HelloAngel
ONE love, blood, life
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By Devlin Smith, Contributing Editor
2005.05
Being a U2 fan is a nerdy thing. Sure, the band is the world's biggest and best, and the guys are super-cool rock stars, but there's still a nerdy element in following the band and cataloging all of its moments.
I will freely admit that I'm a U2 nerd. I love reading all the books and interviews, eating up the hows and whys of 30 years of band history. I recite seemingly mundane to casual U2 observers, most of whom have no clue why I'd care who Larry Mullen Jr.'s drum tech is or where U2 played its first LA-area concert.
But all that amassing of information, analyzing, collecting and so forth is fun, it makes me enjoy my nerdiness. The authors of "U2itude: The Ultimate Handbook for U2 Fans" (AuthorHouse) get that and that's what makes their book so fun to read.
There isn't much to "U2itude," it's more a friendly debate on the merits of U2's musical output than the all-encompassing guidebook its title suggests. Authors Salvatore Petronella and Christopher Sorgie (known as Sal and Sorge throughout the book) have been U2 fans since high school, forming a life-long bond over the "War"-era U2. Here they've created a five-category "scientific" method for ranking every U2 song based on music, lyrics, message, energy and U2itude (points assigned to songs that no one else could have made), with five points possible in each category.
From the outset, Sal and Sorge know not every reader will agree with their assessments so each album has its own chart where you can give your own five-point score for each song in each category.
The authors' rankings are definitely controversial ("Stay" gets just 16 out of 25 points—how's that even possible?) but make sense when Sal and Sorge explain why they ranked each song the way they did.
Of "Miami," which scored just six points and is singled out as U2's worst song, the authors say: "U2 is so much cooler when they are not trying to be cool. Maybe 'Pop' was their mid-life crisis album." While I truly love "Pop" and dig "Miami" terribly, I can see that this assessment does have merit.
What's great about "U2itude" is there is room to disagree. According to Sal and Sorge's calculations, "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" is U2's best album, a declaration fans have been battling over for at least 18 months. Even if you don't agree, how great is the possibility that U2's latest could also be its greatest?
In addition to ranking every song and album, Sal and Sorge have also included their own top 10 lists and lists of everything from the best U2 air guitar songs to the best U2 songs to use for lullabies.
Sal and Sorge aren't looking to be right with any of their scores, they're just enjoying the debate and want readers to join in the fun. The nerd in me is grateful to them for putting the challenge out there. Now I just need to go through every album, in order, of course, and figure out my own rankings. Who knows, maybe "Miami" could even fall into my top 10.
For more information on "U2itude: The Ultimate Handbook for U2 Fans," visit http://www.u2itude.com.
By Devlin Smith, Contributing Editor
2005.05
Being a U2 fan is a nerdy thing. Sure, the band is the world's biggest and best, and the guys are super-cool rock stars, but there's still a nerdy element in following the band and cataloging all of its moments.
I will freely admit that I'm a U2 nerd. I love reading all the books and interviews, eating up the hows and whys of 30 years of band history. I recite seemingly mundane to casual U2 observers, most of whom have no clue why I'd care who Larry Mullen Jr.'s drum tech is or where U2 played its first LA-area concert.
But all that amassing of information, analyzing, collecting and so forth is fun, it makes me enjoy my nerdiness. The authors of "U2itude: The Ultimate Handbook for U2 Fans" (AuthorHouse) get that and that's what makes their book so fun to read.
There isn't much to "U2itude," it's more a friendly debate on the merits of U2's musical output than the all-encompassing guidebook its title suggests. Authors Salvatore Petronella and Christopher Sorgie (known as Sal and Sorge throughout the book) have been U2 fans since high school, forming a life-long bond over the "War"-era U2. Here they've created a five-category "scientific" method for ranking every U2 song based on music, lyrics, message, energy and U2itude (points assigned to songs that no one else could have made), with five points possible in each category.
From the outset, Sal and Sorge know not every reader will agree with their assessments so each album has its own chart where you can give your own five-point score for each song in each category.
The authors' rankings are definitely controversial ("Stay" gets just 16 out of 25 points—how's that even possible?) but make sense when Sal and Sorge explain why they ranked each song the way they did.
Of "Miami," which scored just six points and is singled out as U2's worst song, the authors say: "U2 is so much cooler when they are not trying to be cool. Maybe 'Pop' was their mid-life crisis album." While I truly love "Pop" and dig "Miami" terribly, I can see that this assessment does have merit.
What's great about "U2itude" is there is room to disagree. According to Sal and Sorge's calculations, "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" is U2's best album, a declaration fans have been battling over for at least 18 months. Even if you don't agree, how great is the possibility that U2's latest could also be its greatest?
In addition to ranking every song and album, Sal and Sorge have also included their own top 10 lists and lists of everything from the best U2 air guitar songs to the best U2 songs to use for lullabies.
Sal and Sorge aren't looking to be right with any of their scores, they're just enjoying the debate and want readers to join in the fun. The nerd in me is grateful to them for putting the challenge out there. Now I just need to go through every album, in order, of course, and figure out my own rankings. Who knows, maybe "Miami" could even fall into my top 10.
For more information on "U2itude: The Ultimate Handbook for U2 Fans," visit http://www.u2itude.com.
i like Miami, too 
