Silversun Pickups
Wolfmother
Art Brut
Cold War Kids
Wolfmother
Art Brut
Cold War Kids
Bands that toured too much this year
not sure if it was this year, but decemberists in the last 3 years or so … and interpol from 04-05, i'm glad they've given us all a break for a year
Matisyahu
Could not turn around with running into this sideshow.
Could not turn around with running into this sideshow.
I saw Band of Horses twice…first time was great, second time was meh…too high (edit:them, not me) :)
if U2 played one show it was one show too many.
I was flipping through the radio stations, and caught the DC101 dj mentioning the LIVE was on tour every month but March last year. That's about 11 months too many.
Originally posted by RatBastard:Yeah. They're only more or less the best touring band out. What the FUCK were they thinking. U2's a bunch of idiots . . . .
if U2 played one show it was one show too many.
Originally posted by TheDirector217:U2, a band (and I use the term loosly) made of no talent meglomaniacs. The lead singer (again using a term for lack of better) is the biggest poser of the lot. U2 should move over and make room for real musicians. Just goes to show you that there is no accounting for taste. As far as talent goes, I would say that U2 rates right up there with Milli Vanilli and the Spice Girls but I wouldn't want to insult the later two that way.
Originally posted by RatBastard:Yeah. They're only more or less the best touring band out. What the FUCK were they thinking. U2's a bunch of idiots . . . .
if U2 played one show it was one show too many.
Originally posted by RatBastard:Yeah. You're absolutely right. Cause Bono using his celebrity as a method to feed hungry
Originally posted by TheDirector217:U2, a band (and I use the term loosly) made of no talent meglomaniacs. The lead singer (again using a term for lack of better) is the biggest poser of the lot. U2 should move over and make room for real musicians. Just goes to show you that there is no accounting for taste. As far as talent goes, I would say that U2 rates right up there with Milli Vanilli and the Spice Girls but I wouldn't want to insult the later two that way.
Originally posted by RatBastard:Yeah. They're only more or less the best touring band out. What the FUCK were they thinking. U2's a bunch of idiots . . . .
if U2 played one show it was one show too many.
children in Africa is so fuckin' pointless. He should do bumps all day & fuck groupies while wreaking of Jagermeister. And the Edge is a HORRIBLE guitarist. Not as if his style hasn't influenced a legion of fuckin' guitarists. The Edge sucks. No talent at all. And Larry Mullen & Adam Clayton are the worst rhythm section of all time. You're absolutely right. It's not like U2 has the most solid rock catalog of the past 25 years. They fuckin' suck. I think you're onto something . . . . .
There is no such thing as a band touring too much. This is the worst thread ever.
Bono, Tax Avoider
The hypocrisy of U2.
By Timothy Noah
Posted Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2006, at 6:43 PM ET
A familiar paradox about leftist celebrities in the entertainment industry is that their embrace of progressivism almost never includes a wholehearted embrace of progressive taxation, i.e., the principle that the richer you get, the larger the percentage of your income you ought to pay in taxes. The latest example is U2's Bono, a committed and unusually sophisticated anti-poverty crusader who is taking surprisingly little heat for the decision by his band, U2, to relocate its music-publishing business from Ireland to the Netherlands in order to shelter its songwriting royalties from taxation.
The irony was stated in admirably stark terms by Bloomberg's Fergal O'Brien, who reported on Oct. 16:
Bono, the rock star and campaigner against Third World debt, is asking the Irish government to contribute more to Africa. At the same time, he's reducing tax payments that could help fund that aid.
"Preventing the poorest of the poor from selling their products while we sing the virtues of the free market â?¦ that's a justice issue," Bono said at a prayer breakfast attended by President Bush, Jordan's King Abdullah, and various members of Congress earlier this year. Preaching this sort of thing has made Bono a perennial candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. He continued:
Holding children to ransom for the debts of their grandparents … that's a justice issue. Withholding life-saving medicines out of deference to the Office of Patents … that's a justice issue.
And relocating your business offshore in order to avoid paying taxes to the Republic of Ireland, where poverty is higher than in almost any other developed nation? Bono's hypocrisy seems even more naked when you consider that Ireland is a tax haven for artists. In June 2005, Bono (who was born in Dublin) told the Belfast Telegraph:
Our publishing, which is about one third of our income, we have tax breaks on, and that's great and that's encouraged us to stay in Ireland and if that changes, it's not going to affect anything for U2. …
Six months later, Ireland's finance minister announced a ceiling of $319,000 on tax-free incomes, and six months after that, U2 opened its Amsterdam office. The relocation of U2's music publishing will halve taxes on the band's songwriting royalties, which already reportedly total $286 million. Although Bono has declined to comment on the move, the band's lead guitarist, David "the Edge" Evans, said, "Of course we're trying to be tax-efficient. Who doesn't want to be tax-efficient?'" Writing in the Observer, Nick Cohen noted that Evans "sounded as edgy as a plump accountant in the 19th hole."
