Even Better Than the Real Thing: Achtung Baby's Most Unrated Track?

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OrARoundabout

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(Hey, we got some time to kill)

Whenever you guys talk about your "favorite tracks" off of Achtung Baby...many fail to mention EBTTRT.

Not only is it one of my favorite U2 songs :reject: I firmly believe it is one of the best songs off of the album! (But don't get me wrong...it's not one of their "best" tunes...if that makes any sense?) Some great lyrics, a kick ass baseline by Mr. Clayton, and Edge's brilliant guitar...the sounds emanating from that thing, I've never heard anything quite like that...

Does anybody here share any love for EBTTRT? (Or do you all prefer "The Perfecto Mix"...cause that charted better)

FROM WHAT I'VE HEARD, IT WAS GREAT LIVE!

One of their best videos, may I add...if you have epilepsy you should refrain from clicking the play button

YouTube - U2 - even better than the real thing
"Slide down the surface of things"
 
I've always liked it.
I don't think it's one of their very best songs but I do think it is certainly one of their very best catchy singles.

And the video is probably their best as far as I'm concerned, Godley FTW.
 
WOW! It's been a very long time since I watched that video and I had almost forgot two things. One, how awesome the song is and two, what a fantastic video! Thanks for posting this! :wave:
 
This song is indeed under-appreciated. It was my favorite song for a while, upon my first ever listen to Achtung Baby.
 
Yeah pretty much everything about this song is great... slide guitar solo, 12 string guitar, great bass part, high vocal notes... I really hope they play it on the new tour!
 
EBTTRT was the first U2 song I heard after I became a fan.I remember in the summer of 1992 watching this video on MTV when they actually played music videos and mixed up the styles not just rap and reality shows.Pauly Shore where are you.LOL.I actually think that Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses is the most underrated song on this album though.Second would probably be EBTTRT.
 
Like all of the album, it's amazing; however, it's slightly less amazing than many of the others but slightly more amazing than "Who's Gonna Ride".
 
I agree that it IS very underrated, but I wouldn't call it U2's best or the best song from Achtung Baby. No way!
 
Nice freudian slip on the thread title.

My least favorite on the album. Probably the most shallow, and the least interesting from a musical perspective.

Having said that, I still like it a lot.
 
Nice freudian slip on the thread title.

My least favorite on the album. Probably the most shallow, and the least interesting from a musical perspective.

Having said that, I still like it a lot.


I don't find it shallow in the least. You gotta read between the lines. Clearly there's a point Bono is making with a line like "we'll slide down the surface of things." It's about the rave scene, a scene of instant gratification and not stopping to dwell on what's happening, just going with the experience. It's a glam song that sounds like a dancing good time but has a pretty sarcastic darker message when you listen closer. It's a song about not thinking. It's ironic.

Plus, it has probably one of the top 5 Edge solos of all time.
 
I know it's ironic, and I get what it's about. I've been listening to this album since the night it came out, and it's my favorite of all time.

It's still the most shallow song on the album.
 
I know it's ironic, and I get what it's about. I've been listening to this album since the night it came out, and it's my favorite of all time.

It's still the most shallow song on the album.

Shallow in what way? I don't think any of the AB songs are shallow, but if i had to choose what songs come to closest, they'd have to be WGRYWH and UV(LMW).
 
This is always in my U2 top 10, great great song and a great great video.
Definitely one of the coolest songs they've ever recorded.
 
Great album track ruined by Larry using his pots and pans again :doh: Honestly the drums should be driving a song like that, not deep in the depths of the mix.
 
:applaud:

Glad to see to see this thread :D I love this song it is one of my top 5 on the album. It is a great song and that video, it's been a while, that shiny black vinyl suit :lol: but it was so cool back then!

And I can't help it but Bono is just extra sexy in this era :love: :reject::wink::drool: ( I know we are not in Pleba, but I just had to say it)
 
Love this song... I hear shades of it in Magnificent these days.

I would say it's more "under mentioned" rather than “under appreciated" though. Pretty much all of AB is loved.

If anything I would say So Cruel and TTTYAATW are less appreciated, hell, even UTEOW generates very little talk around here imo...
 
It is indeed an underrated song. Achtung Baby was just a great album, and everything on that album was amazing and belonged there. (Even So Cruel) And the music videos they made for this album were all great. This really was U2's highest peak. I wish I could put 91-'93 on repeat. :up:
 
Shallow in what way? I don't think any of the AB songs are shallow, but if i had to choose what songs come to closest, they'd have to be WGRYWH and UV(LMW).

I don't think any of them are very shallow, but EBTTRT is just all-around the least substantial song for me. A combination of the trite lyrics (regardless of their deeper meaning), the relative un-inventiveness of the music, and the not-very-stirring chorus.

Yes, Wild Horses is simply a mournful love song, but the music is a lot denser, and the lyrics are a lot more poetic and unique.

Ultraviolet is probably my second least favorite on the album, because by the time you hit track 10 it sounds rather derivative of other sounds you've already heard. But the emotion puts it over the top for me.
 
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