I wish U218 had been more like this...

[Zoots]

When even my mom knows Numb, I think that's a pretty good sign it was a popular song.

What a coincidence! My parents know Numb too. They love the video!

Well.. Numb was what, just a video single? So I can kinda sorta see them omitting it. But the other omissions are pretty glaring.

 

[Aygo]

That's all true...

Discotheque, if you all remember, is one of U2's 6 #1 hits in the UK and it was the last song to reach top 10 in Billboard Hot 100.
Still, songs like SATS, Stay, WGRYWH still get lots of radio airplay, at least in Portugal they are far more played than Desire, AIWIY or ABOY.
Plus, they have The Fly too. Ok, they consider that "it didn't stood the test of time" but it's another of U2's 6 #1's in the UK.
Finally, I remember the video for Numb getting lots of airplay in television and it did chart well despite being released only as video-single.

 

[Axver]

But were they bigger than everything that made it on the album?

Some of the songs you named were, yes. Stuck In A Moment or Sweetest Thing's chart performances are bettered by, say, The Fly, EBTTRT, or Discotheque. I believe. We'd need one of the chart experts to say for sure. But if we're going by chart performance, there are definitely some peculiar omissions on U218.

 

[Zoots]

Discotheque, if you all remember, is one of U2's 6 #1 hits in the UK and it was the last song to reach top 10 in Billboard Hot 100.
Still, songs like SATS, Stay, WGRYWH still get lots of radio airplay, at least in Portugal they are far more played than Desire, AIWIY or ABOY.
Plus, they have The Fly too. Ok, they consider that "it didn't stood the test of time" but it's another of U2's 6 #1's in the UK.
Finally, I remember the video for Numb getting lots of airplay in television and it did chart well despite being released only as video-single.

Wow, very good points here. Even Lemon was a single in certain countries I think, with a hit video. It's all pretty befuddling why U2 would simply ignore these huge worldwide hits from the 90s. It almost seems like the present day U2 only wants to be seen in a certain light by music historians and revisionists. I think they want to be seen as this earnest, personal and political band that has withstood the test of time, making albums that everyone can relate to. The 80s and 00s material work very well in this regard. Honestly, how many people can relate to the weird electronic noises of Numb & Lemon or the screeching guitars of The Fly or Mofo? Songs like Sunday Bloody Sunday, Pride, Streets, WOWY, Beautiful Day, Walk On, Vertigo etc. have a much wider appeal. At the end of the day I think U2 does not want to be seen as the band that dressed up as the village people and made a fun video but more like rock messiahs.

 

[DreamOutLoud13]

Why did they only choose 2 singles from the 90s (3 if you count Sweetest Thing) when there was so much to choose from?... The Fly, Mysterious Ways, One, Even Better Than The Real Thing, Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses, Stay(faraway, so close!), Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, Miss Sarajevo, Discotheque, Staring At The Sun, Last Night On Earth, Please, If God Will Send His Angels & Mofo. They picked 4 songs from a single album (ATYCLB) and only half the number of songs from a whole decade??? If that doesn't show an anti-90s stance I don't know what does. No need for any long winded proofs or 'evidence'.

Because One and Mysterious Ways are the only two 90s songs a casual music fan (NOT a U2 fan by any means) can name. U218 wasn't designed for people that actually care about U2 music, it was designed for people that like the lame U2 songs that get played on crappy radio stations. That's why it includes songs like Sunday Bloody Sunday, Where the Streets Have No Name, With or Without You, One, Mysterious Ways, Beautiful Day, Elevation, and Vertigo. Because those are the songs that still get played on the radio, and that casual music fans age 15-50 know and like. Other songs from the 90s are certainly better (Last Night on Earth ) but if you play those songs for people that aren't U2 fans, they're not going to know, recognize, or like them probably.

 

[Axver]

Wow, very good points here. Even Lemon was a single in certain countries I think, with a hit video.

