Favorite U2 Song

[AchtungBaby]

Maybe this will be a bit easier to answer than the Beatles thread.

The question is simple: favorite U2 song? Does anyone else on here even listen to them, yes, no? They're my favorite, so....

No Bono/Apple-bashing.

 

[Flat Matt]

I was a big fan in their 80s heyday, but don't like anything they've done in the last 20 years.

Again, this a very difficult one to answer. Every single song on The Joshua Tree album is superb, so I include all of them.

Other than that I would say:-

Pride
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Angel of Harlem
40
Tomorrow
Shadows and Tall Trees
Twilight
Two Hearts Beat as One
Heartland
Bad
One
The Unforgettable Fire
New Years Day
Desire
Silver and Gold
Spanish Eyes
Love Comes Tumbling
Their brilliant cover version of Unchained Melody

I really could go on forever here!

 

[Grandpa]

Bad.

Just got a nice complexity (and somewhat enigmatic soul) to it. Plus, it's the one that I bellow in the shower.

 

[AchtungBaby]

Bad.

Just got a nice complexity (and somewhat enigmatic soul) to it. Plus, it's the one that I bellow in the shower.

"I'm wide awaaaaaaake!"

 

[Grandpa]

"I'm wide awaaaaaaake!"

That's the key shower line, yup.

 

[blunthead]

Pride (In the Name of Love)

 

[AchtungBaby]

My favorite era of theirs is definitely the '90s, although their new album comes close. It's harder for me to pick favorite U2 songs than Beatles songs. But I'll take a stab at it:

Your Blue Room
The Fly
Mofo
Numb
Lemon
Moment of Surrender
Running to Stand Still
Kite
Beautiful Day
Wake Up Dead Man

 

[swiftdog2.0]

The whole U2 thing is bittersweet for me. They were one of my favorite bands for a while. I still consider The Edge to be one of the last guitar players to have a unique and original style. Love all of their early stuff.

The first concert I ever went to was a U2 show while they were touring behind The Joshua Tree. I was in 8th grade. My older sister took me. It was pretty cool. Loved that album.

I was OK with Rattle & Hum. Solid effort.

Fast forward to the the over-produced mess of an album called Achtung Baby in 1991. Gave them the benefit of the doubt and went to see them on the Zoo TV tour. Songs sounded way better live. I had hope again.

Then the rest of the '90s and 2000's happened to them. Pure sonic vomit (IMHO, anyway) What were they thinking with Pop ?

The one exception I'll grant is Beautiful Day. My Dad liked it and kept popping up on the day he passed and the days leading up to and through the wake and funeral. It was just weird how many I times I heard that song during those four emotional days in 2012.

Ok, back on topic.......

My favorite U2 song is........

I Will Follow

Closely seconded by Two Hearts Beat As One & Wire

 

[AchtungBaby]

The whole U2 thing is bittersweet for me. They were one of my favorite bands for a while. I still consider The Edge to be one of the last guitar players to have a unique and original style. Love all of their early stuff.

The first concert I ever went to was a U2 show while they were touring behind The Joshua Tree. I was in 8th grade. My older sister took me. It was pretty cool. Loved that album.

I was OK with Rattle & Hum. Solid effort.

Fast forward to the the over-produced mess of an album called Achtung Baby in 1991. Gave them the benefit of the doubt and went to see them on the Zoo TV tour. Songs sounded way better live. I had hope again.

Then the rest of the '90s and 2000's happened to them. Pure sonic vomit (IMHO, anyway) What were they thinking with Pop ?

The one exception I'll grant is Beautiful Day. My Dad liked it and kept popping up on the day he passed and the days leading up to and through the wake and funeral. It was just weird how many I times I heard that song during those four emotional days in 2012.

Ok, back on topic.......

My favorite U2 song is........

I Will Follow

Closely seconded by Two Hearts Beat As One & Wire

I respect your opinion but couldn't disagree more. POP is my favorite album and The Joshua Tree is grossly overrated.

Would have loved to have seen them on ZooTv--a truly legendary tour.

 

[DiO'Bolic]

"Where the streets have no name"

 

[swiftdog2.0]

I respect your opinion but couldn't disagree more. POP is my favorite album and The Joshua Tree is grossly overrated.

Would have loved to have seen them on ZooTv--a truly legendary tour.

No worries. Like I said, it's just my opinion.The Zoo TV tour was pretty good. The Joshua Tree tour shows were better but the best live performance of them I've seen is still the Red Rocks show that was turned into a concert film.

Joshua Tree isn't my favorite album. That would be War.

 

[AchtungBaby]

No worries. Like I said, it's just my opinion.The Zoo TV tour was pretty good. The Joshua Tree tour shows were better but the best live performance of them I've seen is still the Red Rocks show that was turned into a concert film.

