Rank the U2 Albums

[enajh2]

Has anyone listened to all the albums in sequence yet, including HTDAAB?

 

[pub crawler]

1. Achtung Baby
2. Unforgettable Fire
3. How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
4. POP
5. War
6. Zooropa
7. Joshua Tree
8. Boy
9. October
10. Rattle & Hum
11. All That You Can't Leave Behind

 

[pub crawler]

Interesting. Of the 49 people that posted rankings here, 42 ranked All That You Can't Leave Behind fifth or, in most cases, lower.

It seems as though, after 3 years, most feel like ATYCLB was a mediocre album.

 

[tennispunk]

I wouldn't call it mediocre because it has a couple sparkling tracks - "In a Little While," "Elevation," "Beautiful Day" and "Wild Honey." But the rest of it is blah, and "Stuck In a Moment" is quite possibly my least favorite U2 song, because the melody is so fucking cheesey.

And why do people include Rattle&Hum? That isn't technically a studio album, but whatever. Here's my list:

1. Zooropa
2. Achtung Baby
3. Joshua Tree
4. War
5. HTDAAB
6. Pop
7. ATYCLB
8. Unforgettable Fire
9. Boy
10. October
.....and if I were including R&H, I'd put it between UF & Boy.

Interesting. Of the 49 people that posted rankings here, 42 ranked All That You Can't Leave Behind fifth or, in most cases, lower.

It seems as though, after 3 years, most feel like ATYCLB was a mediocre album.

 

[Palace_Hero]

Pop
Joshua Tree
Achtung Baby
How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
All That You Can't Leave Behind
Zooropa
War
The Unforgettable Fire
Boy
October
Rattle And Hum

 

[alexvilagosh]

01. Zooropa
02. Achtung Baby
03. The Joshua Tree
04. Pop
05. Rattle & Hum
06. War
07. Boy
08. The Unforgettable Fire
09. How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
10. All That You Can't Leave Behind
11. October

 

[Oregoropa]

1.) Achtung Baby
2.) The Joshua Tree
3.) How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
4.) The Unforgettable Fire
5.) Zooropa
6.) War
7.) All That You Can't Leave Behind
8.) Pop
9.) Rattle and Hum
10.) Boy
11.) October

 

[Axver]

1. How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
2. The Unforgettable Fire
3. The Joshua Tree
4. Under A Blood Red Sky
5. Boy
6. Wide Awake In America
7. Zooropa
8. October
9. Achtung Baby
10. Pop
11. Rattle And Hum
12. War
13. All That You Can't Leave Behind

You know what? I give up on lists! I really don't think Achtung Baby is close to U2's best work, but lately, when I've made lists, I've put it down at 12 and it definitely doesn't belong there. I try to place WAIA and it's really difficult because it has so few tracks, but all four are unbelievably good. I find it simply impossible to order the top three of UF, JT, and Hut Dab. UABRS is an incredible live release but its hard to even begin to compare it to UF's atmospheric nature.

Ultimately, I love every U2 release. So here's the revision.

In a tie for #1: Boy, October, War, Under A Blood Red Sky, The Unforgettable Fire, Wide Awake In America, The Joshua Tree, Rattle And Hum, Achtung Baby, Zooropa, Pop, All That You Can't Leave Behind, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb.

(Out of those, I like UF, JT, and Hut Dab the best.)

 

[Rinn]

1 The Joshua Tree
2 Achtung Baby
3 War
4 Under a Blood Red Sky
5 All that You Can't Leave Behind
6 The Unforgetable Fire
7 Pop
8 How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
9 Boy
10 Rattle and Hum
11 Zooropa
12 October

I don't really think that I've thought hard enough about this but. I think I'm going to go listen to them all in release order. Maybe that will solve it for me.

