Ranking U2's Albums: Best to worst - Slate.com

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1. Zooropa
2. Pop
3. Achtung Baby
4. Unforgettable Fire
5. Joshua Tree
6. Passengers
7. Boy
8. All That You Can't Leave Behind
9. No Line On The Horizon
10. War
11. How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
12. October
13. Rattle & Hum

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1 The Joshua Tree
2 The Unforgetable Fire
3 Achtung Baby
4 Zooropa
5 Boy
6 Pop
7 War
8 October
9 Rattle & Hum
10 No Line On The Horizon
11 All That You Can`t Leave Behind
12 How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb

And if we count Passengers - Original Soundtracks, that one would come after October
 
Even if it's not my #1, I'd like to say: kudos to the ones putting 'Zooropa' at #1.
 
Zoo Lemon said:
Even if it's not my #1, I'd like to say: kudos to the ones putting 'Zooropa' at #1.
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Over the years it's actually become my #1 album by any band. Pop a close 2nd. Both albums really shaped my taste in music when growing up.

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Zooropa is my favorite U2 album and, more impressively, top 5 by any band. Its flaws make it that much more compelling.
 
Zooropa is not my favorite U2 album, but it's a really close second (after Achtung Baby) to me. Such a masterpiece.
 
Sad to see what the band thinks of Zooropa now:

Bono - "I thought of Zooropa at the time as a work of genius. I really thought our pop discipline was matching our experimentation and this was our Sgt. Pepper. I was a little wrong about that. The truth is our pop disciplines were letting us down. We didn't create hits. We didn't quite deliver the songs. And what would Sgt. Pepper be without the pop songs?"

Edge - "The songs are not classics but they are more experimental and interesting than classic pop songs. This is something we don't necessarily care to do anymore. We don't go down the road with a piece of music just because it's unusual. That's not enough for us now. We want something that's potent and some of these songs are not particularly potent. I never thought of Zooropa as anything more than an interlude... but a great one, as interludes go. By far our most interesting."
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At least Adam still loves it:

"It's an odd record and a favourite of mine."
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U2 have grown foolish in their old age. There are acts out there with that Zooropa spirit intact and I tend to be more excited about their new material.
 
Those quotes just serve as a reminder how far they're up their ass these days.

Since we're ranking:

1. Achtung Baby
2. The Joshua Tree
3. Pop
4. Zooropa
5. The Unforgettable Fire
6. War
7. October
8. Boy
9. Rattle and Hum
10.Passengers
11.No Line on the Horizon
12.How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
13.All That You Can't Leave Behind
 
Nick66 said:
All those quotes are actually quite old, circa 2005 I believe.
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Yea they're from U2 by U2, but I'm pretty sure they're still representative of their approach to music today. Today's U2 doesn't want the next Unforgettable Fire or Zooropa, they want the next Atomic Bomb.
 
Achtung Baby 9,6
Zooropa 9,6
The Joshua Tree 9,3
Boy 8,7
The Unforgettable Fire 8,5
Pop 7,8
October 7,6
War 7,3
How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb 7,2
No Line On The Horizon 7,2
Rattle And Hum 6,7
All That You Can't Leave Behind 6,5
 
youarenotimmune said:
Yea they're from U2 by U2, but I'm pretty sure they're still representative of their approach to music today. Today's U2 doesn't want the next Unforgettable Fire or Zooropa, they want the next Atomic Bomb.
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They did play the title track on the last tour. That must count for something.
 
digitize said:
They did play the title track on the last tour. That must count for something.
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Yeah, but it was edited and the first time the band played anything from that album since 1993. The absence of Dirty Day during their rockist phase is mystifying.

Bono understood Zooropa in 1993. It is their Sgt Pepper's. It's a brillaint experimental pop record, and I think their pop instincts were stronger on that record than they have been since. The melodies are their strongest, and it's overflowing with musical hooks. Each album since has had fewer hooks, and they've been less strong.

Zooropa is also more pop that Sgt Pepper. What pop songs is Bono referring to? A Day In The Life aka the Birth of Prog? Help From My Friends? Not all that poppy, and not exactly the best song on the album. LSD? Anthemic, but not as pop as half of Zooropa.

They didn't have this kind of hits they were after because it was so different from everything else that was going on, particularly in North America. It was quite a shock, hearing Lemon after songs by the Pumpkins, STP, Pearl Jam, and Collective Soul on the radio and video channels.

I believe Zooropa-the-album to be one of the greatest pieces of music in Western history. But the guys who made is determine artistic success by commercial performance, and they're professional part-time artists, so what do I know.
 
The original article was an interesting read. I pretty much agree with his list more or less... except for that odd comment about Hold Me Thrill Me (which is a brilliant song!) and also, I would have ranked Pop higher.

It is very difficult to do a full ranking but I will say that the following albums are the absolute cream of the crop for me when it comes to U2:

Achtung Baby
The Joshua Tree
Pop
Zooropa
Boy
The Unforgettable Fire

I have to add that I have a lot of respect for the Passengers project and consider it the most bold and exciting thing that they have ever done. But I cannot remember the last time I listened the second half of that album, that is everything from Ito Okashi and down.

Also... an honourable shoutout to No Line On The Horizon, a truly interesting comeback album harkening back to Zooropa and UF days.
 
ImOuttaControl said:
Stay? The First Time? The Wanderer?


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Sorry, I meant the full band hadn't played anything from the album since 1993. The Wanderer wasn't played at a U2 show so I don't count it.

