DevilsShoes
War Child
I think they were, after all the band managed to produce 6 albums during that time and only 3 in the nineties. Of course most of this was driven by desperation, financial neccessity was the main reason. Up until the Unforgettable Fire the band were deeply in debt to Island and so had no choice but to keep churning out albums and going on tour every year. I think it was for the best, if there had been a three to four year gap between albums as there is now, who knows the amount of classics we would have missed out on. So much of U2's song writing is instinctive and almost by accident, Bono used to dislike writing lyrics and often used to improvise on the mike, same with the band, sometimes long jams and because they didn't really know what they were doing, produced some great inspirational moments, which may not have existed if they hadn't been in the studio so much. It also makes me think what we may have lost in the nineties with the band no longer dictated to by the same urgency. We all know the story of how One just seemed to fall from the sky into their laps when things weren't going well, and wouldn't what other modern classics may have emerged? I think the eighties material still stands as their strongest output. I mean what was produced during these 10 years still forms to backbone of their live shows today, just look at the number of songs which have gone onto become fan favourites and that the band continue to play to this day: I Will Follow, 11 O Clock Tick Tock, Out of Control, Gloria, Sunday Bloody Sunday, New Years Day, 40, Pride, Bad, MLK, Streets, Still havent Found, With or Without You, Bullet the Blue Sky, Running to Stand Still, One Tree Hill, Desire, Angel of Harlem and All I Want Is You. Of the nineties tunes which have managed to survive, its only really Acthung Baby which is still represented in concert: Zoo Station, Even Better, One, end of the World, Wild Horses (occassionally), Fly and Mysterious Ways. Zooropa only has Stay, and Pop only really has Staring at the sun and maybe Gone. The nineties may be a more popular decade with the fans, but the I think the eighties were more important.