What Beatles songs, would you affiliate with U2?

[theu2fly]

What U2 songs would be compared to Beatles songs?

Let it Be = Original Of The Species

Hey Jude = One

 

[LMP]

neither of those two, that's for sure.

Original definitely is Beatle-esque, but more like The Long and Winding Road or, I'm going out on a limb here, Across the Universe.

Window in the Skies is basically trying to encapsulate the entire Abbey Road album, at least that style, but who hasn't really?

 

[The_Edge89]

For some reason the melody of the verse in Native Son sounds to the verse in While My Guitar Gently Weeps from the White Album.
To me at least.
Does anyone agree?

 

[intedomine]

Hey Jude = Original Of The Species

Both songs written about an/the offspring of the member(s) of the band. Both soar somewhat, and both feature piano and both (for me personally) give off the same vibe. The do-do-do's of OOTS also remind me of the Naaa-Na-Na-Na-Na-Na-Naaaa's of Jude.


Magical Mystery Tour = Zoo Station

Both seem like a statement of intent to me and both open their respective album/EP.


Yesterday = One

Both are good, but over-appreciated, over-played and too much emphasis has been placed on the "importance" and "simplicity" of the tunes.


Back In The USSR = Vertigo

Both kick off eagerly anticipated albums in rockin' fashion. The verses also seem similarly vocalised.


There's A Place = Stories For Boys

Songs that could arguably be about wanting something and the spirit of youth.

 

[gman]

None! I have gone on record stating my curiosity as to why ppl think WITS is Beatle-esque. I was listening to beatles years before I was listening to u2, and i been listening to u2 since 1981. And given that av been playing musical instruments for 30 yrs, think am well placed to say that.
Compare Oasis to The Beatles and you have a case!

 

[BVS]

Let it Be = Original Of The Species

Hey Jude = One

For some reason the melody of the verse in Native Son sounds to the verse in While My Guitar Gently Weeps from the White Album.

I think I may have stepped into some twilight zone, that or I may have different versions of these songs.

 

[catlhere]

Within You Without You - With Or Without You

Not because they sound the same, but because I always get confused when The Beatles track shows up on iTunes and I'm expecting infinite guitar any second now. I have to do a double take.

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

Other than WITS I'm hard pressed to find anything else that has that Beatles sound...

 

[phillyfan26]

Helter Skelter reminds me of Helter Skelter.

 

[Joey788]

For me, I think there is more of an album comparison than song comparison.

I think Achtung Baby is U2's Sgt. Pepper. They both changed the band's sound, shocked fans, and changed the sound of rock in their day. I also think Zooropa is U2's Magical Mystery Tour. They're both even more experimental albums than their predecessors, we both at one point considered EPs, and pushed the boundaries of the band's sound even further than before. Although Magical Mystery Tour has many more classic songs than Zooropa had.

 

[BonoIsMyMuse]

None

 

[Clawgrabber]

WITS is very beatlesque. Original is too, but mostly just on the
bridge

 

[roy]

For me, I think there is more of an album comparison than song comparison.

I think Achtung Baby is U2's Sgt. Pepper. They both changed the band's sound, shocked fans, and changed the sound of rock in their day.

I don't think Achtung Baby changed the sound of rock in any way, shape or form. Can you explain what you mean by this?

 

[phillyfan26]

Yeah, U2 in the 90s was the anti-thesis to the times, which was grunge rock.

On a side note, Edge has said that with the exception of Pearl Jam, he found it boring.

 

[dsmith2904]

Helter Skelter reminds me of Helter Skelter.

Best answer ever.

 

[Clawgrabber]

I don't think Achtung Baby changed the sound of rock in any way, shape or form. Can you explain what you mean by this?

well, they certainly changed the way Depeche Mode wrote music. Look at the difference in sound from Violator to Songs Of Faith And Devotion.

on a side note, you can't tell me that THE BENDS and OK COMPUTER would have been the same without ACHTUNG BABY and ZOOROPA.

