How Interference Ranks The U2 Discography

[BigMacPhisto]

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

And in the rear, Passengers.

Thoughts? These are the results of a bunch of recent threads, using ranked-choice voting.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

A.K.A "How 16 People On Interference Rank The U2 Discography"

 

[AnCatKatie]

4-6 I'm a little iffy on the position on (I'd probably move them back some and switch Zooropa to the front of those 3) same with 10 and 11 (which would definitely go up). It's a little odd too that Bomb's at the back.

Of course, personal album ranking's a different matter entirely

I wonder if the results would have been different with a poll?

 

[theedgeu2]

Well as for my personal rankings the first 2 are correct and then if you place Zooropa at #3 and TUF down one at #4 you'd have my Top 4. HTDAAB is my #5 album. I was sooo expecting October to be at the very bottom instead, considering how many people bash that album. But I'm also not surprised that Bomb appeared last either as it gets about equally bashed.

 

[AnCatKatie]

But I'm also not surprised that Bomb appeared last either as it gets about equally bashed.

...it does? WHY?

Okay, fine, since you did it—

My personal ranking, while I'm ok with what I already mentioned,

1. Boy, 2. Joshua Tree, 3. Achtung Baby, 4. October, 5. Unforgettable Fire, 6. Zooropa, 7. War, 8. Rattle & Hum, 9. Bomb, 10. NLOTH, 11. Pop, 12. ATYCLB

 

[theedgeu2]

...it does? WHY?

Because apparently the songs lack any flow of a good album. People say that it's like they recorded a bunch of good songs and threw them on a disc. Then wouldn't that make it a good album? I personally love it. If not for HTDAAB I probably wouldn't know anything about U2's music today, well maybe not as much anyway.

 

[AnCatKatie]

Weird.

I like it because 1. it's the first U2 album I heard when it came out, and I was unaware that this band that sounded totally different was U2 at all and 2. it goes very well with the other albums I like; it's sort of a Boy-War-TUF mix that secretly sounded a little NLOTH...the guitar's impossible to pin down to another album...3. I haven't been paying attention to the song flow much after listening to Rattle & Hum Oh yeah, 4. seriously all the songs are good.

 

[theedgeu2]

That's pretty much how I feel about it right there.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

...it does? WHY?

Okay, fine, since you did it—

My personal ranking, while I'm ok with what I already mentioned,

1. Boy, 2. Joshua Tree, 3. Achtung Baby, 4. October, 5. Unforgettable Fire, 6. Zooropa, 7. War, 8. Rattle & Hum, 9. Bomb, 10. NLOTH, 11. Pop, 12. ATYCLB

Well since we're taking our shots at the list, I'll have my go!

1. The Unforgettable Fire
2. The Joshua Tree
3. Achtung Baby
4. War
5. Boy
6. October
7. Zooropa
8. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
9. No Line on the Horizon
10. All That You Can't Leave Behind
11. Pop
12. Rattle & Hum

Bet ya wont find an odder ranking than mine

 

[PennyLanePHINS]

My personal ranking would probably be:
1. Achtung Baby
2. The Joshua Tree
3. Pop
4. War
5. All That You Can't Leave Behind
6. No Line On The Horizon
7. Zooropa
8. How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
9. The Unforgettable Fire
10. Boy
11. Rattle & Hum
12. October
13. Passengers. It tends to change except the top 2.

 

[AnCatKatie]

Bet ya wont find an odder ranking than mine

I feel like mine was pretty close..

 

[LuckyNumber7]

I feel like mine was pretty close..

tag-team of odd lists I meant anyone else. We are October-praisers. People give us odd looks

 

[trevgreg]

Eh... I'd rank TUF and NLOTH a little lower and HTDAAB and ATYCLB a bit higher personally. But it seemed like a good attempt otherwise.

 

[LemonMelon]

Passengers below Bomb? I thought the tour forum removed all of Interference's credibility, but there was a hidden compartment at the bottom of the barrel.

 

[Scorpionac]

People say that it's like they recorded a bunch of good songs and threw them on a disc.

Yeah, that's what they did. Except for the 'good' part.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

Passengers below Bomb? I thought the tour forum removed all of Interference's credibility, but there was a hidden compartment at the bottom of the barrel.

Sheesh just because we're all not in favor of avant garde music automatically implies we lose our credibility? Ranking albums is an opinion.

I'm gonna play the hipster card here. What's wrong with liking Bomb, exactly?

 

[LemonMelon]

There's nothing wrong with liking Bomb; it hasn't committed mass homicide or threatened our society in any significant way. But it did harm U2: they don't do autopilot well, and that MOR, poorly mastered record is the polar opposite of the nuance and atmosphere that made me fall in love with U2 in the first place. Most of the songs are pretty decent, but none of them are magical, per se. Maybe COBL. But I don't really dislike any of the songs, so it's not at the bottom of my rankings or anything. It's probably 10th.

Passengers, on the other hand, shows U2 on a different creative plane. Sadly, that isolates them from their listeners a bit. And they do overreach, particularly in the second half. But the first half is, in my opinion, among the most coherent and beautiful suites in U2 history. It's spellbinding. And there's nothing particularly avant-garde about it either, at least that early stretch. I hate to justify your hipster card usage, but...listen to more music.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

at least you took the hipster thing in good spirit.

I know exactly what you're talking about with the atmosphere that U2 has. It creates an almost epic feeling with their music. Something that I think the vast majority of the last 3 albums has lacked, although arguably perhaps made a return with NLOTH.

I just don't get why people's credibility gets hit due to the fact that a more popular album got ranked ahead of a less popular one? Thing is, you're judging people based upon your opinion. A lot of U2 fans actually started with Bomb or ATYCLB.

