Rank the Album Among Others

[Moser]

I'm really surprised to see No Line performing so poorly. I thought that it was still more liked here than it seems to be. Maybe I'm coloring things a bit with my perception of the album. It was incredibly special to me when it came out. It's fallen only a bit in my rankings since.


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It's just "previous album exhaustion". I love NLOTH. Breathe, Unknown Caller, Moment of Surrender, No Line on the Horizon, Fez, White as Snow, Cedars of Lebanon, Magnificent. Those are some really good songs, but you would never, ever hear them on the airwaves. They aren't radio hits. And that's a problem for U2. It didn't connect with the audience. And it had a mediocre first single "Get on Your Boots", which I did and still do enjoy, especially live, but it had no hooks and was way too out-there for the time. But the core songs were fuckin' great and soulful.

It's still better than HTDAAB, which was bolstered by only three damn good tunes that had critical and mainstream success: Vertigo, Original of the Species, and City of Blinding Lights. Everything else on HTDAAB was paltry compared to those three singles.

 

[lisag71]

I haven't listened to No Line in years. I really really disliked it when it came out to the point of being angry at them for it. I've been a fan since 85 so that was a new emotion. I stayed away from it because of that and I will have to give it another try now that I've had 6 years to calm down.

 

[digitize]

No Line came out when I was sixteen (and was leaked when I was fifteen). I was young and impressionable, and I had an incredibly romantic view of the world. No Line swept right in and became *the* album of my teenage years. Because of that, I might overrate the album a bit. But I can't help but think that it was a pretty remarkable late-career triumph, in spite of its imperfections.


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[Moser]

And where would my life would be without all those Magnificent remixes? Dat chord progression

 

[lisag71]

No Line came out when I was sixteen (and was leaked when I was fifteen). I was young and impressionable, and I had an incredibly romantic view of the world. No Line swept right in and became *the* album of my teenage years. Because of that, I might overrate the album a bit. But I can't help but think that it was a pretty remarkable late-career triumph, in spite of its imperfections.

Yeah, I think certain records can resonate with us personally for sure. All That You Can't Leave Behind is like that for me. Others may not appreciate it but for me it came out around a very bad time in my life. I had cancer and listening to it everyday as I drove to radiation really gave me strength especially Walk On and Kite. I'm healthy now but I still listen to that record and love it for what it did for me.

 

[namkcuR]

I guess this is it for me now. Could change in the future.

1. Achtung Baby
2. The Joshua Tree
3. Zooropa
4. TIE: UF/Pop
6. Boy
7. Rattle And Hum
8. SOI
9. War
10. October
11. ATYCLB
12. NLOTH
13. HTDAAB

 

[Nick66]

Yeah, I think certain records can resonate with us personally for sure. All That You Can't Leave Behind is like that for me. Others may not appreciate it but for me it came out around a very bad time in my life. I had cancer and listening to it everyday as I drove to radiation really gave me strength especially Walk On and Kite. I'm healthy now but I still listen to that record and love it for what it did for me.

ATYCLB is pretty powerful for me as well...that record came along at just the right time. I can remember where I was the first time I heard Beautiful Day, what the air felt like that night, and what I was thinking about just before I heard it...and that by the end of the song none of it mattered.

Important record for me and of course a hugely important record for U2.

 

[BWU2Buffs]

JT
AB
ATYCLB
HTDAB
UF
SOI
War
RH
NLOTH
Boy
Zooropa
October / Pop
Pop / October

Based on hits & depth, then depth and hits, live tour translation and the number of times I hit Skip. It's too early for SOI on the live translation, goes without saying, or the hit count, but I don't find myself hitting skip at all... and this surprises me.

I conclude, SOI has no Clunkers.

JT gets the nod for me still, Streets, WOWY, Bullet and ISHF have been epic on tour for many years, and during the JT tours, Exit was amazing as well. I hit Skip a lot on NLOTH and Zooropa and a fair amount on Bomb as well.

SBS, NYD and 40 are surrounded by a few clunkers, at least for me.

 

[DomCobb]

This will probably get me some shit, but wow, I really don't get the Pop love here. Obviously we like U2 for different reasons. I find Pop almost unlistenable. I mean, yeah, I still kind of like it because it's U2. But if I were listening to the album I would skip most of the songs. Only good ones in my opinion are Mofo, Gone, Wake Up Dead Man, and maybe some others.

