Best U2 pop song?

[UltravioletTX]

As in radio-friendly song for the mainstream, not the album!

My vote is Mysterious Ways!

It doesn't have to a song that has been released as a single. I think In A Little While could have made a good pop song, but it was never released.

 

[Rafiennes]

I'll assume by Pop you mean popular and not Britney Bubble gum pop...that in mind...

released:
Sweetest Thing
Mysterious Ways
Angel Of Harlem
Stuck In A Moment
Even Better

not released:
Do You feel loved
playboy mansion (could've had a funny ass video as well as airplay on R&B stations)
Ultraviolet

 

[dirtyday]

Sweetest Thing and Stuck in a Moment are very radio friendly

In terms of Pop; Babyface is pure pop.

 

[Laura M]

Beautiful Day


Only because I always hear it on tv/ radio

 

[Strato Edge]

Definately Angel of Harlem and Some Days Are Better Than Others

 

[FallingStar]

If God Will Send His Angels
Do You Feel Loved
Wild Honey <----definitely

 

[jick]

Please was their best pop song, simply because they haven't written many. Please was tailored to make happy the Sunday Bloody Sunday fans who wanted a more poppy and more updated version. But of course Please failed to match the original (SBS) because Please came off as too poppy and too forced.

U2 hardly writes any pop songs really. No other "pop" song I can think of from the top of my head from U2. They are hardly a poppy band. Some people now have already listed songs in this thread that are even hardly pop.

Cheers,

J

 

[Bono's shades]

Please is a "poppy" song?

 

[Strato Edge]

Jick that comment was the dumbest thing Ive read.

Please is "poppy"? What song are you listening to?

 

[jick]

Jick that comment was the dumbest thing Ive read.

Please is "poppy"? What song are you listening to?

I'm listening to "Please" - that song of the POP album.

The song that starts with an uncharacteristic Adam bassline (designed to be complicated to make it sound good for mainstream radio play).

The song that in it's first line already has the catchy pop-staple word "love" in it.

The song where during the Popmart Tour had a big flashing "PLEASE" sign in the screens and Bono urging the people to sing along with him. Bono would never ever try to get a crowd to sing along to a non-poppy tune like Mofo, but for Please yeah sure!

The song with a guitar solo - you always know its a poppy U2 song when a guitar solo is added because it's designed to make listeners happy.

Of course people think it's not a mainstream radio-friendly song because it never was a hit. Well, don't blame the radios or MTV. Please was a poorly written song so it never took off with the listeners.

Oh but wait ....when you say pop, it's a root word from "popular" - under that definition Please (and Stuck In A Moment) won't fall under it but Discotheque and Theme From Mission Impossible will because they did so well in the charts. I think the better term is mainstream-wannabe radio-friendly sing-along song - and Please definitely fits the bill. It just never made it big though.

Cheers,

J

 

[Bono's shades]

I don't think U2 were trying to write a mainstream, radio-friendly song when they wrote Please. Have you even listened to the lyrics beyond the word "love" in the first line?

 

[Strato Edge]

Jick another question, why are you here? To piss people off with your lame comments?

 

[Danospano]

Wild Honey...hands down

 

[theSoulfulMofo]

lady with the spinning head

 

[shaun vox]

plese is not a pop tune!
mysterious ways is not a pop tune!

sweetest thing is a pop song. stuck in a moment is another.
u2 does have alot of pop tunes if you think about it. atyclb is a pop album.(easy listening etc)

some might say define POP , well if its not rock&roll then its pop

 

[Jim]

Jick your analysis of ''Please" is, in my view, total bollox.

Are you the same 'J' that used to run everybody up the wrong way on WIRE?

 

[Saracene]

Mysterious Ways
In a Little While

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

In my old town, I actually heard "In A Little While" on the radio there-that's where I first remember hearing it.

That's definitely a great one, that and "Sweetest Thing".

Angela

 

[MrBrau1]

Wild Honey, Sweetest Thing.

Calling Please a pop song is like calling Celine Dion Thrash Metal.

 

[UltravioletTX]

I think U2 has written plenty of potential "pop" songs. Some people think that because it's pop, it's shite but I would disagree. We shouldn't throw out the baby with the bathwater! Just because most of the stuff played on radio stations is crap, doesn't mean that it should be crap! There have been plenty of great songs over the years that are rock/pop AND that kick ass! I guess maybe pop just means that it's something that's more easily accesible to the mainstream, but that doesn't necessarily mean it can't be deep as well. In movie terms , I think of THE GODFATHER. Amazing movie!!! Multi-layered, weighty, meaningful AND popular!

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

I think U2 has written plenty of potential "pop" songs. Some people think that because it's pop, it's shite but I would disagree. We shouldn't throw out the baby with the bathwater! Just because most of the stuff played on radio stations is crap, doesn't mean that it should be crap! There have been plenty of great songs over the years that are rock/pop AND that kick ass! I guess maybe pop just means that it's something that's more easily accesible to the mainstream, but that doesn't necessarily mean it can't be deep as well. In movie terms , I think of THE GODFATHER. Amazing movie!!! Multi-layered, weighty, meaningful AND popular!

Exactly. There's different kinds of "pop" songs. The Beatles' early stuff was definitely pop, but it was a good kind of pop. U2's had some pop songs, but, again, they were a good kind of pop.

People tend to automatically associate "pop" with the Britney Spears/BSB/*N Sync type of thing...and that's not the sole type of pop music out there.

And I'm in agreement with those who say "Please" isn't a pop song. When I think of pop songs, I tend to think of upbeat, happier songs. "Please" does not fit that description. Great, great song, yes. But it's not a pop song.

Angela

 

[~*Buffalo*~]

What about Elevation?

 

[Pinball Wizard]

Wild Honey, Sweetest Thing.

Calling Please a pop song is like calling Celine Dion Thrash Metal.

She's tight with Lemmy.

 

[FedU2]

I find very "pop" "Stuck in a moment" , and "Babyface" too

 

[~*Buffalo*~]

I aso think Pride is potentially a pop song ... at least I hear it all the time on the pop radio station ... of course it's on the rock station too.

 

[ultraviolet353]

In A Little While--still shocked that it wasn't released as a single

 

[Catman]

"POP - *reads from dictionary* - A sudden sharp, explosive sound." Hmm...

Anyway, imo, the POPPIEST tune U2 has ever done is definately "Sweetest Thing." Also, like BUFFALO said, "Pride" has got a pop-style element, but with a more anthemic edge to it. I guess "Who's Gonna Ride..." is also quite the pop-song.

Nobody does it like U2

 

[typhoon]

I'm sick to death of hearing it, but "Pride" is pop perfection.

You people are being too anal with the definition of "pop." It just denotes "popular," and like it or not, U2 is a very popular band that has written a number of mainstream hits.

 

[Catman]

The thing is, I don't like referring to POP as "popular," but more of as a particular genre of it's own. Otherwise, it's WAY too broad. U2, Linkin' Park, Norah Jones, Eminem, Green Day - all pop music according to the "popular" definition. Whenever I think POP music, I think easily accessible, mellifluous and melodic pieces of music without thrashing guitars or subdued harmonies. Then again, it's all subjective, anyway...

 

[mandy1973]

Definately Wild Honey (even though it was the first U2 song in a VERY long time that I just COULDN"T get into) probably I didn't like it because it is SO 'pop'!!
Of songs I do like: Sweetest Thing, Beautiful Day, Desire, Discoteque and Walk On