U2 - Street of Zzzzz's
Why Does This Perfectly Adequate Song Do So Little for Me?
Posted by Charlie Recksieck
on 2026-07-21
Just last week, I wrote about how a lot of indie reviews are afraid to be critical.
Well, this week I demonstrate that massive bands like U2 are fair game.
Not that their new song is bad; bad would be more interesting, in a way.
U2 has a new song, "Street of Dreams."
Has anybody cared?
I remember being a kid when people lined up to buy their copy of The Joshua Tree (ask your grandparents) and now?
I found out about the new single on a contributing writers’ group Slack at Atwood Magazine and not a single person stepped up to want to write about it.
So, this song is hardly "urgent" but for me it ended up being about the worst thing it could have been: boring.
Even U2's song I found most preposterous, "Lemon", was at least a big swing.
I really have to say, the lyrics are leaving me wanting.
La calle, calle de los suenos
Love in a procession down the street of dreams
God, hear me shout
Lend your ear to my prayer
When I’m far from anywhere
Down to my last breath of air
Apart from that, it still sounds like U2.
Why is this song boring?
The individual elements are fine.
The production is solid as always.
It's not a snoozy ballad.
Bono's voice doesn't sound shot.
The main Edge guitar loop which carries the song is actually pretty inventive.
The words?
Meh, but I’ve heard worse.
So what's up?
Of course, great bands should keep making records.
They know how to make records. I just reviewed Paul McCartney's 40th record and found it pretty damn vibrant and listenable.
Even though lots of legacy artists don't make classic albums late into their career, a lot of them can still put out a fun single from time to time.
I'm racking my brain for possible reasons why great bands have to fade.
The Artist Has Changed - Either after some age or some number of songs recorded, it could be natural to take fewer risks or have less urgency.
Exhausted - Not physically exhausted, but they've exhausted their pool of ideas.
That could be the case for "Streets of Dreams"; it's pretty generic, especially the chorus lyrics.
It might be what I pictured if I asked AI to make a U2 song. Every sequenced Edge guitar now reminds us of earlier, better Edge guitar tracks.
Some Know When to Quit - By a long margin, R.E.M. seems like the greatest example of a group who packed it up and stayed away.
Who else has really done that?
We'll see if Daft Punk continues to retire.
And I always kind of admired Billy Joel for no longer releasing new songs after River of Dreams (with the exception of the old pop artist making a classical album cliche in 2001).
Joel notably felt that he'd gotten plenty of chances to say what he wanted to say and didn't want to make music that didn't live up to the rest of his catalog.
Meanwhile, he could still sell out MSG for 8 nights any time he wanted to perform or make some cash.
But those don't seem like good enough reasons for bands to not be able to reach us.
They got skilled at songwriting and recording, it should work better than it has.
Maybe the blame should be on us, the audience, more than we want to admit.
We've Changed - I'm no longer 17. The first time I heard "Where the Streets Have No Name" I didn’t have 40 years of U2 already in my head. Speaking of that song, it's hard not to compare a spiritual song called "Streets of Dreams" to "Where the Streets Have No Name" and the comparison is gonna be unfavorable.
They Raised the Bar - Once a band like U2 reaches legendary status, listeners aren’t judging whether a song is good. They’re judging whether it’s worthy of joining the U2 canon.
Scared of It Being Bad - The Rolling Stones have a new album out right now and I haven't even pressed play on it yet, and they're my 2nd favorite band.
A part of me is scared of it being bad or blah, and I don't want that making me sad.
One other thing about audience and criticism.
I would never make a review so catty of an emergent or unsigned artist called "Streets of Zzzzz's".
For a lot of reasons in the indie ecosystem, reviewers rightly don't like to dunk on DIY artists.
But "punching up" is totally allowed.
There's a thing called "tall poppy syndrome" in Australia which describes the phenomenon of people resenting or cutting down those who stand out above the rest.
It's why people slam Starbucks, McDonald's or the Yankees.
Also, U2 and Bono have always worn their hearts on their sleeves. It's what made us fall in love with them in the first place.
But Bono could be pretentious in interviews, and his lecturing from Rattle and Hum was an easy target.
That said, his heart sure seems like it's in the right place, and nobody walks the walk better about Africa, debt relief, world poverty, justice, and a slew of issues where I agree with him.
I still don't quite understand the hatred U2 got for putting a free digital album on iTunes in 2014.
The same boldness and moral authority that made them popular eventually turned people off.
After 900 words here, I don't think we're closer to figuring this out.
Maybe it's as simple as making hits and beloved songs takes a lot of magic and at some point, a band just runs out of magic.
If we all gave "Street of Dreams" a chance or old-school terrestrial radio shoved it down our throats in a circa 2000-era media landscape, we might love it.
But as it stands, I stand by calling this "Street of Zzzzz's".
I may never think of this song again.
Not bad, not great.
It's just kind of there.
That's my review.
