Lancemc
Blue Crack Addict
Alright, enough screwing around here! These comparison threads have been nothing but lightweight fluff! If you're going to compare albums song by song, do it right! Compare all 11 albums at once!
Who's up to the challenge? Huh? Bitches.
(Note: Only the studio tracks on Rattle and Hum are included in this bat-shit insane comparison that follows)
1. I Will Follow vs. Gloria vs. Sunday Bloody Sunday vs. A Sort of Homecoming vs. Where The Streets Have No Name vs. Desire vs. Zoo Station vs. Zooropa vs. Discotheque vs. Beautiful Day vs. Vertigo
WINNER: Where The Streets Have No Name.
This was hard because U2 is so good at crafting strong album openers. The contest came down to Streets and Beautiful Day, as both songs are in my top 5. But Streets gets the live vote, so there you go.
2. Twilight vs. I Fall Down vs. Seconds vs. Pride vs. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For vs. Hawkmoon 269 vs. Even Better Than The Real Thing vs. Babyface vs. Do You Feel Loved vs. Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of vs. Miracle Drug
WINNER: I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
This race came down to the eventual winner and Do You Feel Loved. Both are amazing songs, but the Joshua Tree's killer production, and the winner's unique gospel sensability won me over in the end.
3. An Cat Dubh vs. I Threw A Brick Through A Window vs. New Years Day vs. Wire vs. With Or Without You vs. Angel of Harlem vs. One vs. Numb vs. MOFO vs. Elevation vs. Sometimes You Cant Make It On Your Own
WINNER: With Or Without You
Oddly enough, WOWY only won because of the luck of the way the songs come together. Personally, the only competition WOWY has here is New Years Day and I Threw A Brick, and while the live version of late isn't spectacular, WOWY is a fucking classic, and the Lovetown versions of it are unreal. It wins.
4. Into The Heart vs. Rejoice vs. Like A Song vs. The Unforgettable Fire vs. Bullet The Blue Sky vs. Love Rescue Me vs. Until The End of the World vs. Lemon vs. If God Will Send His Angels vs. Walk On vs. Love and Peace Or Else
WINNER: Lemon
Wow, this was easily the tightest race yet. So many killer #4's in their catalogue. I couldn't really decide between The Unforgettable Fire, Bullet, End of the World, Lemon, or Walk On...man...that's a lot of great songs. Overall though, Lemon reigns supreme. It's the king of track 4's. Fucking A, this one might change tomorrow though. But for now. Praise the Lemon.
5. Out Of Control vs. Fire vs. Drowning Man vs. Promenade vs. Running To Stand Still vs. When Love Comes to Town vs. Whose Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses vs. Stay vs. Staring At The Sun vs. Kite vs. City of Blinding Lights
WINNER: TIE: Running to Stand Still/ Kite
Fuck it. I can't pick between these two songs. Both are monumental in their own ways. Similar, yet completely different. Both reach an entirely new level live as well. I just can't pick. Nope. Can't.
6. Stories For Boys vs. Tomorrow vs. The Refugee vs. 4th of July vs. Red Hill Mining Town vs. Heartland vs. So Cruel vs. Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car vs. Last Night On Earth vs. In A Little While vs. All Because of You
WINNER: Heartland
Yeah, this was a pretty weak track collection overall, so it's pretty damn easy for Heartland to take the prize, even though it's technically track 13 on Rattle and Hum. Oh well, who cares, this topic is stupid anyway.
7. The Ocean vs. October vs. Two Hearts Beat As One vs. Bad vs. In God's Country vs. God Part II vs. The Fly vs. Some Days Are Better Than Others vs. Gone vs. Wild Honey vs. A Man And A Woman
WINNER: Bad
I really feel bad for songs like The Fly, God Part II, and Wild Honey because they are all excellent tracks, especially The Fly, a song you'd think would easily win any song vs. song contest. But honestly, nothing can fucking compare to Bad. Tough luck fellas.
8. A Day Without Me vs. With A Shout vs. Red Light vs. Indian Summer Sky vs. Trip Through Your Wires vs. All I Want Is You vs. Mysterious Ways vs. The First Time vs. Miami vs. Peace On Earth vs. One Step Closer
WINNER: Mysterious Ways
Mysterious Ways wins this one without much of a fight. Lucky draw.
9. Another Time, Another Place vs. Stranger In a Strange Land vs. Surrender vs. Elvis Presley In America vs. One Tree Hill vs. Trying To Throw Your Arms Around The World vs. Dirty Day vs. The Playboy Mansion vs. When I Look At The World vs. Crumbs From Your Table
WINNER: One Tree Hill
Finally, another tough call. Dirty Day and Crumbs both put up a good fight, but c'mon, it's friggen One Tree Hill people.
