What is the last great U2 song? (1 Viewer)

[John Maddens Lunchbox]

U2 are still kicking around today, but have released a couple of stiffs in a row according to most people.

Some are stretching this run of poor songs even further back.

Even if you hate them or have fallen out of love, what is the last great U2 song for you?

I find it hard to believe with a catalog this large, that everyone doesn't like at least one U2 song, but flame away if you are a hater.

 

[Officer Pete Malloy]

Something from Aqua Lung Baby?

 

[LOCO]

Beautiful day

 

[John Maddens Lunchbox]

There was supposed to be a poll

 

[Officer Pete Malloy]

Beautiful day

I think the OP was serious

 

[Ghost Rider]

U2 are still kicking around today, but have released a couple of stiffs in a row according to most people.

Most fans think Songs of Innocence is really good, myself included. It is loaded with good tunes.

The great tunes off of it are The Troubles, The Crystal Ballroom (bonus track) and Iris.

 

[Officer Pete Malloy]

U2 are still kicking around today, but have released a couple of stiffs in a row according to most people.

Most fans think Songs of Innocence is really good, myself included. It is loaded with good tunes.

Or You could be wrong.

 

[John Maddens Lunchbox]

There was supposed to be a poll

I have a much briefer poll than I originally submitted, so it will have to do.

 

[John Maddens Lunchbox]

U2 are still kicking around today, but have released a couple of stiffs in a row according to most people.

Most fans think Songs of Innocence is really good, myself included. It is loaded with good tunes.

The great tunes off of it are The Troubles, The Crystal Ballroom (bonus track) and Iris.

I loved every album of theirs until No Line on the Horizon.

I really tried to love that album, but it was a stinker.

Some of the tracks tried hard, but failed. Much like the Pop album.

I tried a couple of times with Songs of Innocence, but the love affair was over for me.

Some great songs on How to Dismantle an Atomic bomb and their song with Green Day is pretty good too. After that.....not so much.

 

[TheFly06]

Every Breaking Wave (from Songs Of Innocence) is a great song. However, the superior version of it comes from the deluxe edition, and this version of the song is the way that the band performs it live. They're touring right now so go see em!!

http://youtu.be/cszigsFaChc

 

[Dentist]

U2 are still kicking around today, but have released a couple of stiffs in a row according to most people.

Most fans think Songs of Innocence is really good, myself included. It is loaded with good tunes.

The great tunes off of it are The Troubles, The Crystal Ballroom (bonus track) and Iris.

I loved every album of theirs until No Line on the Horizon.I really tried to love that album, but it was a stinker.

Some of the tracks tried hard, but failed. Much like the Pop album.

I tried a couple of times with Songs of Innocence, but the love affair was over for me.

Some great songs on How to Dismantle an Atomic bomb and their song with Green Day is pretty good too. After that.....not so much.

Pretty much agree with all this. I tried to force myself to like no line on the horizon, but it never took, nor did this new album.

Sometimes you just have to let a band go. I had to break up with aerosmith reluctantly also, and am close to breaking up with daft punk

 

[FUBAR]

Not a "great" song, but I like Magnificent - No Line on the horizon.

 

[ClownCausedChaos2]

Something from Aqua Lung Baby?

Locomotive Breath!

 

[bigbottom]

Iris is a really, really good song. Is it "great" along the lines of New Year's Day, Pride, and Sunday Bloody Sunday? No. But Iris is a real standout on U2's recent releases, IMO.

http://youtu.be/_MGMFXdtiJ8

 

[elguapo07]

Sunday Bloody Sunday - the video from Red Rocks is iconic and vaulted them to legendary status.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EM4vblG6BVQ

 

[bigbottom]

Sunday Bloody Sunday - the video from Red Rocks is iconic and vaulted them to legendary status.

There isn't even a category for your vote!

 

[Sinn Fein]

Sunday Bloody Sunday - the video from Red Rocks is iconic and vaulted them to legendary status.

 

[Sinn Fein]

Sunday Bloody Sunday - the video from Red Rocks is iconic and vaulted them to legendary status.

 

[bigbottom]

Sunday Bloody Sunday - the video from Red Rocks is iconic and vaulted them to legendary status.

Never mind. Looks like the poll was fixed, or I misread it. Still, saying that there is no great song on Joshua Tree is just crazy talk.

 

[Dan Lambskin]

One is probably their most recent fairly listenable song but overall they're a pretty terrible band and usually an automatic channel change

Slightly better band than Radiohead

 

[Apple Jack]

One is probably their most recent fairly listenable song but overall they're a pretty terrible band and usually an automatic channel change

Slightly better band than Radiohead

Your capacity for wrongness is limitless.

