Great albums make a great band but did a single (BeautifulDay) do the job this time?

[voxson]

I really have this feeling that Beautiful Day was what pushed U2's career back to the top this time and not the album. Not that the album wasn't good, but it's just that this single was so powerful and sucessful that without it all we experienced this last year with the album, the tour, the whole success of the band would not have been the same. Anyone disagrees?

Andy

 

[Zoo Schabow]

I think Beautiful Day started it. The album and the tour has kept the hype going strong!

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AFLAC!!!!!!

 

[kobayashi]

it all started with 'fire', that's the only reason any of us even heard beautiful day.

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"I want to replace the bands in the charts now, because I think we're better." -- Bono, 1979

 

[Hitman]

I agree that Beautiful Day had a lot to do with it.....it's just such a powerful song. So many people commented on that song, saying how amazing it was. But ATYCLB kept the ball rolling.....Elevation, Stuck, Walk On, POE, IALW and New York have all gotten played on the radio....

 

[U2SJ]

Beautiful Day has that effect on you, I remember when I first got it I was on my way to work and I found myself just singing along at the top of my lungs, it got me in the best mood, and I usually hate mornings-
It's such a joyful song, how can anybody not like it? It definitely got their year going in the right direction-

 

[tomtom]

Beautiful Day is a magnificent song. It is so incredibly powerful. As Bono said, it is capapble of sending one into 'liftoff', which was the aim of the album. It expresses a very complex and hard to attain state of mind in a very simple way.

But 1 comment I do have is that if you listen to 'Always', you will see that it is actually what Bono was talking about, when he said 2 years ago that the new album was the sound of 4 men playing together in a room, much more than BD was. They are so amazingly tight on that song, and it gets the adrenalin flowing through my body when I listen to it. Why didnt they play that live sometimes

 

[IvanClaytonJnr]

Beautiful Day is the most original , great song , it's the best U2 song of 2000-01 time , unfortunately , the rest of the stuff from ATYCLB is so much lower by total quality

 

[martha]

I dunno, Ivan. I think "Walk On" is one of their best songs ever.

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...a highway with no one on it, a treasure just to look upon it...

 

[doctorwho]

While "Beautiful Day" certainly launched the album and tour, that song alone did not lead to all the successes U2 have enjoyed this past year. A song that doesn't even crack the Top 20 on the U.S. charts doesn't lead to sales of over 3.1 million copies in the U.S. It's the strength of the rest of the album and the outstanding tour that truly made ATYCLB a success.

 

[Michael Griffiths]

I think 'Beautiful Day' was the best choice for a first single, and while I agree it was a huge factor in the success of ATYCLB, I don't think it's the best song off the album. I honestly believe 'Kite' is the best song U2 has written since 'Stay' (Faraway, So Close)', and 'Walk On' is also a standout. 'Beautiful Day' is a very well crafted song that uplifts the spirit -- and has mass appeal -- but to me, is a much weaker song than, say, 'Pride (In The Name of Love)', which it closely resembles in sound (the "touch me..." guitar riff). A song like 'Kite', though, stands up against a song like 'Pride' very well, IMO. Sorry for the rant...

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The Tempest

 

[hippy]

Beautiful Day was so different from everything else that was on the radio and tv at the time that it piqued my interest and made me become a U2 fanatic. I think that it's being different allowed people to see U2 again after a few years, but it definitely did not stop there. The entire album was incredible and was far and away the best album of the past couple of years!

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One love, one life...
Give peace a chance!
Don't let the bastards grind you down!

Bono: I don't walk, I swagger! I sashayed once, but just once. It wasn't for me.

 

[Roland of Gilead]

In Canada, Beautiful Day definetly lit the fire of U2's return to the top. Walk On was a fantastic second single in these parts. It should of been the worldwide 2nd release from ATYCLB, but Europe went with Stuck. Elevation was a strong release everywhere. Regardless of what people thought of Boob Raider, there was a version of Elevation for everyone to love. Stuck followed in Canada and did well. Cheesy video may of hurt it, but it was played a lot. Now Kite enters the Canadian scene. It gets lots of air time. The video (cut from DVD) is played often on both music channels. It is as if the fire that BD lit is far from burning out.