10. The Electric Co. vs. Scarlet vs. 40 vs. MLK vs. Exit vs. Ultraviolet vs. The Wanderer vs. If You Wear That Velvet Dress vs. New York vs. Original of the Species
WINNER: The Electric Co.
This has probably been the second most difficult call I've had to make so far. The Wanderer and Original of the Species are both two of my favorite songs, and I absolutely adore Ultraviolet, but The Electric Co. is easily the most energized, fun, exhilerating song they've ever recorded. The Vertigo Tour launched this track into my top 10 at least.
11. Shadows and Tall Trees vs. Is That All? vs. Mothers of the Disappeared vs. Acrobat vs. Please vs. Grace vs. Yahweh
WINNER: Acrobat
In my opininion there are no AMAZING songs in the above list, and Acrobat is probably the best, so there.
12. Love Is Blindness vs. Wake Up Dead Man vs. The Ground Beneath Her Feet vs. Fast Cars
WINNER: Love Is Blindness
Only four songs to choose from, technically two here in the states. Love Is Blindness is a bitchin' song.
GRAND TOTALS:
Boy = 1
October = 0
War = 0
The Unforgettable Fire = 1
The Joshua Tree = 5
Rattle and Hum = 1
Achtung Baby = 3
Zooropa = 1
Pop = 0
ATYCLB = 1
HTDAAB = 0
CONCLUSION:
This is a shitty way to compare albums (as if that really needed all this evidence anyway). Though, analyzing the results, we do indeed see that The Joshua Tree is indeed their best album, and Achtung Baby is easily their second best. Personally I always rank The Joshua Tree as #1, and this comparison reinforces the power of the Holy Trinity once and for all. (kinda). And I often swap Achtung and ATYCLB for positions 2 and 3 in my lists, and The Unforgettable Fire and Zooropa are solidly in 4 and 5.
So, despite this crappy comparison method, the results still more or less indicate my own person album rankings based on REAL qualities, not just song by song comparison. And If I wanted to spend another 2 hours on this, I would rank all the songs in each album in order of greatness, THEN compare each album song by song, but I've already wasted enough time doing this much...maybe I'll do it that way later. AND the way I introduced Rattle and Hum as an 8-track album sort of fucked up a couple results, but that's still the best way aside from completely excluding the album.
So, there you have it. Anyone else crazy enough to do the same?
Who's up to the challenge? Huh? Bitches.(Note: Only the studio tracks on Rattle and Hum are included in this bat-shit insane comparison that follows)
1. I Will Follow vs. Gloria vs. Sunday Bloody Sunday vs. A Sort of Homecoming vs. Where The Streets Have No Name vs. Desire vs. Zoo Station vs. Zooropa vs. Discotheque vs. Beautiful Day vs. Vertigo
WINNER: Where The Streets Have No Name.
This was hard because U2 is so good at crafting strong album openers. The contest came down to Streets and Beautiful Day, as both songs are in my top 5. But Streets gets the live vote, so there you go.
2. Twilight vs. I Fall Down vs. Seconds vs. Pride vs. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For vs. Hawkmoon 269 vs. Even Better Than The Real Thing vs. Babyface vs. Do You Feel Loved vs. Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of vs. Miracle Drug
WINNER: I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
This race came down to the eventual winner and Do You Feel Loved. Both are amazing songs, but the Joshua Tree's killer production, and the winner's unique gospel sensability won me over in the end.
3. An Cat Dubh vs. I Threw A Brick Through A Window vs. New Years Day vs. Wire vs. With Or Without You vs. Angel of Harlem vs. One vs. Numb vs. MOFO vs. Elevation vs. Sometimes You Cant Make It On Your Own
WINNER: With Or Without You
Oddly enough, WOWY only won because of the luck of the way the songs come together. Personally, the only competition WOWY has here is New Years Day and I Threw A Brick, and while the live version of late isn't spectacular, WOWY is a fucking classic, and the Lovetown versions of it are unreal. It wins.
4. Into The Heart vs. Rejoice vs. Like A Song vs. The Unforgettable Fire vs. Bullet The Blue Sky vs. Love Rescue Me vs. Until The End of the World vs. Lemon vs. If God Will Send His Angels vs. Walk On vs. Love and Peace Or Else
WINNER: Lemon
Wow, this was easily the tightest race yet. So many killer #4's in their catalogue. I couldn't really decide between The Unforgettable Fire, Bullet, End of the World, Lemon, or Walk On...man...that's a lot of great songs. Overall though, Lemon reigns supreme. It's the king of track 4's. Fucking A, this one might change tomorrow though. But for now. Praise the Lemon.
