Worst Song U2 has written?

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I probably have a least favorite song on every U2 album - something that just is terrible. "Boy" fortunately is one of the best debut albums ever. However, much on "OCtober" stands out as rather poor.

However, if we skip to JT, "Trip" has always leapt out as almost ruining the album. The irony is that the album needed this song to help break up the monotony of JT.

AB has "UV". Now, there are some great lyrics with UV ("opera in my head"), but the numerous "baby, baby, baby" phrases weakened it for me. Plus, the guitar is too reminiscent of the far superior "Until the End of the World".

"Zooropa" has both "Babyface" and "Some Days...". One of those could have/should have been cut. "Babyface" arguably blends with the theme of the album, but it's kind of sappy.

"Pop" is one of those albums where there seemed a disconnect. But "If God Will Send..." stands out as weak (I abhor Bono belting out, "and the Cartoon Network turns into the news"). I love the "bah bahs" in "Miami" but hate the screaming. But to me, "Playboy Mansion" is just horrid. It's stuck in time due to various references and seems a dramatic departure from Bono's usual poetic writing style.

ATYCLB has many weak songs filling up the second half of the album. No need for both "Grace" and "Peace on Earth", which seem almost the same song.

HTDAAB has one of my least favorite songs ever with "A Man and a Woman". I'm puzzled how some don't like "Love and Peace" or "Yahweh" when that disaster is on the album.

NLOTH is a strong album, but I really could do without "Crazy Tonight". I really like "Stand Up Comedy', but "Crazy Tonight" is just too pop. Fortunately, I love U2's remixed live version.

All told, some crap - but the brilliance always wins out. :love:
 
Of the proper album tracks, I can't abide the following:

Love Rescue Me
Elvis Presley and America

Both 1 star on iTunes. There are B-sides and rare tracks which get the 1 star treatment, but that is another story.
 
I've never listened to those older unreleased (on album) songs from pre-Boy.
But I imagine there are some turds in there.

Shadows and Tall Trees. Horrid.
or Red Light.
One of those two, easily.
 
AB has "UV". Now, there are some great lyrics with UV ("opera in my head"), but the numerous "baby, baby, baby" phrases weakened it for me. Plus, the guitar is too reminiscent of the far superior "Until the End of the World".

"Pop" is one of those albums where there seemed a disconnect. But "If God Will Send..." stands out as weak (I abhor Bono belting out, "and the Cartoon Network turns into the news"). I love the "bah bahs" in "Miami" but hate the screaming. But to me, "Playboy Mansion" is just horrid. It's stuck in time due to various references and seems a dramatic departure from Bono's usual poetic writing style.

ATYCLB has many weak songs filling up the second half of the album. No need for both "Grace" and "Peace on Earth", which seem almost the same song.

HTDAAB has one of my least favorite songs ever with "A Man and a Woman". I'm puzzled how some don't like "Love and Peace" or "Yahweh" when that disaster is on the album.
. :love:

1) I suspect that few will agree with you about UV. The 'baby baby baby' is a vanishingly small criticism to make.

2) I disagree with your views on Playboy Mansion. So what if it makes contemporary references? By that token, Siegfried Sasoon's poems set in the First World War must be dated too. I just don't accept your reasoning here. I find Playboy Mansion interesting precisely because it was of its time. It offers a snapshot of what life was like in the late 1990s. I don't want Bono to bang incessantly on about 'timeless' 'universal' themes.

3) Very much agreed about ATYCLB but I disagree about AMAAW. I know this puts me in the minority but I think it works beautifully- one of the few interesting, ambiguous moments on HTDAAB.
 
U2 WROTE MIAMI.

On that person's Youtube page, someone put "Chris Martin wrote Get on Your Boots." :lol:

I've been able to get into New York, Wild Honey, and Grace on ATYCLB even though I didn't really like the album before. I can sort of understand and appreciate Miami and The Playboy Mansion now. However, one song I've never liked/gotten used to is Elvis Presley and America. I don't get it at all.

Also, Babyface. It makes me feel dirty (as in unshowered, not the other way).
 
1) I suspect that few will agree with you about UV. The 'baby baby baby' is a vanishingly small criticism to make.

Really? Because I thought people were bitching something similar about "Crazy Tonight". Plus, one round of "baby, baby, baby" is fine, but this is a good chunk of the song. And, as I wrote, it's far too similar to the far superior "Until the End..." or even the b-side "Lady with the Spinning Head". But this is my list, and there ya go.

2) I disagree with your views on Playboy Mansion. So what if it makes contemporary references? By that token, Siegfried Sasoon's poems set in the First World War must be dated too. I just don't accept your reasoning here. I find Playboy Mansion interesting precisely because it was of its time. It offers a snapshot of what life was like in the late 1990s. I don't want Bono to bang incessantly on about 'timeless' 'universal' themes

And now it's my turn to say I don't think many will agree with you, at least with regard to Bono's writing style. His more artistic style is what many love. We also accept some personal lyrics. But when he gets too specific or contemporary, he often falls apart. Need I remind you of the debate regarding the one line "heavy as a truck"? Despite "Electrical Storm" being a great song, those four words ruined the song for many.

Poetry and lyrics can be about an event, but they can be written such that they are more open to interpretation or many events. "Sunday Bloody Sunday" stands out as a great example. It was written about one event, but serves as a brilliant anti-war song. In other words, Bono at his best can do both (and yes, I know Edge played a role in SBS lyrics, but even Edge said that Bono turned something very specific and made it open and creative).

3) Very much agreed about ATYCLB but I disagree about AMAAW. I know this puts me in the minority but I think it works beautifully- one of the few interesting, ambiguous moments on HTDAAB.