So, as a Canadian, I would have to say that more than just a great song this time. It is a great album.

 

[baker6621]

Beautiful Day was the song that GOT me into U2. I remember last January hearing that song and wow did I love it. Slowly, I'm here today being a HUGE U2 fan, something I never thought I'd be. Beautiful Day was and still is an uplifting song that gets everyone jumping and saying - "hey, its a beautiful day" - "lets appreciate it and have an awesome time". I just love, love, love that song and I'm glad it's the song that got U2 back into the best band on the planet, cuz it's the song that got me into them

Thank you BD so much!

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"Work like you don't need the money, love like you've never been hurt, live like there is no tomorrow, dance like no one is watching." --Bono

"The only limits are the limits of our imagination. Dream up the kind of world you want to live in. Dream out loud. At high VOLUME".

 

[doctorwho]

Originally posted by Roland of Gilead:
Stuck followed in Canada and did well. Cheesy video may of hurt it, but it was played a lot.

I have to disagree with your statement of the video hurting "Stuck..." as it became the BIGGEST hit from ATYCLB in Canada. The CD single went to #1 (of course, all of the CD singles from ATYCLB went to #1 in Canada - this did NOT happen with "POP"). In terms of airplay - which is the FAR more important chart in Canada, as CD singles sales are low - "Stuck..." reached #4, which is the biggest hit U2 enjoyed from ATYCLB. "Beautiful Day" hit #10, "Elevation" reached #15 and "Walk On" only reached #35. The last time U2 had a top 5 song on the Canadian airplay charts was with "The Sweetest Thing" (no song from "POP" reached the top 5 on the Canadian airplay charts). In other words, in Canada, "Stuck..." was U2's biggest hit (so far) from ATYCLB, suggesting the video had little negative effect.

 

[Thermopylae]

Remember, Discoteque was a big hit, even bigger in the US than Beautiful Day (chart position). But the rest of Pop was not as well received.

If ATYCLB was as weak as Pop, then U2 would have been hammered by the critics and the album would have been mostly ignored...

 

[U2girl]

Over here, BD video was heavily played on MTV Europe. I guess the great video contributed to the success of the song.

But i think the sold out tour was what did it this time, and winning of the 3 Grammys.

And while BD is a very energetic songs, there are IMO better songs on the album (Stuck, Walk on, Kite).

[This message has been edited by U2girl (edited 12-11-2001).]

 

[Pate20]

I don't think it was BD on its own. IMO, it was the tour that made U2 so great in 2000-2001. And there are at least three better songs on ATYCLB: Walk on, Kite, IALW.

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Friday night running to Sunday on my knees.

 

[Judah]

Beautiful Day was probably one bad decision away from being a rather lame song. For me, the ending verse (when they kick it into overdrive with "What you don't have you don't need it now" - the part we all heard in the sneak-preview snippet of the song) makes the song exceptional, as you realize the first parts of the song were all foreplay for that moment. If they hadn't included that last part, it just wouldn't have been as powerful.

I agree with Michael Griffiths that Kite is the best song (with IALW a close second). Also, it's a strong album as a whole and, let's face it, U2 are still sonically unique. They just sound different, even if some people think many of these songs were fairly mainstream pop songs...they sounded fresh 'cuz it's the U2 sound.

 

[baker6621]

Bottom Line:

No one messes wit' the Docta!!

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"Work like you don't need the money, love like you've never been hurt, live like there is no tomorrow, dance like no one is watching." --Bono

"The only limits are the limits of our imagination. Dream up the kind of world you want to live in. Dream out loud. At high VOLUME".

[This message has been edited by baker6621 (edited 12-11-2001).]

 

[Roland of Gilead]

Thank you for putting me in my place doctorwho.

I certainly do not mean this in a bad way. Your knowledge on the singles is incredible and I enjoy every little detail you have to say. I was wrong to say what I did about the "effect" of the Stuck video. I was oozing too much bullshit, eh?

I really love this song. I just thought the video butchered how I felt the song should of been presented in a video.

Can you tell me if "Kite" is on the airplay chart in Canada?