I wouldn’t say I’m sick of them, but I haven’t actively listened to any of their stuff since Joshua Tree. I was a fan up until that album and really enjoyed the show I saw on the '87 tour. But after that I lost interest–I can’t really explain why. To semi-quote Keef, they just didn’t move me anymore.
(I have stayed at the Harmony Hotel though…but only because there wasn’t a room to be had anywhere else.)
War.
It’s been downhill ever since.
No love for Under A Blood Red Sky?
Well, couldn’t have said that better.
This is my fave too. Followed by War, then Joshua Tree.
Not that Joshua isn’t a better album but I like the more raw sounds of their earlier work. Like the opening cassette tape drum beat of October… I have a hard time listening to anything after Rattle and Hum.
I like *Boy, War, Unforgettable Fire, *and Joshua Tree, though my favorite song of theirs (“Gloria”) is on October.
Went with Boy in this poll, when their sound was freshest and unburdened by Importance. Is “An Cat Dubh” on that one?
Which one?
Fair point. For me, the Joshua Tree’s songs never grabbed me. They led with With or Without You which is just kinda meh for me. Love the start of Where the Streets Have No Name. But I never listen to it. It was Peak U2, their full arrival as a force in Amercia. But Achtung Baby has better songs, IMHO.
I liked their first seven albums…it’s hard to pick one over the others. Joshua Tree was so huge and omnipresent that it’s hard to evaluate it now. I did play it to death.
I was listening to Walk On just before I saw this thread. Knowing it’s about AungbSanbSuu Kyi makes it all the more poignant. Some of their best writing, especially:
You could have flown away
A singing bird
In an open cage
Who will only fly
Only fly for freedom
All That You Can’t Leave Behind wasn’t half bad. That concert tour was the last time I saw them live.
I would say (and voted for) “Joshua Tree”, which was when they really broke out as a superstar band. Close second for “War” (the first album of theirs I heard), followed by “Rattle and Hum”. The latter has some of their most kickass material, but also a lot of “two-disc set” filler.
I do have to add that the only bright spot out of the election of Trump for me was U2 abandoning plans for their new album (which they said would be more like Pop, their lowest selling album :smack:) and returning to their roots with Songs of Innocence and the Joshua Tree tour.
One by U2.
I chose “The Joshua Tree.” It’s a cliche answer, but this thing is, it’s a cliche answer for a reason.
“Achtung Baby” is sensational as well, but I had to pick one. “Rattle and Hum,” “War,” “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” and “The Unforgettable Fire” are all outstanding. I even like a lot of the tracks on “Pop,” which is, IMHO, underrated.
It’s a toss up between Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby for me. All the songs I sort of don’t like on Achtung Baby, I really like live or if played in a different arrangement. But, the first three songs have more significant meaning for me in the Joshua Tree. If it wasn’t for Bullet the Blue Sky (yes, I hate that song, in any incarnation), this wouldn’t be a toss up. Basically the highs are higher for me in Joshua, but because of that one low, my average high is higher in Achtung. No one remembers the average, they just remember the home run. 
I got into U2 with The Unforgettable Fire and wore the grooves out of it, but with* The Joshua Tree* they became REALLY big in any way and consolidated their signature sound. The foundations of this sound were apparent earlier, especially on …Fire, but though it had top producers with Eno and Lanois (the same ones as on* Joshua Tree*), it sounds strangely murky compared to their later work. The Joshua Tree then became THE quintessential U2 album, and it was huge and heard everywhere in 1987, but it’s not their best. It all became a bit boring and pretentious with Rattle And Hum, though it’s no bad album either and has some great songs. But it’s an extravaganza: double album, feature film, gospel choir, Beatles cover, Dylan collaboration, B.B. King duet and so on and on, pure overkill.
So I and many people got kinda sick of their shtick, but they were wise enough to realize this and reinvent themselves with Achtung Baby. This was an album that’s absolutely state of the art for 1991 by shedding their former sound and changing their approach drastically, and it showed that they could do great pop music and even groove! You can dance to that album, and it has at least seven or eight killer songs, and not one stinker. It’s the rare kind of album that sounds like a collection of singles and nonetheless works as a whole, as an album. And it also aged much better, The Joshua Tree today sounds so much like a product of it’s time (maybe because its sound is so iconic), but Achtung Baby still sounds fresh to my ears.
They never got better. *Zooropa *was kind of interesting, but seemed like an afterthought to Achtung Baby. Everything after that I still cared to listen to was boring.
This one, or the other one?
I just want to say that I think their single best song is actually not on an album. It’s Ordinary Love, from the Nelson Mandela movie.
If not the best, it’s up their with their best work of the late 80’s and early 90’s. A real return to form.
I did vote Joshua Tree, but I also think Achtung Baby and the first 4-5 songs of Songs of Innocence are also amazing.
War is great, too.
I love that people will play this at weddings, per friends who’ve DJ’d. Along with “Every Breath You Take,” etc…
Joshua Tree for me, but Achtung is a really close second. I haven’t like their albums since All That You Can’t Leave Behind.
EDIT: Their latest albums to me, come close to proving the joke that U2 is the world’s greatest Christian Rock band. Just too sappy, and corporate sounding, and forgettable.
I keep hearing that, but I wonder how true it is. Maybe people have wised up to it. I’ve been to over 300 weddings in the past 10 years, and I’ve never heard either song played at one, even though I keep hearing stories about how supposedly common it is.
It probably is an urban legend. It’s been awhile since I’ve been to a wedding, not that I’ve been to many, and they played mainly salsa and conjunto at the last one.
Just relaying what I was told by a travelling DJ, friend of an acquaintance, and they may have been pulling my leg.
People really don’t like In God’s Country?