Rank your favorite songs on Achtung Baby

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bobsaget77

bobsaget77

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I know it's been difficult for many of us to rank SOI, so I thought I'd give it a break and give them an even more difficult ranking. Mine would be...
1. The Fly
2. Ultraviolet
3. So Cruel
4. Love Is Blindness
5. One
6. Wild Horses
7. Even Better Than The Real Thing
8. Mysterious Ways
9. Until The End Of The World
10. Tryin To Throw Your Arms
11. Acrobat
12. Zoo Station

Holy crap...this was list was much harder than I anticipated. I love all of these songs.
*I'm taking studio versions into account only. Or else this list would be much different.


Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference
 
One
The Fly
Mysterious Ways
Until The End Of The World
Even Better Than The Real Thing
Acrobat
Whose gonna ride your wild horses
Ultraviolet (light my way)
So Cruel
Love Is Blindness
Zoo Station
Tryin To Throw Your Arms around the world
 
Tough one, as I find it impossible to rank.

Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
Until the End of the World
Acrobat
The Fly
One
So Cruel
Mysterious Ways
Even Better Than the Real Thing
Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
Love is Blindness
Zoo Station
Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World

I love all of the songs, the album in general is a masterpiece.
 
I just listened to this a couple days ago and was thinking about my rankings. As with any great album, the positions are always in flux, but this is what I've got:

1. One
2. The Fly
3. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
4. Ultraviolet
5. Zoo Station
6. Acrobat
7. Mysterious Ways
8. So Cruel
9. Even Better Than the Real Thing
10. Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World
11. Love Is Blindness
12. Until the End of the World
 
1 Acrobat
2 UTEOTW
3 LIB
4 Fly
5 MW
6 Ultraviolet
7 One
8 Zoo station
9 EBTTRT
10 WGRYWH
11 So Cruel
12 TTTYAATW
 
Shouldn't this thread by in EYKIW? This has nothing to do with the new album...


Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference
 
They don't have the time to check every thread... it would be more useful if people reported these things rather than posting a message. Which is done already for this thread now anyway.

:hmm: Rating AB is kinda hard, though the top 5 is pretty solid. UV has gone up my list since hearing it live on 360 though.

1. Acrobat
2. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
3. Ultra Violet (Sorry Axver :wink: )
4. Love is Blindness
5. Until The End Of The World
6. The Fly
7. Zoo Station
8. Mysterious Ways
9. Even Better Than The Real Thing
10. So Cruel
11. One
12. Trying To Throw Your Arms Around The World
 
Oh goodness, this'll be difficult.

1) Ultraviolet
2) One
3) Until the End of the World
4) Love Is Blindness (tie)
4) Even Better Than the Real Thing (tie)
4) Wild Horses (tie)
4) The Fly (tie)
4) Mysterious Ways (tie)
9) Acrobat
10) Zoo Station
11) Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around the World
12) So Cruel

Every song on this album is great. I honestly couldn't bring myself to break the five-way tie. And the album as a whole is insanely amazing.


Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference
 
Looking at these songs it's pretty clear that SOI isn't a challenger for U2's best album. Solidly second-level U2, and my album of the year though.

the fly
until the end of the world
ultraviolet
so cruel
trying to throw your arms around the world
love is blindness
zoo station
acrobat
mysterious ways
one
real thing
wild horses
 
Taking only the album version into account.

1) Mysterious Ways
2) Love Is Blindness
3) Zoo Station
4) The Fly
5) Until The End Of The World
6) One
7) Even Better Than The Real Thing
8) Ultraviolet
9) Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World
10) Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
11) Acrobat
12) So Cruel
 
One of three U2 records without a single weak song. Consistently strong across the board. And I think it it highlights the difference between the consistently great (and I mean truly great), Achtung Baby, and the merely consistent, Songs of Innocence. Not that SOI isn't a good record, it's a very good one, but vs. AB there's no comparison (and it's not a fair comparison anyway).

And I'm having enough trouble rating SOI, I have no desire to take another stab at this one. :) Though I can say I'd put Zoo Station as the #1 song on this record and their #1 song of the 90's.
 
Nick66 said:
One of three U2 records without a single weak song. Consistently strong across the board. And I think it it highlights the difference between the consistently great (and I mean truly great), Achtung Baby, and the merely consistent, Songs of Innocence. Not that SOI isn't a good record, it's a very good one, but vs. AB there's no comparison (and it's not a fair comparison anyway).

