How often have U2 chosen the best lead single for their albums?

[Axver]

Since one of the topics that's come up in the October Survivor is how bizarre it was that Fire was that album's lead single rather than Gloria, here's a little poll and discussion thread on the topic of U2's lead singles. How often have U2 chosen the right song to be an album's lead single? How often have they overlooked the best lead single candidate in favour of a song not as well-suited to the job?

Keep in mind that the best lead single is quite distinct from the best song on the album. A lead single should be one suited to radio play and to representing and promoting the album and the band. Some lead single choices may indeed be decent singles, but consider whether other songs on the album would have done the lead job even better. Also keep in mind the context of the time, and what stage the band were at in their career. Some songs may do better or worse depending on those factors - e.g. The Fly as a ballsy new direction choice rather than the "safe" option of One, and would With or Without You have done so well on the charts of 1997 or 2007 rather than 1987?

So on the poll, only vote that U2 made the best lead single choice if you think no other song from a given album would have been better suited to the role. Even if you think the actual lead single was the second-best choice, vote it as the wrong choice - it was a pretty good decision, but not the best one. Voting that U2 have only made the best choice 1-2 times doesn't necessarily mean you think they've usually chosen shitty lead singles.

I am including Passengers for the purposes of this poll. To refresh your memory, these are the lead singles from each album:

Boy: A Day Without Me (note: an early version of Out Of Control had already been released as U2's first single a year beforehand; it was not Boy's lead single)
October: Fire
War: New Year's Day
The Unforgettable Fire: Pride
The Joshua Tree: With or Without You
Rattle and Hum: Desire
Achtung Baby: The Fly
Zooropa: Numb
Passengers: Miss Sarajevo
Pop: Discotheque
All That You Can't Leave Behind: Beautiful Day
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb: Vertigo
No Line on the Horizon: Get On Your Boots

 

[Axver]

Feels like a bloody aeon since I last made an EYKIW/U2-related thread. Personally, I reckon they've made the best choice eight times. I've bolded the ones that I think are the best choice.

Boy: A Day Without Me (Not that strong a choice - it really should've been I Will Follow, or if 11 O'clock Tick Tock had been re-recorded for the album, it might've done the job well too.)

October: Fire (Of course this should've been Gloria.)

War: New Year's Day (Just perfect, and for a band on their way up, nothing could've been better - not even SBS.)

The Unforgettable Fire: Pride (Come on, what else?)

The Joshua Tree: With or Without You (Not sure it would've been the best choice in some other years or some other stages of their career, but in 1987 it was ideal. Obviously a couple of other songs from JT would've also done this job very well, but I'm sticking with WOWY.)

Rattle and Hum: Desire (It's not a personal favourite, but it's a catchy, immediate, exciting lead single. AIWIY is a killer single too, but I think they used it at the right time, later, as the ace up the sleeve to keep the album's sales going long-term.)

Achtung Baby: The Fly (Nothing else reveals and promotes the intentions of Achtung-era U2 better.)

Zooropa: Numb (They'd already done the ballsy, something-different trick with The Fly. Go with Stay instead. It's obviously going to be a successful single, and represents a reasonable amount of Zooropa well - both the softer side and the artsy side.)

Passengers: Miss Sarajevo (Not a personal favourite, but it's a great way to promote the theme of U2 recording with "passengers", it's got about as much commercial potential as anything else on the album, and it was very topical and pertinent for 1995.)

Pop: Discotheque (Hell no. Left the wrong impression, though OK, that was partly the video. Should've been Gone.)

All That You Can't Leave Behind: Beautiful Day (Absolutely nailed it.)

How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb: Vertigo (I struggle to argue with this one. Good, punchy lead single. COBL would've been good too, but I think Vertigo was best for immediate radio impact and promotion.)

No Line on the Horizon: Get On Your Boots (This was a bad choice. The album has a number of better choices - I'd probably have gone with the title track or Magnificent.)

 

[xana dew]

Spot on in my view, Axver.

