Rank The Albums

[The Panther]

what a terrible thing to say

Funny.

What I meant was, 'Slug' sounds like it grew out of 'Beach Sequence', as in they could be the same song. It doesn't even sound like a song, more like a leftover instrumental passage of another song.

 

[LemonMelon]

Passengers has been downgraded from "not U2" to "doesn't contain songs."

 

[The Panther]

Passengers has been downgraded from "not U2" to "doesn't contain songs."

It's not a downgrade. Both were always true...

 

[Jarvio]

The only songs on Passengers (And by that I mean, songs with lyrics), are Your Blue Room, Miss Sarajevo, Slug, Corpse (which I think is terrible) and Elvis Ate America (which is terrible).

Are there any others?

I was puzzled as to why U2 didn't count it as one of their albums, but after listening to it, well, I can see why... Not my thing at all.

 

[LadySpinHead]

Beach Sequence has 4 words.
And a song without lyrics is still very much a song.

 

[BVS]

The only songs on Passengers (And by that I mean, songs with lyrics), are Your Blue Room, Miss Sarajevo, Slug, Corpse (which I think is terrible) and Elvis Ate America (which is terrible).

Are there any others?

Always Forever Now... brilliant piece of work, only three words, yet it evokes so much.


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[LemonMelon]

On a technical level that defines the term "song" by the presence of lyrics/vocals, there are 11 songs on Passengers. There are only three tracks that entirely lack vocals (United Colours, Plot 180, Theme From The Swan). If "song" is being defined very narrowly as a composition with a typical pop music structure, then Passengers has only a handful of songs. But nobody actually defines the term that way because it limits the creative possibilities of songwriting.

But even if you're going extremely narrow with your definition, I would rather have a gorgeous musical composition than a poorly written song any day.

 

[Salome]

The problem with Passengers is that there aren't enough 'songs' to call it a U2 album, the problem is that the majority of the tracks wouldn't have passed the quality test to end up on a Brian Eno album.

 

[bobsaget77]

I fixed U2's Wikipedia yesterday to show that they had 14 albums and I added OS1 to their discography list. Came back today and it was gone. Sorry guys I tried.


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[nbelcik]

Passengers is the Schrödinger's cat of U2 albums. It both is and isn't a U2 album


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[morgan1098]

1. The Joshua Tree
2. Achtung Baby
3. No Line On The Horizon
4. Pop
5. The Unforgettable Fire
6. Songs of Innocence
7. Zooropa
8. War
9. Boy
10. All That You Can’t Leave Behind
11. October
12. Rattle and Hum
13. Passengers
14. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

I share everyone's dissatisfaction with the "middle three" songs in NLOTH, but the beginning and end of the album are so superb that I truly consider it a top-3 album. Similarly, a few years ago I would have ranked TUF near the bottom of the list because of things like "Elvis Presley and America." But no, the good far outshines the bad. Plus I think the change in direction between War and TUF is the most dramatic in the band's history, even more so than R&H/Achtung Baby.

 

[Hollow Island]

1. Zooropa
2. The Joshua Tree
3. Achtung Baby
4. The Unforgettable Fire

5. War
6. Pop

7. OST 1
8. Boy
9. SOI
10. Rattle and Hum

11. October

12. ATYCLB





13. NLOTH



















14. HTDAAB

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[U2Larry54]

That was more of a "here you go. Take these Grammy awards for your legacy and then f*ck off."


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That's what people said when U2 won 7 Grammy awards for the ATYCLB album in 2001 and 2002. But then this happens again in 2005 and 2006 with the HTDAAB album. The HTDAAB album won 9 Grammy awards, more than any other album in history!

Remember, the grammy awards are based on several thousand votes from musicians in the industry that are apart of the Grammy academy, not just a group of 12 people.

 

[Hollow Island]

The Grammy voters are the most clueless, tasteless bunch of halfwits of all the award voting committees. They always-ALWAYS- dish out awards to people 10, 20 years after they add should have got them. Like Miles Davis getting all those Grammy's in the 80s. Or U2 in the 00s.

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[U2Larry54]

The Grammy voters are the most clueless, tasteless bunch of halfwits of all the award voting committees. They always-ALWAYS- dish out awards to people 10, 20 years after they add should have got them. Like Miles Davis getting all those Grammy's in the 80s. Or U2 in the 00s.

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Remember that Bono, The Edge, Larry and Adam are Grammy voters. Do you consider them clueless? How about the members of Radiohead or Pearl Jam?

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

The Black Eyed Peas have won several Grammys... I don't believe there is anything else that needs to be said about that.