Lemon was a single in Australia - I'm not sure if it was anywhere else, but if so, not many countries. I can't remember if it actually hit #1 in Australia, but I know it got into the top ten.

Because One and Mysterious Ways are the only two 90s songs a casual music fan (NOT a U2 fan by any means) can name.

Bollocks. EBTTRT is just as, if not more, popular than Mysterious Ways. It's an extremely well known song.

 

[Zoots]

Other songs from the 90s are certainly better (Last Night on Earth ) but if you play those songs for people that aren't U2 fans, they're not going to know, recognize, or like them probably.

I don't know, that last bit is highly debatable. Besides, my point was... as far as I know there are other songs from the 90s that were HUGE hits worldwide. All singles too, not album tracks. Like, Discotheque and Fly were 2 of the 6 UK #1s? That's a pretty powerful statistic! Unless... if somebody can prove it with actual figures, maybe the 16 that they narrowed down to are the actual highest selling singles of all time??? Even if that is true, does chart success mean nothing at all?

 

[Reggie Thee Dog]

Look here friends, U2 is not happy with Pop at all. It's obvious. It was there worst received album and tour of the 90's (that's not saying every country received it poorly mind you), and they have acknowledged that it was rushed to meet their tour deadline. I think that they believe "Pop" has/had so much more potential and it's hard for them to look it straight in the eye.

I'm not a huge "Pop" lover, but I think that it should have been represented by at the very least 'Discotheque' on U218 Singles...then again so should have "Boy", "October", and "Zooropa". They obviously picked their favorite and most well known 16 songs and went with that.

I don't know what else to say here ...it is what it is.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Bollocks. EBTTRT is just as, if not more, popular than Mysterious Ways. It's an extremely well known song.

& from Zooropa, I'd say in Australia that Lemon & Numb are - if not as well known - only a slither behind, and only because they wouldn't be as well known to those who didn't 'live' through the 90's. So once you get over about, maybe 23/24 years old.

I'm 28 and I'd say that the age bracket/demographic I live in (which is a huge range of people with a huge range of lifestyles and musical tastes) would know 90's U2 as well as they know 80's U2: everyone knows JT & AB, many know Zooropa and R&H quite well, and some know Pop & UF (as examples).

In fact, I think in all my time being someone with a perverse need to check out the CD racks of every new home I visit, I'd say without a doubt it goes in that order of 'most commonly spotted':

1) JT/AB - about the same.

daylight

2) R&H/Zooropa - about the same.

daylight

3) Pop/War/UF/ATYCLB - about the same.

daylight

4) The rest.

 

[gonad]

Well here's an experience that I would like to share with you all.

After rambling on about how great U2 was in concert, I had a friend who loathes U2 (but is a huge Beatles fan), finally ask me if he could borrow a couple of U2 DVD's.

I gave him Live from Sydney and the Vertigo tour. Initially my mate said the Vertigo DVD would be fine (to get an idea of what he thought I would've seen - though it's completely different as an outdoor gig). Anyway, my mate dismissed said, don't bother with the Sydney DVD because set list wasn't as strong. Sure he knew Fly, EBTTRT, One, but nothing else from Achtung (Zoo St, UTEOTW, TTTYAAAG, Love is Blindness etc and nothing from Zooropa).

Well, my mate was absolutely glowing 'bout Sydney and couldn't believe how strong the songs / set list was.

So I then lent him Popmart Video and again, he couldn't believe songs such as Gone, LNOE, MOFO, Please etc. All he knew was Discotheque.

The moral of the story - U2 has a crap load of great songs from the 90's that alot of casual listeners will never get to appreciate.

U2 should've waited until next year (when they became 30 years old), and released a double album called U230.

That would've done greater justice to their careers!

 

[Snowlock]

I don't follow charts either, or sales figures! Maybe we need STING2 here.