 

[McGarnicle]

Bunch of cabbage eating drunks imo.

 

[FUBAR]

One is probably their most recent fairly listenable song but overall they're a pretty terrible band and usually an automatic channel change

Slightly better band than Radiohead

One is when I started to not like u2.

 

[Apple Jack]

One is probably their most recent fairly listenable song but overall they're a pretty terrible band and usually an automatic channel change

Slightly better band than Radiohead

One is when I started to not like u2.

It's a nice song, but way too much of a pandering effort to write a pop ballad. There is much more interesting material on Achtung Baby, not to mention Zooropa. ATYCLB has a bunch of great songs, the best probably being Kite. HTDAAB has a few, though that record has a very U2 paint by numbers/cut and paste type arrangement to my ears. I like it a lot, but something not quite fully developed imo. But love Crumbs From Your Table, SYCMIOYO and City. Even dig Yahweh, in all it's simplicity. Really dig Moment of Surrender from the No Line. Also the verses of the title track, though think it suffers from a middling chorus. Can't speak for the last one yet. So yeah, plenty of great material in the (relatively) more recent years.

All imo's, ymmv's, etc implied.

 

[McGarnicle]

I saw them live around '02 and I was surprised how phony and contrived they came off. I know Bono's messiah complex has always been a butt of jokes, but go see them in concert and you really see why. It was all very over the top and Vegas-y. And I do love their older stuff.

 

[MaxThreshold]

U2 are still kicking around today, but have released a couple of stiffs in a row according to most people.

Most fans think Songs of Innocence is really good, myself included. It is loaded with good tunes.

The great tunes off of it are The Troubles, The Crystal Ballroom (bonus track) and Iris.

I think this album certainly redeems the band from the No Line on the Horizon turkey. Hated that album. Songs of Innocence brings me back into the fold. I literally love almost every song on this album, specifically The Troubles, Raised by Wolves, This is Where you can Reach Me, Iris and Every Breaking Wave.

I do consider Achtung Baby and the subsequent Zooropa albums to be their top two, respectively.

 

[Ghost Rider]

I don't hate No Line on the Horizon, although I do hate the sound of it (they muffled the crap out of it; damn loudness wars). It has several songs I like a lot - Magnificent, Fez/Being Born, Unknown Caller and Moment of Surrender - but songs like Get On Your Boots and Stand Up Comedy are laughably bad. Songs of Innocence, for my money, is by far their best overall record since Achtung Baby. I liked what they tried doing on both Zooropa and Pop, but the songwriting was pretty inconsistent on both of those records.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

I do like "The Miracle of Joey Ramone" but the last great song to me is "City of Blinding Lights".

 

[17seconds]

I guess I need to listen to Songs of Innocence. After Pop I stopped making a point of listening to every song.

While they aren't the band they used to be in the 80s and 90s they are a lot better than others who have been around that long. I always feel they have it in them to make a great song. Most bands their age have no chance at that.

 

[Northern Voice]

One is probably their most recent fairly listenable song but overall they're a pretty terrible band and usually an automatic channel change

Slightly better band than Radiohead

One is when I started to not like u2.

It's a nice song, but way too much of a pandering effort to write a pop ballad. There is much more interesting material on Achtung Baby, not to mention Zooropa. ATYCLB has a bunch of great songs, the best probably being Kite.

agree with pretty much all of this.

 

[17seconds]

I've posted this before but it's so good I'm doing it again.

Playing their first single at Slane Castle. My favorite live performance by any band ever. I've listened to or watched this maybe 50 times. I had it playing on my iPod when I crossed the finish line at my first marathon.

https://youtu.be/D0Ccp3xjc3Q

 

[peaces]

Uno, dos, tres, catorce!

 

[headcrack]

I probably should have voted fro the Achtung Baby era but I do still like "Daddy's Gonna Pay for Your Crashed Car" so I went with Zooropa.

 

[Mr. Mojo]

I like White As Snow from No Line On The horizon, though I admit that the album overall is pretty disappointing.

I think that How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb is underappreciated. It may not have a great single, but all the songs are good.

 

[FUBAR]

One is probably their most recent fairly listenable song but overall they're a pretty terrible band and usually an automatic channel change

Slightly better band than Radiohead

One is when I started to not like u2.

It's a nice song, but way too much of a pandering effort to write a pop ballad. There is much more interesting material on Achtung Baby, not to mention Zooropa. ATYCLB has a bunch of great songs, the best probably being Kite.

agree with pretty much all of this.

