Chapter 7; Partying with Motley Crue'[/i]), but I'm unsure all this ebullience qualifies as entitlement per se.

Luckily, I'm still able to think for myself and from the evidence available, formulate and postulate my own judgments. This, combined with Article 10 of the European Convention, dictates I'm [i]entitled[/i] to freedom of speech. So there's your entitlement. Whether or not saying, 'Adam Clayton is a talentless bass player' is defamatory or not, is all that's questionable, same goes whether or not people agree with the aforementioned statement.

Look, at the end of the day, he's not John Myung or Geddy Lee. Or Flea or Bootsy. (Or <insert name here>.) Yes, I get that. He obviously must have something going on otherwise U2 would have fired him years ago, but you know the thing is after all this time, I'm still struggling to work out what it actually is.

[Coilte]

[quote name='NancyJohnson' timestamp='1470826090' post='3108727']


He obviously must have something going on otherwise U2 would have fired him years ago, but you know the thing is after all this time, I'm still struggling to work out what it actually is.
[/quote]

That's because he possesses a [i]hidden [/i]talent.

[Coilte]

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1470771242' post='3108371']
No hate, however when your my age, these guys are not relevant to me. The guys I like and have influenced, me cone out of the 60s & 70s.

Blue
[/quote]

A very closed minded attitude, if you don't mind my saying.

I always assumed that a good all 'round musician was open to all types of music and to playing with and listening to young musicians. For example, drummer Tony Williams was only seventeen years old when he first joined Miles" band. Miles always looked forward, never back. The bluesman John Mayall is renowned as a talent scout as much as a musician. Down the years, a lot of his band's consisted of musicians that were half his age and younger.

Edited August 10, 2016 by Coilte