The Eras of U2...

[jkthegame]

Hey folks,

I'm putting together a collection of discs celebrating the "musical journey" of U2. And instead of naming them Disc 1, Disc 2... I'd like to give them clever names relating to the band and the era in which it's in...

Disc 1 - Boy to Unforgettable Fire
Disc 2 - Joshua Tree - Rattle n Hum
Disc 3 - Achtung Baby to Zooropa
Disc 4 - Passengers to Best of 1980 - 1990
Disc 5 - ATYCLB to HTDAAB
Disc 6 - NLOTH to (hopefully the new album)

Any suggestions?
Thanks!
jk

 

[Galeongirl]

Usually people group them together a little differently, namely BOctoWar for the first three, as they were remastered together... UF-JT-Rattle and Hum as the Desert trillogy/America one(don't ask me why, I don't know). AB and Zooropa together as the ZooTv period, Passengers isn't a U2 album so then Pop usually gets grouped together with the ZooTv albums as the 90's period. Then ATYCLB and Bomb as the 'back to the roots' thing.

Does that help?

 

[Niceman]

Hey folks,

I'm putting together a collection of discs celebrating the "musical journey" of U2. And instead of naming them Disc 1, Disc 2... I'd like to give them clever names relating to the band and the era in which it's in...

Disc 1 - Boy to Unforgettable Fire
Disc 2 - Joshua Tree - Rattle n Hum
Disc 3 - Achtung Baby to Zooropa
Disc 4 - Passengers to Best of 1980 - 1990
Disc 5 - ATYCLB to HTDAAB
Disc 6 - NLOTH to (hopefully the new album)

Any suggestions?
Thanks!
jk

I usually see the eras as :
1 -BOY, OCT, WAR, UABRS
2 - UF, JT, R&H
3 - Achtung, ZOOROPA, PASSENGERS, POP
4 - ATYCLB/HTDAAB
5 - NLOTH and beyond.....

 

[Acrobat51829]

Hey folks,

I'm putting together a collection of discs celebrating the "musical journey" of U2. And instead of naming them Disc 1, Disc 2... I'd like to give them clever names relating to the band and the era in which it's in...

Disc 1 - Boy to Unforgettable Fire
Disc 2 - Joshua Tree - Rattle n Hum
Disc 3 - Achtung Baby to Zooropa
Disc 4 - Passengers to Best of 1980 - 1990
Disc 5 - ATYCLB to HTDAAB
Disc 6 - NLOTH to (hopefully the new album)

Any suggestions?
Thanks!
jk

Using lyrics:

Disc 1: Walls of White Protest
Disc 2: Thunder on the Mountain
Disc 3: Head Full of Traffic
Disc 4: Spacejunk
Disc 5: Queue for the Lifeboat
Disc 6: Edge of the Known Universe


Using songs:

Disc 1: With a Shout
Disc 2: Heartland
Disc 3: Numb
Disc 4: A Different Kind of Blue
Disc 5: In A Little While
Disc 6: Cedars of Lebanon

Just suggestions -- hope that helps

 

[mikal]

I usually see the eras as :
1 -BOY, OCT, WAR, UABRS
2 - UF, JT, R&H
3 - Achtung, ZOOROPA, PASSENGERS, POP
4 - ATYCLB/HTDAAB
5 - NLOTH and beyond.....

yeah, i agree. i think your #3 is the best way to put it. i've tied Passengers to both Pop and Zooropa, but all in all, the 90's as a whole was just one big .

 

[65980]

Passengers throws a curveball into the mix. Is it U2, or isn't it? And if so, does it match more with Pop or with the earlier stuff?

I personally can't see Pop as being in the same "era" as Achtung Baby, but it clearly isn't in with ATYCLB. So, Pop is the bitch.

It's almost as if the 70s-80s was three different eras, and then the 90s was one, and the 00s is one also (for the moment, I would leave NLOTH in with the two albums before it).

 

[Katiesheb]

I usually see the eras as :
1 -BOY, OCT, WAR, UABRS
2 - UF, JT, R&H
3 - Achtung, ZOOROPA, PASSENGERS, POP
4 - ATYCLB/HTDAAB
5 - NLOTH and beyond.....

Storngly agree with you on these eras.