Yep. And it was way overplayed.

 

[John Maddens Lunchbox]

Sunday Bloody Sunday - the video from Red Rocks is iconic and vaulted them to legendary status.

Something from prior to Joshua Tree



But yes, this is crazy talk.

 

[John Maddens Lunchbox]

I do like "The Miracle of Joey Ramone" but the last great song to me is "City of Blinding Lights".

 

[Apple Jack]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJaoD3YVopw

 

[-jb-]

Beginning of the end right here:

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

 

[17seconds]

Beginning of the end right here:

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

gat dayum. nobody in the meeting is laughing either. wow

should we stand and applaud. yeah, I guess. he tried hard

 

[HughHoney]

Right here, Right now.

 

[eoMMan]

Right here, Right now.

I'd rather not. Can't we just talk about this some other time?

 

[Mr. Pickles]

Achtung Baby was a perfectly fine album, but in the wake of Joshua Tree, just about anything would sound inferior. They definitely turned into a different and less interesting band in the 90s. There are pockets of goodness that I'll run across, mostly by accident, but I haven't cared enough to find it.

Reminds me a little of the career arc of REM. once they did Out of Time, the show was pretty much over.

 

[Apple Jack]

You prefer Out of Time to Automatic for the People?

 

[Ghost Rider]

Achtung Baby was a perfectly fine album, but in the wake of Joshua Tree, just about anything would sound inferior.

I disagree. While TJT is great, it is every front-loaded. The first five songs are all totally awesome, but the back half of the album is merely good (although I like One Tree Hill a ton).

Meanwhile, Achtung Baby is one great song after another, from start to finish. Even the deep cuts like Acrobat, Love Is Blindness and Tryin' to Throw Your Arms... freaking slay.

Just my two cents.

 

[simey]

Achtung Baby was a perfectly fine album, but in the wake of Joshua Tree, just about anything would sound inferior.

I disagree. While TJT is great, it is every front-loaded. The first five songs are all totally awesome, but the back half of the album is merely good (although I like One Tree Hill a ton).

I think Red Hill Mining Town, In God's Country, and One Tree Hill are all great songs, and they come after the first five on TJT.

 

[Tom Skerritt]

"The Wanderer" off Zooropa

 

[Mr. Pickles]

Achtung Baby was a perfectly fine album, but in the wake of Joshua Tree, just about anything would sound inferior.

I disagree. While TJT is great, it is every front-loaded. The first five songs are all totally awesome, but the back half of the album is merely good (although I like One Tree Hill a ton).

I think Red Hill Mining Town, In God's Country, and One Tree Hill are all great songs, and they come after the first five on TJT.

The whole album is terrific.

 

[Kumerica]

Achtung Baby is my favorite album . . . by anyone.

That said, Songs of Innocence has about five songs I would consider great (Iris, Volcano, Raised By Wolves, California (minus the Beach Boys intro), Every Breaking Wave), five that are good or very good (The Miracle, Sleep Like a Baby Tonight, This is Where You Can Reach Me, The Troubles and Cedarwood Road) and one song that could be good if it didn't feel so paint-by-numbers (Song for Someone).

No Line On The Horizon was a bit of a dud, but I felt it had two great songs in "Breathe" and "Magnificent."

Their 2006 single "Window In the Skies" was brilliant, and I wish it got more play, but I think U2 fatigue from HTDAAB was still holding over ...

 

[Apple Jack]

Achtung Baby is my favorite album . . . by anyone.

That said, Songs of Innocence has about five songs I would consider great (Iris, Volcano, Raised By Wolves, California (minus the Beach Boys intro), Every Breaking Wave), five that are good or very good (The Miracle, Sleep Like a Baby Tonight, This is Where You Can Reach Me, The Troubles and Cedarwood Road) and one song that could be good if it didn't feel so paint-by-numbers (Song for Someone).

No Line On The Horizon was a bit of a dud, but I felt it had two great songs in "Breathe" and "Magnificent."

Their 2006 single "Window In the Skies" was brilliant, and I wish it got more play, but I think U2 fatigue from HTDAAB was still holding over ...

Funny you use the phrase paint by numbers, as that is exactly how I described HTDAAB when it came out. Even though I loved it. U2 doing paint by numbers U2 will always be just fine with me. That atmosphere is a lot of what makes them pleasant on the ears. And speaking of that atmosphere, it sounds like they might be playing The Joshua Tree in it's entirety on the road in 2017. I've been hearing Bonaroo and stadiums for a while from my Live Nation connection, but the JT angle was news to me.