Snowlock said:
Actually, if you measure most popular by chart success:
Elevation, Walk On, SBS, NYD, never charted in the US and should have been replaced by EBTTRT, HMTMKMKM, Discotheque & WGRYWH which were all Top 40 hits.
Agreed, but I also think this release is not just chart success. It appears it's based charts, Grammies (or awards), and concert favorites. When I look at the track-list, I actually see a mini-U2 concert there! It appears to be a CD of concert attendees favorite songs, which, by default, always skews newer. Hence why there may be more recent songs on the CD. I have more thoughts on this later (see below).
Sometimes and Stuck barely charted, coming in at like 99 and 97 respectively so they should have been replaced as well by SATS and Stay.
Actually, "Stuck" was a much bigger hit than #97. I forget the exact number myself, but it reached into the 50's on Billboard in the U.S., making it a bigger hit than "Stay", which only reached into the 60's. However, SATS reached #26. If there was a song from '93-'98 that should have been included, it should have been either "Hold Me..." (#16 on the charts) or SATS.
However, this once again brings me back to the mini-concert idea. Just like in a concert, the songs don't always flow. There'll be 2 or 3 songs that blend, then there's a shift. I see this with this album. There's a few songs that flow together, then suddenly the track-list takes an unexpected turn.
Additionally, "Stuck" seems to be a far bigger success in concert than SATS or "Stay". "Stay" is enjoyed in concert, but from all the concerts I attended (in the U.S. and Ireland) on the last tour, it seems everyone sings along with "Stuck". While this isn't one of my favorite U2 songs, it seems to be a crowd-pleaser. Likewise, everyone seemed to adore Bono's wailing in "Sometimes", making it another concert favorite. Sadly, "Hold Me" was only played on one tour, so it never really got a chance to be a huge concert favorite.
In other words, I'm really seeing this as a studio version of U2's recent concert favorites.
If you measure popularity by played live, then you'd for sure have to add the staples like:
UTEOTW, Bad & Bullet, replacing probably Sometimes, Stuck and Walk On.
This is where you also bring up the idea of concert-favorites. And I agree with you, "Until", "Bad" and maybe "Bullet" are preferred over "Sometimes" and "Stuck".
But this is where the Grammy and single factor kick in. Both "Sometimes" and "Stuck" were released as singles and won big Grammy awards, while none of the three songs you mentioned were singles or Grammy-winners.
Therefore, while the mini-concert theme dominates, when faced with a choice, U2 seemed to pick a single over an album favorite or a Grammy winner over a higher charting song.
Me too. I think people have it in their minds that it's an either or thing. Like, if U2 had decided not to release a best of, they would've released a full new studio album instead. Or that the work on the best of somehow delayed the studio album. Which is rediculous.
I actually wish U2 just released a mini-EP (toss on the two new tracks, some live material, maybe a favorite B-side, like - gasp - "Mercy") instead and made it a full charity release! This way, U2 could have had something new out, but it wouldn't have required any more work and these discussions of "sell out" wouldn't be occurring.
My guess is that U2 had to release this new "Best Of" for some contract reasons. Far better for U2 to release an unnecessary "Best Of" for contract reasons than to release several fast, but poor, albums (as others have done - Prince, Springsteen), to get out of a contract.
Criminy people...everyone is SOOOO critical about this! Who cares if it has one song over another?
x a million!!!