U2's tax-shelter scheme caused an uproar in Ireland when the story broke there in August. But it's scarcely raised a ripple in the United States. A conservative would argue that's because in this country, we don't begrudge a man the opportunity to keep what he earns off the sweat of his brow (or even off the sweat of someone else's brow ) â?¦ even if that man spends half his time trying to goad governments into spending more to alleviate poverty. But a liberal could answer that in the United States, we are so used to seeing rich people avoid taxation that even a wealthy hypocrite who shelters his cash abroad can no longer qualify as news.
Timothy Noah is a senior writer at Slate.
Article URL: http://www.slate.com/id/2152580/
The hypocrisy of U2.
By Timothy Noah
Posted Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2006, at 6:43 PM ET
A familiar paradox about leftist celebrities in the entertainment industry is that their embrace of progressivism almost never includes a wholehearted embrace of progressive taxation, i.e., the principle that the richer you get, the larger the percentage of your income you ought to pay in taxes. The latest example is U2's Bono, a committed and unusually sophisticated anti-poverty crusader who is taking surprisingly little heat for the decision by his band, U2, to relocate its music-publishing business from Ireland to the Netherlands in order to shelter its songwriting royalties from taxation.
The irony was stated in admirably stark terms by Bloomberg's Fergal O'Brien, who reported on Oct. 16:
Bono, the rock star and campaigner against Third World debt, is asking the Irish government to contribute more to Africa. At the same time, he's reducing tax payments that could help fund that aid.
"Preventing the poorest of the poor from selling their products while we sing the virtues of the free market â?¦ that's a justice issue," Bono said at a prayer breakfast attended by President Bush, Jordan's King Abdullah, and various members of Congress earlier this year. Preaching this sort of thing has made Bono a perennial candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. He continued:
Holding children to ransom for the debts of their grandparents … that's a justice issue. Withholding life-saving medicines out of deference to the Office of Patents … that's a justice issue.
And relocating your business offshore in order to avoid paying taxes to the Republic of Ireland, where poverty is higher than in almost any other developed nation? Bono's hypocrisy seems even more naked when you consider that Ireland is a tax haven for artists. In June 2005, Bono (who was born in Dublin) told the Belfast Telegraph:
Our publishing, which is about one third of our income, we have tax breaks on, and that's great and that's encouraged us to stay in Ireland and if that changes, it's not going to affect anything for U2. …
Six months later, Ireland's finance minister announced a ceiling of $319,000 on tax-free incomes, and six months after that, U2 opened its Amsterdam office. The relocation of U2's music publishing will halve taxes on the band's songwriting royalties, which already reportedly total $286 million. Although Bono has declined to comment on the move, the band's lead guitarist, David "the Edge" Evans, said, "Of course we're trying to be tax-efficient. Who doesn't want to be tax-efficient?'" Writing in the Observer, Nick Cohen noted that Evans "sounded as edgy as a plump accountant in the 19th hole."
U2's tax-shelter scheme caused an uproar in Ireland when the story broke there in August. But it's scarcely raised a ripple in the United States. A conservative would argue that's because in this country, we don't begrudge a man the opportunity to keep what he earns off the sweat of his brow (or even off the sweat of someone else's brow ) â?¦ even if that man spends half his time trying to goad governments into spending more to alleviate poverty. But a liberal could answer that in the United States, we are so used to seeing rich people avoid taxation that even a wealthy hypocrite who shelters his cash abroad can no longer qualify as news.
Timothy Noah is a senior writer at Slate.
Article URL: http://www.slate.com/id/2152580/
^^^^^^Fuck the fact that he's a multi-millionaire . . . Bono wanting to save his money makes him a hypocrite correct????? Yeah, like you wouldn't wanna do the same shit??? The dude still finds time to dedicate HIS time AND HIS money to a worthy cause. Seriously, get the fuck outta here. The Bono/U2 hating is ri-fuckin'-diculous. It'd be one thing if the reasons were actually founded or something. It's one thing to be like U2 doesn't move me or I don't think their material is good as it once was. Or I just don't like them. That's fair. But for someone to claim their talentless is fuckin' incomprehensible to me. And all this Bono is a poser shit kills me, too. Last I checked what lead singer doesn't have an ego???? (LSD, anyone??? Many of your favorites are quite guilty of it.) This man's tryin' to eradicate poverty & get poor people in Africa clothed & fed. That makes him a poser. (Granted he is on TV a shitload, which could be fairly annoying. I'll give you that.) But if Bono was caught in a hotel room with yay leaking from his fuckin' nose, cheating on his wife while having an S&M menage with two hookers, no one would say SHIT. Get the fuck outta here . . . .
Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:I think coming from anybody but you or venerable (and a handful of others), it's a worthy argument. But for the one outspoken Republican on the board to continually bring up the fact that a profitable business wants to move to a locale that has a more profitable tax scheme, I only see the hypocrisy in that as well.
Bono, Tax Avoider
The hypocrisy of U2.
You, of all people, should be cheering U2 for being savvy businessmen and avoiding government intrusion. The rest can bitch. And Jag gets first rights because she's been harping on U2's tax avoidance from the first time I met her.
Originally posted by TheDirector217:Right or wrong, you can't win this argument. When you're on top as U2 have been for years, there's no place to go but down. This board despises anything that's on top - its the nature of earning indie cred: be the first to discover, then the first to diss.
Get the fuck outta here . . . .
Originally posted by vansmack:it also has something to do with all the stale music they have been pumping out for many years now
Right or wrong, you can't win this argument. When you're on top as U2 have been for years, there's no place to go but down. This board despises anything that's on top - its the nature of earning indie cred: be the first to discover, then the first to diss.
I didn't actually write that article…..
I don't begrudge him his right to take full advantage of all the tax shelters available to a man of his means. Then again, I also don't venerate him as some paragon of charity.
And how much money does Bono really donate? I've never seen any figures.
I don't begrudge him his right to take full advantage of all the tax shelters available to a man of his means. Then again, I also don't venerate him as some paragon of charity.
And how much money does Bono really donate? I've never seen any figures.
Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:I know, but you have posted it twice in arguments over U2's talent as a band, which inevitably delves somewhat superficially into the extra-curricular Bono musings (sometimes by the U2 supporter, but more often than not by the former U2 listener who is now a hater by virtue of Bono's fame). Tolerating Bono's preaching is likely the difference between a diehard fan of U2 and a casual fan or hater of U2. But it should say nothing of the band's music or talent, but it always does on message boards like this one.
I didn't actually write that article…..
That being said, had you posted the slightly more "fair and balanced" (and probably better written) Bloomberg piece the second time, I might have given you some leeway:
Bono, Preacher on Poverty, Tarnishes Halo With Irish Tax Move
By Fergal O'Brien
Oct. 16 (Bloomberg) – Bono, the rock star and campaigner against Third World debt, is asking the Irish government to contribute more to Africa. At the same time, he's reducing tax payments that could help fund that aid.
After Ireland said it would scrap a break that lets musicians and artists avoid paying taxes on royalties, Bono and his U2 bandmates earlier this year moved their music publishing company to the Netherlands. The Dublin group, which Forbes estimates earned $110 million in 2005, will pay about 5 percent tax on their royalties, less than half the Irish rate.
``Among the wealthiest people I suppose it's the norm,'' Jill Cassidy, 23, said on South King Street near a plaque marking the site of Dublin's Dandelion market, where U2 played some of its earliest concerts. ``In U2's position, it does come across as quite hypocritical.''
The tax move has tainted the image of Bono, nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, and U2 at home. Now promoting a new DVD, book and album, the band is fighting back. Lead guitarist David Evans, known as The Edge, earlier this month defended the publishing company's move as a sensible decision for a group that makes 90 percent of its money outside Ireland.
``Our business is a very complex business,'' Evans said Oct. 2 on Dublin radio station Newstalk, breaking the band's silence after weeks of public criticism. ``Of course we're trying to be tax-efficient. Who doesn't want to be tax-efficient?''
As residents of Ireland, members of U2 remain liable for personal income taxes. Any Irish-based companies they control will pay taxes on their profits.
`Poor Example'
Principle Management, U2's management company, declined to comment when Bloomberg asked for a statement from Bono.
Dublin-born Bono has been mentioned as a candidate for Nobel Peace Prize since 2003. The Norwegian Nobel Committee on Oct. 13 awarded the 2006 prize to Bangladeshi banker Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank for advancing social and economic development by giving loans to the poor.