 

[allbecauseofu2]

u2 acted like NLOTH was so different then the last 2 albums. i think it wasn't at all.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

I usually see the eras as :
1 -BOY, OCT, WAR, UABRS
2 - UF, JT, R&H
3 - Achtung, ZOOROPA, PASSENGERS, POP
4 - ATYCLB/HTDAAB
5 - NLOTH and beyond.....

this.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

u2 acted like NLOTH was so different then the last 2 albums. i think it wasn't at all.

Depends on what they do next. If what comes next is a full blown return to the deep end, then No Line will seem like a bit of a hybrid, one foot in both camps. But if what comes next is a full blown return to bombastic, simplistic 00s U2, then No Line will feel, overall, a part of that, with just a few of its tracks standing out as anomalies along the way. Either way, NLOTH is not a clean enough break to ever - regardless of what comes next - feel like the start of something totally new. It's simply not.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

yeah, i agree. i think your #3 is the best way to put it. i've tied Passengers to both Pop and Zooropa, but all in all, the 90's as a whole was just one big .

I think of the 90s as being a three step journey from Achtung to Zooropa to Passengers, and then Pop a sort of attempt to patch the end of that journey back to the beginning, a sort of culmination of all three.

 

[Rafiennes]

Boy / October / War – From Boy to Man
The Unforgettable Fire / The Joshua Tree / Rattle & Hum – The Two Americas
Acthung, Baby / Zooropa / Pop – To And From Nighttown **
ATYCLB / HTDAAB / NLOTH – Stateless

** To And From Nighttown, referencing the Bill Flannagan book about the character’s journey in Achtung, Baby, carrying over into his exploration of Zooropa, and then (this theory on my own) the hangover from the adventure – the realization that his faith has been shattered.

Stuff like UABRS and WAIA are like b-sides on singles. Good stuff but I don’t know if they constitute as ‘an album’.

And Passengers is an interesting side note but not a U2 album (opening those old wounds again). Yes, Miss Sarajevo and Your Blue Room came out of that and have been performed live, but that doesn’t make Passengers a U2 album.

 

[Chill Mike D]

I usually see the eras as :
1 -BOY, OCT, WAR, UABRS
2 - UF, JT, R&H
3 - Achtung, ZOOROPA, PASSENGERS, POP
4 - ATYCLB/HTDAAB
5 - NLOTH and beyond.....

This is pretty much it.

 

[jacobus]

Boy / October / War – Young & Wild
The Unforgettable Fire / The Joshua Tree / Rattle & Hum – Native Spheres
Achtung Baby / Zooropa / Pop – The Peak - With Balls
ATYCLB / HTDAAB / NLOTH – The Low - Without Balls

 

[Niceman]

Hahaha! I'm not used to anyone on interference agreeing with me on anything anymore! I've forgotten what it feels like!

 

[BVS]

u2 acted like NLOTH was so different then the last 2 albums. i think it wasn't at all.

Maybe you should give it a listen...

 

[allbecauseofu2]

i have, sorry not wasn;t the drastic difference they made it out to be. At least to me it wasn't. I expected something so different. I mean, yea its a little different. But not that much different. I still feel its the titanium soul thing they had going on.

 

[BVS]

WAS, NLOTH, MOS, COL, UC etc none of these would fit on the last two albums.

 

[roy]

Boy / October / War – Young & Wild
The Unforgettable Fire / The Joshua Tree / Rattle & Hum – Native Spheres
Achtung Baby / Zooropa / Pop – The Peak - With Balls
ATYCLB / HTDAAB / NLOTH – The Low - Without Balls

F**k me. Native Spheres What a complete idiot.

 

[jacobus]

F**k me. Native Spheres What a complete idiot.

ola meu carinhoso amigo!
i only wrote this, because i wanted to get some angry reaction of you. i never thougt, that you don't like my term of native spheres for TUF/TJT/RAH because those albums are great. i rather expected your verbal rioting for the term 'the low - without balls' i gave to the last three albums.
to be honest, i missed you roy!