And I'm having enough trouble rating SOI, I have no desire to take another stab at this one. :) Though I can say I'd put Zoo Station as the #1 song on this record and their #1 song of the 90's.
Click to expand...

SOI is a baby, there is no way to truly classify it at this point. In a year's time or so, then I think it's fair to make those sorts of assessments. Right now it's a 'brand' new album.

AB took me a year to appreciate (fully), because it was so different from everything else that had come before it. SOI needs some time to gestate and we need the tour to take these songs to the next level or drop them off (like the 360 Tour did w/the NLOTH songs). Plus the alternative radio station I listen to is playing The Miracle 5 or 6 times a day...a GREAT sign, given all the controversy surrounding this album release...:yes:

AB is still my favorite by a LONG shot...but I think we're jumping the gun on ranking SOI in the canon of U2 albums.
 
Hollow Island said:
Looking at these songs it's pretty clear that SOI isn't a challenger for U2's best album. Solidly second-level U2, and my album of the year though.
Click to expand...

Kind of agree here, nothing will ever break the tier of JT or AB for me, i suppose. Part of it is probably because i wont ever be a kid again discovering u2 the way i was with JT or a young adult with AB. Those times are gone for me. Perhaps a kid today can discover SOI and have a different feeling? Some might have come to age with ATYCLB and hold that treasure dear to their hearts....


Either way, if SOI were made by all but a few select artists, it would be top tier and possibly world beating in their catalog. As a u2 album, it still ranks pretty damn high.
 
Reggie Thee Dog said:
SOI is a baby, there is no way to truly classify it at this point. In a year's time or so, then I think it's fair to make those sorts of assessments. Right now it's a 'brand' new album.

AB took me a year to appreciate (fully), because it was so different from everything else that had come before it. SOI needs some time to gestate and we need the tour to take these songs to the next level or drop them off (like the 360 Tour did w/the NLOTH songs). Plus the alternative radio station I listen to is playing The Miracle 5 or 6 times a day...a GREAT sign, given all the controversy surrounding this album release...:yes:

AB is still my favorite by a LONG shot...but I think we're jumping the gun on ranking SOI in the canon of U2 albums.
Click to expand...

SOI will always be compared to SOE. If SOE is Achtung's baby then watch people dump SOI to the side. If SOE isn't good then the reverse.

What usually happens is when people don't listen to an album for awhile it's not exhausted anymore so people appreciate it in a new light so SOI will go through analysis until it's exhausted by live renditions and older albums will be appreciated more. Then SOE will come out and people will analyze it to death and then the same thing will happen again until we get to the last U2 album when all the albums will get a different take.
 
Reggie Thee Dog said:
SOI is a baby, there is no way to truly classify it at this point. In a year's time or so, then I think it's fair to make those sorts of assessments. Right now it's a 'brand' new album.

AB took me a year to appreciate (fully), because it was so different from everything else that had come before it. SOI needs some time to gestate and we need the tour to take these songs to the next level or drop them off (like the 360 Tour did w/the NLOTH songs). Plus the alternative radio station I listen to is playing The Miracle 5 or 6 times a day...a GREAT sign, given all the controversy surrounding this album release...:yes:

AB is still my favorite by a LONG shot...but I think we're jumping the gun on ranking SOI in the canon of U2 albums.
Click to expand...

Well, all these rankings people are doing for SOI are "assessments"...we can't jump forward into the future, we can only talk about how we feel about it now.

But your point is a good one, and it's one reason I haven't ranked these songs in that thread (and I like every one of them to some extent or another)...I need more time with the record. And while some may rank the record lower because these songs haven't "grown" on us, others may be ranking it higher because of the newness. So I agree it's too early to say.

But still, like your early feelings regarding AB, I don't think there's anything wrong with taking a snapshot regarding how we're feeling now. Right now I like SOI, quite a bit, and would rank it about the middle of their catalogue (which is quite a compliment actually and speaks to how strong and deep U2's catalogue is). Does it have the potential to go up (or down)? Sure. But remember, for every place SOI goes up, another record goes down...and I think most people are moving records like NLOTH down and not TJT, TUF or AB. Is it an enduring work of art that will stand the test of time, or just a really well constructed collection of pop/rock songs that happens to be by U2? For me, it's still too early to say. So while it's a very good record, right now I wouldn't rank it among their all time classics. But part of being a "classic" (a misused word if there ever was one) is that it stands the test of time, and so only time will tell for SOI. Fair enough?
 
