What Is The Best U2 Song Of All Time?

[Miggy D]

No excuses. No complaining.

Think about your answer, then decide.

Please explain your decision.

Good luck, everyone. I will post my own answer soon.

-Miggy D

EDIT: In response to some people who have already posted: please refrain from posting your 'Top 3' or simply posting the name of the song alone. We've all been fans for so long, I think it would be interesting to learn WHY a certain U2 song is your all-time favorite. Is it linked to a special memory in your life? Is there something cathartic about a certain lyric or guitar riff? Is it the message that moves the song to the top? Simply posting the name of the song is worthless: it tells us nothing about you.

Posting a Top 3 list is a copout. Choosing one U2 song as 'the best' is a hard decision, to be sure, but nothing worthwhile is ever easy. I think all of us have a favorite song, that touches us in a way our other favorites do not. Go with your gut: we're anxious to hear what you have to say.

 

[brownda7]

Original of the species:

Every time I hear it I get shivers up my spine.

 

[STING2]

Where The Streets Have No Name!

This song is simply so powerful, spiritual, uplifting, and it rocks. Its also their best song live as well! So much energy and emotion.

 

[Atomic Monkey]

Sunday Bloody Sunday, Streets, or One

 

[one4u2]

There is just no answering this question for me...

 

[theedge111]

One, great song. I also love the legend that this is the tune that saved the band, and lead to the greatest album of all time Achtung Baby.

 

[mhowells]

Believe it or not, for me it just might be Hold me thrill me kiss me kill me. The guitar is just so powerful and unique.

 

[bw in dc]

No contest - Bad.

 

[chanfle98]

1- With or Without You

2- One



3- Sometimes you can't make it on your own

 

[-macphisto-]

Big girls are best, its so powerful, especially when they play it live, it made me cry.

 

[innocent_eyes]

With or without you!
The guitar is so unique and exdraordinay, the ending of the song is amazing!
Vocals, amazing singing, especially the culminating oooohhhhh!!! and lyrics are out of this world.
My favorite drum track EVER, so simple but SOOO effective and building.
COMPLETELY ADDICTING bassline...WOW!!!!

And it's not some crap bubble gum pop shite, its deep and can mean many things to diff people. It also says, F%!K the mainstream, and goes right to #1 in the age of synthesizer pop.

hasn't aged a bit and i never tire of listening to it. And live during Joshua tree/lovetown...unreal.

WOW!!!!!!!

 

[kakvox]

Best U2 songs, though not necessarily my favorites:

Live song - Where the Streets Have No Name
Album song - One

 

[GibsonGirl]

Where The Streets Have No Name - it's the one U2 song that always manages to get me teary eyed. Particularly when it's played live. There's just something so special about it that I just can't explain.

 

[stray dog]

THEY ARE ALL GOOD, BUT ONLY ONE IS.....BAD....

 

[Liesje]

Bad - I have no other explaination besides the fact that it's simply the best song ever.

 

[kakvox]

THEY ARE ALL GOOD, BUT ONLY ONE IS.....BAD....

I agree, in that Bad is and has always been my favorite U2 song, but I think they have *better* songs like streets and One.

 

[u2head]

If I could, I would...

 

[ultrraviolette]

This is a very difficult decision, but I have to agree that Where the Streets Have No Name is my favorite.

As someone else said it is absolutely amazing live and I get teary eyed each time. Perhaps it's the hope, the idealism, the escapism, & the spirituality that just emanate from the song.

 

[Dalton]

Bad is the best song ever. I don't know how there is any discussion about this.

 

[bw in dc]

I echo that - Bad is the best song I've ever heard regardless of performer. I believe it's U2's anthem. The enery build-up of that song is very spiritual. I love the way it just drains me...

I was a little stunned it didn't make Rolling Stone's Top 500 of all time. A horrendous oversite by those buffoons...

 

[WinnieThePoo]

ONE

 

[sixten]

yep

Bad is the best song ever. I don't know how there is any discussion about this.

Bad was excellent for many reasons. But I'm reserving judgement for Miracle Drug. Something is lacking in it, but my finger has trouble finding it...both are incredibly powerful songs, though.

 

[WinnieThePoo]

bad is too long , one has better lyrics
and one a song that you can put on anywhere , anytime
bad is too complex

 

[bw in dc]

One is a terrific song. But it does not convey nearly as well live as Bad. It's not even close in that regard actually. There is such a feeling of triumph in the air after Bad is played.

 

[Dalton]

One is a terrific song. But it does not convey nearly as well live as Bad. It's not even close in that regard actually. There is such a feeling of triumph in the air after Bad is played.

I cried the first time I heard Bad played. Bad will be the first song I play to my children, both in the womb and when they are born. Bad is a song to live by.







(minus the heroine thing)

 

[SeattleVertigo]

I love all the songs mentioned above, but my favorite is Beautiful Day. Totally exultant song. It sends waves of joy through me every time I hear it.

 

[If you shout...]

"Bad" is also not only my favorite U2 song, but simply my favorite song of all time. I love the propulsive energy of the song--it's driven ahead with reckless abandon by The Edge's guitar, the sequencer buried very deep in the now-dated mix, a powerful rhythm section, and (of course!) Bono's shrieks and wails.

I am well aware of what the song is "about" and the like, but I appreciate it less for that than for the fact that the lyrics themselves don't really form a very cohesive thread if one just reads them or something. They don't speak very powerfully in a fine-tuned way (although there is some very powerful imagery--"Bruised silken sky," etc.), but Bono's voice MAKES them mean something more than they might mean by themselves. These feelings, not so much meanings, are what consistently move me.

I'm reminded of this very often when listening to one of (if not the single) best bands of the '90s--Pavement. Stephen Malkmus' and Spiral Stairs' lyrics were often ostensibly meaningless (just listen to "Summer Babe," "Silence Kit," or a host of other tunes by the band), but their SOUNDS lent them a meaning far greater than one which could be traditionally articulated. There was something going on which transcended traditional language, and that is what I feel in "Bad" more than any other song.

That said, it's also catchy-as-hell, well-played, AWESOME live (moreso back in the day than today with Bono's oft-dead/dying voice), and just a hell of a roller coaster. Great stuff. I will love it forever. It has helped me through more than I could ever just post on a message board...

 

[tennispunk]

I have two answers:

In concert, I've gotta go with Where the Streetes Have No Name--that song will elevate your soul (ok slap me for the cheesey reference)

straight off the CD, In a Little While....no tricks, no gadgets, just straight up beautiful lyrics & melody.

 

[dandy]

no contest for me, their best song is 'bad'. i fell in love with it when i first heard it when i was eight years old, and it's been my favourite ever since. after twenty years, it's no longer just a song--i have a deep spiritual connection to 'bad', and no amount of words can adequately describe the relationship i have with it. i know it was written about one of their friends who had a heroin addiction, but it describes perfectly how i feel about so many things that are wrong with this world.

live, it's even better: rattle and hum's version with 'ruby tuesday', live aid, the epic 15 minute version from zoo tv...

 

[Jamila]

1) BAD - for all the reasons mentioned so far. It is possibly the song which transformed Bono's life the most. (Live Aid)

2) ONE - it reaches for the highest realm of Love and finds it

3) OOTS and Miracle Drug - quickly becoming some of U2's most meaningful and magnificent songs ever

4) SYCMIOYO - Bono's most personal lyrics next to Bad and Kite

And I know I'm missing a whole lot of excellent U2 songs.

GRACE FINDS BEAUTY IN EVERYTHING....