what should have been the 1st single?

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1. NLOTH
2. Breathe
3. MOS

- Breathe in the US, MOS the rest of the world and then reversed.

4. Crazy
5. SUC - Radio only with Video (Like Oots)

NLOTH released in January or February. MOS/Breathe released to debut the album. The opposite timed for the start of 360. Crazy for the start of the American leg. SUC for Christmas to try and drive NLOTH sales for the holiday season.
 
I still think that U2 should've follow this time a similar strategy that Coldplay did for Viva La Vida. That is, releasing two (almost) simultaneous first singles.
One of them, giving emphasis on radio airplay, music channels. The other one, based on digital releasement and on TV commercials/sponsors.

This would've given the "enough boost" for the album to survive with very strong sales and good peaks on the singles charts.

THIS. :yes:
 
I wonder if anyone still thinks that Boots was the best choice for first single.
 
I would have chosen:

1. Magnificent
2. Crazy Tonight
3. Breathe
4. Get on Your Boots

Honestly- NLOTH to me isn't a very good song- it's decent, but to me it always sounded like a b-side.

It would absolutely TANK on the radio. The song just isn't catchy enough for radio play- the biggest hook of the song is the oh-oh-ohs Bono does in the verses and even after awhile they get kind of annoying.
 
Well, for U2's standards at the time, no one would ever guess that "Numb" or "Lemon" would've ever be single material. And I think that these two songs could've had very decent chart peaks if their releasement was "normal".

You have to consider the time as well, numb only worked because of MTV, without the visual the song wouldn't have gone anywhere, I never heard it on the radio.

But how was Lemon's release not "normal"?
 
some people just have a hard time grasping onto the fact that it's not 1992 anymore.

the hot 100 charts are more or less useless these days. i mean, vertigo was a huge smash hit. was vertigo a top 10 single? did it even crack the top 20 on the billboard charts?

put a cover of baby beluga in an iTunes commercial and it'll be a hit. that's today's world. my girlfriend can't stop humming "if you want to sing out, sing out" and has no fucking clue who cat stevens is (nor yuself islam you wise asses). but it's in a cell phone commercial.

tis a different world we live in, boys and girls.
 
some people just have a hard time grasping onto the fact that it's not 1992 anymore.

the hot 100 charts are more or less useless these days. i mean, vertigo was a huge smash hit. was vertigo a top 10 single? did it even crack the top 20 on the billboard charts?

put a cover of baby beluga in an iTunes commercial and it'll be a hit. that's today's world. my girlfriend can't stop humming "if you want to sing out, sing out" and has no fucking clue who cat stevens is (nor yuself islam you wise asses). but it's in a cell phone commercial.

tis a different world we live in, boys and girls.

Headache speaks da truth!!!
 
some people just have a hard time grasping onto the fact that it's not 1992 anymore.

the hot 100 charts are more or less useless these days. i mean, vertigo was a huge smash hit. was vertigo a top 10 single? did it even crack the top 20 on the billboard charts?

put a cover of baby beluga in an iTunes commercial and it'll be a hit. that's today's world. my girlfriend can't stop humming "if you want to sing out, sing out" and has no fucking clue who cat stevens is (nor yuself islam you wise asses). but it's in a cell phone commercial.

tis a different world we live in, boys and girls.

It's true...... Gotta get the song on a :ohmy: commercial! :down:
 
You have to consider the time as well, numb only worked because of MTV, without the visual the song wouldn't have gone anywhere, I never heard it on the radio.

But how was Lemon's release not "normal"?
"Lemon" was not commercially released in the main markets, with the exception of the Australasia and some European markets (and remixes only). Plus, radio distribution of this single, as well as "Numb" was very poor.
 
i mean, vertigo was a huge smash hit. was vertigo a top 10 single?

Actually, it probably was. Billboard back then didn't figure digital downloads into their chart positions. Viva La Vida got to #1 based on the new way the charts were compiled.

Pretty reasonable to assume that Vert would've been top 10, maybe even #1. No way of knowing though.

Which lends quite a bit of weight to the failure of NLOTH's singles as well.
 
