Ranking U2's Albums: Best to worst - Slate.com

[rennowba]

1 achtung baby
2 joshua tree

I find it very hard to rank the rest as i like them all as much

12 october

 

[Super Yo]

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

 

[SpiralStaircase]

1 Zooropa
2 Boy
3 Unforgettable Fire
4 Joshua Tree
5 October
6 War
7 Achtung Baby
8 How to dismantle an atomic bomb
9 No line on the horizon
10 All that you can't leave behind
11 Rattle and Hum*
12 Pop

*refers to just studio songs, cos I decided not to count "Under a blood red sky" and therefore also the live stuff from Rattle and Hum which is for the most part fantastic

 

[digitize]

Let me see if I can come up with an album ranking du jour.

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

 

[Tumbling Dice]

1. Achtung Baby
2. Zooropa
3. TUF
4. Pop
5. TJT
6. NLOTH
7. Boy
8. Rattle & Hum
9. War
10. ATYCLB
11. A-Bomb
12. October

As Bono would say about R&H: there's some good chunes on there.

 

[SpiralStaircase]

It's very hard ranking U2 albums; the best 5 or 6 from almost ANY album are, for me, as good as any other album. My faux-pod is chocka with 5 or 6 track U2 albums

 

[2861U2]

I'll give it a go since it's been a while. The spaces represent breaks in "classes" or "tiers" or whatever you want to call them.

1) Achtung Baby

2) The Joshua Tree

3) How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
4) All That You Can't Leave Behind
5) Rattle And Hum
6) Pop

7) War
8) Zooropa
9) Boy
10) No Line On The Horizon
11) The Unforgettable Fire

12) October

 

[ozeeko]

Joshua Tree
Zooropa (that's right - probably listen to this album the most to be honest)
Unforgettable Fire
Achtung Baby

Boy
October (love the sound of this album...short on songwriting but who cares? It rocks)
POP

All That You Can't Leave Behind (their relaxing album)
War (the fuck happened on that second side?)
Rattle and Hum (would've made a great EP)




No Line on the Horizon (the bigger gap represents major decline)












da BOMB (you all know why the gap got bigger...I refuse to even call this album by its name)

 

[Tumbling Dice]

Joshua Tree
All That You Can't Leave Behind (their relaxing album)

Do you mean sleep inducing?

Rattle and Hum (would've made a great EP)

It would have made a good single album with a couple more studio tracks.

 

[ozeeko]

It's cozy and it makes me feel all snuggly inside

 

[SleepyDeadMan]

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


I literally spent the last 3 hours typing up a detailed analysis of this list, including a review of the impact song, and reasons why they mean so much/so little to me. However after all that time, when I pressed 'submit', Interference told me that I had been logged out for waiting too long, and then I could not recover the text of the post.

Thanks Interference, my Sunday has been shot in the ass

 

[LemonMelon]

Fuck if I know how to rank them anymore.

1. Zooropa
2. The Joshua Tree
3. Pop
4. Achtung Baby
5. Boy
6. War
7. Passengers
8. The Unforgettable Fire
9. No Line on the Horizon
10. Rattle and Hum
11. October
12 ATYCLB
13. HTDAAB

 

[Aardvark747]

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

 

[BoyOnTheHorizon]

Hm. I basically agree with him but I've never been a fan of Rattle and Hum and I don't see why All That You Can't Leave Behind got shafted considering I love that record. Also, I would rank No Line on the Horizon higher and rank War as one of U2's very best, but I know most wouldn't agree with me on that second point.

War has Sunday Bloody Sunday and New Years Day...

 

[BoyOnTheHorizon]

I loved to read this. Of course a I rate ATYCLB and Bomb much higher, but I am u2 freak. These albums have very nice songs but I can see that they may lack the enduring flavor of the pre 2000 albums. That complexity is gone for sure. It came back with no Line, but with weak songs(apart from Moment).
A cool analisys

 

[Airseven]

Tier 1
1. Achtung Baby
2. War
3. Joshua Tree
4. Unforgettable Fire

Tier 2
5. Rattle & Hum
6. Zooropa
7. Pop
8. All That You Can't Leave Behind

Tier 3
9. Boy
10. No Line On the Horizon
11. October
12. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

 

[BigMacPhisto]

The True Fan Ranking (For True Fans):

Masterpieces: Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby, All That You Can't Leave Behind

Perfection: The Unforgettable Fire, Zooropa

Great: October, War

Good: Boy, Original Soundtracks I, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, No Line On The Horizon

Meh: Rattle & Hum

Bleh: Pop

Just an update. The true fan ranking has changed as Rattle & Hum and Pop have switched categories. Everything else remains the same, however.

 

[Azor]

Once I read somebody saying that Actung Baby was the “pivotal end” of the band… I mostly agree but the “back to the roots” in ATYCLB is definitely essential.

 

[BigMacPhisto]

Once I read somebody saying that Actung Baby was the “pivotal end” of the band… I mostly agree but the “back to the roots” in ATYCLB is definitely essential.

Agree with you entirely. Achtung Baby was their last record to really change the industry and turn heads...everything else since was merely appealing to the devoted, even if ATYCLB is perfect.

