Four Reasons Why 'Atomic Bomb' should not be derided so foolishly....

[Dalton]

My current rankings of U2 Albums:

1. Achtung Baby
2. The Joshua Tree
3. Pop
4. Unforgettable Fire
5. All That You Can't Leave Behind
6. War
7. Zooropa
8. Boy
9. Rattle & Hum
10. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
11. October

It's too early for me to rank No Line on the Horizon, but if I had to it would be somewhere between 4 and 6.

 

[mikal]

HTDAAB has some great songs on it, but given what it could have been, to me it artistically is a failure because they chickened out.

not sure if i agree with this statement because i don't think it was ever the band's intention for HTDAAB to be a widly innovative album. i remember them saying that it would be very guitar driven, which it accomplished.

 

[BonoIsMyMuse]

I'm not sure what makes people here equate criticizing something with hating it. They're not the same thing. I think a lot of us who criticize HTDAAB like it but see ways it could've been better.

 

[mikal]

I'm not sure what makes people here equate criticizing something with hating it. They're not the same thing. I think a lot of us who criticize HTDAAB like it but see ways it could've been better.

exactomundo!

i still like the album, but it still ranks in the bottom half of my rankings.

 

[corianderstem]

i still like the album, but it still ranks in the bottom half of my rankings.

Yeah, me too.

 

[Dalton]

Because I'm a giver, I am going to listen to How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and give you my thoughts. You're welcome. Please no gifts. I'll take my treasure in heaven.

1. Vertigo: this is a fine song. It rocks which I enjoy. I don't love it however. It's probably not in my top 25 favorite U2 tunes. I like it about the same amount that I like Boots.

2. Miracle Drug: I should love this song. I WANT to love this song. I don't. The 'baby's head' lyric actually induced me to stab a monkey. How bad does a lyric have to be to inspire me to attack one of our fuzzy, little, primate cousins?

3. Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own: I am truly at a loss to explain the love for this song. In fact, according to my iTunes, this is the first time I have listened to it since early in 2007. I find the lyrics to be trite (sorry Bono, I know what they mean to you) and the music to be pedantic. Bo-fucking-ring.

4. Love and Peace or Else: This is another song I want to love so bad. It owned live and was one of my favorite parts of the last show. Musically it's pretty cool, but lyrically it's turrible.

5. City of Blinding Lights: Probably the best song on the album, but I actually didn't care for this one live. It never seemed to deliver the way I expected it to. In that way it reminded me a lot of New York.

6. All Because of You: I fucking HATE the beginning of this song, but after that I don't mind it. I'm always pleased when it shuffles up in a mix.

7. A Man and A Woman: This song should be everything that I hate about U2, but I absolutely love it. A real gem in their catalog.

8. Crumbs From Your Table: This is one of the few instances in the U2verse in which I LOVE the lyrics, but hate the music. In my mind the two don't fit. I can never reconcile Bono's biting lyrics with the sound of the band.

9. One Step Closer: I enjoy this song ... then it's over. I never think about it.

10. Original of the Species: this song competes with Miami as my least favorite U2 song of all time. I hate it. Loathe it really.

11. Yahweh: I love it. Fantastic closer. Besides 40, it might be my favorite closer in their catalog.

12: Fast Cars: Awesome. Great tune. One of the few from these sessions that I go back to often.

 

[Galeongirl]

I'm not sure what makes people here equate criticizing something with hating it. They're not the same thing. I think a lot of us who criticize HTDAAB like it but see ways it could've been better.

Yep.

 

[Zoocoustic]

HTDAAB - my least fav U2 album.

I liked Vertigo until I got sick of it. But it is a fun catchy song, regardless. And you can't deny it's universal appeal.

Everything else on that album - completely forgettable.

-COBL is trying too hard to be Streets.
-OOTS isn't sure what it is.
-ABOY had it's balls chopped off (vs. alternate takes & live).
-CFYT is a bad version of Walk On
-SYCMIOYO - I've never understood the passion for this boring song.

Ugh. This album sucks.

And yes, that's just my opinion.

 

[monsieur fly]

It's typical of this Forum that one wag responded, "You're not going to change my mind!"

That was me- and I know full well nobody is trying to change it. It is just a figure of speech expressing my perfectly legitimate dislike for a safe, contrived sell-out of an album.

PS- Native Son was better in my view- listen to Bono's voice on 2:17

 

[Dalton]

It's typical of this Forum that one wag responded, "You're not going to change my mind!"

That was me- and I know full well nobody is trying to change it. It is just a figure of speech expressing my perfectly legitimate dislike for a safe, contrived sell-out of an album.

PS- Native Son was better in my view- listen to Bono's voice on 2:17

The monkey that I stabbed was called "sell-out". I go into a rage when ever I hear it.

 

[monsieur fly]

HTDAAB - my least fav U2 album.

I liked Vertigo until I got sick of it. But it is a fun catchy song, regardless. And you can't deny it's universal appeal.

Everything else on that album - completely forgettable.

-COBL is trying too hard to be Streets.
-OOTS isn't sure what it is.
-ABOY had it's balls chopped off (vs. alternate takes & live).
-CFYT is a bad version of Walk On
-SYCMIOYO - I've never understood the passion for this boring song.

Ugh. This album sucks.

And yes, that's just my opinion.

Hallelujah- I agree absolutely.

 

[Salome]

I'm not sure what makes people here equate criticizing something with hating it. They're not the same thing. I think a lot of us who criticize HTDAAB like it but see ways it could've been better.

funny enough I do know why it feels like there's hate for this album
it's probably because most posts on this album are among the lines of " I fucking hate it", "I loath it" or "it fucking sucks" (just check this thread for reference)

I also rate it in the bottom of the U2 oeuvre, but since I do like it very much still you won't catch me equating this album to a pile of poo

 

[Snowlock]

not sure if i agree with this statement because i don't think it was ever the band's intention for HTDAAB to be a widly innovative album. i remember them saying that it would be very guitar driven, which it accomplished.

I don't think it was supposed to be innovative at all. My recollections of the Bonohype (tm) on the album, having the Engineer of the Beatles producing, the Boy-centric songs on the tour, the punkish album cover and some other things was that this was supposed to be a gritty album, a punk album and the first beach clip, ABOY kind of lent itself to this.. But when we got the finished product, it was just a slightly darker ATYCLB.

In so many places keyboards were added (cobl, cumbs,) accoustic guitar parts added to what appeared to be hard rock songs (aboy, lapoe), ATYCLB leftovers inserted (MD, OOTS) and songs that seem totally out of place added late (AWAAW, Yahweh, Fast Cars), and some of the grittier songs dropped entirely (Mercy, X&W) it really left the album without much of an identity and it's really what makes it a failure.

There's some excellent songs on the album (Vert, Sometimes, COBL) that fit kind of what I at least was expecting but the collection as a whole seems a bit watered down from what they're cabable of, and maybe even what they started with and maybe a bit cop out as well. I'm not degrading the songs themselves, just the album.

Based on the strengths of the individual stand out songs, I rate the album high personally,

Josh
AB
NLOTH
HTDAAB

but it's the only album that I don't listen to without cherry picking.