Rate the Song: Get on Your Boots

[digitize]

It is hard to believe, but we are now moving onto the first round of voting for U2's latest album, No Line on the Horizon.

Please rate Get on Your Boots on a scale from 0 to 10, using whatever criteria you feel allows you to best evaluate the song as a whole. I will not set criteria for people to based on, but if you feel like your best evaluation of the merits of a song comes from voting only based on, say, the studio version, go right ahead and vote that way. Full information on the Rate The Song series may be found in this thread.

Have fun! This poll will close in 96 hours.

 

[The Panther]

Unbelievably bad choice for a lead-off single.

 

[rennowba]

7/10 for me

I like this song, still like it today! I think they wanted it to catch on like vertigo did but it was miles away.great live at the 360 shows but at
Glastonbury it was poor,i think being with a
Non u2 crowd didnt help.

Like i said i like the song but it will always go down as a massive flop worldwide as a lead single!

 

[Globo14]

7. It's cheesy, yes. But who gives a damn? Not everything U2 releases is going to be on par lyrically as Streets, Bad, UTEOTW, and the likes. It's corny, fun rock. It's only a 7 because I really don't like the "let me in the sound" part. And you can't tell me with a straight face that this wasn't a kicker live.

And that riff is some good shit.

 

[ryancoke71]

I hated it when I first heard it, but it has grown on me.

7

 

[Nick66]

Obviously U2 meant for this to be the next in the Elevation-Vertigo line of singles, and equally obviously this one just didn't work.

I don't think it's bad, and it doesn't deserve near the scorn heaped upon it. But it's kind of become a sort of Jar Jar Binks for U2 fans. I think it belongs on the record, and doesn't seem out of place, but it clearly should not have been the lead off single.

I do think the talk about how much this decision impacted the sales of this record is a bit overblown, however.

7.

 

[RioRhodes]

6. I like the song a little more than a 6 but on this scale I need to put it somewhere between the higher end and the lower end. Could have lived without seeing this one live, I would have loved to see other song from NLOTH instead. Still, decent. But not U2's best obviously.

 

[trojanchick99]

Hated it when it was released. It really grew on my live.

 

[LadySpinHead]

I dig this song and i don't care who knows! 8

 

[trevgreg]

Unbelievably bad choice for a lead-off single.

Agreed. I think my brother put it best when he told me he felt it worked better as an album track than a single. Another one of those "I don't hate it, but I don't love it" songs for me. 6.

 

[nielsgov]

It's not as good as Vertigo but it comes close. There's nothing breathtaking about the song. It's fun though. The percussion in the back of the mix is great. 7

 

[Diemen]

Unbelievably bad choice for a lead-off single.

Agreed. Hearing this song for the first time made me a bit concerned as to what the rest of the album had in store. Not exactly the reaction a lead single should elicit.

 

[Galeongirl]

7. Like the song, but the album version has a couple of cringeworthy moments. The whole sexy boots, faucy boots thing, yuck.

But the live version makes up for it, it kicks ass!

 

[corianderstem]

I liked it when I first heard it. Never quite loved it. Glad it became what it eventually did in concert - it was never a highlight, but always fun.

And one of the few U2 videos I really don't ever need to see again.

I don't mind Bono in sunglasses. I certainly don't mind seeing Bono shirtless. But somehow, the magic combination of Bono in sunglasses and with no shirt had me screaming "MY EYES! MY EYES!" in horror.

Please don't do that again, sir. It's not a good look.

 

[super fly guy]

7 from me,fun rock song. And it really took off live.

 

[coolian2]

terrible lead single, makes very little sense on the album, but still pretty entertaining.

 

[popacrobat]

it was all sorts of awesome live.

 

[mama cass]

christ!

 

[prbiker15]

Fun song, really loved it live. As for the studio version - bland, bad choice for a single. Though, it's still good.

Let me in the sound, meet me in the sound. 7.

 

[BlueSilkenSky]

7. It's a great rocker... the drums are cool, and I love the "let me in the sound" part. But it doesn't really fit the album flow.

 

[lemonfly]

What was it that Adam said? "Instead of executing one idea well, we worked on three simultaneously"? I think that sums it up perfectly. It's a Frankenstein's monster of a pop/rock song, sewn together with bits and pieces that never quite fit together. It's a terrible lead single because of that, but more adventurous than Vertigo (which is really just straight-down-the-barrel rawk). The lyrics are actually pretty clever as well, at least more so than Vertigo. But I can't get my head round how badly amalgamated it is, so it only gets a 6.

 

[flybabe]

For some reason this song is a bad attempt at trying to be like Vertigo. It doesn't have that something that Vertigo did and the lyrics are at times, really weird. I like the 'Let me in the sound' drum explosion, but that is the only part of the song that is really catching. 6

 

[theedgeu2]

Kinda liked it once it was released as a single but it's ever since gone downhill with me. Really kicked it up a notch live I will admit. This is basically U2's attempt at a second Vertigo. A generous 5.

I will also admit that this is quite fun to blast while driving 70 mph with the window rolled all the way down.

 

[popacrobat]

70? in a 65? look out!

 

[theedgeu2]

70 in a 55 actually.

 

[cobl04]

"Son do you know why I'm stopping you for?"
Cause I'm young and I'm black and my hat's real low
Do I look like a mind reader sir, I don't know
Am I under arrest or should I guess some mo?
"Well you was doing fifty five in a fifty four"

I do think the talk about how much this decision impacted the sales of this record is a bit overblown, however.

I don't like this one as much as I remember. Gets a 4 from me. Let me in the sound is a pretty cool part on the drums. Not Edge's worst riff. Absolutely some of Bono's worst lyrics though.

However - it was fucking awesome live.

 

[cobl04]

Also am I the only one who thinks this sounds nothing like Vertigo? That's always baffled me. I get that they were trying to repeat the success of that idea, the lead single being all rawk and short, but it sounds nothing like Vertigo. At all. And it's nowhere near as good.

 

[silkensky]

Fun song, great energy, very entertaining and surprisingly I never skip it. Musically I find it more interesting than Vertigo, especially the bridge, but its a fucking lyrical mess. Terrible choice for a lead single, how they thought otherwise is beyond me. I still like it, though.

 

[An Cat Gav]

Terrible choice for lead single.
However, it has one of the best riffs that Edge has ever created, fun and rocking, i really like it.
Only negative for me is the "let me in the sound" part, which sounds like it's been shoe-horned in at the last minute for some reason.
Great opening too, Larry's drums and Edge's riff. Though the sublime part is at the end when Edge kicks in for the last 30 seconds or so, one of U2's finest rocking moments for me.
8

 

[Aardvark747]

Unbelievably bad choice for a lead-off single.

this. 6