I still recall clearly when the band released Discotheque. I loved the song because I'm a U2 nut, but when I saw the video I cringed. It was a hell of a misstep. After the dust settled, so to speak, it really became clear that having Discotheque as the lead single was the wrong decision. The song certainly didn't seem to fly in the States, and when I saw my first PopMart show in Tampa the stadium was half full. Edge said sardonically, "Feel free to spread out!" It was a bit of a sad moment for U2. I feel Discotheque was a significant reason, especially the video, for that reaction by the public. Pity really. I would've chosen Staring at the Sun.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

thinking commercially (and having the benefit of hindsight), here's my picks:

boy: a day without me - it is my favourite song on the album and while iwf seems the better choice, i don't think the studio track is that strong. however, adwm helped break them in the states, so without that being released when it was, who knows what might've happened.
october: gloria - come on. i do like fire better, but gloria is a more commercial song.
war: new year's day - they made the right choice here.
uf: pride - ditto.
jt: wowy - and again. it was a bit ballsy to release a ballad, but it worked. it gave them their first #1 in america and proved popular elsewhere too so it's not like it hurt them releasing it first.
rah: desire - i can't see what else they should've released first. certainly not another ballad first, so aiwiy would've been out. desire was the most representative of the album, and another strong seller.
ab: the fly - not the biggest seller stateswide (but there is a world outside of there) but it was everywhere else. regardless it was the best song to announce the new u2 to the world.
zooropa: ...fuck. to me zooropa is kind of the less commercial brother of ab. a similar sound, but other than stay, nothing's particularly radio-friendly. so i guess i'll go with stay.
passengers: your blue room. why? i could pick beach sequence, due to the different name nothing was going to be a big seller, was it? so who cares. i like this song best so that's my pick.
pop: staring at the sun. boom. i love discotheque and its kitschiness but record buyers were mixed about it. it certainly shouldn't have been the first single, though. sats was perfect, though. rock sensibilities with some of the sound of the album. definitely the most "classic u2" song on pop at least.
atyclb: beautiful day, i mean come on. besides, it was a massive hit so clearly there's no need to pick something else.
htdaab: vertigo - see above.
nloth: boots was definitely the wrong choice. it shouldn't have even made the album imo. for the first single i think they should've gone with the title track, maybe re-recorded it or something to make it a little punchier for radio (i'm thinking like the one we hear on u2 = bbc or whatever it's called). i love the atmospheric sound of the album version but it might've turned off people listening to top 40 radio.

so that's eight songs. while tallying it in my head i counted seven, oops. but still i'd say they need to work on improving their track record a bit, at least imo. hindsight of course is a great thing and doesn't exist in the present, but as long as the next album's lead single isn't vertigo v3, it'll hopefully be a good sign.

 

[bonocomet]

I think they got it right 8 times.

Yes:

War: New Year's Day
The Unforgettable Fire: Pride
The Joshua Tree: With or Without You
Rattle and Hum: Desire
Achtung Baby: The Fly
Passengers: Miss Sarajevo
All That You Can't Leave Behind: Beautiful Day
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb: Vertigo


No

My choices:

Boy: I Will Follow
October: Gloria
Zooropa: Stay
Pop: Gone
No Line on the Horizon: No Line On The Horizon

 

[LemonMelon]

7-6, by my count. They had a good run there from War to Passengers, but for a couple of those records you couldn't really screw it up.

I don't want to be too negative about it though; the only horrendous picks were Fire, Discotheque and GOYB.

 

[cobl04]

Boy - I Will Follow
October - Gloria
Pop - Gone
NLOTH - NLOTH

I think picking Numb for Zooropa was cool. They wanted to keep fucking up the mainstream right? What better way than to release a single with Edge mumbling on vocals and screechy guitar strikes, with a bondage video.

Kind of impossible to talk about without having been around though. In my time, Beautiful Day and Vertigo were both outstanding choices. Part me of thinks whatever song they released first from NLOTH it wouldn't have mattered. GOYB was a failure but I don't see how NLOTH or Magnificent would have been much more successful. Which is I would have liked to see them go in the opposite direction and release Moment of Surrender as the lead single.

 

[Popmartijn]

October: Fire (Of course this should've been Gloria.)

Except for the fact that Gloria (or the rest of the October album) wasn't even recorded when they released Fire as a single. Fire was recorded in April 1981 and released as a single in July. They started recording the October album that same month.

You can make the case that Gloria is the actual lead single from that album as it was released a week or so before the album was released. Fire was a previous single that was also included on the album.