Also I think it's strange that War isn't more-loved. It's almost perfect to me.

And I'm very confident ranking SOI as seventh best U2 album. If it goes anywhere, it's probably up. Will be interesting to see where SOE ranks. My prediction/hope is that SOI is just a warm up. If that's the case we might be in for something truly amazing. Then again, who knows when it'll come out and what it will be like. But it seems like it will be soon(er). The key here is that it seems like they were consciously made as companion albums. Songs of Ascent was an after thought, really.

 

[purpleoscar]

Discotheque was awesome and I loved the lyrics for it. Do you feel loved is very enjoyable. Last night on earth was awesome live and Please on the album and the MTV performance are excellent as well on top of the ones you mention. Miami was a fun throwaway, and Playboy Mansion is okay though not a classic. Staring at the Sun on the album was good but live and the remix not so much. More experimental parts of U2 is what many hardcore fans yearn for. They want new guitar sounds especially.

 

[PopFly]

Wow, I like HTDAAB much better than most of you, apparently. That said, I think it's fair to criticize the album since there are certainly a couple of clunker songs, the production is in your face and the tracklisting is infamously not smooth. I'll add one more thing....Bomb had some of the better B-sides of any U2 albums, and since we've heard so many of them, you can't help but wonder why some of these songs weren't on the actual record. My ideal HTDAAB would've been this:

Levitate, Vertigo, Mercy, SYCMIOYO, One Step Closer (a two-minute version, sort of as a coda to Sometimes), COBL, Love And Peace Or Else, Fast Cars, Crumbs, A Man And A Woman, Original Of The Species, Yahweh


Here's my album rankings....

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

 

[bathiu]

1 - AB
2 - SOI
3 - NLOTH
4 - Zooropa
5 - Boy
6 - War
7 - Pop
8 - UF
9 - October
10 - JT
11 - HTDAAB
12 - R&H
13 - ATYCLB

 

[Galeongirl]

AB
NLOTH
POP
JT
Zooropa
HTDAAB
UF
War
ATYCLB
SOI
Boy
R&H
October


something like that I guess. Top 3 is pretty solid, 4-9 are pretty interchangable.

 

[drt4]

1 - AB
2 - SOI
3 - NLOTH
4 - Zooropa
5 - Boy
6 - War
7 - Pop
8 - UF
9 - October
10 - JT
11 - HTDAAB
12 - R&H
13 - ATYCLB

Wow, that's a really low ranking for JT - lower than October!

 

[PennyLanePHINS]

I think its too early but:
1. Achtung Baby
2. The Joshua Tree
3. All That You Can't Leave Behind
4. War
5. Songs of Innocence
6. How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
7. Zooropa
8. Pop
9. The Unforgettable Fire
10. Boy
11. No Line On The Horizon
12. Rattle & Hum
13. October
14. Passengers

 

[HansaTonImbiss]

So have listened several times in the past four days and am sure that this will continue to be an ever-changing list but here goes:

1. Achtung Baby
2. The Joshua Tree
3. Zooropa
4. The Unforgettable Fire
5. ATYCLB
6. Songs of Innocence (Could unseat ATYCLB with more listening though, and I hope it does)
7. War
8. R&H
9. Boy
10. Pop
11. Bomb
12. October
13. NLOTH

 

[Sr. Poop]

Where do you place Rattle and Hum? I'm excluding Passengers because almost nobody is rating it.

I really don't consider it a "studio" album... Just me. To me it's a soundtrack that has some great songs on it. I just can't rank it among the others as there are so many covers/live tracks.


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[purpleoscar]

After 64 votes things remain the same except War moved past Boy:

Achtung Baby
The Joshua Tree
The Unforgettable Fire
Zooropa
Pop
Songs of Innocence
War
Boy
All That You Can't Leave Behind
No Line On the Horizon
Rattle and Hum
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
October


Pop and SOI are almost a tie.

 

[owl]

Poor October. I still love you!

No really, I actually prefer it to Boy.

 

[Caleb8844]

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



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[Mrs. Garrison]

To be honest album ranking threads should be avoided until several weeks after the release of the album have lapsed.

With that said, I don't agree with slamming other posters for having SOI so high, even less so crawling out of B&C to slam most of the posters here as having a low mental capacity.

I don't get it either to be honest. To each their own i suppose.

 

[purpleoscar]

You rank it now and then you rank it later to compare. I think a few weeks won't be as different as 1 year later would be. Having SOE will also be an interesting time to try again.

