Lessons From U2: Fail Harder

[ 0 ] October 5, 2010 | NewRockstarPhilosophy

The Irish Times has an enlightening interview with Steve Lillywhite. A man whose been involved with U2 since the begining.

In it he speaks about Bono’s talent and determination, and the failure that was No Line On The Horizon.

LEGENDARY U2 producer Steve Lillywhite has said the band’s latest album No Line on the Horizon did not achieve what it set out to achieve and its relative failure had affected them.

The album, released last year, sold a fraction of its predecessors and received mostly lukewarm reviews though it did get a five-star rating in Rolling Stone magazine. Lillywhite, who was its co-producer along with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, said No Line on the Horizon lacked a big song and the North African ambience that it tried to recreate did not work.

“At the end of the day, the public are always right especially when you have a platform as big as U2,” he said. “Of course it affects them. They are only human. They put their heart and soul into everything they do, but the sales were not what they expected because they did not have the one song that ignited peoples imaginations.

Although most people could have told U2 that No Line On The Horizon was a bit of dud , it’s refreshing to hear it straight from the creators. U2 put so much publicity and grandstanding into the push of each album that you can get distracted by the spectacle of the album and forget about the music itself.

Lillywhite goes on to comment on the reason Bono has achieved so much as an artist:

Bono is the biggest overachiever I’ve ever met. His talent is not inconsiderable, but what sets him so far ahead of everybody else is his determination. “That determination to succeed is overachieving.”