Musikwala said:
I have to add that I have a lot of respect for the Passengers project and consider it the most bold and exciting thing that they have ever done. But I cannot remember the last time I listened the second half of that album, that is everything from Ito Okashi and down.
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I agree that it drops off pretty drastically in the second half. I always listen to the whole album, but the music that follows Corpse is fairly unremarkable ambient music. Elvis Ate America is a bit irritating (and the only time I've ever heard a white artist use the N word!), and Theme From 'Let's Go Native' doesn't fit at all. Still, it's a perfect album for me up to the first ten songs.

Here's One Minute Warning for anyone who hasn't heard it for a while. It's incredible. Edge and Larry do some amazing things on it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tan_i7Z8RGo
 
Hollow Island said:
Sorry, I meant the full band hadn't played anything from the album since 1993. The Wanderer wasn't played at a U2 show so I don't count it.
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Perhaps you should send them your list with conditions before the next tour.

360 Tour already focused more on the 90s than on either of the other 2 decades. But maybe it doesn't count until they play a full band version of Ito Okashi
 
Salome said:
Perhaps you should send them your list with conditions before the next tour.



360 Tour already focused more on the 90s than on either of the other 2 decades. But maybe it doesn't count until they play a full band version of Ito Okashi
Click to expand...


But acoustic Ito Okashi...
 
Salome said:
Perhaps you should send them your list with conditions before the next tour.

360 Tour already focused more on the 90s than on either of the other 2 decades. But maybe it doesn't count until they play a full band version of Ito Okashi
Click to expand...

What to do with snark and straw men...
 
Salome said:
What to do with people posting nonsense and then ducking the issue?

How much 90s material do they have to play until you consider it enough?
Click to expand...

OK, maybe you should learn to read before posting again.

I never said anything about them not playing enough 90s stuff. I was referring explicitly to songs from Zooropa and using the fact that they play very little from it - three songs from 1997 onwards, and only one with the full band - to illustrate that they are not overly fond of it.

More facts:

on the 360 tour they played at least one Zooropa song at 35% of the shows, Neither were part of the average set.

on the Vertigo tour, they played one song from Zooropa at 20% of the shows.

on the Elevation tour they played one song from Zooropa at 42% of the shows.

on Popmart they played nothing from Zooropa.

Since 1998, 25% of U2 have featured a song from Zooropa. It is uncommon for them to play songs from that album, and they play material from that album as a band so rarely it's statistically insignificant (6% since 1998).

Is that clear now?
 
They did play Stay, Zooropa and The Wanderer from Zooropa on the last tour, but that was probably because of the re-release of Achtung and Zooropa. The band's attitude in the last decade does seem to be indicative of placing Atomic Bomb as their de-facto template, and shying away from the more experimental flavors found on TUF, Zooropa and Pop.
 
They didn't play the Wanderer on 360, they teased it. It was basically a snippet, a cameo.

It's neither good or bad for them to not play much from Zooropa, but it's a fact that it's an album that doesn't get much attention. It makes sense, too. Its songs wouldn't have fit in with the material they were promoting in 2001 and 2005, though a rocked up Daddy's Gonna Pay would be pretty sweet.
 
It actually makes me sad how underrated Zooropa is (not on this forum, but the rest of the world). Over time it's become my second favorite after Joshua Tree. It's experimental as all Hell, and even has a heart. Yes, to all the naysayers, this album packs emotion if you give it a chance. I find Lemon to be quite the emotional song. As well as The First Time and Dirty Day. And Stay is the best straight up love song they've ever done, made better by its otherworldly production, which transcends it above being just a love song. And the 2nd half of the title track? It's like the Where The Streets Have No Name of the 90's! And Daddy's Gonna Pay? U2 meets industrial meets club music? The sick ass guitar solo on Some Days? An arcade sounding bass backing up Johnny Cash? How could anyone not love this album?
 
ozeeko said:
It actually makes me sad how underrated Zooropa is (not on this forum, but the rest of the world). Over time it's become my second favorite after Joshua Tree. It's experimental as all Hell, and even has a heart. Yes, to all the naysayers, this album packs emotion if you give it a chance. I find Lemon to be quite the emotional song. As well as The First Time and Dirty Day. And Stay is the best straight up love song they've ever done, made better by its otherworldly production, which transcends it above being just a love song. And the 2nd half of the title track? It's like the Where The Streets Have No Name of the 90's! And Daddy's Gonna Pay? U2 meets industrial meets club music? The sick ass guitar solo on Some Days? An arcade sounding bass backing up Johnny Cash? How could anyone not love this album?
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Well, upon the Achtung Baby 20 year re-release, it was U2 themselves who relegated Zooropa to a mere bonus disc of extra material, as if Zooropa was for them just a passible EP like Wide Awake In America or so.
To me, not only it's their best album - teaming with Achtung Baby - but also the album whose songs best stood the test of time. What I mean is that most Zooropa songs could've been released today (even by any forgettable indie band) and it would sound perfectly current, something modern - as much as I love most U2 catalogue, I can't say the same about 80 or so of U2's oldest repertoire, even if I still love it.

To me, that says a lot about how U2 see themselves, but also about what they want for their future.
 
1- Achtung Baby
2- Joshua Tree
3- Pop
4- Zooropa
5- ATYCLB
6- Bomb
7- Rattle and Hum
8- NLOTH
9- Unforgettable Fire
10- War
11- Boy
12- Passengers
13- October
 
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