Of course U2 is my first post. I was raised on this stuff. Growing up, my Saturday afternoons typically consisted of marathon sessions of Genesis hockey against my brothers, and U2 was almost always our soundtrack. For me, not loving U2 would be like not loving home cooking. It's just not gonna happen. Even after "Vertigo" and "Get On Your Boots," it's not gonna happen.
There is, however, more to my feelings on U2 than simple nostalgia. U2's best albums genuinely were instant classics, but they are even more impressive today in the context of the band's discography. For a solid 20 years, U2 pushed themselves creatively, trusting their fans' palates with huge commercial gambles. More importantly, when those gambles didn't pay-off and the band fell flat on its face, U2 dusted themselves off and took even bigger leaps, rather than retreating to a tried and true formula. After the flop of Rattle & Hum, a misguided foray into rootsy, straight-forward American rock, U2 returned with the crunchy nu-glam of Achtung Baby (a cover-to-cover masterpiece). After their ambient "Passengers" project (with Brian Eno on board as a co-writer, instead of producer) proved too adventurous for radio, U2 punched back with Pop, a techno-grounded concept album about the dehumanizing effects of consumerism. Not surprisingly (in retrospect, at least), Pop wasn't exactly a hit either.
Unfortunately, the 2000's has seen U2 play it safe for the first time in their career and the results have been accordingly uninspired. Thankfully, their latest album seems to indicate that U2 might be ready to start challenging themselves and their fans again, but the songs still pale in comparison to the band's best work. As a result, no songs released later than 1995 made this list of my personal favorites.
At the very least, these 15 songs demonstrate U2's admirable trait of artistic restlessness. Aside from that though, they just make for a great listen. Hopefully some of these picks will set you guys off to dig further--each of the albums represented on this list are very much worth exploring. And if you still dislike U2 after checking out these songs, then 1) you suck and 2) I quit Yahplay forever.
1) Gloria / Under A Blood Red Sky (originally on October) / 1983 (1981)
2) The Electric Co. / Boy / 1980
3) Second / War / 1984
4) Wire / The Unforgettable Fire / 1985
5) The Unforgettable Fire / The Unforgettable Fire /1985
6) Mothers of the Disappeared / The Joshua Tree / 1987
7) Red Hill Mining Town / The Joshua Tree / 1987
8) In God's Country / The Joshua Tree / 1987
9) Ultraviolet (Light My Way) / Achtung Baby / 1991
10) Zoo Station / Achtung Baby / 1991
11) Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crash Car / Zooropa / 1993
12) Always Forever Now / Passengers- Original Soundtracks 1 / 1995
13) Zooropa / Zooropa / 1993
14) Love Is Blindness / Achtung Baby / 1991
15) Your Blue Room / Passengers- Original Soundtracks 1 / 1995
Total time: 73:49
I've listened to the playlist twice, but still want to give it another go before I really comment on it. But some preliminary thoughts.
ReplyDelete1) Gloria is pretty awesome. But it's also the best song on here. You can't open with the best song!
2) I like U2's anthemic songs. For the most part.
3) I'm not a big fan of U2 when they get all moody and atmospheric. Yeah, there's some good production on those songs and some high quality moments, but mostly it's six minutes of guitar noodling and Bono groaning. Ick.
I opened with "Gloria" because it's one of their earlier songs and the playlist is roughly chronological. Plus, "Gloria" is the only live track, so I thought it worked best as an opener, instead of shoehorning it between two studio recordings.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I love that song too, but I'd put "Wire," "Unforgettable Fire," "Red Hill Mining Town" and "Zooropa" in the same league.
If you like U2's anthemic songs, then that just means that you like U2. All of their big singles are either brooding and dramatic ("Bad," "One") or massive-hook stadium fillers ("Sunday, Bloody Sunday," "Where the Streets Have No Name," "Even Better Than The Real Thing").
And yeah, obviously, I dig the Eno-heavy atmospheric stuff. Yes, Bono likes to serve up a ham sandwich every now and then, but it really doesn't bug me. I'm guessing you're talking most about "Always Forever Now"--aside from that, there aren't any tracks on here where you could accuse Bono or the Edge of getting self-indulgent.
I do like a good number of U2 singles (New Year's Day, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Pride(In the Name of Love)), but that does not make me a U2 fan. I've never been a U2 hater - I'm just not too into the majority of their stuff.
ReplyDeleteListening to Zooropa and this playlist more or less confirms my non-fanhood. There are some tracks on the playlist that I really like (Gloria, Electric Co., Red Hill Mining Town, Zooropa), and I can see myself actively listening to them repeatedly, but I don't think the others will grow on me that much. We'll see. After a few more listens, I hope to have figured out what I do not like about this band. My early guess: Bono.
Oh, and I don't think that Bono or the Edge are being self-indulgent on the more atmospheric tracks. I just find the songs where U2 play with textures less interesting than when they amp up the emotion and hooks.
Fuck! I think the U2 playlist is growing on me. I really like that Electric Co. song. Sounds like early REM and reminds me of some Radiohead b-sides. And the chorus on Red Hill Mining Town is kinda Yahweh.
ReplyDeleteHowever, tracks 10 through 12 are a real downer. I don't like these songs at all, especially Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car. Everything is wrong about that song.
Yeah, I was really really confident that you guys would at the very least dig the 80's stuff, so I'm happy to hear that that seems to be the case.
ReplyDeleteI really really like "Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crash Car." I love the pounding industrial beat at its core, and the drums and over-lapping vocals at the end are really well done. The lyrics on that song work really well too.
I can see Zoo Station not working in this format. That song is an absolutely perfect opener for Achtung Baby because the initial guitar sound is so radically different from anything U2 had done before, it's almost as if with a single chord the band was able to announce a new direction. In the playlist though I think might be a bit jarring.
"Always Forever Now" is the one song that I kind of regret putting on there. It's kind of a meandering song, I guess. That was my final decision- I was on the fence on about 6 or 7 different songs for that last slot. Originally I had "All I Want Is You" there instead and closed the playlist out with that song... maybe that woulda worked better. Oh well.
Aside from that one track, I don't think there's anything else on here that I'd do over.
And apparently I really really like to say really really.
ReplyDeleteAlright, time to throw in my comments, before I start to get backed up. Sorry for taking so long.
ReplyDeleteI think there's some consensus that the best songs (on this list at least) are from the early 80's, which I also agree with. "Gloria", "The Electric Co.", "Wire", and "The Unforgetable Fire" were among my favorites.
Some of these songs actually bear some resemblance to some other artists from the same period that I enjoy. I hear a bit of Echo & the Bunnymen on "In God's Country", and the Sugarcubes in "Wire".
I can't say that I like U2's "new direction" as displayed towards the end of this playlist. The songs from Achtung Baby don't really do it for me compared to their earlier stuff. And the industrial beats on "Daddy's Gonna Pay for your Crash Car" reminds me of Nine Inch Nails minus Trent Reznor's beastiality lyrics. Come on Bono!