What's the most surprising sound you ever heard on U2 albums?

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U2girl

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Be it drums/guitar/bass/synthesizers/effects, off the top of your head, what sound did make you go "wow" and really took you by surprise?


To me, it's probably the growling, thick sound of Edge's guitar at the start of Zoo Station. Even now, after hearing other albums it's still that particular sound.
 
The bass and rhythm of Some Days... and Lemon are so removed from what people think U2 are

But hearing the Zoo Station opener was like WOW! Live is even better. One of the first things that got me into the band was seeing Bono's entrance during that track. Pure performance
 
Sicy said:
That annoying irritating sound at the end of the Zooropa CD :|

:yes:

If you're looking for a good surprise ... The opening guitar on Gone and Zoo Station; the simplicity of the guitar on WOWY
 
How 'bout that annoying sound on "Love Rescue Me".

Oh wait, that was Bob Dylan.

JUST KIDDING!! IT'S JUST A JOKE!! PLEASE DON'T FLAME ME!!

Love ya Bob!
 
That strange whirring sound on Numb. I heard it was Edge's walkman rewinding ...
 
Probably 'Numb'. I bought Zooropa (which happened to be my first U2 album) because of that song. The guitars and lyrics seemed really different/cool to me.
 
The keyboard/piano sound with the 16-beat drum intro to Stuck In A Moment. Anyone hearing that intro won't think it's U2.

Cheers,

J
 
I remember it well.

Sitting in the parking lot in my friends car, he mentions to me that U2 has a new song on the radio and that he had heard it the previous day.

My response was "No way, how could I have not heard of a brand new song from U2 being played on the radio" I had no idea they were even recording.

At that VERY moment, he said "yeah man, and he paused for a second and turned up the radio, and honest to God, he said "this is it!!!!" I said "No way!! really? It took me about a minute to confirm that it was U2, definitely something I had not heard from them.

So strange, but absolutely true, imagine if that were to happen to you, it was quite orgasmic, to have new U2 thrown at me from virtually nowhere.

It took me the minute to recognize Edge singing (or chanting), at the time I wasn't sure if it was Edge, but I thought it was.

Of course the song turned out to be Numb, this was a month or so before Zooropa came out.

What's funny is that they were playing this song the extremely mainstream rock station in town. Ya know, the station that AC/DC and Def Leppard fans listen to. It totally didn't fit, but at that time alt rock was infiltrating the airwaves of shit rock, so it wasn't a complete shock.

I actually heard Mofo on the radio before 'Pop' came out. Needless to say I was blown away by the sound of that song. To this day one of my top 20-25 U2 songs.

So, Numb, Mofo and Zoo Station were defintely my top 3 as far as being surprised by a sound.

I also remember hearing Discotheque on that same radio station on the way to work late one night, and I was pretty shocked by that. I'd add Lemon after hearing Zooropa broadcast in full the week before it came out. So that's my top 5.

1. Numb (because of the circumstances when I first heard it)
2. Zoo Station
3. Mofo
4. Discotheque
5. Lemon
 
Sicy said:
That annoying irritating sound at the end of the Zooropa CD :|
:lmao:

for me, i'd say it would be the opening notes of "discotheque." when i first saw the video premiere, i was like, "what is this?" at the time i'd had all their previous stuff, but nothing they'd done sounded like it.
 
Hello,

I have a few of these moments. Maybe they're not all that surprising musically, but they are moment during which I think 'Wow!'

- The choral part in Beautiful Day (around the 2:45 mark): pure genius
- The first guitar riff in Zooropa, not sounding like a guitar after all
- The phasing in If God Will Send His Angels, always love the whooshes
- The intro of Mofo (and the sound just before the drumbeats start)
- The moment the sequencer goes into overdrive on Where The Streets Have No Name. After all these years it still doesn't fail me giving a positivity boost :up:

C ya!

Marty
 
When I first got Zooropa home and listened to the first sounds of Zoo Station coming through I just thought "Ooh this is gonna be something new..."
 
Driving home from Peaches back in 91, finally getting the portable CD player to work in my car and the opening riff of Zoo Station blaring through my car. Then, once they hit the chorus, just shouting out at the top of my lungs, "The boys are back!!!"

Next would be sitting in the parking lot of a pool hal lwith a friend and listening to Discotheque premiere on the radio. Blew me away when they hit the 'gospel guitar' in the middle. Sounded like the Edge but from a different planet.

Great stuff.
 
The noises at the beginning of Lemon, and Bono's falsetto 'ah ah ah ah'
 
Sicy said:
That annoying irritating sound at the end of the Zooropa CD :|

:yes:.

Originally posted by Saracene
Bono's operatic wailing in "The Hands..." really took me by surprise.

Same here.

The, uh, noises at the end of "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" also made me raise my eyebrows the first time I heard them.

Angela
 
most surprising sound ever for me will always be the intro + guitar solo of The Fly


at the time I didn't see that one coming in a million years
 
I think ther most surprising and anoying sound I've ever heard is Bono when he goes in an awful off-tune in the Best of 1990-2000 when he sings The Habds That Build America. Not the whole song, just the "on the streets of a new *something something* (I don't remember the lyrics, just that hideous sound)
 
Hearing Johnny's voice on the Wanderer...

Tangent: I absolutely love this song, but I hope someday they release the version with Bono's vocal...
 
Salome said:
most surprising sound ever for me will always be the intro + guitar solo of The Fly


at the time I didn't see that one coming in a million years

I agree whole-heartedly. Not only did I hear the fly as the first introduction to Achtung Baby, it was along with the video. Needless to say I was BLOWN AWAY!
 
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