 

[PhilsFan]

Achtung Baby
The Joshua Tree
Pop
Unforgettable Fire
Zooropa
Boy
War
Original Soundtracks 1
Rattle and Hum
Songs of Innocence
No Line on the Horizon
October
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
All That You Can't Leave Behind

 

[Reggie Thee Dog]

Achtung Baby
The Joshua Tree
War
The Unforgettable Fire
All That You Can't Leave Behind
Zooropa
Boy
Rattle and Hum
How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
Songs of Innocence
No Line on the Horizon
Pop
October

 

[The Panther]

I would like to point out that everybody on this thread (except me) has forgotten to list one of U2's most important albums: an album that hugely increased the band's popularity in Europe and the US; an album that went triple-platinum in the US and UK; an album whose UK chart peak was equal to Achtung Baby; and an album that got a 4-star review in Rolling Stone.

 

[bobsaget77]

I would like to point out that everybody on this thread (except me) has forgotten to list one of U2's most important albums: an album that hugely increased the band's popularity in Europe and the US; an album that went triple-platinum in the US and UK; an album whose UK chart peak was equal to Achtung Baby; and an album that got a 4-star review in Rolling Stone.

Why would we include a live album?


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[Hollow Island]

Radiohead and Pearl Jam have good taste, but that doesn't mean the institution isn't idiotic and ignorant. All evidence points to U2 ceasing to have good taste in current music in the late 90s, and they were always a bit iffy. I mean, they made me sit through Third Eye Blind.

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[brooklynmike]

The Passengers album sounds like guys in a rock band in 1995 put down their instruments and found a computer with some new software that makes random sounds and space noises. I remember seeing it in The Wiz in the Please Get This Shit Out Of The Store bin for 99 cents next to GNR's The Spaghetti Incident.*

Outstanding:
Achtung Baby

Greatness:
Joshua Tree
Rattle N' Hum minus the live tracks

Great when I'm in the mood:
Zooropa
POP

Very good:
Songs of Innocence

With the exception of a handful of unlistenable songs, very good with touches of greatness:
No Line on the Horizon
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
All That You Can't Leave Behind

The live stuff is great, I just don't listen to studio versions of these:
October
Boy
War
Unforgettable Fire

*Both have a few interesting things on them but the CD better served as a drink coaster.

 

[The Panther]

Why would we include a live album?

Hm, I don't know... maybe because a live album is an album...?

 

[Hollow Island]

Mike, OST 1 has some of their best playing, and there's nothing random about the sounds on that record. It's pretty meticulous. It would have been a lot better if they'd lopped off the last 15 minutes or so though.

I've seen it is discount bins and used record stores far less than any other U2 album. The most common used/discount CD I've seen is REM's Monster. Seems like everyone who bought it except me couldn't wait to get rid of it. Pussies.

 

[Hollow Island]

Hm, I don't know... maybe because a live album is an album...?

Live albums generally don't count in polls though. They're considered to be compilations more than real albums, which makes sense. They're always composed of previously released songs, and are de facto "best of" albums. UABRS is a best of U2 1980-1983. It is arguably their best single release though. It's a shame they never released the full Red Rocks show as a live album, because that would be U2's best release.

I love how they became the best basic rock band in the world like it was easy, and then went on to become so much more interesting, and even better. U2's arc from 1980 to 1997 is astounding. Shame they had to ruin it by going backwards. It's like that was the main story and 2000 - present is an appendix.

 

[BVS]

I've seen it is discount bins and used record stores far less than any other U2 album. The most common used/discount CD I've seen is REM's Monster. Seems like everyone who bought it except me couldn't wait to get rid of it. Pussies.

Come on Hollow, show some respect to our intelligence and yours!




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[BVS]

I love how they became the best basic rock band in the world like it was easy, and then went on to become so much more interesting, and even better. U2's arc from 1980 to 1997 is astounding. Shame they had to ruin it by going backwards. It's like that was the main story and 2000 - present is an appendix.

Your arc and reality once again don't coincide.




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[bobsaget77]

Hm, I don't know... maybe because a live album is an album...?

Should we also include Slane Castle and U22?.....


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[The Panther]

Should we also include Slane Castle and U22?.....

Absolutely not. To me, the only U2 live album (not counting R&H) that "counts" as a real album is Under a Blood Red Sky. It was the only one given mainstream release, the only one that charted. And it was a very big album. I mean it easily outsold Boy and October, if not War.

Maybe for younger fans the "live" album (they never really are "live") seems anachronistic, or redundant, because of the Internet, bootlegs, and YouTube. But they were very important releases for numerous artists in the 70s/80s. Live albums have defined famous bands' careers (like The Who: Live at Leeds, or Ireland's Thin Lizzy, or Cheap Trick).

Also, both UABRS and even the R&H live parts include songs not released on previous U2 albums -- '11 O'Clock Tick Tock', 'Party Girl', and the live mash-up that was 'The Electric Co.' So it's not right to say it's just a compilation. (R&H has 'Helter Skelter', 'Watchtower', 'Silver & Gold'.)

 

[LemonMelon]

The Passengers album sounds like guys in a rock band in 1995 put down their instruments and found a computer with some new software that makes random sounds and space noises.

I've got just the compilation for you: