UGH.
I just don't love it like everyone else loves it. Sue me.
Yeah. The hatred here for songs like BD, Vertigo and COBL is bizarre and frankly a little embarrassing. I'm not sure how many of the haters here realise just how hard it is to write a song like BD, or even Vertigo, that appeals to so many people on so many different levels. Writing pop hits is actually very, very hard work, and ultimately that's what U2 is trying to do. And damn, these guys wrote those songs 20+ years into their career. And used them as a comeback after a significant public backlash. That's no easy feat.
I'm not a huge fan of Vertigo, but I was listening to it on the recent 360 compilation, and damn...what a brilliantly conceived rock song that is with a kick ass hook...I can see why it resonated so much. Beautiful Day, which I think is a better song and frankly is one of the most important singles in U2 career, is very much the same way. I have no problem with people who have voted against it (there's a lot good songs on this list) but those who dismiss it so casually really don't understand the first thing about U2 or their music.
I've been around here for about 10+ years and have seen the same thing. Popular or poppy generally equals bad among many of the Interference hardcore and people like you get your panties in a bunch when the point is raised. I think many hardcore interferencers have simply over-saturated themselves with U2 to the point where only the most obscure songs are good.
In my years over here, I've never seen a single post that states that one only likes obscure U2 songs because they're obscure and hates the hits because they're hits.
This ridiculous conspiracy theory from "people like you" just doesn't have any merit, especially on a forum that consists of fans of a rock band that is arguably the most commercial and the most famous of the last 30 years. Have you noticed the results of these survivors? Songs like Where the Streets Have No Name or With or Without You or New Year's Day are always at the top of the lists. Barely any complaints, let alone from a vocal minority, are ever raised. More well-known U2 songs tend to win or be at the top or their respective album survivors. Where is the proof of this where you have the backing of the "overwhelming masses"? There is none.
U2 is a band whom I like because they're not a hits or a singles band in my mind. They never were. They were always an album-based band. I never listened to the songs and try to divide them into hits or non-hits. I barely listen to the radio. Since I started listening to U2 when I was quite little - because of family influence - I didn't even know which songs were big hits and which ones weren't. Even the overplaying aspect didn't even influence my opinion on songs like With or Without You or One or New Year's Day or Mysterious Ways (all in my top 10 BTW). But I never liked Beautiful Day that much. I always find it cheesy, which is the main point why I don't like most of U2's post-2000 output. That's just the way it is.
If I didn't like catchy and poppy music, I certainly wouldn't be listening to U2.
the hook does not quite fit the rest of the song.
I have to take umbrage with this. Just because the verses alternate with the chorus in sad->happy->sad->happy doesn't mean it doesn't fit in with the song. I like to think that Bono talks about finding the beauty in the bleakness of the everyday or of life. Just the opening line is great, a heart is a bloom shooting up through the stony ground? The song slowly builds from a gray and cloudy day until you hit the bridge. It's a poetry of pictures. I can't hear the bridge and not think about everything he mentions and how beautiful it must look. Natural and man-made wonders alike.
That said it is pretty cheesy. But it did win them back legions of fans which was the whole point of the album, in my opinion. There's plenty to knock on All That You Can't Leave Behind, but Beautiful Day shouldn't be one of them. Just my two cents.
In my years over here, I've never seen a single post that states that one only likes obscure U2 songs because they're obscure and hates the hits because they're hits.
This ridiculous conspiracy theory from "people like you" just doesn't have any merit, especially on a forum that consists of fans of a rock band that is arguably the most commercial and the most famous of the last 30 years. Have you noticed the results of these survivors? Songs like Where the Streets Have No Name or With or Without You or New Year's Day are always at the top of the lists. Barely any complaints, let alone from a vocal minority, are ever raised. More well-known U2 songs tend to win or be at the top or their respective album survivors. Where is the proof of this where you have the backing of the "overwhelming masses"? There is none.
U2 is a band whom I like because they're not a hits or a singles band in my mind. They never were. They were always an album-based band. I never listened to the songs and try to divide them into hits or non-hits. I barely listen to the radio. Since I started listening to U2 when I was quite little - because of family influence - I didn't even know which songs were big hits and which ones weren't. Even the overplaying aspect didn't even influence my opinion on songs like With or Without You or One or New Year's Day or Mysterious Ways (all in my top 10 BTW). But I never liked Beautiful Day that much. I always find it cheesy, which is the main point why I don't like most of U2's post-2000 output. That's just the way it is.
If I didn't like catchy and poppy music, I certainly wouldn't be listening to U2.
I'm talking about the musical aspect of that "what you don't have you don't need it now" part. It sounds like it belong to another song. It doesn't fit.
I think all lov needs to remember is that the opinions and votes expressed by a vocal minority on this forum do not, in fact, represent anything close to the reality of what the rest of U2 fans, or the world, even, think are the best U2 songs.
Which is kindof besides the point, because this is merely a poll of the opinions and views of the vocal minority of U2 fans who participate on Internet forums.
Having said that anyone who doesn't like BD needs a fucking lobotomy.
Anywho, I'd guess that many of us here like much of U2's catalogue, hits and non-hits alike. Personally, I find myself going through phases where I'm into the deeper cuts, and phases where I just want to crank the "Best of 1980-1990" or something like that.
I'm talking about the musical aspect of that "what you don't have you don't need it now" part. It sounds like it belong to another song. It doesn't fit.