Nick66 said:
Well, all these rankings people are doing for SOI are "assessments"...we can't jump forward into the future, we can only talk about how we feel about it now.

But your point is a good one, and it's one reason I haven't ranked these songs in that thread...I need more time with the record. And while some may rank the record lower because these songs haven't "grown" on us, others may be ranking it higher because of the newness. So I agree it's too early to say.

But still, like your early feelings regarding AB, I don't think there's anything wrong with taking a snapshot regarding how we're feeling now. Right now I like SOI, quite a bit, and would rank it about the middle of their catalogue (which is quite a compliment actually and speaks to how strong and deep U2's catalogue is). Does it have the potential to go up (or down)? Sure. But remember, for every place SOI goes up, another record goes down...and I think most people are moving records like NLOTH down and not TJT, TUF or AB. So while it's a very good record, right now I wouldn't rank it among their all time classics. But part of being a "classic" (a misused word if there ever was one) is that it stands the test of time, and so only time will tell for SOI. Fair enough?
Click to expand...

Yes it is, and that is an articulate manner in which to address it...point taken...:up:
 
Nick66 said:
Though I can say I'd put Zoo Station as the #1 song on this record and their #1 song of the 90's.
Click to expand...

I remember listening to Zoo Station when I was in the infancy of my U2 love-affair, and I thought it was the coolest song I'd ever heard.

Fast forward two decades and I still think it's one of the best songs they've ever done.
 
1-Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
2-Mysterious Ways
3-One
4-The Fly
5-Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World
6-Even Better Than The Real Thing
7-Until The End of the World
8-Zoo Station
9-Acrobat
10-Love Is Blindness
11-Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
12-So Cruel

Number 1 through 5 are solid. Haven't changed since I first heard the album.

6-12 are interchangeable. Depends on my mood. Overall though, not a bad song on the album. When I listen to it straight through (Zoo Station to Love is Blindness) I still can't bring myself to skip any songs.
 
Well this is easy.

Exceptional U2 Listening
1. The Fly
2. Acrobat
3. Love Is Blindness

Great U2 Listening
4. Until the End of the World
5. Zoo Station

Good U2 Listening
6. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
7. Even Better Than the Real Thing
8. Mysterious Ways

Terrible U2 Listening
9. Ultra Violet
10. One
11. Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World
12. So Cruel
 
Hummm it's gonna be hard, but here it goes:

Even Better Than The Real Thing
The Fly
One
Zoo Station
Mysterious Ways
Until The End Of The World
Love Is Blindness
Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
Acrobat
Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World
So Cruel
 
Axver said:
Well this is easy.

Exceptional U2 Listening
1. The Fly
2. Acrobat
3. Love Is Blindness

Great U2 Listening
4. Until the End of the World
5. Zoo Station

Good U2 Listening
6. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
7. Even Better Than the Real Thing
8. Mysterious Ways

Terrible U2 Listening
9. Ultra Violet
10. One
11. Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World
12. So Cruel
Click to expand...

I could understand the One, TTTYAATW and UV hatred, but So Cruel? Please explain.
 
I've been trying to think of how I'd rank this album, and it might be impossible. It's like asking me to rank my adopted children.

I'd likely have Ultraviolet at first and some mix of So Cruel, TTTYAATW, and Love is Blindness in the lower three.. But I love those songs, and had even written a college paper on Blindness, so.. I'll have to think a little more.


Sent from my fingertips.
 
Montrose said:
I've been trying to think of how I'd rank this album, and it might be impossible. It's like asking me to rank my adopted children.

I'd likely have Ultraviolet at first and some mix of So Cruel, TTTYAATW, and Love is Blindness in the lower three.. But I love those songs, and had even written a college paper on Blindness, so.. I'll have to think a little more.


Sent from my fingertips.
Click to expand...

college paper on Love Is Blindness? :applaud:

I'm in college now and I really want to do something like this...write a college essay focused on a U2 song or album. What was the topic? I'd love to read it if you'd want to send it to me. :D
 
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