Honest Question - Are U2's best days behind them?

[KhanadaRhodes]

You know, that always kind of annoyed me. People were saying, "oh, they've returned to their roots!" and honestly, I did a lot of head-scratching over that. Does ATYCLB sound like Boy? No, of course not! wtf? I mean, I like ATYCLB and all...I just don't understand what people were talking about!!!

i suppose it was because it was a return to a simpler sound. i don't necessarily mean that's a bad thing. i call it simpler because it's not like the more techno stuff that we saw on pop and such. the stuff that's got a million layers of synthesizers and stuff, that's often difficult to reproduce live when you're trying to stick with the four people in the band instead of having three keyboardists and two guitarists onstage. imo, that's why the pop songs often sound completely different live, but the atyclb songs sound somewhat similar live.

but, it's still a stupid analogy because U2 has tried to never duplicate their previous albums, and i still don't think it sounds like their earlier stuff.

 

[STING2]

OneTreeHill,

I would argue that "Walk On" and "Kite" are two of U2s best songs ever. Definitely top 20 and probably top 10. Most of my friends feel the same way. There is a lot of passion in those songs on par with U2s most passionate songs.

 

[wertsie]

but, it's still a stupid analogy because U2 has tried to never duplicate their previous albums, and i still don't think it sounds like their earlier stuff.

Exactly! I think that's the part of the analogy that annoyed me most!

 

[One Tree Still]

STING2

I would say Walk On is probably Top 20 for me, but Kite doesn't make my list - which is a good reminder that this "argument" is really subjective anyway.

Just for poops and giggles I'd say my Top 20 (studio) is...

1. One Tree Hill
2. With or Without You
3. Bad
4. Streets
5. Stay
6. Running to Stand
7. October
8. Until the End of the World
9. Unforgettable Fire
10. Ultraviolet
11. Pride
12. I Still Haven't Found
13. The Fly
14. All I Want Is You
15. A Sort of Homecoming
16. Like a Song
17. New Years Day
18. Out of Control
19. Scarlet
20. Acrobat

I guess "Walk On" doesn't make the cut after all...

 

[Blacksword]

Wake Up Dead Man, The Ground Beneath Her Feet, Gone, Staring At The Sun, Please, Stay, Lemon, One, Acrobat, Mysterious Ways, Until The End Of The World, When Love Comes To Town, Silver And Gold, All I Want Is You, Desire, With Or Without You, One Tree Hill, Bullet The Blue Sky, Where The Streets Have No Name, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Running To Stand Still, Bad, Pride, Wire, The Unforgettable Fire, Sunday Bloody Sunday, New Year's Day, "40", October, 11 o' Clock Tick Tock

Are my thirty best (in no particular order). I had over fourty but I thought that was a tad excessive. A little bit from everywhere. If I expanded it to fifty I'd probably throw in a couple from ATYCLB.

 

[Saracene]

I'm pretty sure "Beautiful Day" will be remembered as a later-day U2 classic.

My top 20 (studio) at the moment:

Out of Control, I Will Follow, Tomorrow, Lemon, Unforgettable Fire, Pride, Bad, Running to Stand Still, Streets, God Part II, Mysterious Ways, The Fly, Stay, Wake Up Dead Man, Kite, In a Little While, Beautiful Day, Gone, Miss Sarajevo, Desire.

 

[Hawkmoon1021]

OneTreeHill,

I would argue that "Walk On" and "Kite" are two of U2s best songs ever. Definitely top 20 and probably top 10. Most of my friends feel the same way. There is a lot of passion in those songs on par with U2s most passionate songs.

I would agree.

For me, Beautiful Day also might be in my top 5. I never get tired of that song. I think it's just as good as anything they ever have done. And besides the guitar riff, it isn't really "retro U2" either. Listen to the string loop opening & the synths throughout the song, especially the "see the world..." part. Edge's guitar solo sounds totally different to anything he's done before as well. This song, and others on the album don't sound like back to basics to me. It's not POP, but it's not War either.

 

[jick]

STING2

I would say Walk On is probably Top 20 for me, but Kite doesn't make my list - which is a good reminder that this "argument" is really subjective anyway.

Just for poops and giggles I'd say my Top 20 (studio) is...