 

[Musikwala]

Indeed. Nevertheless, it's always fun to do this...

1. Achtung Baby
2. The Joshua Tree
3. Pop
4. Zooropa
5. Rattle and Hum

6. The Unforgettable Fire
7. Boy
8. War
9. No Line On The Horizon
10. October

11. All That You Can't Leave Behind
12. Songs Of Innocence
13. How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb

This can very well change because I expect and hope that SOI will grow on me.

Okay, here is a revised ranking because this album has certainly hit the sweet spot for me now!

1. Achtung Baby
2. The Joshua Tree
3. Pop
4. Zooropa
5. Rattle and Hum

6. The Unforgettable Fire
7. Boy
8. Songs Of Innocence
9. No Line On The Horizon
10. War

11. October
12. All That You Can't Leave Behind
13. How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb

I contemplated putting SOI above UF and Boy but no... UF is still a classic! And Boy is the original "innocent" album! And still sounds so energetic in 2014.

 

[An Cat Gav]

I am really loving SoI more and more with each listen. As many have said, it doesn't have any songs I dislike, first time since Zooropa! Going back even further, this is the first time with a new U2 album since Achtung Baby that my favourite song changes every day.
The only slight issue I may have with it is that at the moment there isn't a song that can go toe to toe with Streets, NYD, Pride, Beautiful Day etc as an all time classic. But then thinking back, neither did Zooropa, but after a few weeks I realised that Stay, Zooropa, lemon and The wanderer would be permanent top U2 songs for me.

1. Achtung Baby
2. The Joshua Tree
3. The Unforgettable Fire.
4. Zooropa
5. Boy
6. OS1 (deal with it as Nick66 rightly said)
7. SoI
8. Pop
9 October
10 NLOTH
11 War
12 ATYCLB
13 Rattle and Hum
14. Bomb

 

[Musikwala]

I didn't fit Passengers OS1 in because it is very difficult to compare it with the remaining albums. Passengers is a different ambient animal altogether. I enjoy roughly about 50 to 60% of that album. But I cannot rank it low because I really love that 60% to death! And more than love, I admire this album for how far they boldly went away from what was expected of them... albeit with a lot of help from Brian Eno!

Also, in general it is difficult to do this ranking business. According to my latest ranking above I prefer NLOTH to War and October. But that is not entirely true. I would rather listen to all of War and October on repeat than listen to Get On Your Boots once.

 

[Salome]

01. No Line On the Horizon
02. The Unforgettable Fire
03. All That You Can't Leave Behind
04. The Joshua Tree
05. Songs of Innocence
06. October
07. Zooropa
08. Rattle and Hum
09. Achtung Baby
10) War
11) How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
12) Boy
13) POP

 

[nielsgov]

Achtung Baby
The Unforgettable Fire
Pop
The Joshua Tree
Zooropa
Boy

War
NLOTH
Songs of Innocence
October
ATYCLB
Rattle and Hum
HTDAAB

I have a hard time ranking those last 7 albums.

 

[medley]

Even if that's off-topic, I'm sure people are going to looove where I still put Bomb

1/ Achtung Baby
2/ The Joshua Tree
3/ How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
4/ The Unforgettable Fire
5/ Songs of Innocence
6/ Pop
7/ Boy
8/ No Line One The Horizon
9/ All That You Can't Leave Behind
10/ War
11/ Zooropa
12/ Rattle & Hum
13/ October

 

[Zimmy1987]

1) Achtung Baby
2) The Joshua Tree
3) The Unforgettable Fire
4) War
5) Songs of Innocence
6) Zooropa
7) All That You Can Leave Behind
8) No Line on the Horizon
9) Rattle & Hum
10) Boy
11) How to Dismantle and Atomic Bomb
12) Pop
13) October

I feel that "War" has not been getting the respect it deserves.

 

[BoyOnTheHorizon]

1 - The Joshua Tree
2 - Achtung Baby
3 - War
4 - Rattle And Hum
5 - TUF
6 - ATYCLB
7 - Bomb
8 - Zooropa
9 - No Line
10 - Pop
11 - October

I am a 80's guy. At least a 80's U2 guy.

Can't rank BOY. It will be forever U2's baby album. It has that special place, we simply cannot put it on a list. And SOI is too fresh. All i can say for sure is that it's at least better than the last 3 on that list.