Top 5 U2 songs

Yes, Bono is a tool, their drummer is barely adequate, their bassist a joke and their guitarist overly reliant on pedals, but they’ve been around for about thirty years and deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as the Stones, Beatles, Floyd, Who, whoever imo.

Like MJ and Prince, even if you don’t like them there’s still gotta be something you like.


So what is it?

And why?

  1. Pride

    An obvious choice, but it broke them and I’d never heard guitar like that before.
  2. A Sort of Homecoming (live)

    Hate the studio version of this. The Australian EP it comes from is electrifying.
  3. So Cruel

    The ultimate break-up song. U2 either hate this song or are ridiculously protective of it. Very, very rarely play it live. Good luck finding a decent version (studio or live) on youtube.
  4. One

    Epic.
  5. All I Want Is You.

    Seven odd minutes pass like seconds. Dylan-inspired lyrics, still as simple as it gets.


    Other loves: loved playing Bullet The Blue Sky live, love the production and guitar sound of Even Better Than The Real Thing, love Love Rescue Me which is AIWIY but stripped back even more.

1. The Unforgettable Fire

2. Heartland

3. Love Is Blindness

4. Running To Stand Still

5. All I Want Is You

In no specific order, these are the ones I can think of…

Everlasting Love (one of the best versions of this song ever)

Sunday ■■■■■■ Sunday

Angel of Harlem

New Year’s Day

With or Without You

My fav’s, no order:

Stuck in a moment you can’t get out of

Hold me, thrill me, kiss me, kill me

Beautiful day - Fires me up everytime

Elevation

With or without you - Still sends chills down my spine

Pick any one you like, whack that on top, then any four at random and fill out the rest of the top five. Philosophically (therefore lyrically). due to their actual, real world behaviour, they are bankrupt, and musically they make ACDC sound adventerous and full of variety.

Didn’t mind Gloria. All down hill since.

1. The Fly

2. Zoo Station

3. Lemon

4. I Will Follow

5. New York

  1. In a little while
  2. Who’s gonna ride your wild horses
  3. One
  4. Until the end of the world
  5. Sunday ■■■■■■ Sunday
  1. Pride (in the name of love) - Quintessential U2
  2. One - Brilliant song writing
  3. Sunday ■■■■■■ Sunday - One of the great protest songs
  4. Zoo Station - I love the sonic landscape of this one
  5. All I Want is You - Beautiful, sparse arrangement

Pick any one you like, whack that on top, then any four at random and fill out the rest of the top five. Philosophically (therefore lyrically). due to their actual, real world behaviour, they are bankrupt, and musically they make ACDC sound adventerous and full of variety.


You may not like them, which is fine, and I'm not going to bother debating their 'real world behaviour' (whatever that means), but if you think their sound hasn't changed or hasn't been adventurous suggests that you haven't listened much to their music.

With or Without You

With A Shout (Jerusalem)

A Celebration

Acrobat

The Ground Beneath Her Feet

I admit to being primarily interested in jazz but I do listen to "rock" music regularly and often enjoy it. But to describe rock music as adventurous is stretching it a bit. The term adventurous should be reserved for the likes of our own treasured septuagenarian saxophinist Bernie McGann who has astounded and delighted listeners here and abroad with his extemporised solos for decades.

 

The great Bernie McGann is currently very ill and Bennetts Lane are holding a benefit gig for him tomorrow night with a line up that includes Paul Grabowsky, Alan Brown and Wilber Wilde amongst many others.

I do listen to some jazz, though I prefer blues. Jazz may be harmonically adventurous, but it is far more conventional in terms of the instrumentation/textures that are used. I know that guys like John McLaughlin, Stanley Gordan and Herbie Hancock have pushed boundaries in this regard, but you could mount a strong argument that these artists were strongly influenced by rock.

In order that they came out

Out of Control

Gloria.

Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

One

Walk On

 

Was a fan early, went off them when they changed in the 90s, came back to them when they came back to their roots.

 

Was a fan early, went off them when they changed in the 90s, came back to them when they came back to their roots.

It's interesting how people gravitate to/from a band isn't it?  

 

I liked them a lot up till about With Or Without You, went off them big time during their cowboy outfits/America-you're-so-great phase (Joshua Tree the album, Rattle & Hum), then reconnected with them for Achtung Baby and Zooropa (remember being astounded by The Fly first time I heard it... not so much now).  After that I've drifted away again once they became more traditional in their approach and stopped taking risks.  Their nadir for mine is All That You Can't Leave Behind, an album so head-crackingly dull in inspiration and execution.  I've tried again and again to like it, but it's just so ■■■■■■ uninspired.  Especially since it came on the back of The Ground Beneath Her Feet and Beautiful Day (which are amongst their best for mine).

The fact they've been hanging around with Will.I.Am of late indicates just how bereft of ideas they are these days unfortunately...

I admit to being primarily interested in jazz but I do listen to "rock" music regularly and often enjoy it. But to describe rock music as adventurous is stretching it a bit. The term adventurous should be reserved for the likes of our own treasured septuagenarian saxophinist Bernie McGann who has astounded and delighted listeners here and abroad with his extemporised solos for decades.

 

The great Bernie McGann is currently very ill and Bennetts Lane are holding a benefit gig for him tomorrow night with a line up that includes Paul Grabowsky, Alan Brown and Wilber Wilde amongst many others.

Go be a hipster goon somewhere else please.

 

I love U2. My answer to this question would probably change on a monthly basis, but off the top of my head...

 

1. All I Want Is You

2. Angel of Harlem

3. Silver and Gold

4. Beautiful Day

5. City of Blinding Lights

1. Where the Streets Have No Name

 

... daylight to anything else.

 

That's not to say that the rest of their catalogue is bad (it isn't), but more a reflection that WTSHNN is a very very good song.

Where the Streets Have No Name

Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of

Beautiful Day

New Years Day

Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

 

Honorable mention:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WybiA263bw

Possible not their "Best" but my favourites "

 

1. Angel of Harlem - One of the first songs I ever wanted to learn on the guitar, very simple yes but LOVE belting it out in the car on a long trip.

2. City of Blinding Lights - Love the Lyrics, the lines of "Oh you look so beautiful tonight" are just awesome and should ALWAYS been sung at high volume whether in the car or otherwise

3. With or Without you - Again, more because of the Lyrics.  Its about drugs or something Ive been told but still good none the less.

4. When Love Comes to Town - Dont know whether it was them or B. B. King that wrote it?? 

5. All I Want is you - I cant be the only one upset as a 12 year old watching this film clip where the midget missed out on the girl??

Possible not their "Best" but my favourites "

 

1. Angel of Harlem - One of the first songs I ever wanted to learn on the guitar, very simple yes but LOVE belting it out in the car on a long trip.

2. City of Blinding Lights - Love the Lyrics, the lines of "Oh you look so beautiful tonight" are just awesome and should ALWAYS been sung at high volume whether in the car or otherwise

3. With or Without you - Again, more because of the Lyrics.  Its about drugs or something Ive been told but still good none the less.

4. When Love Comes to Town - Dont know whether it was them or B. B. King that wrote it?? 

5. All I Want is you - I cant be the only one upset as a 12 year old watching this film clip where the midget missed out on the girl??

I'm not a U2 fan, but that track is awesome.