Ranking U2 albums after 1 year SOI

[BANZAI]

I couldn't find a recent thread about ranking U2 (studio) albums. SOI has been released one year ago, in my opinion it's time for the 'ranking'-game again...

I find it always quite difficult to make a ranking. This time I made my ranking like this: which album would you really miss in their catalogue if the band wouldn't have recorded it?

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

 

[2861U2]

1) Achtung Baby
2) All That You Can't Leave Behind
3) Pop
4) The Joshua Tree
5) Rattle And Hum
6) How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
7) No Line On The Horizon
8) Boy
9) The Unforgettable Fire
10) Zooropa
11) Songs of Innocence
12) War
13) October

 

[MrPryck2U]

1- Achtung Baby
2- Joshua Tree
3- SOI
4- Pop
5- Zooropa
6- War
7- R&H
8- Unforgettable Fire
9- ATYCLB
10- Bomb
11- No Line
12- Boy
13- October

 

[prbiker15]

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

 

[bobsaget77]

01 The Unforgettable Fire
02 Zooropa
03 The Joshua Tree
04 War
05 Boy
06 Achtung Baby
07 October
08 Pop
09 All That You Can't Leave Behind
10 Songs Of Innocence
11 Original Soundtracks 1
12 No Line On The Horizon
13 Atomic Bomb
14 Rattle and Hum


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[LemonMelon]

1. Zooropa
2. The Joshua Tree
3. Achtung Baby
4. Pop
5. Boy
6. War
7. The Unforgettable Fire
8. Original Soundtracks 1
9. NLOTH
10. R&H
11. October
12. ATYCLB
13. HTDAAB
14. Songs of Innocence

 

[cobl04]

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

 

[Oregoropa]

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

 

[LadySpinHead]

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

 

[An Cat Gav]

Achtung Baby
The Joshua Tree
The Unforgettable Fire
Zooropa
Boy
Original Soundtracks 1
Pop
Songs Of Innocence
October
War
Rattle and Hum
All That you Can't Leave Behind
No Line On The Horizon
Bomb

 

[kabigon]

Achtung Baby
Joshua Tree
Pop
Zooropa
Songs of Innocence
(Passengers)
Boy
Unforgettable Fire
Rattle & Hum
October
ATYCLB
NLOTH
HTDAAB
War

 

[djerdap]

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

 

[trainmaniac]

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

 

[CosmoKramer]

1- Achtung Baby

2- Joshua Tree

3- SOI
4-ATYCLB

5-War
6-Unforgettable Fire

7- R&H

8- Bomb

9- NLOTH

10- Pop
11-Boy

12- Zooropa

13- October



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[Yahweh_OMG]

1. Achtung Baby
2. Boy
3. The Joshua Tree
4. POP
5. The Unforgettable Fire
6. October
7. War
8. R&H
9. SOI
10. Zooropa
11. HTDAAB
12. NLOTH
13. ATYCLB
14. Original Soundtrack 1

October has grown on me lately, I don't know why, just a fabulous album. Strange cause it's the 2nd U2 album I bought back in 1989 after R&H....
SOI is very solid and the best since POP.

 

[Galeongirl]

Hm, will have to wait a bit of a week before I can put this properly in. SoI has certainly gone up on my list after hearing the songs live. It's growing on me, so I'll wait until it has settled in.

 

[gweeps]

This is how I have most of them put into my CD spindle:

All That You Can't Leave Behind
No Line on the Horizon
Pop
The Joshua Tree
Achtung Baby
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
Songs of Innocence
The Unforgettable Fire
Zooropa

The rest would be:

Rattle and Hum
War
Boy
October
Original Soundtracks 1

 

[Yahweh_OMG]

This is how I have most of them put into my CD spindle:

All That You Can't Leave Behind
No Line on the Horizon
Pop
The Joshua Tree
Achtung Baby
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
Songs of Innocence
The Unforgettable Fire
Zooropa

The rest would be:

Rattle and Hum
War
Boy
October
Original Soundtracks 1

Curious when you became a fan? This is one original ranking.


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[gweeps]

Curious when you became a fan? This is one original ranking.


Sent from my iPad using U2 Interference

I'd heard of the band before, but 1997 was the year I became curious. Staring at the Sun was on the radio. Eventually bought a bunch of albums over the next couple of years.

