Best Non-Album Track Survivor - 2000-Present Preliminary Quarterfinal

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Vote for your TOP 15 FAVORITE tracks!


  • Total voters
    22
  • Poll closed .

namkcuR

ONE love, blood, life
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The results of the 1990-1999 Preliminary Quarterfinal:

Advancing:

Alex Descends Into Hell For A Bottle Of Milk/Korova I - 0
Lady With The Spinning Head - 0
Salome - 0
Where Did It All Go Wrong - 0
Oh Berlin - 0
Heaven And Hell - 0
Down All The Days - 0
Slow Dancing - 0
Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me - 0
Holy Joe - 0
North And South Of The River - 0
I'm Not Your Baby - 0
Two Shots Of Happy, One Shot Of Sad - 0
Blow Your House Down - 1
Near The Island - 1

Joining:

Love Comes Tumbling - 22
Luminous Times - 21
Spanish Eyes - 19
The Three Sunrises - 19
Bass Trap - 19
Walk To The Water - 19
Sweetest Thing - 18
Deep In The Heart - 17
Silver And Gold - 17
She's A Mystery To Me - 16
Boomerang I - 15
Boomerang II - 15
A Room At The Heartbreak Hotel - 14
Disappearing Act - 13
Hallelujah(Here She Comes) - 11

11 O'Clock Tick Tock - 15
Pete The Chop - 13
A Celebration - 13
Party Girl - 13
Endless Deep - 12
Treasure - 12
Street Mission - 11
Touch - 10
Lost On A Silent Planet - 9
Boy-Girl - 9
The Fool - 9
Another Day - 9
Things To Make And Do - 8
Cartoon World - 8
The Dream Is Over - 7 / 10(tiebreaker)

Eliminated:

Viva Davidoff - 8

Wild Irish Rose - 10
Sixty Seconds - 9
Yoshino Blossom - 9
Wave Of Sorrow - 8
Race Against Time - 6
Desert Of Our Love - 5
Womanfish - 5
Rise Up - 4
Drunk Chicken - 2
Beautiful Ghost - 1

Angels Too Tied To The Ground - 7 / 4(tiebreaker)

Saturday Night - 5
J.Swallo - 5
Be There - 5
False Prophet - 4
Speed Of Life - 3
Alone In The Light - 2
Father Is An Elephant - 2
Inside Out - 1
Carry Me Home - 1
Jack In The Box - 0

As expected, Viva Davidoff was eliminated in a landslide. Also as expected, participation dwindled due both to the altered format of this particular Quarterfinal and the fact that it occurred going into the weekend.

We now reach the last Preliminary Quarterfinal round, that being the one for 2000-Present. This was a much less prolific period for the band in terms of non-album material - 27 tracks in 16 years, whereas they produced nearly the same number of non-album tracks in just five years from 1984-1989 and in four years from 1979-1983 - and as a whole the era isn't nearly as beloved as the earlier ones, particularly 1984-1989. But there are still unquestionably some real gems here, so this should be an interesting round, and should garner more participation than the previous one, which was really just the formality of eliminating Viva Davidoff.

Since we're starting this one on a Saturday, and since we just saved a day by making the 1990-1999 Preliminary Quarterfinal a 24-hour poll, I'm going to let this round run 72 hours so that people who aren't around on the weekend can still participate on Monday/Tuesday.

Instructions: We are returning to the normal format now. In this poll, 27 non-album tracks from 2000-Present will be available to vote for, with voting for multiple items enabled. You will vote for your TOP 15 FAVORITE tracks..

It is essential to the integrity of the competition that you vote for EXACTLY 15 tracks, not any more or any less. There is no way to lock you into a certain number of votes, so it is up to you to monitor yourselves.

Because 15 tracks is a lot to decide on, and because this poll is opening on a Saturday, this poll will be open for 72 hours to give everyone - including those who might not be around on the weekend - a chance to vote.

Here is a list of tracks in this poll, all linked to YT for your reference.