Maybe they didn't choose Hold Me Thrill Me, cos it was on the soundtrack to Batman Forever, a film that (correct me if I'm wrong) did not do well in the US. And I guess they didn't pick Discotheque because Pop had comparatively bad sales figures in the US. Seems like it's a very US centric decision to me.

Discotheque did very well in the US. In the billboard hot 100 it goes:

1. With Or Without You (3 weeks)
1. I Still Haven't Found What Im Looking for (2 weeks)
3. Desire
9. Mysterious Ways
10. Discotheque
13. Where The Streets have No Name
14. Angel Of Harlem
16. Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
21. Beautiful Day
26. Staring At The Sun
32. Even Better Than The Real Thing
33. Pride
34 (or was it 36). Vertigo
35. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
44. In God's Country
50. All I Want Is You (1994 - Reality Bites soundtrack)
52. Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of
53. New Years Day
56 (I think). The Saints Are Coming
57. Last Night On Earth
61. The Fly
61. Numb
61. Stay
63. The Sweetest Thing
68. When Love Comes To Town
71. Lemon
77. Electrical Storm
81. I Will Follow (1984, Under A Blood Red Sky Live Single)
83. All I Want Is You (1989)
99. Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own

Also making it was Larry & Adams Theme from Mission Impossible at #7 (!?!?!?) and Wyclef and Bono's New Day at #41

Want a double CD? There it is. Just switch the live I Will Follow to the studio, and add in, Out Of Control, Gloria, October, Red Rocks Sunday Bloody Sunday, Elevation & COBL and you've got it.

 

[LemonMelon]

Bollocks. EBTTRT is just as, if not more, popular than Mysterious Ways. It's an extremely well known song.

Not in America. If you were to look at the straight chart statistics, MW completely owns EBTTRT here.

MW
US: 9

EBTTRT
US: 32

This also doesn't take into account all of the extra play MW has gotten after it dropped off the charts.

In the UK, they're almost equal:

MW
UK: 13

EBTTRT
UK: 12

But I'd be willing to bet that MW has gotten far more airplay than EBTTRT since 1992.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Well, my mate was absolutely glowing 'bout Sydney and couldn't believe how strong the songs / set list was.

That Sydney DVD alone has sold 3 people I know on U2 completely. All three I'd previously subjected to Elevation/Slane/Vertigo DVD's - did nothing for them. Out comes ZooTV to mass groans. Sold. Literally. 6 tickets to the 3rd Sydney Vertigo gig within the week.

 

[U2girl]

it's just a compilation

Aside from the fact that sarcasm is totally lost in this forum, I'd like to ask you guys a serious question. Why did they only choose 2 singles from the 90s (3 if you count Sweetest Thing) when there was so much to choose from?... The Fly, Mysterious Ways, One, Even Better Than The Real Thing, Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses, Stay(faraway, so close!), Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, Miss Sarajevo, Discotheque, Staring At The Sun, Last Night On Earth, Please, If God Will Send His Angels & Mofo. They picked 4 songs from a single album (ATYCLB) and only half the number of songs from a whole decade??? If that doesn't show an anti-90s stance I don't know what does. No need for any long winded proofs or 'evidence'.

I have a different question: is there, seriously, any chance a 16 single tracklist (+ Saints and WITS) would make the ultra 90's fans happy?

They should have gone with a U2:30 double (live?) CD to mark the 30th anniversary of their first session together.

I was surprised they chose 4 ATYCLB songs; I understand this is for the "I got on board with ATYCLB and Bomb and want to know more" fans, so - why 4 songs off a relatively fresh album? I think 2 songs would suffice (especially since JT got 3, and AB got 2 songs).

The second thing for me was despite the "ultimate collection" hype and sticker on the CD, 4 albums didn't get a single song. So how is this an essential collection?

I would change S. Thing and 2 ATYCLB songs (Elevation and Walk on) for I will follow, Discotheque and HMTMKMKM.

I can understand October getting shunned (still think Gloria was ripped off for not making the 80's Best of instead of October though), and Zooropa, but I think their first popular song I will follow should be there, as should the top 10 song in US Discotheque.

