WCF
The Fly
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2006
- Messages
- 259
So I figure all of our opinions of U2's albums are biased to some extent because of personal interpretations or events. We all know music is a personal thing, or at least it should be. So how about we talk about ourselves for a bit, talk about the stuff no one else really cares about, and throw the objectiveness out the window, eh?
October: I remember listening to this album as I walked home from school in the fall. I was relatively new to music back then, so I thought the piano intro to "I Fall Down" was the most beautiful thing I'd ever heard. Speaking of beauty, this is when I started noticing how beautiful nature was and I'd stare at trees and stuff as I walked. I was generally also a very, uh, "lost soul" back then and the longing, searching theme of the album was perfect. I noticed I tend to regard October very highly on these forums, and I've never missed an opportunity to defend "I Fall Down." I guess if we thought objectively... that song isn't that great, but screw that!
The Joshua Tree: This is probably the only album I own that I've never gotten sick of. I don't really have any story behind this one... I just know this is where I started singing in the shower
I guess the theme is a little important to me... I live in southern California and its kinda cool knowing that U2 is singing about the area I live around.
Zooropa: I always rank this album among my top 3 U2 albums. I remember I was in a relationship with this girl... taking the words from Bono, "for the first time, I feel love." Except around the time I started listening to this, things started getting bad and we "broke up" (wasn't really a relationship anyway...) and it was the biggest deal to me. I became depressed and lonely for a while. The whole album seemed to fit my situation...Babyface, Stay, SDABTO, Dirty Day, The First Time, the Wanderer. I especially fell in love with Lemon - the girl wearing yellow, the man chasing her, building cars, roads, cathedrals etc. to get to her, using his money as a light to find her, "midnight is where the day begins", - it was all brilliant to me. I still consider this song to be a masterpierce. The album was brilliant, and I still associate it with, not just rough times, but reflecting on them and the recovery after.
All That You Can't Leave Behind: This was the first U2 album I fell in love with. I remember as a kid hearing Beautiful Day on the radio and loving it. That was saying a lot, since I didn't listen to music at all. But I didn't know who the band was, so I didn't rediscover this song until years later. I consider Beautiful Day to be a brilliant song as well, and I always say its their best song; perhaps I only do it just because of its role in my life. Walk On was the first song that ever made me cry. Many people on this forum don't like this album because of the second half, but this half I especially loved. I remember having Wild Honey on repeat really early in the morning as I was still in bed and waking up. When I Look at the World was beautiful, hard to explain why. It was the music and the sounds, I guess. I would relax for hours everyday listening to songs on this album on shuffle - those were the good ol' days for me. Therefore, I always associate this album with peace and joy. It was also the album that officially hooked me on U2. I'm going to have to admit, I bet much of why I like this album nowadays is purely for nostalgic reasons.
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb: This was the very first CD I had ever bought (yeah. I'm young and kinda late). I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Not really much else to say though; not very many of the songs connected with me that well anymore. Vertigo and OOTS had their run. All Because of You was the very first U2 song I heard (while being aware it was U2). Most importantly, City of Blinding Lights was the first time I ever felt awed and atonished by music - before I admittedly couldn't care less about it. I was completely blown away, thinking it was the most brilliant piece of music ever created and that everyone should listen to this.
No Line on the Horizon: Ok, so I guess its still a little too early for this one. But it seems as if NLOTH is becoming a Zooropa Part II for me. Things haven't been going very well for me lately (more girl issues, haha). NLOTH, Moment of Surrender, and Crazy are all connecting very well because of this. This is a reflection and recovery album. I really do like GOYB too - I started this "sexy boots" inside joke around school when a bunch of people thought I was hitting on girls with that line, haha. I think of GOYB as "Vertigo done right." In the future, I might also associate this album more with Interference and hype than anything else. Seriously, I was checking this forum all the time and, like everyone else, got the leak weeks early. Never been such a fanboy over an album before! It seems like the hype for the music is going to overshadow the actual music.
So there's my wall of text. I noticed that this personal stuff really influences the way I think about and rank these albums. These things always make albums look better in our eyes. I'm always out defending Zooropa, October, and All That You Can't Leave Behind against the menaces of Achtung Baby. Speaking of Achtung Baby, none of that album connected with me. I don't have any significant memories associated with it really, and its likely that I don't think very highly of this album because of this. Not dissing it, it's still a good album. But I got no favorable bias towards it! Same with Boy, War, TUF, Pop, and R&H. I guess nothing significant enough was happening as I was listening to those!
