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

never forget

i wanted a whole album's worth of van diemen's land tbh

think 'the fly' was the first single and remember liking it but thinking wtf

for all the welcome clamor, achtung baby really isn't *that* much of a departure -- 'one' and 'ultraviolet' could have been on earlier records

I was a big industrial head at the time so I got excited when they said they were listening to KMFDM and MC 900ft Jesus. Imagine my surprise when Achtung Baby was even better than KMFDM.

basically if you had heard "Trust Me" off of Doubt by Jesus Jones, you could totally see where U2 was going (and it was obv awesome)

"Red Hill Mining Town" is wonderful.

My no.8, and I regret not putting it higher

yeah, i voted for it too

basically if you had heard "Trust Me" off of Doubt by Jesus Jones, you could totally see where U2 was going (and it was obv awesome)

a fantastic referent.

"Even Better..." and "Mysterious Ways" are going for the "International Bright Young Thing" groove.

I know a U2 thread is kryptonite to jjj but he should really be in here to drop some Info Freako knowledge

the song i associated "mysterious ways" with in my head as a kid was "kiss them for me."

even if you hate u2 or even this period of u2 you have to give them credit for producing it in such a way that it still sounds great as opposed to how thin and weedy most of the similar shit from that era sounds now

I partially think that comes along with releasing your 7th album as opposed to your 1st or 2nd

(the two big PWEI albums still sound pretty massive tho)

Jesus Jones' Perverse, which I still own and still recommend with reservations, has a density that's obviously a response to U2.

this conversation is making me feel like a totally bershon older sister

PWEI were HORRIBLE

totally cool with never hearing "one" again in my life, though. can say that about a few of their songs, of course.

xpost haha i think it also stems from hiring eno and lanois rather than the guy from s'express.

p.s. much love to s'express. don't get it twisted.

PWEI were HORRIBLE

I know this is a U2 thread and all but RONG

no way man, "can u dig it" is embarrassing but i will not sully U2 thread

did "is that all?" place...at all?

Love this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Jg9YXROE14

Even though I thought their singles were by and large awesome (except for "Def Con One"), on This is the Day, This is the Hour, This is This! and Cure For Sanity they really shined on album tracks like "Inject Me", "Preaching To The Perverted", "Satellite Ecstatica", "Not Now James, We're Busy", "Wake Up! Time To Die", "88 Seconds... And Still Counting", "1000x No!", "Psychosexual", "Axe of Men", "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" and "Lived In Splendour, Died In Chaos".

also, have you heard "Wise Up, Sucker!" or "Dance of the Mad" or "92 Degrees"? shutting up now but basically the Poppies owned

(for two albums, then things got dubious)

i love how every one of those song titles sounds like a story from an old e.c. comic.

I wanna talk about Jesus Jones :(

ey euler it's ok dude, it's practically de rigeur to sing about the famine when drunk iirc

Yeah, I remember those songs, I just thought they were cheesy -- except I do remember liking "Wise Up, Sucker" a little bit. None of it was as good as "Beers Steers and Queers".

Anyway, U2.

those poppies albums are stone cold classic imo esp 'inject me' '92 degrees'. Fuck imma listen to them NOW!

"Out of Control" and "Two Hearts" = both songs where verses outweigh choruses, but "Two Hearts" gets my vote for crazed guitar funk and the "I try to spit it out" part.

Glad to see "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own" squeak in, though it would have been higher on my ballot if it didn't seem badly mastered or something--it sounds recorded in the red, on top of being a bit much production-wise even if it gets you. I'd probably include a live version on a mix.

Nothing from All That You Can't Leave Behind? That's their best album, people. Get with the program.

that's a decent album but no way is it their best, not between the first 3 and AB

Since 1985, I was convinced that Unforgettable Fire was their best. But after going back and listening again for this poll, ATYCLB rose up and usurped the top spot. UF has some of their best songs ever, obviously. I'm sure at least 2 of them will be in the top 10 for this poll. But there are some clunkers. LIsten to Indian Summer Sky lately?

