Your Favorite U2 song - There can only be one

[Hewson]

Acrobat for me as well.

 

[An Cat Gav]

The Fly

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

Gone.

 

[jonnysaint]

Out of Control

 

[thatsnotmypuppy]

Gone.

Abso-fucking-lutely.

'You're taking steps that make you feel dizzy
Then you learn to like the way it feels.
You hurt yourself, you hurt your lover
Then you discover
What you thought was freedom is just greed...'

 

[LadySpinHead]

I don't care that it was a hit song.
I don't care that it's become neutered live.
I don't care if the band is tired of it.
My favorite U2 song, and favorite song by any artist, is and probably always will be, With or Without You.

 

[prbiker15]

Streets. It's just that kind of song.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftjEcrrf7r0

 

[corianderstem]

Streets.

 

[gareth brown]

I don't want to choose mainstream song

How come? Is there one that really IS your absolute favourite above all others? (Genuinely curious here)

 

[RaisedByWolves]

I don't care that it was a hit song.
I don't care that it's become neutered live.
I don't care if the band is tired of it.
My favorite U2 song, and favorite song by any artist, is and probably always will be, With or Without You.

Well said! My second favorite U2 song after One. This version from R&H is still my best and gives me thrills every time I hear it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhU24xxbnsU

One more thing.....Bono is so sexy in this clip and makes me _ _ _ watching this video.

 

[Axver]

Heartland, if we're talking live versions only.

But in seriousness, if live versions count, then One Tree Hill, 26 December 1989 is by a fucking mile the best thing U2 have ever done. I love you ASOH (and Heartland), but nothing compares to that OTH performance.

 

[kod4967]

ASOH


Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference

 

[YBORCITY]

Aaaaaarrrrghhh! This is tough! So, I beg forgiveness from the following songs:
TUF
ASOH
BAD
PROMENADE
OTH
MOTD
HEARTLAND
ACROBAT
UV
THE FLY
GONE
DIRTY DAY
WILATW
KITE
EBW

WINNER = STREETS..... either album or live, the summit of my U2world

 

[LemonMelon]

Heartland, if we're talking live versions only.

Live Heartland is better than most of SOI.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

Live Heartland is better than most of SOI.

I fail to see the connection between Live Heartland and SOI. Apples and Oranges?

 

[LemonMelon]

Spoiler

It's a joke. Live Heartland doesn't exist, so I'm saying I would rather hear nothing than most of SOI.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

Spoiler

It's a joke. Live Heartland doesn't exist, so I'm saying I would rather hear nothing than most of SOI.

Too bad you don't like SOI as it really is a good album and worth your time to listen to again.

 

[thefly418]

With or Without You, my personal favorite song of all time.

 

[bobsaget77]

Running To Stand Still


Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference

 

[lisag71]

Kite 'nuff said

 

[Fenderbendr]

Where the Streets Have no Name

 

[BANZAI]

where the streets have no name is one of those songs that have to be on the setlist...it is sooo uplifting (especially the intro), always makes me feel like being in heaven...

this

 

[Nick66]

I'm afraid my favourite U2 song is a little predictable because it happens to be their best song as well...ASOH.

 

[Hewson]

Too bad you don't like SOI as it really is a good album and worth your time to listen to again.

He is welcome to his own opinion however.

 

[Yahweh]

Where The Streets Have No Name.

 

[ImNotSleeping]

I'm afraid my favourite U2 song is a little predictable because it happens to be their best song as well...ASOH.

I see what you did there.

My top 5
Bad
UV
WOWY
NYD
ASOH

But there are so many more that are right THERE - TUF, OTH, Stay, Fly, UTEOTW, Zoo Station, Miracle Drug, Zooropa, DYFL, Kite, Gloria, New York, Three Sunrises, Out of Control, Wild Horses.

We are blessed indeed!

 

[VintagePunk]

I feel like we should enter every thread snapping.

:snap:

 

[The Panther]

Not to get all pedantic, but I've always thought of early U2 as more of a "performance" band than a "song" band. What I mean is, most artists I like (because most of them are way old) wrote proper "songs", with lyrics, choruses, etc. that could be transposed musically or interpreted differently by different artists. They are "songs" first and performances later. The Beatles are this kind of band mostly, and certainly Bob Dylan is. So is Bob Marley, and many more (R.E.M., too).

Early U2 seem to me not this kind of artist. U2's strength has always been their performance -- the passion and unique kind of spiritual energy they were (yes, past tense) able to summon from a given performance, regardless of what 'song' they were doing. ("Performance" here could be in the studio, live, or anywhere else.)

I started thinking of this because I read someone's post on page 1, which listed "Bad" as his/her favorite. I also love 'Bad' immensely, as most of us do. But I don't really think of 'Bad' as a "song"; I think of it as a performance.

For example, if you take the sheet-music and lyrics of 'Bad' and gave it to any other band I can think of to perform (even really, really great bands), it would sound like shit. This is because the success of it is not down to the lyrics or the song-structure, neither of which is particularly remarkable. The success of it is down to the performance and delivery of it by U2 (esp. Bono, on whom the success of the performances largely depended throughout the '80s).

Anyway, this is just a small point that I think distinguishes U2 from a lot of similarly popular, established artists (at least in their earlier periods). Their music is more performance than song.

As for my choice, I've no idea... for "song" in the literal sense, maybe 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For'... for performance and recording, maybe 'Bad' or 'With or Without You'.

 

[Nick66]

Not to get all pedantic, but of course you realise that when you start a post with "not to get all pedantic" we know you're about to get all pedantic.