I mean, you think October is crap, right? Do you see where I'm going with that?

 

[LemonMelon]

What troubles me isn't that a popular album was ranked above a less popular album; hell, you didn't see me get up in arms over TUF handily topping Boy. It's an inevitability, and I'm fine with that. But for the most unpopular album on the forum (well, arguably; October exists) to top Passengers, an album released at the peak of their creativity, does frustrate me, I'll admit. The fact is that people don't take the album seriously, and I'm not sure if it's the inane "...but is REALLY a U2 album?" question distracting from the album's quality, or if it's just that people don't like that kind of thing on this forum. I think it's a little of both. All I know is that you didn't include it in on your personal list, and I noticed at least one person not even include it when we were voting. It's just sad, and I sort of wish it wasn't included to begin with, since the album isn't treated as if it were on the same plane as the others, but it is a U2 release, if not a U2 album, so I won't argue with it.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

You're gonna hate to hear this... but I just generally regard Passengers as Passengers. They intended upon not labeling the album with U2, so I will treat it as the side project it is. I don't overlook it, I just don't personally enjoy it.

It's okay, you can be Bono and I'll be Larry. Art for arts sake.

 

[LemonMelon]

To be honest, I would probably rank it 7th or so, but I don't find any significant fault with any U2 album until after NLOTH, which I suppose is 8th.

And hey, music is art, and creating art with the simple goal of creating great art isn't a bad idea in and of itself; just prepare for backlash. They did, to the degree that they changed their name. That's basically witness protection!

 

[AnCatKatie]

Interjecting here to say Passengers isn't on my list just because I have yet to listen to it I mean to, when I have time...

 

[PennyLanePHINS]

I was surprised about HTDAAB being so polarizing on here. I guess some of that must be because it holds the record for biggest opening week for a U2 album & got all kinds of praise, even though it's not their best. I enjoy it though, but not as much as their other 2 from that decade.

I like Passengers and find it interesting, but not something I want to listen to often, except for Your Blue Room/Miss Sarajevo/Slug

 

[LemonMelon]

I'm probably way off the mark saying that HTDAAB is U2's least popular record here (I don't consider this poll very representative; no offense, BigMacPhisto), but I don't spend a lot of time in EYKIW. In Lemonade Stand, it's a toss-up between ATYCLB and HTDAAB, with Passengers typically being held in very high regard. Outside of Interference, it's probably Pop, which is total bullshit.

Boy being ranked above ATYCLB is very cool BTW. I love that album so much.

 

[AnCatKatie]

Boy being ranked above ATYCLB is very cool BTW. I love that album so much.

 

[trevgreg]

There's nothing wrong with liking Bomb; it hasn't committed mass homicide or threatened our society in any significant way. But it did harm U2: they don't do autopilot well, and that MOR, poorly mastered record is the polar opposite of the nuance and atmosphere that made me fall in love with U2 in the first place. Most of the songs are pretty decent, but none of them are magical, per se. Maybe COBL. But I don't really dislike any of the songs, so it's not at the bottom of my rankings or anything. It's probably 10th.

Passengers, on the other hand, shows U2 on a different creative plane. Sadly, that isolates them from their listeners a bit. And they do overreach, particularly in the second half. But the first half is, in my opinion, among the most coherent and beautiful suites in U2 history. It's spellbinding. And there's nothing particularly avant-garde about it either, at least that early stretch. I hate to justify your hipster card usage, but...listen to more music.

Maybe the problem with Passengers being considered a genuine U2 record is Eno's increased input in it? Not sure how it differs from other albums he had a role in (need to start reading the band's autobiography again, lol), but I can see where the casual fan could listen to it and think it's something WAY out there or "too experimental" for their taste. I was certainly no different from that, but I would agree that the high points of that album (Always Forever Now, Miss Sarajevo, etc.) could stand up to anything else in the band's output at the time. Heck, I even think something like Beach Sequence is gorgeous as heck too, and that's anything but marketable on a public level.

As for HTDAAB, I've always said that the filler on there was much better than the filler on NLOTH. Some fans could debate album order and mixing for these things, but I always felt the songs themselves were never a problem on it.

 

[cobl04]

If you ask me the biggest travesty here is NLOTH at #4. And you can't even put that down to it being new, it's two years old.

The fact is that people don't take the album seriously

this annoys me.

A.K.A "How 16 People On Interference Rank The U2 Discography"

.

 

[An Cat Gav]

Passengers below Bomb? I thought the tour forum removed all of Interference's credibility, but there was a hidden compartment at the bottom of the barrel.

absolutely.

I wonder if this poll is carried out in a few yers time will NLOTH finish so highly? I have a feeling that Pop will overtake it.

 

[cobl04]

Boy, JT, AB, Zooropa, Pop, Atty Club > NLOTH

 

[LemonMelon]

Zooropa, JT, Pop, Boy, AB, War, Passengers > NLOTH

I hate to disregard TUF; the first half of that record would beat the whole of most others, including some of the above (if they could somehow sustain that brand of greatness for 40 minutes, it would be in my top 10 all-time, I think) but the second half is diffuse and aimless, containing some of their most mediocre tracks of the era with inexplicably awful sequencing to boot. The lack of Love Comes Tumbling and Bass Trap, which would make excellent replacements for Indian Summer Sky and 4th of July, respectively, is criminal. Something like:

1. MLK
2. The Three Sunrises
3. A Sort of Homecoming
4. Pride
5. Wire
6. Love Comes Tumbling
7. The Unforgettable Fire
8. Promenade
9. Bass Trap
10. Elvis Presley And America
11. Bad

Would probably rank in my top 3.