On the other hand, All That You Can't Leave Behind is remarkably consistent and glorious. If Beautiful Day is the only song that places, it'll be a crying shame.

ATYCLB has the most canned production of their career to date. I couldn't believe Eno-Lanois were responsible. Those songs were different beasts live.

Also: the second side sucks.

Dang! You people are doing to ATYCLB what The Edge is doing to Malibu. It's a crying shame.

"One Tree Hill" was my #2. "Zoo Station" was my #6.

After seeing U2 three times between October and TJT, I ignored/boycotted Actung Baby because of the whole Negativland fiasco. It was actually hearing UTEOTW at the end of Wenders movie that got me to check out AB (and the "Zoo Station" opener).

I cut "Running To Standstill" from my list, but I'm glad it got some love out there. I love the live version of it from the Zooropa/Macphisto-era when it was anchored by a huge synthesizer/ambient-pulse with a delicate Edge electric guitar line over it. The whole thing lasts for just a couple of minutes until it subtly transforms into the opening of "Where The Streets Have No Name" which sounds even more ridiculously dramatic with that little beginning on it.

Do they have a synth/keyboard player in concert now or does the quartet do a bit of a juggling act to add synth parts?

when i saw them recently The Edge played a keyboard once or twice but there were many points when there was clearly a synth not being played by any of the members of the band. i've always kind of assumed they've had some amount of canned instrumentation or offstage auxilary player(s), few trad rock quartets on their scale play shows with just the main guys in the band but obv with U2 the whole image of just those four lifelong pals onstage and noone else is kind of a big part of the show.

(also there was the 'dance mix' portion where larry walked around playing a hand drum while programmed beats played)

I don't know if Edge still plays the keyboard part in "New Year's Day" -- every concert I saw before 2001 included this as His Keyboard Moment.

Also: Bono played keyboards on "Sweetest Thing" on that same tour.

He played keyboard a lot a few weeks ago, but yeah, there were a couple where somebody behind the curtain had to be joining in!

xp: Matter of taste, I realize, but the production on ATYCLB struck me as fresh even when I wasn't particularly into the songs yet, kind of late-'90s Madonna mixture of organic and synthetic but with the band's natural sonic strengths reemphasized, and processed in a way that was really trippy to me--canned like Warhol. My reaction to AB was, Oh great, U2 caught up with the British cheese still catching up with American hip hop: Funky Drummer beat and wah wah, what'll they think of next? Now I think I can listen with a tad less of an agenda. Which I'm not accusing anyone else of having at all, I'm just saying, well, violently opposed and dramatically changing reactions to U2 seem par for the course among fans.

I personally can't quite understand all the 2000s era U2 dislike/hatred. You want to talk about a band that's had a bad 2000s? How about REM.

It's not an either/or game.

he does have a point though, u2's pleasant coasting is still preferable to what a lot of their contemporaries have been up to in the 21st century

When you look into their respective 2000s-era backstories, R.E.M.'s is "Oh shit, our drummer left one album into our massive post-Monster $80 million contract...um...guess we should...uh...keep going?" Whereas, U2's is "WE ARE STILL THE BIGGEST BAND IN THE WORLD EVEN WHEN WE'RE NOT."

(I can't abide either bands post-1997 output, but if forced, would choose U2's)

U2 have definitely entered the Steel Wheels era of their experimentation though. The amorphously "North African" stuff on NLOTH is like Jagger doing "Continental Drift" in 1989.

it's a gesture more than an accomplishment, you know? Like, "I'm glad you guys still care about the expense and hassle about recording something like this."

Just realized Bono's older now than Jagger was in 1989, and that blows my mind 1) because Bono seems younger now than Jagger seemed then, and 2) because seeing U2 in 1985 doesn't feel remotely like I imagine having seen the Stones in 1969 felt like, historically speaking.

did any of the north african stuff even make it onto the last album? i didn't remember hearing any and saw eno explaining why it was cut from the album