U2 in the 90s was an ENORMOUS influence on Radiohead. That's how they changed music.

and don't forget about Mr. TOM MORELLO and his band RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE... he himself stated that U2 and THE EDGE were huge influences on Rage's music in the 90s.

the grunge thing wasn't as prevalent as everyone makes it out to be. It was a big deal, but there were other important movements in music happening too. Not everyone was into grunge. Besides the grunge and the U2 / Radiohead type music, There were also other parallel tracks of the CHILI PEPPERS INFLUENCED bands (311, NO DOUBT, SUBLIME, even Rage to some degree).

There were alot of different subgenres starting up, from the alt country of Son Volt, WIlco, Counting Crows, Wallflowers,

to the Electonic / Trip Hop of Massive Attack, Portishead, Bjork, Tricky, Everything But The Girl

And of course "britpop": Oasis, Blur, Pulp, etc

Thus came the overly used term "Alternative" which was created to make sense of the fact that the simple term "Rock" didn't apply anymore.

Grunge wasn't the only thing happening. And Achtung Baby is one of the most influential albums of all time.

 

[ahittle]

For some reason the melody of the verse in Native Son sounds to the verse in While My Guitar Gently Weeps from the White Album.
To me at least.
Does anyone agree?

Native Son's verses always sounded old school Brit-pop to me, especially the second half of the verse where it gets all falsetto-y for a sec. But to my ears it wasn't Beatles as much as maybe a second-tier Brit rock act.

 

[ahittle]

I think the real connection comes just from certain turns of phrase that Bono nicked from Lennon - probably subconsciously. There's no Macca that I can hear. Maybe some of the Edge's 12-string Rick work pays homage to the Beatles.

But no flat out rip-offs ala Oasis.

 

[AtomicBono]

on a side note, you can't tell me that THE BENDS and OK COMPUTER would have been the same without ACHTUNG BABY and ZOOROPA.

U2 in the 90s was an ENORMOUS influence on Radiohead. That's how they changed music.

and don't forget about Mr. TOM MORELLO and his band RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE... he himself stated that U2 and THE EDGE were huge influences on Rage's music in the 90s.

so fuckin true, though Rage doesn't sound very U2-y to me, I can hear it in a couple songs, and the way U2 played Bullet during ZooTV and Popmart made it sound like a Rage song but definitely Radiohead was extremely influenced by U2. Maybe I'm giving them too much credit but I don't think Radiohead would have made any of their post-Bends work if U2 hadn't have made AB, Zooropa, Passengers, and Pop. Hell even early Radiohead definitely has a U2 influence.

also it used to be 80's U2 that everyone emulated but now the influence of 90's U2 is starting to show up, like with Keane. plus ZooTV changed the live experience by adding a b-stage and by stepping everything up a notch. Of course U2 will never be as influencial as The Beatles, or completely change the scope of rock music as they did, because The Beatles practically defined rock in their time. I don't think anyone will be able to measure up to that. It's not just that they were great (though they were), it's that they happened to come along at the right time. They were first. That's why no band can ever touch their legendary status, even if plenty of other bands are technically better.

 

[ZOOTVTOURist]

Not a single tune – U2 are better than the Beatles!

 

[AtomicBono]

Not a single tune – U2 are better than the Beatles!

okay sure but... that doesn't mean there aren't U2 songs that sound like The Beatles. If you don't think WITS or OOTS sound like the lads from Liverpool then you haven't really listened to The Beatles. Also U2 would not exist without the Beatles I'm thinkin.

 

[Inshakor]

If I had to pick then maybe All You Need is Love and Yahweh

 

[xaviMF22]

Not a single tune – U2 are better than the Beatles!

No.

 

[Moshepop]

The Ethereal Connection: a Synthesis of U2 and The Beatles

 

[theoriginal]

I think the strings of Original sound like something the Beatles (or George Martin I guess) would do. And the "please don't ever let me out of you" part of Windows is what reminded me of the Beatles.