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U2 TRACKS LEAKED TO YOUTUBE?

Aug 16, 2008
U2 TRACKS LEAKED TO YOUTUBE?

Fan-nabbed cellphone recordings of songs reportedly included on forthcoming album causes media hoopla.

BY FRED MILLS

 

American fans of U2 greeting the morning rays and firing up their RSS feeds are no doubt coming across myriad news reports from the UK and Europe regarding the supposed leak late yesterday of new U2 material to the Internet. As a quick Google of obvious search terms will net you, as of this writing, about 25 hits, there’s no need to link you to any specific report since all of them essentially recycle the same sketchy bit of news (but take it with a grain of salt since nobody has exactly verified the info either):

 

That an unnamed individual, presumably a U2 fan, was going past (walking? Cycling? Hang-gliding?) Bono’s French villa in Cote d/Azur, heard some music being blasted from the stereo, recognized it as featuring Bono’s voice, whipped out a recording device (what, a cell phone? laptop? a vintage Walkman? a stealth recording studio complete with mics and mixers he just happened to have stuffed down his pants?), and proceeded to record the sounds, then raced (walked/cycled/hang-glid/etc.) home and uploading the material to YouTube.

 

 

The songs are assumed to be from U2’s upcoming Eno/Lanois-produced album No Line On The Horizon, due at some unspecified date from Universal/Interscope. The supposed song titles are “Sexy Boots,” “Moment of Surrender” and “For Your Love” (not the Yardbirds tune), plus one unnamed one, although it’s anyone’s guess which is which.

 

Now before you get all hot and bothered, take heed: the sound quality of the YouTube tracks, four in all and posted by YouTube user VetleVikGundersen (who thoughtfully added photos of U2 so you wouldn’t have to just stare at a blank screen w/YouTube logo), is horrible.

 

As one might expect of audio recordings captured from, I dunno, 200 feet away or something, they are extremely distant. Plus, also audible are traffic sounds, noises made from children in the vicinity of the recorder, and even the “fan” and some friend talking. Most likely it was caught by a cellphone — unless this is some bizarre publicity stunt the band is pulling, which isn’t completely out of the realm of possibility, but unlikely given how, uh, dull a listening experience checking out these tracks is.

 

Some media reports are indicating that YouTube has already removed the audio at the request of the copyright holders, but that doesn’t appear to be true as of this writing, as one click through to these links, also embedded below, reveals. Prepare to be underwhelmed. (Can I have my 15 minutes back?)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXYUkey_7_k

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_I_Q2ZWvbk

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7eZRdTQvXQ

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv6fqqAaMyw&feature=related

 

Incidentally, the aforementioned YouTube user has his own profile page. The page indicates he is a 15 year old guitarist from Norway who specializes in, you guessed it, U2 cover songs. And he’s got the video clips of himself playing along to U2 background music to prove it — not all that expertly, but hey, self promotion is self promotion. Does anyone smell PUBLICITY STUNT? Here’s his page:

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/VetleVikGundersen

 

 

The news articles headlines are worth their weight in gold, incidentally. All variations on the same theme, all designed for maximum shock/tabloid value. Among the better ones:

 

  • Bungling Bono Blamed for Leaked U2 Tracks
  • U2-Bono Caused Album Leak?
  • New U2 Album Leaked After Bono Plays Songs Too Loudly
  • Passer-By Leaks Bono Holiday Tracks

 


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