“One” greatest record?

[Neenie]

I remember about two years back reading that "One" is the best song ever recorded according to Q-magazine's 1001 best songs. I just found the link on the BBC site here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3281327.stm

I'm not sure how much credibility this rating had, but it made papers everywhere and it confused me why they choose "one". Because I wouldn't even consider it U2's "best" song, let alone the best song ever recorded. Do you think "One" is U2's best? What song would you choose as u2's best? Just thought I'd ask

 

[God Part III]

Never in a million years.


Zooropa is their best track ever.

 

[Aardvark747]

Heartland

 

[Zooropean103]

Red Light

 

[Aardvark747]

^I forgot about that one....

 

[Aardvark747]

This was the top 10 from this Mag...

1. U2 - One
2. Aretha Franklin - I Say a Little Prayer
3. Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
4. The Beatles - A Day in the Life
5. Elvis Presley - In the Ghetto
6. Eminem - My Name Is
7. Radiohead - Creep
8. Destiny's Child - Independent Women
9. Oasis - Live Forever
10. Ike and Tina Turner - River Deep Mountain High

Eminem and Destiny's Child are in there....what a joke.

 

[Zooropean103]

Don't forget about wild honey also!!!

 

[Aardvark747]

^I love Wild Honey

 

[Irishteen]

One is my favourite song of all time, and therefore favourite U2 song

 

[Numb1075]

One is a gift from the heavens

 

[MsMofoGone]

I'd say these three are pretty great ...

New Year's Day

Mofo

Gone

 

[U2Girl1978]

New Years Day
Until The End of The World
The Fly
Acrobat
Please

I could go on and on...

 

[gareth brown]

I'd sooner put Zooropa/Lemon in One's place...but I can see WHY One would top the list.

 

[Vincent Vega]

My favourite is Where the Streets Have no Name, but One also is really great.
How comes that Eminiem is in the top ten? I mean, that song is awful and monotonous. Really sad.

 

[Niceman]

One isn't even the best song on Actung baby!

The Fly is.

 

[bono_gal]

My dad *a very wise man*

He used to say Bad was U2's best ever song...after repeatedly listening to "One"...he changed his mind.



I think it is an amazing song....both musically and lyrically



It's kinda impossible to call my favourite song...but Achtung Baby, is by far the best album...in my opinion

 

[POP-ROMANCER]

My name is - Eminem ??????????????

Yeah....... that's one of the best 10 songs ever made !!!

And no, one isn't u2's best. I'd say The Fly, serious.

 

[Nisse]

def. not but that list blows anyway.

 

[Utoo]

One is probably the song that had the most social impact on America at the time. Still, I wouldn't say it's their best.

Bono's said that when they play Streets, God walks in the room.

To me, nothing can beat Bad....with Streets a close second. I love so many of their other songs, but those two will live on forever.

 

[U2Man]

This was the top 10 from this Mag...

1. U2 - One
2. Aretha Franklin - I Say a Little Prayer
3. Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
4. The Beatles - A Day in the Life
5. Elvis Presley - In the Ghetto
6. Eminem - My Name Is
7. Radiohead - Creep
8. Destiny's Child - Independent Women
9. Oasis - Live Forever
10. Ike and Tina Turner - River Deep Mountain High

 

[Utoo]

Hehehe. Exactly! Eminem, Oasis, Nirvana----top ten best recorded ever???!? They didn't even pick the right Beatles or Aretha Franklin songs. Looks like this list was put together by one person, checked over by one editor, and made it to print.

 

[Joshua87]

Nope. That would be a tie between Bad and In My Time of Dying

 

[U2DMfan]

One is probably U2's best studio recording, so in that sense it's their best song, I'd say Pride on the album is probably 2nd right behind it. Pride however has suffered over the years from really underwhelming live performances. Going all the way back to 1988, you can hear slow, chugging along versions of the song that couldn't lick the sweat off the balls of the original.

Other songs like Bad took life from their live performances, believe it or not the album version of Bad is not particularly great. It is very good but the live versions far surpass the album version, not in the case of One.

However, 20, 30, 40 years from now, the song everyone will remember U2 for, the song that they nail everytime, that they will play live at every show since the song was written. Is Streets. It's their best song and objectively as possible, I think it's universally considered so. With respect to one of my personal favorite tracks Zooropa or others mentioned, really Streets is in a league of it's own.

So that is my opinion, One is their best studio song (album) and Streets is their best song period. Bad is probably somewhere in between the two, maybe their best live song.

 

[U2Man]

I'd say Streets is their best live song, too.

 

[SiW87]

This was the top 10 from this Mag...

1. U2 - One
2. Aretha Franklin - I Say a Little Prayer
3. Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
4. The Beatles - A Day in the Life
5. Elvis Presley - In the Ghetto
6. Eminem - My Name Is
7. Radiohead - Creep
8. Destiny's Child - Independent Women
9. Oasis - Live Forever
10. Ike and Tina Turner - River Deep Mountain High

Eminem and Destiny's Child are in there....what a joke.

Pretty difficult to take a ranking seriously and accurately when those songs are on there.

 

[LMP]

The Fly

 

[tommycharles]

I think One is probably U2's best recording...and up there with Live Forever as my favorite song of all time. The fact that they're musically quite similar is interesting though.

 

[XHendrix24]

Streets shits all over One. But this discussion has been had many times before.

Oh, and A Day In The Life is the definitive Beatles song and deserves a spot on the list.

Most of those picks are jokes, though. I mean, honestly. Yick.

 

[Badyouken]

I think One is probably U2's best recording...and up there with Live Forever as my favorite song of all time. The fact that they're musically quite similar is interesting though.

How are they musically similar?

I love both songs but I don't see any obvious similarity between the two.

 

[SiW87]

Unbiased, accuate, and in all seriousness, I think Bad and/or Streets are U2's greatest song's. Although, from a personal standpoint, Miracle Drug is by far the best.