I am sorry to whiz on your parade about Eno, but the band had just come of the War LP prodced by Jimmy Iovine. It had a strong idea of anthem-type ideas thoat wove their ways through the album. Then came the anticipated The Unforgettable Fire. Back then, this was an album and not a cd. The A side was rocking and then you turned it over and got into the b-side with the whispy tunes like: Promenade, 4th of July, Indian Summer Sky, Elvis Presley and America. These were not the hard tracks that U2 fans were use to. We were stuck in the 80s with shite music and this was our way out of the doldrums of crap on the radio.
With The Unforgettable Fire, U2 strayed from beats and rythms got them to this point and I feel that Eno and his 'Music for Airports' style had taken over.Yes, Exit is fabulous. Yes, In God's Country is hot. Achtung Baby is brilliant. At the time of the release, The Unforgettable Fire let down my friends and I. We felt betrayed and that the band was becoming to studio driven like some of the work on Pop. There seemed to be dissent in the recording studio.I am older and wiser and hate to hang my hat on that , but the Joshua Tree was U2's saving grace and they pumped the livin' hell out of it. That is why the overexposure of rattle and Hum nearly killed the band. I will say this that without the Joshua Tree, this band would be just another 80s hair band.
ATYCLB is the answer or the second coming of the Joshua Tree. Yet again, they make a flop with Pop and have to come back swinging. It is not that i think that Pop is a crap recording, because it is not. The Best of 1990-2000 proves it with the real version of Gone and a remix of Starin At the Sun. The boys were chasing an idea to make a 'pop' record which is hard to do when you are a rock badn. The album only stands well in the studio and is hard to tour without a billion, million backing tracks like INStYNCk.
Now, let us compare the band to the Beatles. What made the Beatles so great is the way they changed with their musical style in the section of 6 years. They went from a bublegum style to a band that challenged themselves musically almost overnight. That can't happen today because of the huge mass upheaval at the time with the drug culture and world politics. I think that U2 aspires to be the Beatles. U2 did set their mark on music with Achtung Baby by making rock cool and bringing in electronica.
So I am off my soap box and no apologies. Just words from a friend.