Today we thought about something on the lite side after yesterday’s story on Bono, who would have ever thought we would get so many comments. Our collection based on our likes, of course we welcome your thoughts too. Also remember if your looking for a gift for the holiday we have a great selection of items either in our amazon story or our music store.
U2 has been around for over 25 years which puts them in a very small class. Making that class even smaller is the fact that the music they’re making today is often as good as the music they were making in the early to mid 80’s when they first started out. In the two decades they’ve been together, Bono and the boys ( The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen, JR.) have tackld many different subjects and styles of music and that can make it pretty hard to pick ten songs as their best. For now we will leave out No Line.
We think part of what makes U2 so great to listen to is that every fan could have a different list of favorites and it would be hard to argue against any of them. A few other AC Content producers have already published their take on the Top Ten Songs by U2. Here are our ten favorite U2 songs along with a few brief comments on why we love them enough to put them on this list.
10. With or Without You - The Joshua Tree
This song has a great moody feel. I love the way it slowly builds and builds and builds until Bono finally cuts loose at the three minute mark. Time and cigarettes have taken a bit of a toll on Bono’s voice, but in the days of The Joshua Tree he could soar like very few vocalists can.
9. All I Want is You - Rattle and Hum
This choice is all about Bono. It’s one of my favorite vocals by him. Most singers today seem to try and prove how talented they are by oversinging everything so it’s especially lovely to hear something as quiet and understated as this vocal performance.
8. City of Blinding Lights - How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
We like Vertigo and we love Sometimes You Can’t Make it On Your Own, but this is the song from How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb that I keep coming back to. It has a big, building, uplifting melody that we love. U2 does this kind of soaring song better than anyone else. Very Where the Streets Have No Nameish. We also want to point out on the 360 tour this song fits so nice with the stage and lights.
7. Pride (In the Name of Love) – Rattle and Hum
I love the lines, “Free at last/They took your life/They could not take your pride.” Plus a Jesus reference! (“One may betrayed with a kiss.”) love that U2 has never been afraid to mix the secular and the spiritual.
6. Acrobat - Achtung Baby For a period in the 90’s, U2 moved away from their mostly hopeful, upbeat music. This song really encompasses the darker, more cynical attitude of that time. It’s definitely a different mood but, no surprise, a lot of the music is just as good as the material that preceded it. “I must be an acrobat/To talk like this and act like that” is a feeling that most people have had at some point in their lives.
5. Running to Stand Still – The Joshua Tree
Another beautiful melody. I love Edge’s twanging guitar at the very beginning. Plus I’m a sucker for songs with things like “Ha La La La De Day, Ha La La La De Day” in them. Fun to sing along with. Oh, and there’s harmonicas!
4. Beautiful Day - All That You Can’t Leave Behind
The students I work with every day are 11 and 12 and I can’t believe the junk they listen to. I catch snatches of it here and there or they’ll insist on playing this “really awesome” song for me. The language is awful and the lyrics are sexist, violent, or just plain hateful. So I love that one of the biggest rock bands in the world came back from a long hiatus with a song called Beautiful Day featuring lyrics as simple and direct as, “It’s a beautiful day/Don’t let it slip away.” I love the “daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay”s in the background. This song makes me so, so happy. It has a very joyful feeling about it.
3. I Will Follow - Boy
Awwww, Bono sounds so young! Twenty-five years later this song still sounds as fresh and energetic as it did the day it was released.
2. Until the End of the World - Achtung Baby
How can you not love a rock star who writes a song from the point of view of Judas Iscariot? Fabulous. One of my favorite songs ever. The lyrics, the tune, the sheer creativity of the idea behind it – all amazing. I don’t know if I’d say Bono has one of the greatest pure voices, but he can get to the heart and emotion of a song like very few people singing right now can. He totally delivers every time, and this is one of the best examples of that.
1. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For - The Joshua Tree I kind of feel like this is a pretty cliched song to pick as my favorite U2 song, but everyone in the world knows it for a reason: It’s a great song. I love that one of the band’s most popular songs contains some of the most direct references to Christianity (“I believe in the kingdom come/When all the colors will bleed into one/Bleed into one/But yes I’m still running/You broke the bonds/And you loosed the chains/Carried the cross and all my shame/All my shame/You know I believe it…”) As I said earlier, the combination of secular and religious ideas is one of my favorite things about U2. Their music is filled to the brim with religious references and not generic “spiritual” ideas – references that are very specific to Christianity, the Bible, and Jesus. People are so quick to separate secular and religious – one goes here, and one goes there, and never shall the two meet – and I love that U2 doesn’t do that. Even when I’m not sure I entirely agree with something they’ve expressed, it’s always thoughtful and honest and sincere, and I can’t help but appreciate that.
Of course you can download the whole collection of U2 songs direct from iTunes.
One of the comments today was worth a re-post - This comment comes in from Robert E Hunt Jr. Take a look at his selections. Very well thought out and maybe a cause for us to change our top 10. Enjoy - Thanks for your comments Robert. We always welcome comments.
Top 15 U2 Songs
Perhaps more than any other rock band, these four Irish lads get deep inside your head and even deeper into your heart. They’ve reinvented their sound several times over yet they still manage to write and perform great songs dealing with a wide range of subjects … Love, religion, politics, sex, war, family, friendship, personal tragedy as well as the simple pure joy of playing music itself.
U2 is both technically precise and deeply personal and human at the same time. Larry Mullen Jr and Adam Clayton anchor a driving thunderous rhythm section while The Edge stands out as an amazingly unique and dazzling guitar player. And then there’s Bono. Arguably the best frontman in rock and roll, he also manages to support if not drive several world-wide political causes while at the same time living the life of the pampered rock star. Perhaps no other celebrity alive has managed to mix the trappings of fame and glory with the dedication to helping others as well as Bono.
While other U2 fans may disagree, here are this fan’s top 15 favorite U2 songs …
15. Mothers of the Disappeared
This five-minute gem closes out “The Joshua Tree”, U2’s biggest and best selling album. It’s a brooding, haunting, spooky song that starts with just a faint percussion line and some sporadic guitar feedback. Then it settles into a slow, rhythmic almost dirge-like beauty. Bono and Edge combine for an achingly gorgeous falsetto chorus while the song gently moves along. The title refers to the Asociación Madres de Plaza de Mayo, a group of Argentine mothers who lost their children, “The Disappeared”, during Argentina’s Dirty War from 1976 to 1983. As such, this is one of U2’s most politically driven songs and it clearly demonstrates the band’s interest and commitment to human rights. In a legendary 1989 performance in Buenos Aires, many of the Mothers came out on stage and stood as one holding up posters of their children as the band played this song. Very few rock bands can do that.
14. Mysterious Ways
This song is dedicated to that most beautiful of all creatures … Women. It’s a very loud but sensuous song with another of Edge’s superb opening guitar riffs. This song is off their successful 1991 album, “Achtung Baby”. Baby was a distinct departure from the band’s earlier sound as this disc was their first venture into a new techno-dance sound that they would continue exploring throughout the 90’s. During their 90’s live shows, a belly dancer would join the band on stage during this song. In a case of life imitating art, Edge even married one of the belly dancers, Morleigh Steinberg. Clearly, she moved in Mysterious Ways.
13. City of Blinding Lights
“Lights” is from the band’s 2004 album, “How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb”, and it opened up most nights of the 2005-06 Vertigo Tour. It has a shimmering “wall of sound” feel to it but it’s also a kickass rocker with another of the band’s trademark sing-a-long choruses. The song is about New York City in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. U2 has had a long and fascinating love affair with America and felt the loss much the same way Americans did. As the story goes, they were flying in to New York at night some time after the attacks and could see the city lit up from above like it always has been. “Oh, you look so beautiful tonight” was the result.
