U2's Seventh Best Album

[BigMacPhisto]

Various polls on Interference throughout the years, including one that I've just conducted (Albums You Meet In U2 Heaven), have nearly always determined that U2's triumvirate of masterpiece albums seems to be Achtung Baby, Joshua Tree & The Unforgettable Fire.

Via a new polling system, we have also determined that No Line On The Horizon, POP and Zooropa are the band's fourth, fifth and sixth best albums, respectively.

Now, let's determine the correct ranking for the rest of the band's catalog. Officially.



Simply post the next three greatest studio albums that you feel U2 has delivered, in order of quality. The album that attains 50% of the ranked-choice voting will be declared the band's seventh greatest album.

(For those that don't know, ranked-choice voting is where we'll count all of the first place votes to begin with. If no album exceeded fifty percent of the first place votes, then we eliminate the lowest vote getting album for first place and count those user's second place votes and so-forth. Eventually, one album will have to be the remaining #1 pick for a majority of voters.)


The remaining albums:

Boy
October
War
Rattle & Hum
Original Soundtracks I
All That You Can't Leave Behind
How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb

 

[BigMacPhisto]

My Ballot:

1. All That You Can't Leave Behind
2. War
3. October

 

[PhilsFan]

1. Boy
2. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
3. War

 

[Niceman]

Rattle & Hum
Boy
War

 

[LuckyNumber7]

1. War
2. Boy
3. October


After 6 rounds I'm just gonna go ahead and say that ATYCLB should've been higher up. But, it's a consensus, so let it be what it is.

 

[TheEdge25]

all that you can't leave behind
War
Boy

 

[Dfit00]

Why is Original Soundtracks in the list?

1. All That You Can't Leave Behind
2. Rattle & Hum
3. War

 

[LuckyNumber7]

Well why not? I mean, it was crap but it was still all 4 members of U2 + Eno...

 

[Dfit00]

Because they do not consider it as one of their official albums. It was a side project, a collaboration with Eno to produce beats for imaginary films.

The problem with Passengers was that it was too experimental. Your Blue Room, Beach Sequence, and Miss Sarajevo are the only tracks from it that have gained a solid history, the rest of the album is terrible.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

Terrible?

 

[IanIinTheSky]

War
All That You Can't Leave Behind
Boy

 

[ElectricalStorm]

War
HTDAAB
October

 

[Tyagu_Anaykus]

Boy War October

 

[U2Fan101]

Original Soundtracks
October
War

 

[Flaming Friar Sr]

1 boy
2 atyclb
3 rattle and hum

 

[alanah]

Atyclb.

 

[lemonfly]

I don't have problem with Original Soundtracks being on the list. In terms of it being an official U2 album, to quote Bono from the PopMart Conference in 97: "We wanted it (OS1) to be a U2 album ...we wanted to release it under U2 but the record company wouldn't let us". Anyways, here's my three:
1. War
2. Rattle & Hum
3. Boy

 

[Roland of Gilead]

All That...
Boy
War

 

[PennyLanePHINS]

1. All That You Can't Leave Behind
2. War
3. How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb

 

[Casamares]

ATYCLB
R&H
October

 

[intedomine]

Boy

October

Dismantle

 

[LemonMelon]

1. Boy
2. War
3. Passengers

The problem with Passengers was that it was too experimental.

I'm sorry, but this reasoning is completely idiotic and the reason we won't be receiving more tracks like Moment of Surrender from U2 any time soon. Please, please don't make Bono think he was right about the fan base. Please.

 

[BigMacPhisto]

Currently a very close three-way race between Boy, War & All That You Can't Leave Behind.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

1. Boy
2. War
3. Passengers



I'm sorry, but this reasoning is completely idiotic and the reason we won't be receiving more tracks like Moment of Surrender from U2 any time soon. Please, please don't make Bono think he was right about the fan base. Please.

It's idiotic because he was saying they took the idea of experimenting too far? Seems like a logical argument to me.

 

[LemonMelon]

It's idiotic because he was saying they took the idea of experimenting too far? Seems like a logical argument to me.

The argument of something being "TOO experimental" implies that there is a specific threshold at which quality and creativity can no longer intermingle. This may, in fact, exist, but to claim it exists within the relatively conservative realm of U2 shows a lack of experience with other music. The only way I can buy it is if the claim is that there is a point U2 shouldn't cross, but that's a quitter's attitude anyway. U2 can and should continue to be as creative as they need to be. If it involves having vocals in a different language or using a programmed beat, dammit, they've earned it. Passengers is better than a couple of albums that have already proceeded into the U2 pantheon we're creating here.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

The argument of something being "TOO experimental" implies that there is a specific threshold at which quality and creativity can no longer intermingle. This may, in fact, exist, but to claim it exists within the relatively conservative realm of U2 shows a lack of experience with other music. The only way I can buy it is if the claim is that there is a point U2 shouldn't cross, but that's a quitter's attitude anyway. U2 can and should continue to be as creative as they need to be. If it involves having vocals in a different language or using a programmed beat, dammit, they've earned it. Passengers is better than a couple of albums that have already proceeded into the U2 pantheon we're creating here.

Well I think what he was saying was kinda like... take the 'experimentation' with Achtung Baby. Going in a whole new direction. That's the right kind of experimentation. Or Zooropa. Or Pop.

But as a defender of Larry, dfitt might agree with Larry's bit: "You know there's a thin line between real art and art for art's sake. You have to be careful with that one." Perhaps they took it too far... thought about it too much... they were trying too hard to be 'experimental' as opposed to trying to make new music that sounds good.

 

[LemonMelon]

Well I think what he was saying was kinda like... take the 'experimentation' with Achtung Baby. Going in a whole new direction. That's the right kind of experimentation. Or Zooropa. Or Pop.

But as a defender of Larry, dfitt might agree with Larry's bit: "You know there's a thin line between real art and art for art's sake. You have to be careful with that one." Perhaps they took it too far... thought about it too much... they were trying too hard to be 'experimental' as opposed to trying to make new music that sounds good.

And I can understand that perspective too. There is a point at which the avant garde renders the music impossible to identify as pop music and, at that stage, I either stop listening or (if I can tell there is true craft to it) judge it differently. There's a significant difference between the experimentation of Sgt. Pepper and the experimentation of Two Virgins, for instance.

Just, yeah, within the realm of music as a whole, if not U2, I think it's pretty silly to say that Passengers is too out there. Most every track has a prominent melody or catchy beat that translates to a complete song. The other is Elvis Ate America, but to claim the White Album is too experimental for including Revolution 9 would be equally ridiculous.

I do want to point out that there is a level of subjectivity to this. There are a few out there that find true artistry in Metal Machine Music and/or Lennon's Yoko-influenced shit and may even prefer that sound. I simply feel that Passengers isn't among the more radical records I've heard, and I love it right where it's at. I'm not trying to suggest there's a graph, or a plane we reach at which we've evolved to the point that the avant garde is readily appreciated, but I've definitely grown a bit numb to whatever shock value Always Forever Now has.

 

[flybabe]

1. War
2. HTDAAB
3. October

 

[BigMacPhisto]

Bump. This needs way more ballots as it's really, really close between the top three albums.

 

[AnCatKatie]

1. Boy
2. War
3. October