 

[cobl04]

Popmartijn'd

 

[lemonfly]

DYFL as lead single + badass video - K-Mart conference = Pop selling 15m. I am stating this as indisputable FACT

 

[LemonMelon]

Except for the fact that Gloria (or the rest of the October album) wasn't even recorded when they released Fire as a single. Fire was recorded in April 1981 and released as a single in July. They started recording the October album that same month.

You can make the case that Gloria is the actual lead single from that album as it was released a week or so before the album was released. Fire was a previous single that was also included on the album.

If the two options for promoting October/U2 were releasing Fire and not doing anything, I would have chosen the latter.

 

[Galeongirl]

I think I couldn't agree with you more on this Ax, I'd even pick the same alternatives.

 

[U2girl]

They get it right most of the time...except not picking Gloria for October and especially not picking Magnificent for NLOTH.

And yes, the video tanked Discotheque.

 

[lazarus]

I'm not sure I agree with the people thinking Stay should have been Zooropa's lead single. It's the opposite of The Fly in that it completely misrepresents the album. If the point of those sessions was to go further down the rabbit hole of the unexpected, Numb is a great choice. Guitarist doing lead vocal, all the processing and loops.

They could have gone with a radio edit of Lemon as well.

Also disagree with Gone for Pop. The verses are a little too downbeat for announcing a new album. I think Last Night On Earth is a little more driving and forceful.

 

[chocky]

If I was making the decision at the time (based on my initial listenings of the album on release) I'd probably have picked these differences:

Two Hearts Beat as One
Still Haven't Found
Angel of Harlem
Babyface or Lemon
No Line on the Horizon

 

[Globo14]

I'm mostly with Axver's opinion, which seems to be similar to the opinion of most here.

Boy shoulda been I Will Follow.
October is obviously Gloria.
War was great with New Year's Day.
TUF was great with Pride.
The Joshua Tree was great with Streets.
Rattle and Hum was great with Desire, though I think Angel of Harlem could've been good, too.
Achtung had The Fly, a perfect direction changer.
Zooropa would've worked better with Stay or Lemon.
POP, I'm on the fence with. I think Discotheque was a good choice. But I think Gone would've been better yet.
ATYCLB had the brilliant comeback in Beautiful Day.
Bomb had Vertigo, a good lead.
No Line should've had either Breathe or the title track. Boots wasn't a good idea.

 

[Axver]

Except for the fact that Gloria (or the rest of the October album) wasn't even recorded when they released Fire as a single. Fire was recorded in April 1981 and released as a single in July. They started recording the October album that same month.

I'd forgotten about this! It would explain, however, a vague old comment of mine I found the other day while looking for something else, about the Fire single making chronological sense.

Still, I'm with LM. And unlike him, I actually really like Fire. What does surprise me is that in 1981, Fire somehow did better on the Irish and UK charts than Gloria (Fire reaching #4 and #35 respectively, compared to #10 and #55 for Gloria). Safe to say Gloria was the one that actually had the long-term impact though.

Also disagree with Gone for Pop. The verses are a little too downbeat for announcing a new album. I think Last Night On Earth is a little more driving and forceful.

I was thinking of Last Night on Earth, but for U2 at that stage of their career, LNOE almost seems a bit conservative. Not to say Gone is that much more challenging or ballsy, but I think it would have been more arresting and immediate than LNOE. Either would've worked well though, and been good representatives for the album.

At the moment, I'm inclined to say the order of the Pop singles should've been Gone first, then Last Night on Earth, Staring at the Sun, and Please and/or Discotheque.

 

[lazarus]

I was thinking of Last Night on Earth, but for U2 at that stage of their career, LNOE almost seems a bit conservative. Not to say Gone is that much more challenging or ballsy, but I think it would have been more arresting and immediate than LNOE. Either would've worked well though, and been good representatives for the album.

LNOE still sounded pretty "modern", though. It's not as dark and dirty as the AB stuff, and shares the cleaner/dizzier sound of Zooropa but the drums/percussion sounds more clubby than most of what's on that album. So it properly represents Pop's aesthetic while still containing a rock-out shouting chorus.

It's a lot more complex than its given credit for.

 

[Vlaco]

The Joshua Tree was great with Streets.

Streets was the third single, With Or Without You the first. (But I guess you actually meant to say that)....

