"It's a musical journey" - U2 POLL RESULTS

That's one of my favourites, I like the awkwardness of it.

http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/4866/052surrender.jpg

52 Surrender
108 points, five votes
War (1983)

http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/493/051heartland.jpg

51 Heartland
110 points, six votes
Rattle And Hum (1988)

mmm "Heartland"

"October"'s a good tune too! didn't vote for it but it lurked in my pre-ballot consciousness

"Mofo" rose quite a bit in my estimation on listening through the oeuvre last week & I ended up voting for it.

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/4603/050somedaysarebettertha.jpg

50 Some Days Are Better Than Others
115 points, six votes
Zooropa (1993)

^^^ one of mine

Already also regretting not voting "A Sort of Homecoming," one of the all-tine great "Oh, yeah? What do you think about this!?" openers, which admittedly U2 has pulled off a couple of times.

yes, I noticed upon compiling my ballot that I voted for many of their album openers from 1984 on.

Already had four of my 20 show up! October, Surrender, Heartland (I think) and this last one.

@Josh, fwiw I put 'A Sort of Homecoming' very high. But that's all I'm saying about it right now ;)

Some Days Are Better Than Others was my #11.

I love the graphics and am so happy to see Pop make an appearance. I always figured "Electric Co." was about a kid watching The Electric Company.

http://img804.imageshack.us/img804/6376/049tripthroughyourwires.jpg

49 Trip Through Your Wires
116 points, six votes
The Joshua Tree (1987)

Hard to choose from Zooropa. I went for title track, Numb, Dirty Day and Lemon but Some Days is great too.

Only chose seven from the 80s, and no deep cuts.

Pope Bono is surprised that anybody has listened to October
xp Yikes, "Trip Through Your Wires" is a bad song

^^ my #12

my #2

REALLY? It sounds like "Hand In Glove" being played by a high school band.

October's a funny album, isn't it? If I want energy I can put on Boy or Under A Blood Red Sky, stridency War, beauty I'll stick on The Unforgettable Fire, etc. etc. I can't think what I'd be wanting in order to stick on October, except a change.

Yeah, I put it on to remember where those other random good songs from "Under a Blood Red Sky" come from.

Next up is my #1. The relative lack of interest in it perplexes me. At least it beat my #2, which got ZERO from everyone else.

http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/3189/048exit.jpg

48 Exit
117 points, four votes, one first place
The Joshua Tree (1987)

October is definitely a hugely underappreciated LP, and I'm guilty there as well... I did choose two songs from it, though.

STILL nothing??!! Right, time for some Rattle & Hum magic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkWPbarTgs0

Adam looks like a member of Japan in that last photo.

I liked "Exit" a lot in 1987!

Nowadays, I dunno; I hold the band's big dramas at arm's length.

Always get the urge to yell Horses! Horses! Horses! during that song.

Heh. Half of pandemic's ballot was Joshua Tree, and this is the one he missed, the fool.

It probably wouldn't make my #1 now - that'd likely be a deep cut from Achtung Baby - but it's still great and the dynamic shift is quite something.

Goodbye Exit, I tried. A couple of early 'uns now. This was our other tie.

http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/9428/clockticktock.jpg

46 11 O’Clock Tick Tock
122 points, six votes
single (1980)

'Trip Through Your Wires' is a pretty ok tune until Bono goes overboard with his "OHAHHNEED, OHAHHNNEEED" etc. Basically one of the earlier artifacts of Bono Overdrive that would kill off so many song after that.

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/5129/046adaywithoutme.jpg

46 A Day Without Me
122 points, five votes
Boy (1980)

The 'I hear the children crying' lyric is a bit embarrassing, but 11 O'Clock Tick Tock is a sweet tune. One of Dave's better solos too.

For a split second I wondered how they got a shot of young Bono hanging with Dylan.

And why Dylan was playing an Explorer.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, THE EDGE!

He's 50. 50 years old.

Glad to see some of my picks coming up here too.

Love these photos, kinda wish every one had Adam with the poofy hair. I'm guessing the '80s deep-cut landslide doesn't auger a '00s comeback in the Top 40, but happy to be relistening to these.