October: I remember listening to this album as I walked home from school in the fall. I was relatively new to music back then, so I thought the piano intro to "I Fall Down" was the most beautiful thing I'd ever heard. Speaking of beauty, this is when I started noticing how beautiful nature was and I'd stare at trees and stuff as I walked. I was generally also a very, uh, "lost soul" back then and the longing, searching theme of the album was perfect. I noticed I tend to regard October very highly on these forums, and I've never missed an opportunity to defend "I Fall Down." I guess if we thought objectively... that song isn't that great, but screw that!
The Joshua Tree: This is probably the only album I own that I've never gotten sick of. I don't really have any story behind this one... I just know this is where I started singing in the shower
I guess the theme is a little important to me... I live in southern California and its kinda cool knowing that U2 is singing about the area I live around.Zooropa: I always rank this album among my top 3 U2 albums. I remember I was in a relationship with this girl... taking the words from Bono, "for the first time, I feel love." Except around the time I started listening to this, things started getting bad and we "broke up" (wasn't really a relationship anyway...) and it was the biggest deal to me. I became depressed and lonely for a while. The whole album seemed to fit my situation...Babyface, Stay, SDABTO, Dirty Day, The First Time, the Wanderer. I especially fell in love with Lemon - the girl wearing yellow, the man chasing her, building cars, roads, cathedrals etc. to get to her, using his money as a light to find her, "midnight is where the day begins", - it was all brilliant to me. I still consider this song to be a masterpierce. The album was brilliant, and I still associate it with, not just rough times, but reflecting on them and the recovery after.
All That You Can't Leave Behind: This was the first U2 album I fell in love with. I remember as a kid hearing Beautiful Day on the radio and loving it. That was saying a lot, since I didn't listen to music at all. But I didn't know who the band was, so I didn't rediscover this song until years later. I consider Beautiful Day to be a brilliant song as well, and I always say its their best song; perhaps I only do it just because of its role in my life. Walk On was the first song that ever made me cry. Many people on this forum don't like this album because of the second half, but this half I especially loved. I remember having Wild Honey on repeat really early in the morning as I was still in bed and waking up. When I Look at the World was beautiful, hard to explain why. It was the music and the sounds, I guess. I would relax for hours everyday listening to songs on this album on shuffle - those were the good ol' days for me. Therefore, I always associate this album with peace and joy. It was also the album that officially hooked me on U2. I'm going to have to admit, I bet much of why I like this album nowadays is purely for nostalgic reasons.
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb: This was the very first CD I had ever bought (yeah. I'm young and kinda late
). I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Not really much else to say though; not very many of the songs connected with me that well anymore. Vertigo and OOTS had their run. All Because of You was the very first U2 song I heard (while being aware it was U2). Most importantly, City of Blinding Lights was the first time I ever felt awed and atonished by music - before I admittedly couldn't care less about it. I was completely blown away, thinking it was the most brilliant piece of music ever created and that everyone should listen to this.No Line on the Horizon: Ok, so I guess its still a little too early for this one. But it seems as if NLOTH is becoming a Zooropa Part II for me. Things haven't been going very well for me lately (more girl issues, haha). NLOTH, Moment of Surrender, and Crazy are all connecting very well because of this. This is a reflection and recovery album. I really do like GOYB too - I started this "sexy boots" inside joke around school when a bunch of people thought I was hitting on girls with that line, haha. I think of GOYB as "Vertigo done right." In the future, I might also associate this album more with Interference and hype than anything else. Seriously, I was checking this forum all the time and, like everyone else, got the leak weeks early. Never been such a fanboy over an album before! It seems like the hype for the music is going to overshadow the actual music.
So there's my wall of text. I noticed that this personal stuff really influences the way I think about and rank these albums. These things always make albums look better in our eyes. I'm always out defending Zooropa, October, and All That You Can't Leave Behind against the menaces of Achtung Baby. Speaking of Achtung Baby, none of that album connected with me. I don't have any significant memories associated with it really, and its likely that I don't think very highly of this album because of this. Not dissing it, it's still a good album. But I got no favorable bias towards it! Same with Boy, War, TUF, Pop, and R&H. I guess nothing significant enough was happening as I was listening to those!
