Growing up, I didn’t really question why this band would be played along side Nirvana, Bush, Soundgarden, Linkin Park, etc. because my radio station of choice was not just grunge, but also “adult alternative.” So it would play pop shit, too, sometimes.
But I still, to this day, often find U2 listed among grunge artists, or their songs get played on grunge playlists. The fuck? How is this shit grunge? It doesn’t fit in any way! It doesn’t have the sound, it doesn’t have the style, shit it doesn’t even have the same emotional resonance. It’s happy and hopeful.
Yeah, I cannot recall ever hearing U2 referred to under a specific subgenre of rock, especially not grunge. Personally, if I had to choose, I think classifying them as generic rock is more accurate.
‘pop rock’ seems appropriate.
Yeah, I was tempted to write that myself, as it fits at least a few of their songs. I decided against it because I feel that I haven’t listened to enough of their discography to have an informed opinion on the matter.
Fair. There are a lot of bands that usually have a completely different sound from their popular songs (which can be pretty disappointing when you like listening to albums).
Yeah, it’s kind of ironic that their only popular song in n the US is Song 2 that was meant to mimic the US grunge sound that they don’t like.