Bono, 46, has toured Africa, established the pressure group Debt AIDS Trade Africa and become one of the most vocal supporters of the Make Poverty History campaign. In July 2005, he helped persuade world leaders to double aid for Africa to $50 billion a year by 2010 and erase the debt of the 18 poorest countries on the continent.
``I can see no connection between what he is doing and Make Poverty History,'' said Richard Murphy, a director at U.K.-based Tax Research Ltd. and author of a book called ``Money Matters: Artist's Financial Guide.'' ``He is setting a poor example by his tax affairs.''
`Creative' Income
At a concert last year in Croke Park, Dublin's biggest stadium, Bono appealed to Prime Minister Bertie Ahern to raise overseas aid to 0.7 percent of gross national product by 2007 from 0.5 percent now. The crowd responded by booing Ahern.
The political catcalls have now turned on Bono, whose real name is Paul Hewson.
``It seems odd, in a situation where they enjoy an already favorable tax regime, they would move operations to the Netherlands to get an even more favorable rate,'' said Joan Burton, finance spokeswoman for the opposition Labour Party.
For years, Bono and U2 got a better deal than most Irish taxpayers because songwriters paid no tax on earnings from music publishing. That will change next year, when Ireland limits the tax exemption, which also applies to writers and artists. From Jan. 1, artists that make more than 500,000 euros ($625,450) will pay tax on half their ``creative'' income, according to Ireland's Revenue Authority.
Remaining in Ireland would have forced Bono to pay a 42 percent tax on such earnings. Alternatively, the band could have channeled profits through a company to pay the 12.5 percent corporation tax.
Millennium Goals
Wealthy individuals have put about $11.5 trillion in tax havens around the world, according to a 2005 paper by the London- based Tax Justice Network. Unpaid taxes on those assets could amount to $255 billion, the paper said.
``That's five times the amount needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, which Bono says he's really interested in,'' Murphy said, referring to a United Nations plan to eradicate poverty and combat the spread of AIDS. ``My answer is, put your money where your mouth is.''
Some fans accept the band's explanation of its tax planning because U2 has been generous in the past.
``They've paid plenty of money up to now,'' said Peter Cooper, 58, who lives in Bray, near Bono's home in Dalkey. ``I think they are quite right'' to move the company abroad.
Paul McGuinness, the band's manager, said in the Oct. 4 issue of the music magazine Hot Press that Ireland itself had benefited from low taxes. The country's 12.5 percent profit tax - - half the European Union average – has helped Ireland lure investment from companies such as Intel Corp. and Dell Inc.
That reasoning has done little to help Bono ease criticism of the tax move.
``I don't think it's justified,'' said Sean Lynch, a 28- year-old artist. ``Social conscience is the thing I would like to address to them.''
To contact the reporter on this story: Fergal O'Brien in Dublin at fobrien@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: October 15, 2006 19:08 EDT
Originally posted by vansmack:You're one of the more rational people I've ever seen on this board. And since you phrased it that way, I realized that you're absolutely right. It seems like a lotta cats love for bands here decreases exponentially with every 100,000 or so units moved. LOL . . . .
Originally posted by TheDirector217:Right or wrong, you can't win this argument. When you're on top as U2 have been for years, there's no place to go but down. This board despises anything that's on top - its the nature of earning indie cred: be the first to discover, then the first to diss.
Get the fuck outta here . . . .
Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:So if there was easily located figure of Bono's donations to charity placed out there by him or his "people" wouldn't that make him more of a hypocrite/megalomaniac/egomaniac??? Charity isn't always a square number, but that's just my two cents . . . (pun intended)
I didn't actually write that article…..
I don't begrudge him his right to take full advantage of all the tax shelters available to a man of his means. Then again, I also don't venerate him as some paragon of charity.
And how much money does Bono really donate? I've never seen any figures.
This cat still loves Guided By Voices, in spite of allthe 100K units moved. But I bet it doesn't love U2.
<img src="http://static.flickr.com/115/302831561_25e0bba611.jpg?v=0" alt=" - " />
<img src="http://static.flickr.com/115/302831561_25e0bba611.jpg?v=0" alt=" - " />
Originally posted by TheDirector217:
Originally posted by vansmack:You're one of the more rational people I've ever seen on this board. And since you phrased it that way, I realized that you're absolutely right. It seems like a lotta cats love for bands here decreases exponentially with every 100,000 or so units moved. LOL . . . .
Originally posted by TheDirector217:Right or wrong, you can't win this argument. When you're on top as U2 have been for years, there's no place to go but down. This board despises anything that's on top - its the nature of earning indie cred: be the first to discover, then the first to diss.
Get the fuck outta here . . . .