5. Out Of Control vs. Fire vs. Drowning Man vs. Promenade vs. Running To Stand Still vs. When Love Comes to Town vs. Whose Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses vs. Stay vs. Staring At The Sun vs. Kite vs. City of Blinding Lights
WINNER: TIE: Running to Stand Still/ Kite
Fuck it. I can't pick between these two songs. Both are monumental in their own ways. Similar, yet completely different. Both reach an entirely new level live as well. I just can't pick. Nope. Can't.
6. Stories For Boys vs. Tomorrow vs. The Refugee vs. 4th of July vs. Red Hill Mining Town vs. Heartland vs. So Cruel vs. Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car vs. Last Night On Earth vs. In A Little While vs. All Because of You
WINNER: Heartland
Yeah, this was a pretty weak track collection overall, so it's pretty damn easy for Heartland to take the prize, even though it's technically track 13 on Rattle and Hum. Oh well, who cares, this topic is stupid anyway.
7. The Ocean vs. October vs. Two Hearts Beat As One vs. Bad vs. In God's Country vs. God Part II vs. The Fly vs. Some Days Are Better Than Others vs. Gone vs. Wild Honey vs. A Man And A Woman
WINNER: Bad
I really feel bad for songs like The Fly, God Part II, and Wild Honey because they are all excellent tracks, especially The Fly, a song you'd think would easily win any song vs. song contest. But honestly, nothing can fucking compare to Bad. Tough luck fellas.
8. A Day Without Me vs. With A Shout vs. Red Light vs. Indian Summer Sky vs. Trip Through Your Wires vs. All I Want Is You vs. Mysterious Ways vs. The First Time vs. Miami vs. Peace On Earth vs. One Step Closer
WINNER: Mysterious Ways
Mysterious Ways wins this one without much of a fight. Lucky draw.
9. Another Time, Another Place vs. Stranger In a Strange Land vs. Surrender vs. Elvis Presley In America vs. One Tree Hill vs. Trying To Throw Your Arms Around The World vs. Dirty Day vs. The Playboy Mansion vs. When I Look At The World vs. Crumbs From Your Table
WINNER: One Tree Hill
Finally, another tough call. Dirty Day and Crumbs both put up a good fight, but c'mon, it's friggen One Tree Hill people.
10. The Electric Co. vs. Scarlet vs. 40 vs. MLK vs. Exit vs. Ultraviolet vs. The Wanderer vs. If You Wear That Velvet Dress vs. New York vs. Original of the Species
WINNER: The Electric Co.
This has probably been the second most difficult call I've had to make so far. The Wanderer and Original of the Species are both two of my favorite songs, and I absolutely adore Ultraviolet, but The Electric Co. is easily the most energized, fun, exhilerating song they've ever recorded. The Vertigo Tour launched this track into my top 10 at least.
11. Shadows and Tall Trees vs. Is That All? vs. Mothers of the Disappeared vs. Acrobat vs. Please vs. Grace vs. Yahweh
WINNER: Acrobat
In my opininion there are no AMAZING songs in the above list, and Acrobat is probably the best, so there.
12. Love Is Blindness vs. Wake Up Dead Man vs. The Ground Beneath Her Feet vs. Fast Cars
WINNER: Love Is Blindness
Only four songs to choose from, technically two here in the states. Love Is Blindness is a bitchin' song.
GRAND TOTALS:
Boy = 1
October = 0
War = 0
The Unforgettable Fire = 1
The Joshua Tree = 5
Rattle and Hum = 1
Achtung Baby = 3
Zooropa = 1
Pop = 0
ATYCLB = 1
HTDAAB = 0
CONCLUSION:
This is a shitty way to compare albums (as if that really needed all this evidence anyway). Though, analyzing the results, we do indeed see that The Joshua Tree is indeed their best album, and Achtung Baby is easily their second best. Personally I always rank The Joshua Tree as #1, and this comparison reinforces the power of the Holy Trinity once and for all. (kinda). And I often swap Achtung and ATYCLB for positions 2 and 3 in my lists, and The Unforgettable Fire and Zooropa are solidly in 4 and 5.
So, despite this crappy comparison method, the results still more or less indicate my own person album rankings based on REAL qualities, not just song by song comparison. And If I wanted to spend another 2 hours on this, I would rank all the songs in each album in order of greatness, THEN compare each album song by song, but I've already wasted enough time doing this much...maybe I'll do it that way later. AND the way I introduced Rattle and Hum as an 8-track album sort of fucked up a couple results, but that's still the best way aside from completely excluding the album.
So, there you have it. Anyone else crazy enough to do the same?
The sparks! Just imagine!
Ok dude. Take the bike, I'll take the wheels.