2000-Present
The Ground Beneath Her Feet
Stateless
Always
Summer Rain
Big Girls Are Best
Levitate
Love You Like Mad
Flower Child
We Love You
Electrical Storm / William Orbit Mix / Early BBC/Radio One Version
The Hands That Built America / Gangs Of New York Movie Version / Gangs Of New York Soundtrack Version
Are You Gonna Wait Forever
Fast Cars
Xanax And Wine
Smile
Native Son
Mercy
Window In The Skies
Winter / Brothers Soundtrack Version
Soon
Glastonbury
North Star / Studio Snippet from Transformers
Return Of The Stingray Guitar
Ordinary Love
Invisible
The Crystal Ballroom / 12" Mix
Lucifer's Hands
 
This is nuts. I want to vote for well over 20 of these! Hardest one of all for me.

Sent from my SM-G920I using U2 Interference mobile app
 
Working my way down the list, these chose themselves:
1. The Ground Beneath Her Feet
2. Stateless
3. Summer Rain
4. Flower Child
5. Electrical Storm
6. Are You Gonna Wait Forever
7. Fast Cars
8. Smile
9. Native Son
10. Mercy

But then it gets a bit tough. "Always" wasn't too hard to pick as #11. But then it gets into stuff that's decent without exciting me a whole lot. For the next three I settled on:
12. Levitate
13. Invisible
14. The Crystal Ballroom

And at that point I hit a brick wall and threw my 15th vote at We Love You, just because I love that U2 actually did that. It was so out of character.
 
Levitate would have made a great single IMO. A real stadium song.
Still deliberating. So hard!

Sent from my SM-G920I using U2 Interference mobile app
 
Ouch, hard to cut some of those songs. These guys, for all that's been said and will be said about them and their career, they have been an incredible song writing team. Hats off.
 
Are You Gonna Wait Forever
Big Girls Are Best
The Crystal Ballroom
Electrical Storm
The Ground Beneath Her Feet
Invisible
Levitate
Lucifer's Hands
Mercy
Native Son
Smile
Stateless
Summer Rain
Window In The Skies
Winter

Levitate feels like a warm alt-universe version of Gone.
 
Last edited:
This round includes what will be one the easiest choices of this whole tournament: NOT voting for Flower Child. Some of the most cringeworthy lyrics they've ever done, IMO.

Aside from that, there's a bunch of very good songs here.
 
The Ground Beneath Her Feet
Stateless
Always
Summer Rain
Levitate
Love You Like Mad
Electrical Storm
The Hands That Built America
Are You Gonna Wait Forever
Smile
Mercy
Window in the Skies
Soon
Invisible
The Crystal Ballroom
 
Baffled by how many votes Hands, WITS, and Soon have got though.
 
Which goes to show how weak many of these songs are.

That being said, I've always liked The Hands That Built America and have a lot of nostalgia for it today so I guess I'm not one to talk.
 
14 tracks were pretty easy to pick for me:

The Ground Beneath Her Feet
Stateless
Always
Levitate
Electrical Storm
The Hands That Built America
Are You Gonna Wait Forever
Smile
Xanax And Wine
Native Son
Mercy
Winter
Invisible
The Crystal Ballroom

The 15th slot was tougher. It came down to Summer Rain, Love You Like Mad, or Flower Child. It was really hard, but at the end the chorus of Summer Rain just hits me a little more than either of the other songs. Great vibe to it.

Disappointed that Hands and Winter aren't doing any better, I think they are both great, gorgeous ballads that get unfairly slagged here, so I'm doing my part in giving them a chance(one more vote for either pushes them into a tie for 15th place).

Also a bit disappointed that Fast Cars is doing better than Xanax. I like Fast Cars, but I find myself reaching for Xanax much more these days. I miss the fully fleshed-out 'take me, save me from myself...' chorus from Xanax when I listen to Fast Cars.

Finally, imo, Window In The Skies and Soon shouldn't be advancing.

I like WITS, I really do, it's great fun to sing along to, but comparatively speaking next to so many other tracks here, it's fluff. Good fluff, but fluff. Hands and Winter are both much more substantial imo.

I actually love Soon, but it's too short, like a fragment of a song. If it were expanded to be a full song, I'd probably vote for it.

Pleased that the MDH tracks are getting so much support, they are true gems. Also pleased that Crystal Ballroom is doing so well, I think the band was bonkers to leave it off SOI.
 
For the first time I couldn't find 15 I liked, got 9. Those 9 are really great but there's a few real stinkers on this list.
 
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