 

[allbecauseofu2]

sorry, i think they all fit on the last 2 albums. and see no different vibe. and shocked you don;t mention fez right off the bat. Since thats proly the best one that dosn't appear to fit on the last two. Some might fit better one of the two albums. NLOTH is more bomb then ALYCLB . MOS is very ATYCLB. COL could replace grace in a sec. MAG could have been either for me. CRAZY is ALYCLB a bit more then bomb. BOOTS fits bomb. UC i think is either but leaning toward ATYCLB. WAS sounds like it could be on ALYCLB. BREATHE could be either. SUC is proly more BOOTS. and then, FEZ is the closest one for me that dosn't fit. But thats only one song, and it if anything its a UF meets ATYCLB . Thinking about it now , if you had told me that NLOTH was just a collection of leftover songs from the last 2 albums i would have believed that.
Bono also hyped this album as being so different, that i had a such a different picture of what this album was gonna sound like. Oh, new guitar tones, dance floor shock, this and that. If boots was that new guitar tone,dancefloor shock thing, too bad the live version blows the studio away. Sorry, i was expecting to hear songs that might be a cross between and massive attack's "teardop" and HMTMKMKM. When i got it, i was like this just phrase 3 of titainum soul era. I also have already said i have sat down and listened to all 4 trilogys . I found the last 3 albums to flow together better then of the other ones. Just to be clear, that means i took the songs from 3 albums and listened to the songs in random order. That dosn't mean i think its thier greatest 3 albums ever , i just found they worked well off of each other.

 

[Niceman]

Sorry, i was expecting to hear songs that might be a cross between and massive attack's "teardop" and HMTMKMKM.

Maybe you would be happier buying a Massive Attack album???

 

[allbecauseofu2]

hey, that's my thoughts on it. Not apoligizing for it..

 

[ozeeko]

MOS, F-BB, WAS and COL were all new adventures for the band. MOS on ATYCLB?? There's nothing on that album that even comes close to being as dark and harrowing as MOS. WAS? COL? Too dark. The darkest they got on ATYCLB is POE, which is one of the lesser tunes. F-BB? Nothing that strange on ATYCLB. Or BOMB. Hell, there really isnt anything dark or strange off either those albums.

 

[allbecauseofu2]

i don't consider MOS dark and harrowing. dark compared to what? big girls are best? Please. actuly , please as in the song itself, and please as in i don;t agree. Exit kills MOS in that catagory as well. Bittersweet perhaps. i said fez was the one i was said was a little weird to be on either straight up.

 

[coolian2]

 

[allbecauseofu2]

not changing my thoughts so i can fit in on the board. You say NLOTH is a total break from the last 2 albums, i disagree.

 

[the tourist]

The eras as I see them:

01. Boy/October/War
02. The Unforgettable Fire/The Joshua Tree/Rattle & Hum
03. Achtung Baby/Zooropa/(Passengers)
04. Pop/All That You Can't Leave Behind/How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb/No Line On The Horizon

I liken the 4th era to the 1st. Strong beginning and ending, weak middle (albumwise). Basically, ATYCLB/HTDAAB are the 4th era's October.
I liken the 2nd and 3rd era. Two strong albums that develop, and then deconstruction of that.

I've seen lots of argument in hear that No Line On The Horizon doesn't fit with the HTDAAB/ATYCLB era. Specifically, that certain songs wouldn't be interchangeable. White As Snow and Cedars Of Lebanon could fit on ATYCLB as well as Peace On Earth, When I Look At The World, and Grace. White As Snow and Cedars Of Lebanon could fit on HTDAAB as well as One Step Closer. Then there is the Discotheque/Elevation/Vertigo/Get On Your Boots quadrilogy.

No Line isn't a departure from the ATYCLB/HTDAAB era. It's an evolution from it. The songs and their tones are still in the same realm, but there is progression forward. Again, not a departure.

 

[allbecauseofu2]

i would agree with a idea that NLOTH, was just the next step in this phrase. But not a departure and no way the start of a new era.

 

[ozeeko]

i don't consider MOS dark and harrowing. dark compared to what? big girls are best? Please. actuly , please as in the song itself, and please as in i don;t agree. Exit kills MOS in that catagory as well. Bittersweet perhaps. i said fez was the one i was said was a little weird to be on either straight up.

Come to think of it is rather dark compared to Big Girls Are Best. Of course Exit is a darker song, it being about a murder/suicide and all, yet i wasn't comparing MOS to Exit. Exit is pretty tame compared to certain Death Metal songs but i'm not about to compare it to those either. MOS is dark in a different way. Not in a scary 'im going to kill someone' way. But in a druggy fucked up and lost kind of way, not to mention that whole, ahem, heroin thing. I dunno, it doesn't seem too chipper to me. But maybe I'm wrong. Is it a happy heroin song?