12. New Year’s Day
From 1983’s “War”, this was U2’s first big hit single. Originally a love song, it was reformed as a tribute to Lech Walesa’s Polish Solidarity movement. It’s about starting over fresh and new and it features Edge on both organ and guitar. He plays both instruments during live shows as well. Adam’s bass line is also one of his best and carries much more of the song’s texture than he typically does. And Larry’s drums are up front and razor sharp too. Instantly recognizable, “Day” is a concert staple and still one of their most popular and well-known songs.
11. The Fly
One of the great “character” songs in the band’s catalog, “The Fly” also features one of Edge’s most distinctive and agressive “techno” riffs. This “Achtung Baby” song is the definitive break between the band’s original sound and their new 90’s “industrial” direction. “Fly” still has all the required U2 elements but they’re played and mixed in a new way that instantly illustrates two conflicting themes … Yes, this is U2 and no, we’ve never heard them like this before. From this point forward, “The Joshua Tree” was history. On stage, Bono assumes the character of “The Fly”, a preening, strutting, leather-clad rock star in black wraparound sunglasses. When that phone call from Hell comes, it might as well be “The Fly” answering it. This song is 90’s U2. It was their past, present and future.
10. Running To Stand Still
A truly lovely song about a sad subject, drug addiction, and heroin in particular. It’s an achingly beautiful song filled with pathos and sympathy. Another one from “The Joshua Tree”, “Still” has some of the band’s most painful and poignant lyrics and some of their best slow song melodies. When played live, the crowd usually gets quiet and then softly sings along with Bono … “Singing ha, ah la la la de day, Ah la la la de day, Ah la la de day”. This is one of the band’s songs that really gets down deep inside you. Very few fans can hear this one and not feel the pain and empty sadness. “She will suffer the needle chill, She’s running to stand …….. still.”
9. Elevation
This is a loud, raucous, joyous, all-out, infectious number dedicated to either heaven above or just plain old joy and exhiliration down below. During the band’s 2001 tour, they took the unusual step of opening each show by casually walking onto the stage with the house lights still on and then ripping into this song driving the crowd into a pogo stick frenzy. With Edge’s raging feedback guitar and Bono’s kickboxer poses, “Elevation” was the perfect opener for that tour. The band also played this song during a Saturday Night Live gig that year and drove that crowd and the show host, Val Kilmer, wild too. A mole, living in a hole, digging up my soul.
8. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
This is one of the U2’s best known songs and it’s also one of their best. As most fans know, it’s about the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. Edge plays a fiery guitar on “Pride” while Adam and Larry provide their customary solid backbeat. But this one is Bono’s all the way. Yes, there is a mistake in the lyrics. Dr. King was assassinated in the early evening of April 4, not the early morning. But it doesn’t matter. This is a song that crosses over racial boundaries as well as the Atlantic Ocean to recognize a true human hero. And Bono makes sure we know that. The band is rarely more urgent or more intense when they kick into this one.
7. “40”
A short and simple song but very powerful, “40” is often played to close down a live show. It’s off the band’s 1983 album, “War” and the title and lyrics are a reference to Psalm 40 in the Bible. Typically, they play it while the band leaves the stage one at a time. Bono usually exits first leaving the crowd singing the chorus line of “How long to sing this song” over and over. Edge leaves next while Adam and Larry remain. After Adam takes his bow and leaves, Larry and his drums are all that’s left. But the crowd is still singing. Then Larry leaves. And we all stay and sing. Over and over. How long to sing this song. How long, how long. Then the lights slowly come on.
6. When I Look At The World
This is an obscure little-known track from U2’s 2000 disc, “All That You Can’t Leave Behind”. It was not released as a single and to date, the band has not played it live in concert. But they should. “World” starts with a simple Edge guitar riff, hesitates for a brief pause and then explodes into a beautiful melody with soaring guitar notes and the usual airtight rhythm. Edge is all over this one moving up and down the scales while Bono sings another gorgeous set of lyrics about faith and spirituality. This song is a reminder of just how good U2 is because any other band would have rushed this one out as a single, shot an expensive video and then featured it at every live gig for the rest of their lives.
5. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
The boys do gospel. Oh yes, they do. “Found” is perhaps their most beautiful song. The melody is unforgettable and the chorus is so easy and so much fun to sing along with that most fans never mind when this one gets stuck in their heads. “Found” is about faith, religion, redemption, salvation, all mixed into one peaceful simple tune. It’s the second of the “Big Three” songs off their mega-hit 1987 album “The Joshua Tree”. This is the album that exploded U2 onto the world scene and cemented their legend for all time. And this song, among others on this incredible record, helped seal that deal. For an extra treat, watch and listen to “Found” in the band’s 1989 movie, “Rattle and Hum”. The boys team up with a Harlem church choir to show everyone what gospel can be. Heaven.
4. Sunday Bloody Sunday
“Sunday” is one of U2’s first and most famous overtly political songs. It’s about the bloody struggle in Northern Ireland and sends a plaintive almost desperate call for peace in that tortured land. Larry’s drums provide a tight almost militaristic cadence while Edge uses a simple but powerful guitar riff throughout. This is another song that the band never plays casually. “Sunday” is an intense song meant to force you to wonder just how long this madness, The Troubles, has to go on. U2 opened their Live Aid set with “Sunday” as it was their most well-known song at the time. And they didn’t disappoint.
3. Where The Streets Have No Name
The signature song from “The Joshua Tree”, “Streets” has one of the band’s most mesmerizing openings. It starts with a long church organ solo followed by another classic Edge riff. Then Adam joins in with a pounding bass line followed shortly by Larry’s hypnotic drums. Finally, at the 1:45 mark, with the buildup at maxiumum intensity, Bono drops in with the opening line “I wanna run, I want to hide.” The video for “Streets” is legendary as well. The boys made an unannounced visit to a rooftop in Los Angeles and started playing. A large crowd quickly gathered and soon the LAPD came and shut it down for fear of traffic and crowd control problems. U2 also played “Streets” during halftime of the 2002 Super Bowl just a few months after 9/11. As they played, the names of each victim scrolled behind the band on an enormous screen. At the end of the song, with millions watching on TV, Bono simply opened his jacket to reveal an American flag inside. Nothing else needed to be said.
2. One
This is the song that “saved” U2. As the story goes, the band was on the verge of breaking up while recording “Achtung Baby” in 1991. Edge and Bono wanted to explore the new techno-dance sound while Adam and Larry didn’t. Finally, Edge came up with the arrangements for “One” and it changed everyone’s outlook and approach to going forward with renewed optimism. The lyrics to “One” are ambiguous. Some interpret it as a love song although not a pain-free one. Others see it as a song about individuality as in “We’re one but we’re not the same.” Regardless, the song is simply stunning and shows the band at its very finest. It’s an encore number at all shows and has been covered by several other artists including Mary J Blige and Johnny Cash. “One” is the band’s highest ranked song showing up on numerous “best ever” lists. It is the “One”.
1. Bad
The best of the best. This sad but intense song about drug addiction is a huge crowd favorite. It opens with Edge repeating just two simple but unmistakable chiming notes over and over until the rest of the band kicks in and drives it harder and harder. U2 played this song at Live Aid and all but stole the entire show with it. When Bono went down off the Wembley Stadium stage and into the rapturous crowd, the band kept playing past the time they had planned to end the song and so U2 missed out on playing “Pride”, the final song of their set. Legend has it Bono brooded over his “mistake” for weeks after the show until finally being convinced that “Bad” was just that good. If you listen to no other U2 song, this is the one. You’ll be wide awake. You won’t be sleeping.
Footnote: Several other great songs could have easily made this list. It seems almost criminal to leave off “Gloria”, “Desire”, “With Or Without You”, “Zoo Station”, “Numb”, “Beautiful Day” and “Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own”. But that’s what lists have to do. Feel free to comment on your additions or subtractions below.