 

[Aygo]

Discotheque did very well in the US. In the billboard hot 100 it goes:

1. With Or Without You (3 weeks)
1. I Still Haven't Found What Im Looking for (2 weeks)
3. Desire
9. Mysterious Ways
10. Discotheque
13. Where The Streets have No Name
14. Angel Of Harlem
16. Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
21. Beautiful Day
26. Staring At The Sun
32. Even Better Than The Real Thing
33. Pride
34 (or was it 36). Vertigo
35. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
44. In God's Country
50. All I Want Is You (1994 - Reality Bites soundtrack)
52. Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of
53. New Years Day
56 (I think). The Saints Are Coming
57. Last Night On Earth
61. The Fly
61. Numb
61. Stay
63. The Sweetest Thing
68. When Love Comes To Town
71. Lemon
77. Electrical Storm
81. I Will Follow (1984, Under A Blood Red Sky Live Single)
83. All I Want Is You (1989)
99. Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own

Corrections:

31. Vertigo
65. The Saints Are Coming
97. SYCMIOYO

 

[Aygo]

Wow, very good points here. Even Lemon was a single in certain countries I think, with a hit video. It's all pretty befuddling why U2 would simply ignore these huge worldwide hits from the 90s. It almost seems like the present day U2 only wants to be seen in a certain light by music historians and revisionists. I think they want to be seen as this earnest, personal and political band that has withstood the test of time, making albums that everyone can relate to. The 80s and 00s material work very well in this regard. Honestly, how many people can relate to the weird electronic noises of Numb & Lemon or the screeching guitars of The Fly or Mofo? Songs like Sunday Bloody Sunday, Pride, Streets, WOWY, Beautiful Day, Walk On, Vertigo etc. have a much wider appeal. At the end of the day I think U2 does not want to be seen as the band that dressed up as the village people and made a fun video but more like rock messiahs.

Yes, Lemon was not a "normal" releasement as the other singles, but although that happened, the song reached top10 in several countries (Wasn't it #6 in Aus and Jp, or I'm wrong?) and even if the US it reached the top5 in some formats of the Billboard Charts.

 

[Aygo]

Look here friends, U2 is not happy with Pop at all. It's obvious. It was there worst received album and tour of the 90's (that's not saying every country received it poorly mind you), and they have acknowledged that it was rushed to meet their tour deadline. I think that they believe "Pop" has/had so much more potential and it's hard for them to look it straight in the eye.

POP only was never bad received, in fact, it had very good reviews. But in the US some people turned their noses off from the album, and stupid blindfollowers like Portugal did the same. In Portugal - believe me - there is still the belief that POP was a dance music album.

 

[guill]

:Why did they only choose 2 singles from the 90s (3 if you count Sweetest Thing) when there was so much to choose from?...

Because they released "Best Of 90/00" 4 years ago.

 

[Aygo]

I think there is one thing that everyone has to put in their minds: what does U2 have in common with David Bowie, Madonna, The Beatles, REM, Kylie Minogue, Michael Jackson, Prince and Rolling Stones?
Well, it's impossible for everyone of these artistas/bands to make a single CD compilation due to the amout and the number of credited hits they produced. U2 is no exception, it's not possible to choose the 16 greatest hits, that's stupid.
But U2 is still conveinced that they can erase that experimental and crazy image they had in the 90's and introduce in people's minds the image of the rock&roll messiahs.

...and that's the only reason (apart from Bono's inveolvement is politics) that bothers many listeners about U2.

 

[guill]

Re: it's just a compilation

They should have gone with a U2:30 double (live?) CD to mark the 30th anniversary of their first session together.

When you want to be on MTV and seduce young people, the sticker "30th anniversary" is not very good.

 

[coach]

Personaly I agree in that U2 are trying to put aside the zooropa - passangers - pop period. These days they are trying to appeal to a certain age group with u218 (with that cover they are trying to look like a young band). And they just went for the most of the really well known songs, meaning people who aren't into music might even be aware of those songs.

