“20” – U2 TRACKS POLL (voting closes midday, Thursday 4 August)

I have been listening to old tapes of them live
and watching youtube videos of Zoo TV tour.

I will make a top 20 list and send it to Mr Klata.

you are good men

Just want to pop in and rep for the "deep" cuts from "The Joshua Tree" (which is to say, pretty much anything from side 2): "In God's Country," "One Tree Hill," "Exit" and "Mothers of the Disappeared."

My ballot was ridiculously 'Joshua Tree' heavy but I somehow didn't vote for 'exit', as Ismael rightly pointed out. I feel suitably chastened by that omission. It should have been there to make it 9 from JT instead of the paltry 8 I ended up with ;)

I have voted in this poll.

I was surprised, looking at the wiki list, how many songs I do not know.

I found it hard, in any case, to keep it down to 20. But I am satisfied with that 20.

I wish Spotify had the Passengers record.

I may submit a ballot with five songs, I'm not sure yet, but because I'm such a non-fan, I wouldn't exercise the negative option.

Are non-fans supposed to vote or not? I mean: unlike e.g. Pavement, almost everybody has heard the singles from this band and has opinions about them. Should people like me, who have never listened to a U2 album all the way through, not vote? Or should I send you a ballot with the four U2 songs I think are really great?

i'm not running the poll but imo there should be no 'barrier of entry' for voting in these things, if you like any number of eligible songs and want to help them do well you should go for it. especially a big singles act like U2 where pretty much everyone knows dozens of their songs and has opinions about them.

Oh, definitely vote!

It's not about making up the numbers - I reckon about 20-25 ballots are needed to make it worthwhile and we should get there no problem - it's just that it's valuable if more people have decided 'yes, this deserves to be there'.

It'd probably be useful if you want to big up (without giving away too much) some songs which might otherwise be overlooked. Boomerang I is an excellent groove imo.

I wish Spotify had the Passengers record.

Available here, in the UK at least: http://open.spotify.com/album/40i4U8691CTAUVKSEQ5wcy

Jesus Christ, where do you even start with their worst track? I thought that 'The Saints Are Coming' was horrific but then I listened to their version of 'Unchained Melody' and it's a whole new world of horrible. Did they do any cover versions that are worth hearing?

just sent in my ballot, ended up being a little funky and 40% post-Achtung, kind of playing up the idiosyncrasies of my fairly canonical view of the band (lots of ballads, for one thing -- for some reason the slowies always get to me most with U2).

My previously stated indifference notwithstanding, I've always loved "In God's Country." That was the highlight of Three Kings for me.

i take it everybody is sick to death of 'one'?

Voted.

I favour their 90s stuff. Placed "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" very high because I love both versions of that song equally. Placed "Hold Me Thrill Me" and "Desire" very high, partially influenced by how much I like the videos for both. More obscure picks: "A Celebration", "11 O'Clock Tick Tock", "If You Wear That Velvet Dress". Hate voted for "Angel Of Harlem", but could've easily picked "When Love Comes To Town".

Love "Snake Charmer" but I thought it was cheating.

90s 10
80s 9
00s 1

Angel of Harlem's nice, what's with all the disapproval of that one?

i voted for it.

Did they do any cover versions that are worth hearing?

I like "Satellite of Love", "Dancing Barefoot", and "Can't Help Falling in Love".

i take it everybody is sick to death of 'one'?

― Michael B, Sunday, July 31, 2011 6:21 PM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark

i have a weird feeling with that song where i AM totally numbed to its charms most of the time largely because of how overplayed it is, but i don't recoil from it like with songs where i really am 'sick of it.' it sounded great when i saw them live this month. but for some reason when i was loading up on ballots i just didn't want to vote for it like "With Or Without You" or "All I Want Is You" or "Stay."

"One" is like "Wonderwall" where sometimes the guitar tone in the opening strums strikes me as really pretty but the actual riff/melody doesn't do much for me

Johnny Cash version is where it's at with that song.

As much as I loathe U2 I gotta admit that their "Dancing Barefoot" cover is pretty fetching, and -- yes -- I prefer it to Patti Smith's. Because Bono doesn't change the gender but does change the stress falls, the song has a mild transgressive kick ("Could it be he's taking over me?").

"One" has grown on me over the years; it's a love song & these things take time.

"One" barely has a melody, seems like the song the most points to the bland tunes of the last couple records.

