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

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

jagger is kind of haggard and skeletal on his best days, and bono has surely done way less drugs

Didn't vote but I don't think I'm much of a U2 fan as my top 10 would mostly feature songs that are nowhere to be found in the countdown so far and doubt they'll even make it.

Lemon
Electrical storm (william orbit mix)
Where the streets have no name
Staring at the sun
Miss Sarajevo
Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
Stateless
The First Time
Sunday Bloody Sunday
With or Without You

Give them this: U2 are still one of the biggest bands in the world on the strength of incredible live shows, where I have to wonder why they'd work so hard at being so great.

xp: I'm guessing all but three of yours will place, and I have to check out a couple of those...

yeah most of those are mortal locks

From an interview I did with Eno:

The reason none of that really appeared on the record, even though we did quite a lot of stuff there, was because it sounded kind of synthetic. It sounded kind of like "world music" add-on. I'm sure it would have got a few people saying, oh, how interesting, they've broken out into North African music, but actually it just didn't sound convincing. We were very impressed by the music while we were there, but there was no realistic or emotionally satisfying way of marrying it using the music that we were doing, so in the end not very much of it at all showed through. But influences aren't always in terms of sound. As I was saying earlier, they're in terms of how you approach music and what you use it for. I think that was picked up, and it was absorbed.

BTW, most unlikely "Achtung Baby"-era rip:

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

Sung by the drummer (RIP).

top twenty coming up

http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/4804/020mysteriousways.jpg

20 Mysterious Ways
344 points, nineteen votes
Achtung Baby (1991)

mysterious indeed

blech

I would like you all to know that I replayed this album last night and still thought it awesome

(with the exception of "...Wild Horses").

i recognize the horribleness of "wild horse" but the 12 year old in me still kind of loves it. "don't turnnnnn aroundddd"
i remember kinda liking the single mix more than the album version.

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/6329/019wire.jpg

19 Wire
350 points, sixteen votes
The Unforgettable Fire (1984)

!

Love that one.

Top 10 for me. Amazing track, especially the part after "you're only a kiss away" (? if that's right) where all hell breaks loose.

Sorry, lost signal there for a bit. The next one I thought had a shot at the grand prize, but no...

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/8884/018sundaybloodysunday.jpg

18 Sunday Bloody Sunday
379 points, seventeen votes
War (1983)

waht

that seems really, really low for such an iconic, IMO band-defining song

I know. You can't fault it in any way. It just never picked up the votes.

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.

He's still doing the keyboards in "The Unforgettable Fire"

(also, yay "Wire"!)

I have fun weighing whether I despise "Pride" or "Sunday Bloody Sunday" more.

I burned out on "Sunday Bloody Sunday" a long time ago.

I still like the album version, with the violin.

Such a wintery song. I often dial up War if I'm walking somewhere when it's minus 30.

I really like the lyric

i kinda figured SBS wouldnt rank super high, even though its a fav of mine... a lot of people seem fatigued by it

Next up is our last track alphabetically (I think!)

http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/586/017zooropa.jpg

17 Zooropa
390 points, eighteen votes
Zooropa (1993)

love mysterious ways, everyone here prob well sick of sbs

overground!

Suggest Ban Sunday? (xp)

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/8140/016asortofhomecoming.jpg

16 A Sort Of Homecoming
391 points, sixteen votes, one first place
The Unforgettable Fire (1984)

yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay (why did this not win?! does everyone love costumed bono that much more?!)

My number one!!! <3

why does anyone like this band

Took you quite some time to pop up and rain on this parade, Shakey, expected you sooner!

was resisting tbh

being mentioned on the Beach Boys poll thread brought me over to take a peek