I feel like the last three albums suffer the same way as what I was talking about with October, in that I can't pick out a theme - pretty sure this unfair especially to No Line On The Horizon, but it just hasn't happened for me. Maybe they just need time.

http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/7328/045lovecomestumbling.jpg

45 Love Comes Tumbling
123 points, six votes
b-side to The Unforgettable Fire (1984)

Occurred to me that some of my fave U2 tracks at the ones featuring Adam slapping the bass.

yeah i love how U2 and REM would occasionally sneak slap bass into '80s college rock

The point when the blurriest part of Love Come Tumbling (with the vocal "ba-ba-ba"s) fades out and the the echoey guitar arpeggio reappears is one of my favorite U2 moments.

the Exit photo puts me in mind of a fop trying to sneak unnoticed past a building site

most of the above tracks are tracks that I love

thought 'exit' would do better

was terribly impressed by the R&H film version, when I didn't know the song

seems like a good place to put this, i dunno how anyone could stay mad at Bono and Edge after they watch it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIdTSlqYpj8

Happy to see several of my votes make it to the list.

I've called October my favourite U2 album for a long time - I was surprised when I found out it was so disliked. I spent many evenings wandering about after dark listening to it on my walkman ca. 1987/88. It's the most "post-punk" sounding U2 album - atmospheric and dark - less pop. (This is probably the same reason I've long preferred the Joshua Tree b-sides over much of what made it onto the album.) I didn't expect anything from October to get votes from anyone else, except maybe "Gloria."

I'm surprised to see "Surrender" place so low. Love "Exit." Hate "Trip Through Your Wires" with a passion.

^^^ one of mine
--livin in my own private Biden hole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn)

In my top 10 iirc. Is Zooropa still underrated around here/in general?

http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/5158/044dirtyday.jpg

44 Dirty Day
126 points, six votes
Zooropa (1993)

I dunno, Zooropa has quite a few amazing moments but I was a bit underwhelmed by it this time around (I knew it before). Achtung Baby, on the other hand, blows me away now.

Wow. Glad we went Top 60. Nice to know I'm not alone in my love for Dirty Day.

My #3!

I'll look it up later Josh, but from memory the top seven all got on slightly more than half of all ballots. I Fall Down must have been the least-voted-for to place, with its double no.1 vote.

Including your lost ballot, The Fly got 27 votes; Streets, Bad and With Or Without You all got 26. I Fall Down was the only one to reach the list with just 3 votes. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses? and Until The End Of The World also needed notably fewer votes to place than the tunes immediately around them.

"The Fly" is such a great song

A man will list
A man will poll
On the sheer face of ILM

it's no secret

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qAuqq1LFnU

http://www.nme.com/nme-video/u2---the-making-of-achtung-baby/1175099302001

From the Sky Down is a 2011 documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim about rock band U2 and the production of their 1991 album Achtung Baby. The film documents the difficult recording period, the band members' relationships, and the record's legacy. Archival footage and stills from the recording sessions will appear in the film, along with unreleased scenes from the group's 1988 motion picture Rattle and Hum. For the documentary, the band were filmed during a return visit to Hansa Studios where the album was recorded, and during rehearsals in Winnipeg for the Glastonbury Festival 2011.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_the_Sky_Down

It's on BBC One next Sunday at 2225

can't wait!

It's starting now.

heh how'd i miss this thread.

Enjoyin this

It was fabulous to watch

though they talked a certain amount of self-indulgent tosh about the creative process etc
(I've come to think this creative process is not very hard)

then BBC rescreened Glastonbury set but it looks different and better, and some songs and daft chatter missing

I loved watching Eno on the doc actually, ie Eno in 1984 and 1991 rather than especially now

well this was great; kind of all over the place mind. i thought it was somehow building to a big finish about Glastonbury and then it.. didn't. maybe that was the plan originally. a lot of the footage was very familiar as is always the case with these mainstream docs, but the making of 'One' bit was great, can't believe Eno didn't like 'One' at first.

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/the_completist/2011/10/u2_essay_analyzing_all_of_u2_s_songs.single.html
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/the_completist/2011/10/best_u2_albums_complete_ranking_of_u2_s_records.single.html

I think "Dirty Day" is the closest they ever got to un-self-conscious stoner rock

What's the closest they ever got to being unselfconscious generally?

Back in 1980 a local paper did a blind listening test of a bunch of the new wave music with a group of high schoolers. I still remember one kid thought Boy was "too acid rock." xp

How I rank those top forty hits

ooooh just realised One is Eno backwards

I can get with that list, except I like All I Want is You a lot.

It's not the way I'd rank them. 'Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses' would be a hell of a lot higher, for a start.