Mind you, it's not a candidate for my ballot. My sappiness is far-reaching & I'll throw a vote to "All I Want Is You", but "One" is one too far.

how is "One" sappy?

but then I listened to their version of 'Unchained Melody' and it's a whole new world of horrible.

I ridiculously overpaid for that 12" at a record swap back in the early 90s because there was no other way to get it at the time. I may just love it because I invested so much in owning it, but even now I think it's quite nice.

The strings (or string synths) push it into that category for me.

I like its conflation of erotic love of the flesh & of the divine, but Bono is too much on his knees; Prince knew better that such worship isn't supine.

Angel of Harlem's nice, what's with all the disapproval of that one?

― Ismael Klata, Sunday, July 31, 2011 6:36 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

It's overplayed and I hate those horns.

if "Angels" is overplayed there are literally 30 U2 songs in that line ahead of it

AOH's problem isn't overplaying -- it's that once was enough.

Did they do any cover versions that are worth hearing?

Their cover of "Neon Lights" is pretty great and I may be the only person who likes their take on "Night And Day"

AOH's problem isn't overplaying -- it's that once was enough.

Whenever "Where The Streets Have No Name" starts up it's like "I understand why people like this song enough to listen to it every day even if I personally feel otherwise", see also "Bad", "One", "Pride", others.

Not even dissing those songs, just that I don't resent their inescapability, you know?

I love the part in Rattle & Hum where they switch from b&w to color for the Sun Devil Stadium concert and play almost the whole first side of The Joshua Tree...especially "Where the Streets...", as it eases in with the red lighting and the band walks out on stage and takes their places as the synth bit plays.

Fuck, I'm gonna watch it right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-zqIS7vWbY

^ What we talk about when we talk about U2

"Joshua Tree" tour was my first concert ever. Wish I could remember more about, though I do remember buying "The Joshua Tree" on the day of the show, maybe.

Hope I can get around to a list here, if only to include "Loves Come Tumbling."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBuHvmQtfms&feature=related

I hope so too. I was saying to pinefox that you, he and bimble seem like the three most consistent ILM well-wishers, where mostly it's been 'lol bono'. Would be lovely to have two of you voting.

I like 'angel of Harlem' and wish I'd voted for it, but think the surprise vote for 'new york' was maybe more worthwhile.

I loved the film RATTLE AND HUM very much including 'streets'.

I like U2's 'unchained melody' a lot, love the dip and swoop of the lead guitar into the void near the end. Even their 'everlasting love' strikes me as quite good - the way the 60s-soul guitar chinks enter from nowhere for the second verse.

I was always very impressed by 'dancing barefoot' which I bought on the 'when love comes to town' 12" B-side way back.

As I've said there are a lot of songs on the wiki list that I don't know - 'neon lights' is one.

'night and day' was a good thing, in 1990 or so. I don't think they exactly played all the chords, though they played more than usual.

I liked their 'xmas baby please come home' but haven't heard it in many years.

I was always mystified that 'one''s chorus used the same words and melody as 'one love' - this seemed too much. I don't think I ever warmed to the song as much as others did. I quite like the guitar textures but religious language means very little to me. But maybe there is still some good material in the lyric.

I think they made more videos for 'one' than for anything else -- I have an old Achtung VHS tape which was absolutely magnificent but won't seem to play on my machine now, and I recall it having about 5 'one' videos, including one where they're all in drag.

I wish I had voted for 'stay', a good 90s U2 song.

iirc there were 3 "One" videos and the drag one was the first -- each one got a lot of play on MTV until the next one premiered

I thought for most people that the Pet Shop Boys cover made the original "Where The Streets..." redundant.

for most people

Nice bubble, Alfred.

The foyer is di-vine.

I thought it was a nice gesture at Glastonbury when Bono sang a bit of Andy Williams over Streets. I'd rather he hadn't but nice gesture nonetheless.

I dunno whether anyone else rates this one but I'm gonna throw a decently high vote to "Heartland". It was originally written during The Unforgettable Fire sessions, & it sounds like it, but the lyric is less clumsy than say "Elvis Presley and America", & Bono's singing is more forthright (this can be a plus & a minus but here it's a big plus). I don't really know if it ~says~ anything, but it's been a favorite for years.

Yeah, Heartland was one of my last cuts before I sent in my ballot.

Yeah, I love it and gave it a few. I guess finding an earnest Bono vocal is no big surprise, but when he hits the spot, y'know, what's better?