Pop was my favourite album for a long time, with ATYCLB, Achtung, Joshua and HTDAAB bringing up the rear. Over time, though, both No Line and All That have become very meaningful to me during times of struggle.

Never seen U2 live. My brother has though.

 

[dan_smee]

Top of the tree - can't split

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

Next tier - all either have a couple of weak spots, or just not quite as great as the top 3

4. Pop
5. Boy
6. Songs of Innocence
7. Zooropa
8. Rattle & Hum
9. How to Dismantle and Atomic Bomb

Too many weak spots, or lacking in GREAT songs.

10. All That You Can't Leave Behind
11. October
12. War
13. No Line on the Horizon
14. Passengers - some great songs, some awful ones - only here because it is too polar

 

[LemonMelon]

Seeing anyone rank Yawns of Innocence (beat thavidesco to it!) over Zooropa makes me sad.

 

[Oregoropa]

Seeing anyone rank Yawns of Innocence (beat thavidesco to it!) over Zooropa makes me sad.

I had SOI 4 and Zooropa 5.

SOI doesn't have any major gaffes and has over-arching theme. I can listen to the whole album straight through.

Zooropa has some major scores with Zooropa, Lemon, Stay all 10/10. Love the time and place feel to it. Just drops off it the 2nd half for me.

IT was a close call.

 

[bobsaget77]

I had SOI 4 and Zooropa 5.



SOI doesn't have any major gaffes and has over-arching theme. I can listen to the whole album straight through.



Zooropa has some major scores with Zooropa, Lemon, Stay all 10/10. Love the time and place feel to it. Just drops off it the 2nd half for me.



IT was a close call.

What keeps me from putting SOI high is the fact that, truthfully, the 2nd half doesn't do a lot for me with the exception of the 2 songs that aren't getting played live (Reach and Sleep) and the fact that it is often suffers from the same plagues as the last few albums.
The first 4 songs are all solid, but safe. There's really too many songs that aren't good stand alone, but I would enjoy if I'm listening to the whole album.
Cedarwood Road and Crystal Ballroom suffer from the same thing that plagues Magnificent. Great intro, outro, and chorus, but the verses are so boring. Wolves, on the other hand, is the opposite. The verses are incredible, but the chorus sucks.

Iris, Reach, Wave (album version), Invisible (I count it) and Sleep are the real standouts for me.
Not a bad album, but not a great album (for U2 standards).

Zooropa is just the total package. Ballsy, raw, and unique. Zooropa, Lemon, Dirty Day, Stay, etc are all amongst their best work. But there are no weak tracks on the album, they're all really good-great. It really stands out in the U2 discography. I think once I got into that album, I have thought lesser of everything post-Pop. The last 4 just don't have the balls or the fire that Zooropa has.


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[cobl04]

SOI doesn't have any major gaffes

 

[LemonMelon]

Expectations have been adjusted such that The Miracle and Song For Someone aren't considered major gaffes anymore. If either of those songs were on Zooropa, they would be the most boring songs on there.

 

[BVS]

Expectations have been adjusted such that The Miracle and Song For Someone aren't considered major gaffes anymore. If either of those songs were on Zooropa, they would be the most boring songs on there.

But Zooropa had Numb and Some Days.


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[bobsaget77]

But Zooropa had Numb and Some Days.


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Numb is unlike anything they've ever made and is the ballsiest lead single they've ever released. Some Days has a great bass line and groove.


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[LemonMelon]

But Zooropa had Numb and Some Days.


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Both are a hundred times better (and more fun) than Miracle or SFS.

The Wanderer siren would be more comparable.

 

[BVS]

Numb is unlike anything they've ever made and is the ballsiest lead single they've ever released. Some Days has a great bass line and groove.


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Numb was different, but no longer conjures up a need to listen, it was novelty. Volcano has great bass, doesn't mean it stands the test of time.


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[RoKKeR]

Wow this is harder than it usually is.

1) Achtung Baby
2) Joshua Tree
3) War
4) Unforgettable Fire
5) Boy
6) Zooropa
7) Songs of Innocence
8) ATYCLB
9) Rattle and Hum
10) HTDATB
11) Pop
12) No Line on the Horizon
13) October

It pains me to put Pop at 11th and Rattle and Hum at 9th, hell even ATYCLB should be higher but it just doesn't have the consistency that the albums above it has.