Was Until The End of the World originally intended to be a single?

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JimmyChicken

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Was Until The End of the World originally intended to be a single?

The reason I'm curious is because I've just watch the Acthung Baby Video. Every other single off the album is there except Whose Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses. This makes me wonder if Until The End of the World was intended as the fifth single at the time the video was collection compiled.

Does anybody actually know?
 
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UTEOTW was featured on the Wim Wenders film of the same title. The images from the music video are taken from the movie. I don't think there were ever plans to release it as a single. It is an incredible video though.
 
I remember when I bought the CD -- originally the sticker on it said, "Featuring MYSTERIOUS WAYS, UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD, and ZOO STATION," which made me wonder if those were going to be the new singles.

Apparently, cooler heads prevailed...
 
Aardvark747 said:
Not sure how well it would have been received as a single...:eyebrow:

yeah, it's an unbelieaveble song, but it's lack of a chorus could kill a lot of it's single-potential
 
UnforgettableLemon said:
It was released as a radio promo single, though. :) Apparently got loads of airplay, too.

:eyebrow:
Didnt know of that. Im sure that was done as another example of how their style had changed since the last record, as if The Fly wasnt enough!
 
I remember that sticker!! I think it was intended to be a single at one time, I think a video was even made for it, but I agree it may not have been as well received as the other songs that became singles were.
Off the note here slightly, but I always wished Ultraviolet had been a single. Not the best song on the album, but it just seemed like that one was made for radio.
 
Aside from the promo CD, there was also a CD cover similar to EBTTRT. It was, by all indications, ready for single release but never happened.

Don't know how the radio reception would have been for this song.
 
UnforgettableLemon said:
It was released as a radio promo single, though. :) Apparently got loads of airplay, too.

This is true. UTEOTW was the first song off AB that I heard on the radio. They were playing it more than The Fly at the time.
 
korczykp said:


yeah, it's an unbelieaveble song, but it's lack of a chorus could kill a lot of it's single-potential

Mmmmm lack of a chorus......not something that can be said about any of the songs on htdaab!:wink:
 
Isn't the video for Until The End of The World on the DVD totally different from the video on the Interference ZooTV videocasette?
 
UTEOTW could have EASILY been a single. The 'it doesn't have a proper chorus!' argument is flat. Neither did WOWY. Neither did One. Case closed. Class dismissed.

-Miggy
 
just funny i saw this thread because WGRZ-NBC just had an ad that aired about their local news during Joey which was playing UTEOTW in the background for some reason :p
 
david said:
Isn't the video for Until The End of The World on the DVD totally different from the video on the Interference ZooTV videocasette?

Yes.
 
Defininately on of their best songs. But I think that it would not be such a single hit.... They way they playde it during Elevation tour was really fantastic
 
Despite not being a single, it made it to #4 on Modern Rock radio in the US, a little higher than Even Better than the Real Thing (#5)and Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses (#7). The Fly, Mysterious Ways and One all made it to #1.
 
It is a classic, the live version has more power but there is no mistaking the superb craft in the studio version. Fuc#ing fantastic lyric.
 
ADecentMelody said:
Aside from the promo CD, there was also a CD cover similar to EBTTRT. It was, by all indications, ready for single release but never happened.

Don't know how the radio reception would have been for this song.

I concur, I saw a promo video which had the 4 AB singles that made the car, and one was for Until The End Of The World. So before the album was released it was going to be one of those 4. They must have changed their mind after the fact.

The promo for the UTEOTW was released after Mysterious Ways but before One. Which would indicate that they were seriously considering releasing it as a single. They may have even floated it as a test market and determined that One would be a better choice to start the tour with. The band almost always selects a song to be released as the tour is getting underway to entice non-U2 fans to buy tickets to it.

On the original CD pressings the Sticker (which I still have :D) only had The Fly and Mysterious Ways on it. The sticker evolved as more singles were released. It is my belief that U2 frequently survey the wind and release singles accordingly and almost always change them.
 
Niceman said:
It was a radio single. I'm proud to even own a copy of it! No B-sides, just the single track. I seem to remember it getting a lot of play too.

Similiar to MoFo!
Many people have insisted (on this board years ago) that it wasn't an official single. But in my area it was released as a radio single and peak at 46 on its first week. Then it disappeared completely. So blink and you'd have missed it.
 
I've never noticed that it doesn't have a chorus:reject: I just know the words and the sound, thats enough for me. It rocks as a cult fan song and a kind of album glue, single or not.
 
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