There are a few people who love AMAAW, but I find it one of the sappiest songs I've ever heard by U2. This sounds more like a Chicago, circa early 80's, type of song, not a U2 song. They've done inspired love (or broken love) songs before - this is not one of them. Take this song, "One Step Closer and arguably "Crumbs" off of HTDAAB, replace with "Fast Cars" and "Mercy" and suddenly a good album becomes brilliant.
 
Really?



And now it's my turn to say I don't think many will agree with you, at least with regard to Bono's writing style. His more artistic style is what many love. We also accept some personal lyrics. But when he gets too specific or contemporary, he often falls apart. Need I remind you of the debate regarding the one line "heavy as a truck"? Despite "Electrical Storm" being a great song, those four words ruined the song for many.

Poetry and lyrics can be about an event, but they can be written such that they are more open to interpretation or many events. "Sunday Bloody Sunday" stands out as a great example. It was written about one event, but serves as a brilliant anti-war song. In other words, Bono at his best can do both (and yes, I know Edge played a role in SBS lyrics, but even Edge said that Bono turned something very specific and made it open and creative).

Well I don't see how he was trying to be contemporary with Electrical Storm (though I agree about the 'heavy as a truck' line). Indeed it could be said with equal force that ES could well have been more compelling had Bono rooted it more firmly in the post 9/11 world, as he had supposedly planned to.

SBS is a great song but I don't think it is that great lyrically- too vague, too general for me. Please, on the other hand, is far more specific, far more contemporary. I think it works better as a lyric because of it. I know you and others prefer his more impressionistic writing, so that's a valid difference in taste.
 

Well it is vague in my view, title aside. The imagery is pretty general, almost cliched (dare I say it) - broken bottles, dead bodies, the inevitable references to 'mothers' and 'children'. It doesn't relate that well to the Troubles, nor even to the specifics of Bloody Sunday (for all of it's faults as a tune, Peace On Earth actually mentions those who died in the Omagh bombing and is all the more harrowing for doing so). At best the lyrics of SBS offer a pretty fuzzy lense through which to see that terrible day. Please, on the other hand, is a different beast- written with far more originality and a far greater attention to detail. These lines are incredibly focussed, the last two especially.

Your catholic blues
Your convent shoes
Your stick on tattoos
Now they're making the news
Your holy war
Your northern star
Your sermon on the mount
From the boot of your car


These lines too...

September... streets capsizing...
spilling over down the drain
...shards of glass splinters like rain
But you could only feel your own pain.


I know many will disagree and that is their prerogative, but I find these lines more immediate, and more sharply observed than those Bono wrote for SBS, even though he had the comparative advantage of having a specific event to write about! That's the irony.
 
I find these lines more immediate, and more sharply observed than those Bono wrote for SBS, even though he had the comparative advantage of having a specific event to write about! That's the irony.

I agree with you. But I don't think Sunday Bloody Sunday is necessarily relating to the one Bloody Sunday in 1972 so much as it is to the entire history of The Troubles. So, it's bound to be less specific, without the topical references.

Just slightly different types of songs.
 
well i've never had a clue what Please is about, all i know is that in my opinion it is far more vague than SBS.

Fair enough, but take away the title and SBS is less clear in my view. But we all see things through different spectacles.
 
Please is in no way vague, unless the definition of "vague" = anything other than lyrics that overtly address a specific event. The lyrics are very pointed and represent some of Bono's best writing. Frankly I don't think Please even belongs in this discussion, it's one of their best songs imo and really lifts off live.
 
^^

:no:

It may be 'obvious' but its a poignant song, and has a unique instrumental style.


As for me, Wild Honey, the only U2 song I am fully embarrassed by. That said, as far as pop melodies go, it is unabashedly catchy.
 
^^

:no:

It may be 'obvious' but its a poignant song, and has a unique instrumental style.


As for me, Wild Honey, the only U2 song I am fully embarrassed by. That said, as far as pop melodies go, it is unabashedly catchy.

Agreed on both points. I love A Man and A Woman but Wild Honey... I want to like it, my ears kind of like it... But I just don't.
 
Some, some U2 songs really are horrible.
My least favorites probably are:
Wild Honey
The Refugee
Red Light
Miami
Shadows and tall trees
Playboy Mansion
Babyface
FEZ.. probably hate that song the most,, for some reason.:huh:

i also dont like Vertigo, even though it is a great song, it is just so dry..

I dont understand some peoples taste, how can you not like:
New York
If God Will Send His Angels
Elevation
Electrical Storm
Stand up comedy
Ill go crazy
someone even said Dirty day?

New York, such a great song, starts so calmly then all of a sudden it gets so rough, i love it. But the live version (Boston) really is greater then the studio version

If God will send his angels, the lyrics are remarkable, "Nobody else here baby, no one here to blame".

Elevation, studio version really is weird, and kind of sucks. But the live versions IMO is the greatest song to start a U2 concert. Take Slanes Castle as an example.

Electrical Storm, such a catchy melody..

Stand up comedy, dont know why, i just like it.. :D

Ill go crazy.. WITHOUT A DOUBT No lines greatest song. I also love the live remix.

Dirty Day.. i dont even have to explain why that song is so great. Clearly one of my favorites.
 
I don't really dislike U2 songs, but these songs I have to skip or turn off when listening.

The Refugee
Red Light
Miami
Shadows And Tall Trees
Playboy Mansion
 
Yes, I realize it's your opinion. I meant you'll find a lot of people doubting that it's the best song on the album. Never heard anyone name that one as the best on the album.

Just was calling out that it was a surprising opinion. :)
 
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