1. One Tree Hill
2. With or Without You
3. Bad
4. Streets
5. Stay
6. Running to Stand
7. October
8. Until the End of the World
9. Unforgettable Fire
10. Ultraviolet
11. Pride
12. I Still Haven't Found
13. The Fly
14. All I Want Is You
15. A Sort of Homecoming
16. Like a Song
17. New Years Day
18. Out of Control
19. Scarlet
20. Acrobat

I guess "Walk On" doesn't make the cut after all...

Wow! not a single song off POP made your top 20!

Cheers,

J
The King Of POP

 

[One Tree Still]

Jick - I considered putting "Gone" in my Top 20 - it's a great song - but I like the re-mixed version much better than the original.

"Please" could be in the Top 20 as well, but the single version is much better than the original.

I was sticking to the originals I guess.

 

[Michael Griffiths]

"Please" could be in the Top 20 as well, but the single version is much better than the original.

I like the rawness of the original much better. To me, it will always be the definitive version because of its sonically clinical aproach. It's a very cold track, and I think it needs to sound that way too.

 

[STING2]

Here is my U2 top 20:

1. Where The Streets Have No Name
2. New Years Day
3. Pride
4. With Or With Out You
5. A Sort Of Homecoming
6. Like A Song
7. Whose Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
8. Ultra Violet
9. Unforgettable Fire
10. Heartland
11. Tomorrow
12. Kite
13. One
14. Walk On
15. Acrobat
16. Drowning Man
17. I Will Follow
18. All I Want Is You
19. Bad
20. Sunday Blood Sunday

 

[Zoomerang96]

red light, sting2, wheres red light?!! how can any list not have red light?!!? or at least the refugee?!?!!?

 

[Michael Griffiths]

My top 20 (studio):

1. One
2. Where The Streets Have No Name
3. With or Without You
4. Bad
5. Running To Stand Still
6. Pride (In The Name of Love)
7. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
8. Sunday Bloody Sunday
9. The Unforgettable Fire
10. All I Want Is You
11. October
12. Stay (Faraway, So Close)
13. New Year's Day
14. Miss Sarajevo
15. Out of Control
16. Kite
17. Mysterious Ways
18. One Tree Hill
19. Zooropa
20. Mothers of the Disappeared

And just for kicks:

21. Angel of Harlem
22. Acrobat
23. Bullet The Blue Sky
24. Please
25. The Electric Co.

 

[STING2]

When I was first doing my list, I made first a top 60, then a top 40 from that, and finally a top 20. I really do like Red Light and Refugee, but they did not make my U2 top 40 or top 60. I included the possibility of having studio B-sides and individual songs not on albums in my lists. U2 has over 150 original recorded songs I know of.

 

[Kieran McConville]

Red Light kicks ass. The trumpets do it for me.

Caught in the spotlight
of this your own tragedy
I give you my love love love

 

[wertsie]

Red Light kicks ass. The trumpets do it for me.

Caught in the spotlight
of this your own tragedy
I give you my love love love

Now I have it in my head!

I like the trumpets too...Well, I played the trumpet for ten years so there you have it!

 

[doctorwho]

Good call Typhoon. U2 is at their best when they don't try to appease the mainstream.

In a couple cases, they ended up defining the mainstream because they were so good (Johsua Tree, AB to a lesser extent).

I would not call JT, AB or ATYCLB "mainstream".

JT sounded like nothing else in 1987. That was the year when Bon Jovi and Michael Jackson ruled (along with U2) as well as big hair bands and various pop artists.

AB was vastly different from the grunge sound of Nirvana and Pearl Jam's albums of late '91/early '92. The look, sound and even "feel" of AB was hardly mainstream compared to the rest of the music scene.

With 2000's ATYCLB, rock seemed to be taking a major back-seat to pop, country and rap music. U2 were able to successfully break across the "rock indifference" of recent years and not only create a critically and commercially brilliant album, but a wonderfully-received tour as well (while those pop artists, who dominated the charts, were having difficulty selling out shows).

Many people praise "Million Dollar Hotel". I enjoy some songs, but to be candid, I find it very similar to The Passengers work - some moments of brilliance and a lot of self-indulgence with music far too estoeric for me to personally appreciate.