I think it should have been Magnificent.

It is clearly the most beloved song on the album. With the aura that comes with being a first single, I think it would have performed much better than it did as the second single. GOYB kind of poisoned the success of the rest of the singles. And people who say Magnificent wasn't a hit... it wasn't yet the music video still has 2.7 million views on Youtube (compared to 1.7 for Boots and 1.9 for Crazy Tonight - which had much more promotion).

The Letterman performance of Magnificent alone has over 1 million views on Youtube.

I think it shows that even though the song didn't have a lot of radio success, it has still drawn the biggest interest.
 
GOYB was a disaster as a first single. IMO, neither GOYB nor SUC should have even been included on this album. Crazy stays only because of the live version of the remix - the album version is just blah.

That said, seeing as the first single was going to be played to kick off the Grammy's, I'd have chosen Magnificent. MOS should have been the second single and then Breathe or NLOTH.
 
Good finds cjboog. Early signs that Magnificent, despite it's chart performance, will indeed be viewed as a classic (as many here have suggested).

I'm sticking with: MOS 'leak' followed by Magnificent as the official first single. I think we could've really seen something interesting there.
 
I'm sticking with the thing that peak positions on the charts don't mean a big thing. "Magnificent" still has some good airplay and, despite the disappointing chart peaks, it seems to have had a very decent, consistent and durable run on the main charts.
 
"Lemon" was not commercially released in the main markets, with the exception of the Australasia and some European markets (and remixes only). Plus, radio distribution of this single, as well as "Numb" was very poor.

I'll admit I'm not a follower of single charts and releases, etc...

All I know is that it was released in the US, had a very well played video on MTV, and it had a fair radio and club release here in the states.

Numb, like I said before didn't fit on any radio format but was a big video hit purely based on it's "weird" factor.
 
I think it should have been Magnificent.

It is clearly the most beloved song on the album. With the aura that comes with being a first single, I think it would have performed much better than it did as the second single. GOYB kind of poisoned the success of the rest of the singles. And people who say Magnificent wasn't a hit... it wasn't yet the music video still has 2.7 million views on Youtube (compared to 1.7 for Boots and 1.9 for Crazy Tonight - which had much more promotion).

The Letterman performance of Magnificent alone has over 1 million views on Youtube.

I think it shows that even though the song didn't have a lot of radio success, it has still drawn the biggest interest.

Totally in agreement with all of this. Second single, IMHO, should have been Crazy, followed by Breathe or Boots.
 
i would have chosen:
Honestly- nloth to me isn't a very good song- it's decent, but to me it always sounded like a b-side.

It would absolutely tank on the radio. The song just isn't catchy enough for radio play- the biggest hook of the song is the oh-oh-ohs bono does in the verses and even after awhile they get kind of annoying.

couldn't
agree
more.
 
I think U2 should have copied Queen's strategy for "The Game". They released Crazy Little Thing Called Love six months before the album and it did extremely well (UK no.2, US no.1) because it was "an event". People bought it because they couldn't wait for the album. In October, U2 should have released a single and promoted it to the hilt. Magnificent would have been a great choice because it is anthemic but also quite fresh-sounding. Breathe might have worked had they wanted something more left-field. The problem with Boots (as much as I like it) was that there were too many reasons to dismiss it- it sounded a bit like Vertigo, its verses semed to ape "Pump It Up", its structure was a bit messy etc etc. It's a shame but U2 shouldn't worry about singles too much now.
 
Whatever. It's not so much about liking the song as whether it would have been suitable for a first single. The point that Staysafetonight was making -- which I think is correct -- is that to be a big hit (and if you don't want a hit, why release a single?), a radio song needs to have a tune. You know, a melody? The kind of thing that people buying a coffee and donut to go will hear for 45 seconds and then start humming in their car. "No Line on the Horizon" has no tune to speak of, unless you consider the two notes struck in "No...Line...on the Hor...i...i...zon" to be a "tune".
 
depends what U2 want from a first single..

to sell records? Crazy Tonight

point to their new direction? (as they did with AB, Zooropa, ATYCLB), than Moment of Surrender
 
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