Yet the zoo station - fly encore on vertigo was kick ass, and the best part of the concert IMHO. Later Miss Sarajevo came back in the mix, replacing Running to Stand Still. Until the end of the world, and mysterious ways pop up from time to time specially these days. and remember they just re-released zoo tv live? Plans are out there to release popmart right?

So ... a bit of mixed signals here and there. Obviously the band don't feel what you are saying about achtung baby and Zoo tv, which is , i think, their creative peak. I'm not so sure if you should define all that just by the tracklisting on u218, which is just a complete marketing ploy and business move. It's a contract ending record. It's leave behind heavy because that album did well in a post 9-11 USA, and introduced them to a younger generation.

For me, the 90's are the time when they have been the most bold, and had their two best tours. So of course I think you're wrong.

 

[Zoots]

Personaly I agree in that U2 are trying to put aside the zooropa - passangers - pop period. These days they are trying to appeal to a certain age group with u218 (with that cover they are trying to look like a young band). And they just went for the most of the really well known songs, meaning people who aren't into music might even be aware of those songs.

Yet the zoo station - fly encore on vertigo was kick ass, and the best part of the concert IMHO. Later Miss Sarajevo came back in the mix, replacing Running to Stand Still. Until the end of the world, and mysterious ways pop up from time to time specially these days. and remember they just re-released zoo tv live? Plans are out there to release popmart right?

So ... a bit of mixed signals here and there. Obviously the band don't feel what you are saying about achtung baby and Zoo tv, which is , i think, their creative peak. I'm not so sure if you should define all that just by the tracklisting on u218, which is just a complete marketing ploy and business move. It's a contract ending record. It's leave behind heavy because that album did well in a post 9-11 USA, and introduced them to a younger generation.

Fair enough. I do see that they're sending mixed signals with (a.) the bastardized versions of songs on the cluttered 90s Best Of and (b.) the very unrepresentative tracklisting of u218 on one side and (c.) a great zoo encore on the latest tour and (b.) zoo dvd release on the other! Then again, they've never had any problems with Achtung Baby. I think it's Zooropa and more so, Pop that they have problems with. If they truly do release the Popmart dvd, then I guess you can no longer say that they're ignoring the 90s.

For me, the 90's are the time when they have been the most bold, and had their two best tours. So of course I think you're wrong.

For the last time, I was being sarcastic about hating the 90s!!!

 

[U2girl]

It's not so much "it's a bad album" as "wrongly hyped/promoted and unfinished" with Pop IMO.

 

[Zoots]

Lemme guess, they should've included Pop.

As for this comment, hello! they didn't include Boy, October or Zooropa either. And the cover photo is from the Boy era! Hahaha what a joke! It's like somebody said a little earlier right in this thread... they're trying to market themselves as a young and relevant band even though they're 30 years old. That is the only explanation I can come up with.

As for the collection of songs themselves, is it too much to ask that a Singles collection be more representative of their well... actual singles? Probably something like this...

IWF
Gloria
SBS
NYD
Pride
Streets
I Still
WOWY
Desire
EBTTRT
One
MW
Stay/HMTMKMKM
Discotheque
BD
Walk On
Vertigo
Sometimes

 

[U2girl]

Re: Re: it's just a compilation

When you want to be on MTV and seduce young people, the sticker "30th anniversary" is not very good.

Just saying if you have a book - with the same cover, so maybe they wanted to tag some CD with the deluxe version of the book anyway - out that includes stories on your 30 year career (I know Boy isn't 30 years old, but their first session together was from 1976), that's a great cue for the CD to do the same and, well, have 30 songs on it.

30 Singles doesn't say anything about age does it? Besides pretty much everyone knows U2 aren't new kids on the block, they're probably too old for the usual MTV audience to get into anyway.