 

[larry5mullen]

Discuss.

Best U2 albums: complete ranking of U2's records - Slate Magazine

Wow, he really trashes the 00s material. I love Bomb and ATYCLB. I think they are two of U2's best albums ever. They don't beat Joshua Tree and Achtung, but no album by anyone can.

Here is how I would rank U2's albums:

01. Joshua Tree
02. Achtung Baby
03. How To Dismantle And Atomic Bomb
04. Unforgettable Fire
05. All That You Can't Leave Behind
06. War
07. Boy
08. No Line On The Horizon
09. Zooropa
10. Rattle And Hum
11. Pop
12. October

 

[An Cat Gav]

My list has been pretty much the same down the years.

1. Achtung Baby
2. The Joshua Tree
3. The Unforgettable Fire
4. Zooropa
5. Passengers
6. Boy
7. Pop
8. October
9. War
10. rattle and Hum
11. NLOTH
12. ATYCLB

















13. bomb

 

[larry5mullen]

My list has been pretty much the same down the years.

1. Achtung Baby
2. The Joshua Tree
3. The Unforgettable Fire
4. Zooropa
5. Passengers
6. Boy
7. Pop
8. October
9. War
10. rattle and Hum
11. NLOTH
12. ATYCLB

















13. bomb

Seems like you may not be a fan of the bands music the past 14 years. But you signed up here during the Bomb era, so there must be something you like.

 

[An Cat Gav]

Seems like you may not be a fan of the bands music the past 14 years. But you signed up here during the Bomb era, so there must be something you like.

The only album i dislike is Bomb. NLOTH and ATYCLB are really good albums, they'd get in my top 100 of all time, theyre just not as good as the older U2 stuff.

 

[An Cat Gav]

Seems like you may not be a fan of the bands music the past 14 years. But you signed up here during the Bomb era, so there must be something you like.

I like quite a few individual U2 songs from this century, TGBHF, Stateless, Beautiful Day, In A Little While (not live), Electrical Storm, Vertigo, COBL, all of NLOTH apart from the (in)famous 3 and Invisible. However for me they haven't been able to produce enough of those spine tingling,sublime hair standing on the back of your neck moments on the recent albums, and those moments are something quintessentially U2 for me, something that I only (used to) regularly get from them and on the older albums there was a moment like that in almost (not all!) every song.

 

[Salome]

01. No Line On The Horizon
02. Unforgettable Fire
03. All That You Can't Leave Behind
04. Joshua Tree
05. Rattle And Hum
06. Zooropa
07. October
08. Achtung Baby
09. War
10. How To Dismantle And Atomic Bomb
11. Boy
12. Pop

(If we're counting Passengers you can nicely slot that in at nr. 13)

Through the years Zooropa is going down in my rankings.
The first 4 tracks are a brilliant stretch of music. I'm not the biggest fan of the recorded version of Stay, but it is still very good with some excellent lyrics.
Unfortunately after that the record doesn't really grab my full attention anymore (while most of it si still good) until The Wanderer starts.

 

[Hollow Island]

1. Zooropa
2. The Joshua Tree
3. Achtung Baby

4. Pop
5. The Unforgettable Fire
6. Passengers

7. Boy
8. War
9. ATYCLB


10. October
11. Rattle and Hum




12. NLOTH






13. how to dismantle a pile of shit

 

[An Cat Gav]

1. Zooropa
2. The Joshua Tree
3. Achtung Baby

4. Pop
5. The Unforgettable Fire
6. Passengers

7. Boy
8. War
9. ATYCLB


10. October
11. Rattle and Hum




12. NLOTH






13. how to dismantle a pile of shit

very interesting list! similar to mine, which is what first struck me
I love that Zooropa is your number 1, it has steadily crept up my list and indeed any album that features Zooropa, Lemon, Stay and The Wanderer deserves the number 1slot in my book!!

Most interesting though is that our rankings of Boy and Pop are polar opposites. it got me to thinking as I did in 97 that both albums were quite similar in a weird way, both focused on a particular stage of male existance, both full of doubt, crisis of faith and both defined by the music of its time, Boy by post-punk and Pop by Trip Hop.

By the way, Post Punk and trip hop are two of my favourite music genres.

 

[An Cat Gav]

1. Zooropa
2. The Joshua Tree
3. Achtung Baby

4. Pop
5. The Unforgettable Fire
6. Passengers

7. Boy
8. War
9. ATYCLB


10. October
11. Rattle and Hum




12. NLOTH






13. how to dismantle a pile of shit

and ditto on number 13

 

[Hollow Island]

01. No Line On The Horizon
02. Unforgettable Fire
03. All That You Can't Leave Behind
04. Joshua Tree
05. Rattle And Hum
06. Zooropa
07. October
08. Achtung Baby
09. War
10. How To Dismantle And Atomic Bomb
11. Boy
12. Pop

I'm sorry, my mind can't make sense of the order in which you put those words...wait...is that October ahead of Achtung Baby? And No Line on the Horizon ahead of...everything?

Three cheers for perversity!

 

[PennyLanePHINS]

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

5-9 are the always changing spots.