So, DO you like How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb or not?

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What do you think about HTDAAB?


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I love it, it just scrapes my top 5 (maybe top 4 if it's lucky), so I voted for the top option. I don't get why it's so hated
 
Those are strange poll options, but I guess the second one is closest to my view even though it's not how I would have worded my response. Yes, I do like the album. It came out at the peak of my U2 fandom, so I have some nice memories associated with that album era. City of Blinding Lights is one of the best things the band has done in the last 15 years. Vertigo was a fun lead single done right. And I've always loved OOTS and the sentiment behind it. I quite liked Sometimes and Miracle Drug way back when but I couldn't tell you the last time I listened to those tracks.
 
I love it as it was the first U2 album i had a big build up to,wasnt a huge fan before that. Its in my top five anyway,and so is no line.
 
Yeah, I like it. It's one of the very few U2 albums I can listen to from start to finish without skipping, and though none of the songs are among my big favourites there's no track that I dislike either.
 
I love it. Good, nice little album. I have a ton of memories with it and have it at No. 3 just after AB and JT. This album was done great! I got about this time in 04 so I always associate Atomic Bomb with Christmas and always listen to it all the way through at Christmas. Since I don't listen to Christmas music I consider HTDAAB my Christmas music.:lol: Sad isn't it? Anyway, I voted for the first option, as that's the truth. I will stand up for this album.

Here's my top five:

Achtung Baby
Joshua Tree
How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
No Line On The Horizon
Zooropa
 
I almost never listen to anything pre-Unforgettable Fire. War isn't even on my Ipod.

Everything from UF on out is on my Ipod, and I'd say HTDAAB is by far the one I listen to the least. So, I'm not sure I'll call it their worst album, but it's in the running for it. Who can plumb the depths of the human soul? Also.
 
about the only U2 album that actually grew on me
still in the bottom of my personal U2 favourite list, but good album anyway
 
i just saw in the old thread that my exact answer in this thread (er, had i posted it) was my exact answer in that old thread.

it's better than atyclb. but then again, it's like saying syphilis is better than gonorrhea.
 
Worst piece of shit they ever made.
Still, by U2 standards, so the album is still technically good. But not at all that good.
 
It's awful. I voted for the last option, because I don't like the album at all, but in truth there is one U2 album that offends me more (R&H).

My opinions about each song (must keep that fact reinforced):
Vertigo is mindless garbage
Miracle Drug is boring, as middle-of-the-road-without-putting-in-any-effort as U2 have ever gotten... the only thing that interests me is Edge's singing, and it doesn't really interest me.
SYCMIOYO has nice intentions, but always comes off as trying too hard to sound overly sappy to me, and is essentially like plastic.
LAPOE is by far my least favorite U2 anti-war anthem, mainly because it's lyrically pompous and occasionally cheesy. Edge's guitar and the Eno/Lanois production are good, but that can hardly make a song for me.
City of Blinding Lights is one of my favorite songs by anyone ever. Shining gem of the album.
All Because Of You is absolute shit.
A Man and a Woman... nothing wrong with the song, but nothing right with it, either.
One Step Closer... I like the song, especially lyrically, but it's not interesting enough for me to want to listen to a lot.
OOTS... again, I like the song, and I listen to it occasionally. But its cheese can sometimes get on my nerves, and it's not an overly interesting song.
I also like Yahweh... the album version (the acoustic version is just okay, and I loathe the demo version). But not interesting enough to warrant my attention more than occasionally.
Fast Cars is pointless.

So... yeah... not an album that I really like. I don't like any of the demos in particular either (either than X&W's "fun value", but that doesn't make me really like the song), so I'd blame it on raw lack of songwriting aptitude/raw intellect/inspiration combined with Lillywhite coming up with the most in-your-face production possible and then jacking the volume up twice as high as it can go on every track.

I must reinforce, however, that this is all in my opinion.
 
I love a lot of the songs, but they tinkered too much.

OOTS, MD, COBL, Sometimes, top notch.
 
It's still okay, but weak by U2's standards.

There's a handful of songs I dislike (Vertigo, Yahweh and AMAAW doesn't do much for me) so that would affect the amount of times I would listen to HTDAAB, which frankly, is very rarely.

On the other hand I have a liking for All Because of You (stuff ya'll!), Love and Peace (again), Original of the Species and of course, City of Blinding Lights. For the rest I only really have an indifferent opinion on them.
 
I wouldn't really care one way or the other if it didn't exist, but it's hardly the worst piece of shit to ever assault my ears. I just can't get emotionally invested in it because the songs themselves are so bland...nothing ever connects with me, really. I had a blast with the album a few years back, but it hasn't held up well to scrutiny. On the other hand, I don't understand what makes it so awful relative to most shit I hear every day. It's only the height of mediocrity.

And BTW, that doesn't make it "terrible by U2 standards, great by anyone else's." That makes it mediocre by all standards.
 
Yes, I think it's a brilliant album and one of my favorites. It's clearly not as good as TJT or AB, but neither is sex. I'd put HTDAAB in the "tier-two albums" category with a few others.

I just don't hear a single bad song on the album, and five or six of the tracks are amongst the best they've ever done. The energy level is higher than anything they've done since Achtung; they clearly made an effort to sound louder and stronger, and I think it was mostly to good effect.

I have no issues with the production. I remember hearing that a new U2 album was forthcoming in 2004, and this is exactly what I thought: "Wow, interesting...I hope it will have louder, more in-your-face production than ALTYCLB, which was a nice set of songs but compromised by the pop-radio production job." So, I personally was delighted with the brash sound and style of HTDAAB.

To this day, I have never seen the iPod ad nor heard "Vertigo" on the radio, so perhaps people's overexposure to things like that has passed me by. "Vertigo" is the killer rock guitar-riff of the decade -- exactly what people on forums like this were praying for before the album came out.

Bomb is also the most focused U2 album since the ZooTV days. My only criticism of it is that the overall sound of it, from song-to-song, lacks some texture. It's all a bit loud and brash, which is okay to a point, but then each song has almost the same kind of instrumental approach (which is why "A Man and a Woman" is kind of a relief with a nice acoustic sound). Achtung Baby kind of has the same quality, but it doesn't matter there because the songs are more diverse in arrangements than on HTDAAB.

Nevertheless, the record is incredibly strong melodically, and all the songs are short and punchy, so no harm done. It's a stunningly vital work for people in their mid-40s.
 
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