Since 80's and 90's decades were covered - and it's too early to do a 00's Best of - maybe the way is to do a live Best of spanning all the tours. But that's just me in their shoes...

But that opens up a whole new debate: what songs and which versions should make it? Now THAT would give fans something to debate for weeks.

 

[Zoots]

IWF
Gloria
SBS
NYD
Pride
Streets
I Still
WOWY
Desire
EBTTRT
One
MW
Stay/HMTMKMKM
Discotheque
BD
Walk On
Vertigo
Sometimes

Hate to quote myself but I wanted to add that my suggested tracklisting includes a mere 5 songs from the 90s, 9 from the glorious 80s and 4 from 2000-06. So you can all see there is no 90s bias (that I'm accused of often ). I don't think it's asking for too much to expect a balance of material from different decades.

30 Singles doesn't say anything about age does it? Besides pretty much everyone knows U2 aren't new kids on the block, they're probably too old for the usual MTV audience to get into anyway.

I agree. And that way, they could've also fit so many other singles that they missed. Granted, a 2 disc set may sell less than a single disc one. So at least, make that one disc well representative of your career. Right?

 

[U2girl]

Right, but how do you do justice to a 25+ year career on a single disc?

 

[Zoots]

Right, but how do you do justice to a 25+ year career on a single disc?

Easy. Just pick the biggest and most popular songs throughout the career, without ignoring one decade for some strange reason. It's not hard to do. I made one up pretty quickly.

 

[U2girl]

Yes, but that's just the singles and the biggest songs, it's like "U2 101 for begginers", I wouldn't consider that a "U2 essential disc".

 

[doctorwho]

I don't follow charts either, or sales figures! Maybe we need STING2 here.

Maybe they didn't choose Hold Me Thrill Me, cos it was on the soundtrack to Batman Forever, a film that (correct me if I'm wrong) did not do well in the US. And I guess they didn't pick Discotheque because Pop had comparatively bad sales figures in the US. Seems like it's a very US centric decision to me.

Ooh! I can answer!

Mysterious Ways, One and Discotheque were U2's only top 10 hits in the U.S. in the 90's. The remake of the Mission: Impossible theme by Larry and Adam was also a Top 10 hit, but as it's a remake, they probably felt odd including it on any "Best Of" type of album.

Even Better Than..., Who's Gonna Ride..., Staring at the Sun... and Hold Me...Kill Me were all Top 40 hits in the U.S., with Hold Me...Kill Me being the biggest, peaking at #16.

U2 also had a few other Top 100 hits in the 90's, namely Stay and The Fly. Lemon, while a #1 hit on the U.S. dance chart, was just outside the Hot 100 chart in the U.S.

Billboard's Hot 100 charts for most of=the 90's had the same "rules" throughout the decade, so it is easy to compare apples to apples. In contrast, by the late 90's and definitely in the 00's, the rules kept changing. First, songs could chart on airplay alone. Then songs could chart on downloads alone. A song like "Vertigo" easily would have been a Top 10 hit for U2 had downloads been counted. But the song was released right before Billboard changed the rules. As such, it only peaked at #31.

If U2 has another Beautiful Day or Vertigo as their first single off their next studio album, I'm sure it'll be another top 10 hit. Then all the media sites will rave about how U2's back in the Top 10 again after an absence of X number of years. But that's only because of Billboard's ever changing rules. Clearly songs like Beautiful Day and Vertigo deserve their spot on U218.

As for Hold Me...Kill Me, it was on the soundtrack for the second highest grossing Batman movie of the 90's.

However, U2 said that they picked songs that receive the most radio airplay. And I agree with them - I almost never hear Hold Me...Kill Me these days. Plus, I think U2 also wanted to create a feeling of one of their concerts. The songs on U218 are typical songs that U2 play in just about every concert (granted, some bouncing). Even the tracklist bounces to simulate a concert. Poor Hold Me...Kill Me is not played in concert any more. Hence, it is ignored.