What U2 songs do you think have aged badly?

[ImOuttaControl]

I was thinking about this earlier today. Unforgettable Fire as a live song is very good on the bootleg dvd's I have, but the album version makes me cringe. It's one of the few U2 songs that I feel a little embarrassed about when my cd player starts cranking out out. The snyths are just so....cheesy.

Does anybody else here think that certian U2 songs have aged badly? If so, what?

 

[beli]

Ive aged along with Unforgettable Fire so it sounds wonderful to me. The album version would be one of my all time favourite U2 songs.

I think it depends on the age of the listener. I heard all of these songs as they were released, so there sentiment there.

If a younger person has just got into U2 now, then some of the older stuff may sound cheesy and dated. I cant hear it personally as Im old. Can I ask how old you were when you first got into U2?

 

[miss becky]

Twilight and A Day Without Me. Of all the tracks on Boy, to me those two sound the most dated.

And I agree with beli. TUF does not sound outdated. It sounds great!

 

[beli]

And I agree with beli. TUF does not sound outdated. It sounds great!

LOL. I meant it doesnt sound outdated to me but it may well to people who didnt hear it when it was released. Im completely unable to determine the cheesiness factor of U2 as I have heard all the albums as they have been released.

But I can hear it in disco songs, for example, and other songs released before I was into music.

If that makes sense.

 

[ImOuttaControl]

Ive aged along with Unforgettable Fire so it sounds wonderful to me. The album version would be one of my all time favourite U2 songs.

I think it depends on the age of the listener. I heard all of these songs as they were released, so there sentiment there.

If a younger person has just got into U2 now, then some of the older stuff may sound cheesy and dated. I cant hear it personally as Im old. Can I ask how old you were when you first got into U2?

I am just about 24 now, and I got into U2 in about 1999. My first album was the Best of 1980-1990 and I guess at the time, I remember thinking how awesome and timeless the whole thing sounded except for The Unforgettable Fire. I remember thinking how out of place it seemed with all the other songs. I love the lyrics and the imagery, but those synths are essentially what I hate about most 80's music. I have a hunch that if it would have been recorded without the massive synthesizers, I would absolutely love the album version. But this way, it sounds like a relic of the 80's.

 

[yertle-the-turtle]

I like 'The Unforgettable Fire', one of my favourite songs.

As per the original thread, I'll need to give it some thought. Which probably goes to show how short this list must be.

 

[beli]

Thats what I mean. I personally am a relic of the 80s and I adore all those 80s synthesizer songs. In fact, I still live in the 80s in my head

But Im guessing any music not heard at the time may sound cheesy at a later date.

 

[miss becky]

LOL. I meant it doesnt sound outdated to me but it may well to people who didnt hear it when it was released. Im completely unable to determine the cheesiness factor of U2 as I have heard all the albums as they have been released.

But I can hear it in disco songs, for example, and other songs released before I was into music.

If that makes sense.

Makes perfect sense.

I happen to love 80s music, so very little of it sounds outdated to me. Certainly not TUF.

 

[anitram]

I'm not sure, except Pride sounds kind of lazy to me when it's performed live, like it's been overplayed.

 

[ImOuttaControl]

I'm not sure, except Pride sounds kind of lazy to me when it's performed live, like it's been overplayed.

Yeah I agree. I think the album version has aged well, but I think it hasn't aged very well live.

 

[Mr Gloria]

Listening to A Day Without Me reminds me of When they show the early clips of spinal tap in the film - namely Flower People, and that British invasion tune..dated yet..but i like the nostalgia!!!!

(yes i know its only a film...but a valid comparision nevertheless)

 

[indra]

Thats what I mean. I personally am a relic of the 80s and I adore all those 80s synthesizer songs. In fact, I still live in the 80s in my head

But Im guessing any music not heard at the time may sound cheesy at a later date.

I love much of the 80's synth stuff too. It's just so much fun. I find what often dates a song for me is really specific lyrics (often really political lyrics do that), much more than the music.

 

[labell]

Ive aged along with Unforgettable Fire so it sounds wonderful to me. The album version would be one of my all time favourite U2 songs.

I think it depends on the age of the listener. I heard all of these songs as they were released, so there sentiment there.

If a younger person has just got into U2 now, then some of the older stuff may sound cheesy and dated. I cant hear it personally as Im old. Can I ask how old you were when you first got into U2?

I'm fourteen and a new U2 fan and I LOVE Unforgettable fire...I love most of their old stuff.

 

[U2Knox07]

I'm 20 and I got into U2 when I first heard Beautiful Day and bought ATYCLB when I was 17. Ever since then, I have been a U2 addict. I have not been to a concert yet, but I am hoping to go to the one in Chicago this year. I like Unforgetable fire, and think it is a good song, but I think there are better ones, but definitely not one of their worst. I really like most of their music, however I tend to listen to more of their new stuff, even though their old stuff is good too.

 

[Axver]

Red Light. That's it.

How anyone could say The Unforgettable Fire is dated is beyond me. I'm seventeen and I believe it to be one of the absolute best songs ever made. Musical perfection in sweeping sonic landscapes. In my top three best (not favourite) songs, it comes after Streets and Bad. In my favourites, it is second behind 11 O'clock Tick Tock.