If JT, AB and ATYCLB are U2's attempts at being "mainstream" then I say more power to them. Because whenever they make these attempts, I find oustanding work that will have an eduring appeal. In contrast, when U2 tends to be too "arty" for the sake of just being different, their work at best is refreshing (from the perspective of seeing a big band like U2 produce these more "experimental" tracks) and at worst is quickly forgotten.

Unlike many fans on this forum who suddenly have this strong, inexplicable dislike for ATYCLB, I found it a brilliant album, well-deserving of all the accolades it has received. I can only hope that U2 continue to challenge themselves - to produce work that is accessible to the mainstream public, but is still clearly something that only U2 could produce.

 

[wertsie]

Unlike many fans on this forum who suddenly have this strong, inexplicable dislike for ATYCLB, I found it a brilliant album, well-deserving of all the accolades it has received. I can only hope that U2 continue to challenge themselves - to produce work that is accessible to the mainstream public, but is still clearly something that only U2 could produce.

Well-said!

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

Unlike many fans on this forum who suddenly have this strong, inexplicable dislike for ATYCLB

hey now. i wasn't a member when it came out, but on my first listen, i was like .

to each his own, though. while i don't agree with what people say about it (and i know that's only my opinion), i'll still never understand why critics call it a throw-back to their earlier sound.

 

[Blacksword]

I rememeber my first listen it was on Halloween of that year. And it was the scariest thing I saw or heard that night.....

But as I have said I consider it a good album but I find it lackluster compared to others. If I had to rank U2 albums I'd put it somewhere in the middle: JT AB Zooropa at the top followed closely by POP and R&H then ATYCLB, Unforgettable Fire followed by War, Boy and October.

As to Jt and AB being mainstream I most certainly never said that. I have to spend excruciating moments tryign to show people how non mainstream those albums were withing their contexts. Any great album once it's singles ahve been played forever sounds mainstream. But no one ever looks at context these days.

 

[dizzy]

Yeah, I do feel that U2's best days are behind them.

 

[One Tree Still]

DoctorWho - I think you misunderstood what I was saying - or maybe I wasn't clear.

I totally agree that JT and AB were NOT mainstream albums when they were released - that's what made them so good. In fact, they were so good, they became the mainstream because other bands went for that sound (not so much with AB), and fans jumped on the U2 bandwagon with those albums.

 

[Saracene]

I don't see how anyone could say that JT and AB are -not- mainstream albums. JT's case may be arguable, but even before its release U2 were already playing to the huge crowds. And surely no one cannot suggest that, by the time of AB, U2 were not firmly placed into the mainstream superstardom and weren't a mainstream band. A unique, intensely original band, sure, but there has always been a place for bands like that in the mainstream despite the fact that most of it is interchangeable slush. "Mainstream" doesn't always have to be a dirty word.

And I'm curious, One Tree Still: what bands exactly do you mean when you say that other bands went for the sound of JT and, to lesser extent, AB?

 

[stagman]

I think what matters most is how they play live!!!
Elevation seriously kicked arse!!!!
I can't see the next tour being too much different!! Can't wait!!!!!! And they'd better come to Oz this time.


By the way the Aussie Dollar is now very close to 60c US, the highest in almost a decade and seems to be only getting better, so there is hope yet!!

 

[One Tree Still]

Saracene -

I probably made too specific a statement with regards to saying other bands imitated the JT sound.

I think what I meant was that JT seemed to usher in a more organic sound in pop rock music. I know that the "organic" sound has always been around, but in the mid-to-late 80s, pop music was primarily about big guitar solos and crappy R&B.

Against that backdrop, JT was so fresh - and I think it made a huge difference in the successes of bands like REM and the like (Counting Crows, Gin Blossoms, Toad the Wet Sprocket, BoDeans, etc).

AB was less of a marker, but may have opened some eyes and ears to the "industrial" genre (I realize AB isn't industrial in the sense that NIN is, but it was a radical departure from JT and R&H and probably didn't hurt the genre).

I don't even know if I'm making sense.

 

[Salome]

And surely no one cannot suggest that, by the time of AB, U2 were not firmly placed into the mainstream superstardom and weren't a mainstream band. A unique, intensely original band, sure, but there has always been a place for bands like that in the mainstream despite the fact that most of it is interchangeable slush. "Mainstream" doesn't always have to be a dirty word.

I completely agree

but I don't think ATYCLB is a commercial sell out either
so what do I know