I liked the War album a lot. I started to get a little leary with Joshua Tree, but stuck with them. Once Achtung Baby came out, the band was ruined and I can't even listen to the old stuff without derision. Everything after that was just more fuel on the fire. Too bad, because I really liked War.
Exactly how I felt. I loved U2 before they were cool. Joshua Tree was the last album I really got into. Do you have All That You Can't Leave Behind? If not, I would pick it up. It's kind of like U2-retro. If you liked their early stuff, I think you'd like it.
That is strange, I though Achtung was actually just like their old stuff except with amazing production and engineering. It was when stuff like Lemon and Numb came out that I U2 started losing their coolness, although they still had some great stuff, it just didn't have that dark edge to it that the early stuff had. In other words they went commercial. I don't think Achtung was intenionally commerical when you look at songs like Acrobat and Love is Blindness.
How does Zooropa and POP seem commercial? Those albums are sooooooooooo different from any artist before or after, particularly popular artists. They never went commercial. All that You Can't Leave behind is as close to commercial as they ever got.
Yea, I have never understood this. If anything U2's biggest commercial album was "The Joshua Tree", the one with the most hits. Those 2 albums mentioned by Oski are not commercial at all.
Maybe not commercial as much as over the top pretentiousness. Uh...is 'pretentiousness' a word? Oh well, you get my point!
<br> bad one ... and any old school U2 fan will answer with 40. They used to finish their concert with 40. Bono would sing alone with the crowd. The crowd would continue to sing "how long to sing this song?" as they walked to their cars. In the parking lot, they were still singing it. Man, that was beautiful. That was, of course, before U2 turned into soda-pop crap. -- droxford
Achtung Baby was good, but it had to grow on me. I listen to it now almost as much as The Joshua Tree. Their later "pop" stuff is pretty good (for what it is). They're not destined to be classics, but I admire U2 for trying something different. Their last album is pretty strong, but a little contrived.
A long and eclectic list of favorite U2 songs... don't make me pick just one: Electrical Storm Stay (Faraway, So Close) Gloria (live version) I Threw A Brick Through A Window Like A Song Numb Hawkmoon 269 Bullet the Blue Sky In God's Country A Sort Of Homecoming Mysterious Ways Acrobat New Year's Day Electric Co Heartland I like their stuff from just about every era, though the albums in the middle years are the best. I didn't even mind most of Rattle & Hum, and I liked Zooropa. Pop was a (relative) low point. I actually don't like "All That You Can't Leave Behind" all that much; it's OK, but I just don't feel the power, intensity, and conviction that you get from their earlier work (listen to "War" for a change). On the other hand, Electrical Storm is great; they're still capable of putting out good stuff. Their next album is supposed to be "hard rock". I can't wait to see what they come up with.
lets see, With or Without you would be number 1. strangely, even though i liked it ok, i didn't really start to get into this song until about a year ago (for no particular reason) and now i love it. i wish i could write a song like that. Pride (in the name of love) would be number 2 and then "the sweetest thing" or "i will follow" would be 3 followed by the other at number 4.
The song topics of their later work is really what I was aiming at when I said commericial. I don't think you can judge an attempt at commericialism by the success of a song, rather by the intention of the song. All of this Elevation, Beautiful Day stuff and God will send his Angels and the like are all thematically commercial. I think alot of people initially like U2 because of their drastic approach to song writing where even their love songs "With or Without You" "New Year's Day" for example, were not traditional love songs and had a certain sarcasm and steelyness to them. Not to mention all their songs about IRA battles, assassinations and abductions. I love unconventional song ideas.
I think you nailed it with precisely the right word. They got to seem downright megalomaniac once they were famous. That's why I can't even listen to their old albums anymore -- I think they're jerks and I don't want to listen to them. The talent is not even a question.
I'm all about their first 3 records but The Unforgettable Fire is probably my favorite. I like the "sound" of that album the best and Bono's voice was in it's prime IMO. Interesting about "All That You Can't Leave Behind". I agree with you about the power and intensity but one thing I really love about that album is Bono's voice. He can't really scream out the high notes like the old days, but his voice is a little more "scratchy" and I think that gives it a little more soul, if that makes any sense. BTW, I Threw A Brick Through A Window, man I haven't heard that song in ages! May have to download it tonight.
February 21, 2003: In this article from MTV news, Bono describes the new album thusly: "It's full-on, a full-throttle record. It's like punk rock made on Venus. It is a mad sound The Edge is making. People are saying, 'Bono, people are sick of you. You've been around, you've been winning all these awards. You have to go away for a while.' This record is so good that it won't even matter that people are sick of U2. And by the way, I'm sick of Bono - and I am Bono." The article says Bono "hopes" the album is out by the end of this year.
