The 'Hit' by Each Album

[Screwtape2]

Boy: An Cat Dubh (captures both the moodiness and anger of the album)

October: Is That All? (captures the atmosphere and religious content)

War: Like A Song... (captures the loud, bombastic and political content)

The Unforgettable Fire: Elvis Presley & America (captures the atmosphere and momentum of the album)

The Joshua Tree: One Tree Hill (the closest to the marriage of beautiful atmospheric music and the darker tendencies of the album)

Rattle & Hum: I Still Haven't Found (live) (captures the American roots of the album)

Achtung Baby: Acrobat (captures the dark and emotive sound of the album)

Zooropa: Lemon (captures the bizarre and hard to categorize quality of the album)

Pop: Wake Up Dead Man (captures the uncertainty and dark quality of the album)

All That You Can't Leave Behind: In A Little While (captures the mostly poppy and commerical sound of the album)

How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb: A Man and A Woman (captures the more personal nature of the album as well as the rough sound of the record)

No Line on the Horizon: Get On Your Boots (is reflective of the album's uncertainty of what it wants to be)

 

[LuckyNumber7]

No Line on the Horizon: Get On Your Boots (is reflective of the album's uncertainty of what it wants to be)

 

[Chill Mike D]

I guess I'm interpreting this exercise to mean which songs I feel best represent the album as a whole, both lyrically and musically, as opposed to what the biggest hit is on each album:

I Will Follow
Gloria
New Year's Day
Bad
With Or Without You
Desire
Zoo Station
Lemon
MOFO
Beautiful Day
Original Of The Species
No Line On The Horizon

 

[theedgeu2]

Going by sound.

'Boy' - I Will Follow
'October' - Gloria
'War' - Sunday Bloody Sunday
'The Unforgettable Fire' - A Sort Of Homecoming
'The Joshua Tree' - Where the Streets Have No Name
'Rattle and Hum' - All I Want Is You
'Achtung Baby' - The Fly
'Zooropa' - Zooropa
'Pop' - Do You Feel Loved
'All That You Can't Leave Behind' - Walk On
'How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb' - Vertigo
'No Line On The Horizon' - I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight

Tough on Zooropa and Pop.

 

[nielsgov]

Crazy Tonight for NLOTH?

 

[trevgreg]

Crazy Tonight for NLOTH?

That's not far off if you're thinking from a public standpoint. Many of them only heard the singles through that Blackberry commercial! Maybe not the whole song itself, but you get what I'm saying.

In fact, here's my guess at what the public thinks of first in terms of songs from the albums, in general:

Boy: I Will Follow
October: Gloria (if any)
War: Sunday Bloody Sunday
The Unforgettable Fire: Pride
The Joshua Tree: With or Without You
Rattle & Hum: Desire
Achtung Baby: Mysterious Ways
Zooropa: Stay... maybe Lemon
Pop: Discotheque... maybe Staring at the Sun
All That You Can't Leave Behind: Beautiful Day (duh)
How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb: Vertigo (duh again)
No Line on the Horizon: I'll Go Crazy

 

[pcfitz80]

I dissagree. I think it fits in. The change in Edge's guitar style from War to UF is one of the things that define that album. the guitar on Pride sounds pretty similar to other songs on the album such as Wire, even though the song is different. You really think Pride would have fit better on another album? Besides would you rather that the whole UF album be filled with songs like the 4th of July?

I'm fairly positive that anyone who thinks Pride accurately represents The Unforgettable Fire has never heard The Unforgettable Fire. Perhaps the version U2 remembers.

 

[allbecauseofu2]

the studio version of bad dosn;t define TUF for me. But the live version (s) of bad ,define U2.

 

[nielsgov]

That's not far off if you're thinking from a public standpoint. Many of them only heard the singles through that Blackberry commercial! Maybe not the whole song itself, but you get what I'm saying.

In fact, here's my guess at what the public thinks of first in terms of songs from the albums, in general:

It's already been discussed in this thread and I think you're supposed to mention the songs that represent each album best, not the most well known song which is very obvious in most cases.

 

[trevgreg]

It's already been discussed in this thread and I think you're supposed to mention the songs that represent each album best, not the most well known song which is very obvious in most cases.

Ah... forgive me for missing that then! The title said "hit", and these song threads and their rules are getting me mixed up as of late.

Let's redo mine then based on what you said...

Boy: An Cat Dubh
October: October
War: Two Hearts Beat as One
TUF: A Sort of Homecoming
The Joshua Tree: One Tree Hill
Rattle & Hum: Angel of Harlem
Achtung Baby: The Fly
Zooropa: title track
Pop: Last Night on Earth
ATYCLB: Beautiful Day
HTDAAB: City of Blinding Lights
NLOTH: title track

 

[nielsgov]

Ah... forgive me for missing that then! The title said "hit", and these song threads and their rules are getting me mixed up as of late.

It's all good you know. It's possible to interpretate the title in your own way, I just think it's more interesting to discuss which songs represent the album best in sound because you can actually discuss about that. If it's about the hits then every list is pretty much the same.

 

[U2girl]

Boy: IWF
October: Gloria
War: SBS
UF: UF
JT: I still haven't found...
Rattle and Hum: Desire
AB: MW
Zooropa: too hard to pick
Pop: Discotheque
ATYCLB: Walk on
HTDAAB: COBL
NLOTH: NLOTH