(Since I have articles scattered all over the place on the web, I'm going to make it one of the functions of this weblog to provide links. Here is an excerpt of an article I just did for atu2.com. The full article can be found here.)
U2 are many things, but I don't believe they have ever claimed to be makers of Great Video Art. That's perfectly all right; videos are just commercials for songs and were not seen as an integral part of a rock band's job before the advent of MTV. Why should anyone who works in such an auditory form as rock'n'roll be assumed to have any skill with visual presentations?
My main criteria for judging the quality of videos is whether or not I can envision a better one to go with the song. Thus, though "Where the Streets Have No Name" is interesting and fun, there is so much potential to do something more with the song than just film straight performance (even in an unusual location) that this one didn't make the cut.
I tend to believe U2 makes their best videos with directors whom they have known for a long time and who understand them well. As a result you may notice that although this list contains 10 videos, only four directors are represented.
Posted by eshtine at August 26, 2002 06:51 AMi hAVE A MTV CONCEPT THAT I WOULD LIKE TO SHARE TO ALL OF YOU. CAN I HAVE IT DOWNLOAD FOR YOUR COMMENT?
Posted by: winston miranda at July 9, 2003 04:24 AM