In defence of a few songs, your honour…
Songs like Wild Honey and Man & A Woman I don’t think are bad songs, they’re both, IMO, very well written, clever, creative etc, it’s just that coming from U2 within the context of one of their albums, they sound cheesy. If U2 were dropping these kind of songs out there as b-sides, they’d be embraced as a bit of fun on the side, the cheesiness likely loved to a degree, in its own way. Still never ever going to make anyone’s Best Of lists, but they’d more likely find their own place. I mean, just imagine Wild Honey was not on ATYCLB, but was just dropped out there as a b-side to, say, the heavier/’serious’ Walk On. Suddenly you already appreciate it for what it is a bit more, no? Having said that, yeah, I don’t think I’ve specifically chosen to listen to either of these individually in perhaps years.
Tryin’ To Throw Your Arms sounds comical, like a clown walking into the room? Really? I think it’s very weighty. I totally get that sonically, or melodically or whatever it’s the driest point on an otherwise mostly exciting, vibrant album, but it’s certainly no out of place filler. He’s deliberately crossed his fingers and leapt off the edge at Zoo Station, taken the Fly’s sinister attitude and pushed it too far from some self discovery into self destruction, realised he’s gone too far… Tryin’ to Throw is that moment of clarity, massive guilt arriving the next day with the hangover, and hoping it wasn’t too, too far, that what he left behind will still be there on his return. Musically that fits as well, after the buzz and excitement of the Even Better/Mysterious Ways lust chasing the night before, Tryin’ to Throw is now stumbling home in a blazing sun at 9am the next morning, feeling like utter sh*t both mentally and physically. Not as superficial as just someone on the way home after a few too many cans on the town, but someone who’s been systematically destroying themselves in some selfish search for something, only now realising where it really is, but that you might have actually pushed it away. It sounds low and gentle, but throbbing and gutless, like if Edge actually hit just one even mildly strong note, or if they even just threw an unexpected chord change in there somewhere, it would be just enough to kill the guy. So yeah, I skip it a lot too because often when I want me some Achtung I want it for some kick arse Achtung songs, but it is to me an absolutely key part of the album in a wanky thematic sense.
Rattle & Hum is okay by me. It’s not really an ‘album’ album is it? It is truly a tour scrapbook, the new songs on there a kind of just a few postcards picked up along the way. In 2009 terms, you’d look at it like a tour blog, or Edge Twittering or something. “Hello U2 fans! Here’s us doing Pride last night!” “Hello from Memphis! We were mucking around with @BB King yesterday, here’s what we came up with!” etc. I really don’t hold it to the same standard I hold other U2 albums, so it doesn’t really fail for me, overall. Especially when removed from their own too heavy hype for it (that was there real mistake – if it were dropped out there like an end of tour gift, a sort of bonus, it would forever have been treated differently). There are a couple of duds, a couple that I think are good, but that I’m not really big on personally (I actually don’t care much for Desire, aside from full band live versions where Bono hits the harmonica hard) and a couple I love (Hawkmoon, Angel of Harlem). It is what it is, and considering that, it’s pretty good.
HTDAAB. Well, except for A Man and A Woman. Like I said earlier, it's the one U2 song I genuinely dislike. The lyrics aren't bad. But the song is just too schmaltzy for me. Meh, I dunno. 
Tried to re-do Vertigo and beat it at its own game but megaphail. And three cheers to whoever thought it was a good single (Edge, was it? according to RS). Nice one shooting NLOTH right off the bat.