Cheers

 

[U2girl]

classic
1) Joshua Tree
2) Achtung Baby (U2 should stick with 11 songs - Zoo Station isn't up to par with the rest)

3) maybe too early but still... HTDAAB (it's really strong as a whole) is their third best IMO, not classic but really really good

albums that have that something missing to make them great
4) ATYCLB (why shoving up all the singles in upper half?)
5) Zooropa (its most inspired moments got it here)

Uneven
6) Rattle and Hum (the biggest 3 songs are way ahead of the rest)
7) UF (only 5 or so real songs)
8) Pop (more consistency wouldn't hurt it)

Well they were starting out
9) Boy/October/War

 

[Aardvark747]

Is October ANYONE's fave album?!

 

[WHYWHY]

1) Achtung Baby
2) Joshua Tree
3) HTDAAB / POP (it's just so close that I can't decide!)
5) ATYCLB
6) War
7) Zooropa (very close between War and Zooropa)
8) Unforgettable
9) RnH
10) October
11) Boy

I must admit I haven't listened to the first two albums as much as I should've, so it's possible October might be higher on further listen.

 

[WHYWHY]

classic
1) Joshua Tree
2) Achtung Baby (U2 should stick with 11 songs - Zoo Station isn't up to par with the rest)

3) maybe too early but still... HTDAAB (it's really strong as a whole) is their third best IMO, not classic but really really good

albums that have that something missing to make them great
4) ATYCLB (why shoving up all the singles in upper half?)
5) Zooropa (its most inspired moments got it here)

Uneven
6) Rattle and Hum (the biggest 3 songs are way ahead of the rest)
7) UF (only 5 or so real songs)
8) Pop (more consistency wouldn't hurt it)

Well they were starting out
9) Boy/October/War

I agree with a lot of the sentinments here... not necessarily the order, but the reasons in brackerts for sure.

 

[Saracene]

1. Unforgettable Fire
1. All That You Can't Leave Behind (I'll never decide between these two)
2. How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb (for now at least)
3. Boy
4. Achtung Baby
5. Joshua Tree
6. Zooropa
7. POP
8. Rattle & Hum
9. October
10. War

 

[MacPhisto066]

What a tough call

1. Achtung Baby
2. The Joshua Tree
3. War
4. How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
5. The Unforgettable Fire
6. Boy
7. Rattle And Hum
8. Pop
9. All That You Can't Leave Behind
10. Zooropa
11. October

 

[WinnieThePoo]

1. ACCHtung Baby

2. Joshua Tree

3. Zooropa

4.POP

5. UF

6. Rattle And Hum

7. War

8. October

9. Boy

10. ATYCLB
11.HTDAAB

 

[whasjoewahn]

1. Achtung Baby
2. HTDAAB
3. The Joshua Tree

The first 3 were easy for me... just because of the amount of good songs/classics.

4. UF
5. Boy
6. War
7. ATYCLB
8. Zooropa
9. Pop (too bad, could have been a top 3-album. I just don´t like the way most of the songs sound on the album --> compared to some live-versions. If they would have recorded this album after the Pop-Mart tour, I would love it... Hope you understand this last sentence)
10. R&H
11. October

 

[macfisto]

1. Achtung Baby...baby!
2. HTDAAB and JT
3.
4. Zooropa
5. ATYCLB
6. War
7. Pop
8. Rattle and Hum
9. Unforgettable fire
10. October
11. Boy

 

[riverfari]

1. Unforgettable Fire
2. JT
3.War=raw
4.Achtung Baby
5.ATYCLB
6.HTDAAB
7.R and H
8.Boy
9.October
10.Zooropa

 

[doctorwho]

Whee fun!

1. AB
2. UF
3. HTDAAB
4. ATYCLB
5. Zooropa
6. Boy
7. War
8. JT
9. Pop
10. R&H
11. October

Top 7 stays fairly constant, bottom 4 bounce.

 

[doctorwho]

10. ATYCLB
11.HTDAAB

While I promised myself not to comment on other people's rankings, it must suck to be you now. You hate U2's last two efforts, apparently with a passion - and that's what U2 have focused on most these past 4 years and will continue to focus on for probably the next 2 years.

 

[The OOTS]

1. The Complete U2


....that settles that!