U2's choices for lead singles

[MMP]

Again Mac, I agree with all ur other choices except for the last one:

Vertigo: Average song/Excellent choice (Radio friendly, even if the iPod commericals got annoying after a while, you have to admit it was a brilliant move on U2's part to team up with Apple)

Get on Your Boots: Not a "bad song", but certainly NOT their best work/Horrible choice

We need to disagree completely in something.
Yeah, I guess you could say that Vertigo was a perfect choice as lead single, but maybe the perfect decision was to allow the song in the iPod commercial.
Well, Boots is my sixth fav U2 song ever, my opinion is understandable. But seriously (to me at least) it's catchy as hell and it doesn't get boring. That's all you need in a song to be a hit. I think I understand Interference hate, but why it wasn't a hit it's beyond my comprehension.

 

[Jarvio]

Here's my opinion on lead single choices for each individual album:

Boy - A Day Without Me - I'm not counting out of control/stories for boys because they were released before Boy was even on the cards, so I consider a day without me the lead single from boy. An odd choice, but by this point U2 weren't nearly as big as they are today. I guess I will follow was the 'true' first single, a day without me didn't even have a video.

October - Fire - An average song and average choice for an average album.

War - New Year's Day - Excellent choice. Excellent song and representative of the album.

TUF - Pride - As much as the song grates on me, the choice for a first single to be fair was a very good choice and I can see why it was released.

The Joshua Tree - WOWY - Again, perfect choice. Streets would have been equally as good a choice.

Rattle And Hum - Desire - Not a good choice really, but I can see why because it shows off U2's new 'american' style.

Achtung Baby - The Fly - As people have said, U2 probably knew this wasn't single material. One would have been a good choice, but The Fly, as said, shows off U2's new style at the time. Probably same reason why Zoo Station is the album's opener.

Zooropa - Numb - Awful choice. Numb is the worst U2 song ever, and I really mean that.

Pop - Discotheque - Bad song, but oddly an appropriate choice as it shows fans that U2 have changed again.

ATYCLB - Beautiful Day - Perfect choice. Nuff said.

HTDAAB - Vertigo - Unlike some, I thought it was a good choice. It's catchy, and is kind of representative of the album. I can definitely see why this was released first.

NLOTH - GOYB - Bloody awful choice. Bad song that is not representative of the album. 2nd worst choice for a lead single, after Numb.

 

[Jarvio]

Numb: great song / good choice
QUOTE]

It amazes me that anybody actually likes Numb.
I'm not even joking, I think Numb is the worst song they've ever done. Worse than ANYTHING they've ever put out there. I cannot think of another U2 song that I think is worse than Numb. Grace comes close. But Numb is the worst U2 song ever to grace the planet, and I don't understand how anybody could listen to it, nevermind enjoy it!

 

[FitzChivalry]

I like electronica music, therefore, I like 'Numb'. Not the greatest song ever, but a fun, industrial, electronic, dance experiment.

 

[eviltwin]

But Numb is the worst U2 song ever to grace the planet, and I don't understand how anybody could listen to it, nevermind enjoy it!

How can you not like the combination of Edge's monotonous drone vs Bono's fat mama opera voice topped by Larry singing. Add some sampled Nazi drumming, the main melody played on a kiddie's toy, loads of unrecognizable guitars and you've got a great song. A lot of non-fans around the time enjoyed it as well.

I like electronica music, therefore, I like 'Numb'. Not the greatest song ever, but a fun, industrial, electronic, dance experiment.

Electronica? Maybe, Indrustrial? Sure, but seriously, dance it ain't.
Note that it charted #2 on the US Modern Rock tracks!

Which also proves it was a brilliant choice for a lead single. It was also remarkable in the fact that it was only released as a Video Single.

BTW The only real dance on Zooropa is Lemon: Enoish Talking Heads over Edge's drum machine+ sequenced guitars, with Bono doing Prince, all covered in Disco sauce.

Daddy's gonna pay... is funky, but not necessarily "dance".
Numb and BabyFace are just too slow to be dance.

Here's my opinion on lead single choices for each individual album:

I disagree with many of these assessments, for example:

Fire - best choice as a lead single from October, it charted, whereas its follow-up Gloria didn't. Those two are the only logical singles.

Desire - Simply brilliant. Great song, representative of the album, commercial success. Their best single ever? Nope that would be: The Fly.

Numb - see above.
Discothèque - Great single, charted well (#1), cool video.

GOYB - I´m glad Magnificent wasn´t the first. Irrespective of the fact that Magnificent is a good song, it would´ve immediately pegged U2 as rehashing old stuff. Whereas GOYB is actually risky and exciting. Misunderstood, yes, especially by oldkool fans, but they do not buy singles. GOYB as a single is representative of the album in that it condenses the album into a high energy package, much like Fly, Vertigo or Desire.

Singles are not about pleasing established fans, they are instrumental in gaining new fans. If you want to stand out on the radio you need a song with a heavy impact.

WOWY - interesting choice, never thought this would be the hit that it became, but then again their first choice was Red Hill Mining Town!
RHMT and God´s Country are probably the only logical singles from JT, but ISHFWILF and Streets were hits nonetheless.

 

[Jarvio]

Well fair enough if you like Numb, but in my opinion the song simply doesn't work, and I consider it an experimental disaster