 

[jick]

Virtually all the POP songs aged badly so U2 had to do new mixes and new versions of them.

Oh wait, the question is "what do you THINK" so this is asking for opinion and not facts like the POP facts. So what do I think? It's a tough one, I'll still have to go with the POP songs. After all opinion can be fact sometimes.

Cheers,

J

 

[U2utah2U]

Oh Jick, what would we do without you?

Um, I'd have to say Refugee and Red Light. I think they sound great on War but out of the context of the album they sound, well, like 80s songs.

I'm also not a big fan of Indian Summer Sky and Elvis Presley and America. I usually skip those.

JT and AB are perfect and timeless. But, I don't like Lillywhite's mix of Horses as much as the temple bar edit. I think the album mix sounds too early 90s but it is a small flaw I am willing to overlook.

R&H has always been a favorite of mine and since it is trying to sound like an old rock 'n roll album I can't say that anything hasn't aged well. Zooropa is close to perfect but Dirty Day sounds like it's trying too hard to be an alternative song.

Okay, this is just turning into a list of my least favorite songs.

But who determines what has aged well or not? Let's have some parameters by which we can judge.

 

[rivergoat]

Funny, I was just watching the viedo for A Celebration earlier and thinking "this is SO early 80's!" My vote for a song that hasn't aged well would have to be Surrender - all those 'hah!'s and the odd percussion sounds and guest-female-backing-vocalist-singing-like-a-lost-soul-thing are VERY much early eighties. It's funny, when the War album came out, I loved that song, now I just don't care for it.

goat

 

[david]

I used to not care for the Unforgettable Fire (the song) back in 92 when I finally picked up the album. But I seriously love that song now. I don't think it's aged badly at all.

 

[Yahweh_OMG]

Pride.....
I still haven't found what I'm looking for......
Angel of Harlem....
When love comes to town.....

These songs are very outdated IMO. And I hope we won't hear them live anymore even though they were great songs in the past.

 

[Aardvark747]

Red Light deffo imo.

 

[whackjester]

There is no doubt at all the The Unforgetable Fire has aged badly; but from day one, I thought it sounded cheesy. The worst part is the breakdown in the song with the synth strings. Horrible. It also is one of the songs that I dislike the most by U2 in general. The music video also adds to the cheese factor.

 

[JulioArca]

Most of JT actually, especially Bullet.

 

[U2Kitten]

Not only has UF aged well, it's managed to be reincarnated as Coldplay's "Clocks"

If that's new radio play so is UF! It's an obvious ripoff but not as good.

I really don't think anything has aged badly. Even the Boy songs don't sound old since that style of music is coming back among younger bands. The only thing I don't think holds up as classic is (so kill me) Pop, especially Discotheque. I never hear any Pop songs on the radio now like you do most all the other albums, I guess the radio stations feel the same way. The Edge (The real one) mentioned once that the band felt that October was very dated and did not stand up after time like their other stuff did and that's why they don't play it live or put it on their Best of.

 

[TheBrazilianFly]

Most defenitly The Unforgettable Fire (the song), it sounds really dated in my opinion. Also A Day Without Me, Gloria, Wire, Mothers Of The Disappeared.... that's all I can think of right now....

 

[sallycinnamon78]

Pride.....
I still haven't found what I'm looking for......
Angel of Harlem....
When love comes to town.....

These songs are very outdated IMO. And I hope we won't hear them live anymore even though they were great songs in the past.

I like Angel of Harlem... always thought it deliberately utilised an older sort of sound which worked well. I still love that song.

As for UF - I'm not a big fan of 80s synths but I still think they fit perfectly into the song (which I didn't have the pleasure of discovering until about 1997).

Could kind of do without Discotheque, I must admit!

(edit for typos)

 

[deltau922]

Not only has UF aged well, it's managed to be reincarnated as Coldplay's "Clocks"

I swear the first time I heard Clocks on the radio, I thought it was U2. Some old, recently discovered U2 song that had been slowed down a little. The piano and vocals definitely sounded like vintage U2, and the drum rhythm has been played many a time by Larry.

 

[Yahweh]

Red Light didnt have to age it was bad when it came out.

In my opinion POP sounds better now then when it first came out so I think it has actually aged very well. I would say pretty much all the tracks off the first 3 albums sound very dated myself but there isnt anything wrong with that.

 

[Lisa71]

I love UF. It's always been one of my favorites. I'd have to agree with others and say Surrender and Red light. Some of October is a bit dates sounding too. As for Boy, I actually think some of those songs stand the test of time.

 

[sallycinnamon78]

I swear the first time I heard Clocks on the radio, I thought it was U2. Some old, recently discovered U2 song that had been slowed down a little. The piano and vocals definitely sounded like vintage U2, and the drum rhythm has been played many a time by Larry.

That's something I have never really understood, the U2/Coldplay comparison. As a fan of both bands, I just can't hear it at all - certainly in terms of vocals, they sound nothing alike to me whatsoever! It's a mystery to me.