I'd pick:

Boy: I Will Follow
October: Gloria
War: New Years Day
The Unforgettable Fire: Pride
The Joshua Tree: With Or Without You
Rattle & Hum: Desire
Achtung Baby: The Fly
Zooropa: Lemon or Stay
Passengers: Miss Sarajevo
Pop: Gone
All That You Can't Leave Behind: Beautiful Day
How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb: Vertigo
No Line On The Horizon: No Line On The Horizon

 

[The Panther]

U2's re-assertion of themselves in the (new) rock pantheon in 1991-93 was so successful (unlike all their original peers) that I can't find any fault with the choices of singles. 'The Fly' was a guaranteed flop in the American radio market (though a couple of years later it might have stood a chance), but who cares when you're guaranteed to sell minimum 5-million even with a shitty album? The importance of it was that it announced their makeover.

One of the many small problems with the Pop project as a whole (I'm including marketing here) was the lack of a suitable single. "Discotheque" was a big hit in most territories, but it had no staying power, and yes, the video turned off a lot of people (me too, I thought it looked ridiculous). I cannot see "Gone" being a hit on the radio -- it doesn't have a very strong melody and its sound is very rock-generic, as is that of "Staring at the Sun" (which nevertheless has a much stronger melody). "Staring at the Sun" would have been the best choice... but still not the ideal track.

 

[gvox]

'The Fly' was a guaranteed flop in the American radio market (though a couple of years later it might have stood a chance), but who cares when you're guaranteed to sell minimum 5-million even with a shitty album?

By this logic, NLOTH shoulda done waaaayyyyy better.

And Pop's lead single should have been Do You Feel Loved followed by Last Night On Earth. Hands down. DYFL's chorus is radio-ready as are the bridge and verses, the song has a trippy groove, and it's fast enough to blare at high volume. Gone as a lead single? Hell no. Single #3, at best.

Don't argue, I'm 100% right.

 

[digitize]

Miami should have been Pop's lead single.

 

[gvox]

 

[Axver]

No no no, Playboy Mansion would've just torn up the charts. INSTANT NUMBA WUUUUNNNN.

 

[digitize]

No no no, Playboy Mansion would've just torn up the charts. INSTANT NUMBA WUUUUNNNN.

Americans love songs whose purpose is more or less to make fun of their culture, I believe.

 

[the tourist]

Boy: I Will Follow
October: Gloria
War: New Year's Day
The Unforgettable Fire: Pride
The Joshua Tree: Where The Streets Have No Name
Rattle & Hum: Desire
Achtung Baby: Until The End Of The World
Zooropa: Lemon
Pop: Last Night On Earth
All That You Can't Leave Behind: The Ground Beneath Her Feet
How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb: Vertigo
No Line On The Horizon: No Line On The Horizon II.

 

[Axver]

All That You Can't Leave Behind: The Ground Beneath Her Feet

Hahaha, I can get behind this.

 

[the tourist]

Hahaha, I can get behind this.

I almost put Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me as Pop's lead single, but figured that was a little too revisionist.

 

[Globo14]

Streets was the third single, With Or Without You the first. (But I guess you actually meant to say that)....

Indeed I did. Tapped it out from my phone, didn't mean to say Streets.

 

[An Cat Gav]

Great thread Ax, thanks.

Boy: Should have been Out of Control, though they had already released that on U23, the studio cut of A Day Without Me isn't a patch on the live one which leaves I will Follow, a song which although I think is over rated would have been a great way to kick off their Boy campaign.

October: Of course it should have been Gloria.

War. NYD- spot on!

Unforgettable Fire : Pride-perfect choice.

The Joshua Tree : WOWY, if it had been me I would have lobbeyed for Streets but I would have been wrong, WOWY was perfect.

Rattle and Hum : Desire was a great choice.

AChtung Baby : The Fly is my favourite song of all time so obviously this was a great choice.

Zooropa: Numb, this puzzled the hell out of me, which I guess was the point. great choice.

Passengers: Miss Sarajevo was the obvious and the corect choice, wish they'd released YBR second though, would have raised the profile and sales no-end.

Pop : Discotheque, they should have gone all balls out and released Mofo.

ATYCLB : Beautiful Day- perfect choice once again.

HTDAAB : Vertigo, good choice though I'd have been equally happy with COBL.

Horizon : Boots, nah should have been MOS or maybe Magnificent.

9/13 they got right in my opinion, which isn't bad, they got seven in a row bymy calculations, from War to Passengers which is also the time when they were ar their best in my opinion. A coincidence?