Joshua Tree isn't my favorite album. That would be War.

I think I can understand not really caring for the '90s as much if one grew up when U2 was big in the '80s. It was a huge change. I'm only 18 and didn't become a fan until '09 (yeah, I'm young. Ha) so it was all new to me. The ironic, over-the-top-ness of ZooTv/PopMart appeal to me way more than religious stadium anthems, but
It's all good. The important thing is the music

If I had to rank the albums, it'd probably be something like
this:
-POP
-Achtung Baby
-All That You Can't Leave Behind
-Songs of Innocence
-Zooropa
-The Unforgettable Fire
-The Joshua Tree
-Passengers
-No Line On The Horizon
-Rattle & Hum
-How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
-Boy
-October
-War

 

[fljoe0]

New Years Day
Where The Streets Have No Name

 

[Lepplady]

Gotta say, I'm not a huge U2 fan.

 

[skimom2]

All I want is you-our wedding song (lol)
After that… probably Bullet the Blue Sky or Bad

 

[Flat Matt]

The whole U2 thing is bittersweet for me. They were one of my favorite bands for a while. I still consider The Edge to be one of the last guitar players to have a unique and original style. Love all of their early stuff.

The first concert I ever went to was a U2 show while they were touring behind The Joshua Tree. I was in 8th grade. My older sister took me. It was pretty cool. Loved that album.

I was OK with Rattle & Hum. Solid effort.

Fast forward to the the over-produced mess of an album called Achtung Baby in 1991. Gave them the benefit of the doubt and went to see them on the Zoo TV tour. Songs sounded way better live. I had hope again.

Then the rest of the '90s and 2000's happened to them. Pure sonic vomit (IMHO, anyway) What were they thinking with Pop ?

The one exception I'll grant is Beautiful Day. My Dad liked it and kept popping up on the day he passed and the days leading up to and through the wake and funeral. It was just weird how many I times I heard that song during those four emotional days in 2012.

Ok, back on topic.......

My favorite U2 song is........

I Will Follow

Closely seconded by Two Hearts Beat As One & Wire

You've hit the nail on the head and I couldn't agree more.

U2 were a great band in the 80s, but God only knows what happened to them after Achtung Baby. Zooropa is the worst album I've ever wasted my money on, and I completely gave up on them after Pop, which is almost as bad.

They do tend to polarise opinion these days, which is sad, because in their Joshua Tree days, there was little argument that they were the best band on the planet.

 

[AchtungBaby]

You've hit the nail on the head and I couldn't agree more.

U2 were a great band in the 80s, but God only knows what happened to them after Achtung Baby. Zooropa is the worst album I've ever wasted my money on, and I completely gave up on them after Pop, which is almost as bad.

They do tend to polarise opinion these days, which is sad, because in their Joshua Tree days, there was little argument that they were the best band on the planet.

Have you heard the "new mixes" of songs from Zooropa and Pop from their 2002 best-of? IMO, they're terrible, but that's because those are a couple of my favorite albums by anyone....ever.

I realized I didn't post any songs from the latest album in my favorites list, and that's mostly because it's nearly impossible to PICK a favorite right now. But for now..


This one is about a car bombing in Ireland in the '70s. Bono's voice in the chorus is the youngest he's sounded since 1983.

 

[Scratch]

One is a great one, so tender and pleading. Some great lines in that one.

I remember listening to New Years Day on new years morning 2000 before the rest of the family was up while I watched a deer in the side yard nibble grass and feeling everything was right with the world. It's one of those memories that stick.

But my favorite is Beautiful Day. It never fails to lift my spirits. I've never bought in on the whole cool to dislike U2 thing.

 

[swiftdog2.0]

I think I can understand not really caring for the '90s as much if one grew up when U2 was big in the '80s. It was a huge change. I'm only 18 and didn't become a fan until '09 (yeah, I'm young. Ha) so it was all new to me. The ironic, over-the-top-ness of ZooTv/PopMart appeal to me way more than religious stadium anthems, but
It's all good. The important thing is the music

If I had to rank the albums, it'd probably be something like
this:
-POP
-Achtung Baby
-All That You Can't Leave Behind
-Songs of Innocence
-Zooropa
-The Unforgettable Fire
-The Joshua Tree
-Passengers
-No Line On The Horizon
-Rattle & Hum
-How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
-Boy
-October
-War

At least you are listening to bands that can actually write and play. Most of today's pop artists would be sunk without auto-tune and samples of other people's music.

 

[AchtungBaby]

Scratch -- all great songs, among my favorites. Beautiful Day brought them back into the public awareness in the biggest and best way possible.

swiftdog2.0 Heh. Yeah. I must admit I like a good deal of today's pop music, even if there is little to no substance to be found.