U2's Worst Ever Song.

"When Love Comes To Town" runs a close second, though.

xpost: Ned, you make me happy...

*cf tiresome story abt censorship and resignation blah zzz

My pick: "Pride (In The Name of Love)." Yodeling, the Edge, and martial beats can't hide the fact that there are way too many abstractions for my taste (even in the title!).

Okay, time to close the thread.

I should revise myself a bit - the worst U2 song I've ever heard is called "An American Prayer" and it was performed by Bono a few times at various events between the end of the All That You Can't Leave Behind tour and the beginning of the How To Dismantle sessions. It is just totally pathetic.

For what it's worth, the worst U2 hit is "Walk On."

I like "Angel of Harlem" (to review, "Rattle and Hum" > "The Joshua Tree")

Au contraire, I'd say it was the last listenable single they cut.

I like "Angel of Harlem" (to review, "Rattle and Hum" > "The Joshua Tree")

Lay off that crack pipe, son.

Okay. Surely "Vertigo" rates as his most appalling lyrics to date. For the unsure:

Uno, dos, tres, catorce!

Turn it up loud, captain

Lights go down, it's dark
The jungle is your head
Can't rule your heart
A feeling's so much stronger than
A thought
Your eyes are wide
And though your soul
It can't be bought
Your mind can wander

Hello, Hello (¡Hola!)
I'm at a place called Vertigo (¿Dónde esta?)
It's everything I wish I didn't know
Except you give me something i can feel, feel

The night is full of holes
As bullets rip the sky
Of ink with gold
They twinkle as the
Boys play rock and roll
They know that they can't dance
At least they know...

I can't stand the beats
I'm asking for the cheque
The girl with crimson nails
Has Jesus round her neck
Swinging to the music
Swinging to the music
Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh,

Hello, Hello (¡Hola!)
I'm at a place called Vertigo (¿Dónde Esta?)
It's everything I wish I didn't know
But you give me something I can feel, feel

check it,
Just for,
you'll need it!(yeah)

All this, all this can be yours
All of this, all of this can be yours
All this,all of this can be yours
All of this, all of this can be yours
Just give me what I want and no one gets hurt...

Hello, Hello (¡Hola!)
We're at a place called Vertigo (¿Dónde Esta?)
Lights go down and all I know
Is that you give me something

I can feel your love teaching me how
Your love is teaching me how, how to kneel, kneel

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah,
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah

"What [rock critics} basically want is for it to be like 1969 again. It 's this thing where British – or in U2's case, Irish – groups discover the roots of American music. U2 have discovered this and they're just doing pastiches [his voice rises] and it's reviewed as a serious thing because DYLAN PLAYS ORGAN on some song and B.B. King plays o n some throwaway pop song "When Love Comes to Town" that could have been written by Andrew Lloyd Webber. It could be in Starlight Express if you ask me.

...We hate everything that they are and stand for. We hate it because it's totally stultifying, it says nothing, it is big and pompous and ugly. We hate it for exactly the same reasons Johnny Rotten said he hated dinosaur groups in 1976. To me U2 are a dinosaur group. They're saying nothing but they're pretending to be something. I think they're FAKE."

"Lemon" > U2's entire post-Zooropa catalog

*i actually doubt it was much cop as a review, i wz too cross
**i wz inordinately proud of this line for years and then i swanked abt it to a pal and she misheard and thought i had said they treated b.b.king like their BUTT-PLUG, and then i wz sad cz i so wish i had
***i too have told this story on another thread

"Angel of Harlem" still remains the worst.

"Walk On" and "Vertigo" are gorgeous; "Angel of Harlem" and "When Love Comes To Town" aren't completely intolerable. "Lemon" is fun.

Strained vocals on the chorus, Bono mistaking 'good/poetic' impulses with a reason to do something, overcrowded lumpen deathly dull arrangement under the impression it's moving and energetic (see also any number of late eighties atrocities under the banner of 'rock,' from VH1 hits of the time to college rock faves and many other obscurities), I could go on.

Could it be that two versions were released simultaneously, and you are yet to hear the version I'm familiar with, and enjoy?

* of course, one would be justified for hating U2 in general because of those reasons

HOORAY!

That said, possibly no song on Rattle and Hum is more obnoxiously grating in intent than "God Part II." I was looking for something to stab my eardrums with after I first heard that one.

But then, as I said on another recent thread, I tend to have more contempt for U2 haters than they usually have for the band and the music.

Is it just me, or could "Heartland" have almost been an early Disco Inferno song (provided that Bono's vocals were extracted from the song)?

I like where you're going with this...

You know, it really is pretty good, it deserves a better reputation.

and Rattle and Hum is classic if for no other reason than

"ALL IVE GOT/ IS A RED GUITAR/ THREE CHORDS AND THE TRUTH"

(ive seen the movie more times than any human should be allowed to, i was 14 give me a break)

Why is it so cringe-worthy?

I really like both "Boomerang"s!

ned OTM. "boring and dumb," we used to call it.

my non-rattle and hum pick would be either (a) "elvis presley & america" or (b) "i threw a brick"

I started drinking the haterade pretty recently. I can date it exactly though. The 2002 superbowl halftime 'show.' Bono whips open his jacket to reveal the american flag lining. My eyes bled.

Anyone heard Calla's version of Promenade?

Angel in devil's shoes -
Salvation in the blues!
You never looked like an a-an-je-ellll!

BIG CHORUS!!

And it won't. Go. Away.

Damn you, ILM!

No, but I like "fear of fireflies." Does this make me a terrible person?

and the list goes on.

Re. Sinker upthread; for a moment I thought you meant they treated BB King like Butler off On The Buses!

Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own is maybe the best song U2 have ever done.

1. Maggie's Farm
2. Mission: Impossible
3. Neon Lights
4. Beat On The Brat
5. Helter Skelter
6. Dancing Queen
7. Fortunate Son
8. My Girl
9. People Get Ready
10. Won't Get Fooled Again
11. Rain
12. My Girl
13. Unchained Melody
14. Stand By Me
15. Everlasting Love
16. All Along The Watchtower
17. Southern Man
18. I've Got You Under My Skin
19. C'mon Everybody
20. Satellite Of Love
21. Paint It, Black
22. Jesus Christ
23. Sweet Jane
24. Norwegian Wood
25. New York, New York

But he covered "Where the Streets Have No Name"! Hypocrite.

AS PART OF A MEDLEY WITH CAN'T TAKE MY EYES OFF YOU WHICH FORMED A DOUBLE A-SIDE WITH THE SONG HOW CAN YOU EXPECT TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY

There's a triumviate of stinkiness when it comes to worst U2 songs. Behold...

Hawkmoon 269
The Refugee
When Love Comes To Town

And there's gonna be a rumble if people keep bashing Elvis Presley and America. I love that song, it's some type of misguided masterpiece.

yes, it's good.

a) or c) can turn into a lecture about how we can make this ol' world a bit nicer. During the lectures the light show is at its most interesting so at least there's something to look at. The other thing that can happen is that Bono can insert some words from *other artist's* songs. This allows him to show us that he is a rock and roll collossus striding over all of popular music and reaching in to pick out some good bits to show us. For example, quoting Joy Division earlier in the week to toady up to the Mancs. He didn't bother with Joy Division for the 12-CD young professional brigade in Twickers though - we had to settle for The Walker Brothers.

Snideyness aside, the old stuff (I Will Follow, Electric Co, Proide, New Years Day) sounded pretty fantastic. For a stadium band they were refreshingly un-choreographed and relied on a fair bit of actual communication between them to figure out the next move. Also, no backing musicians at all. You have to hand it to the Edge - he makes a lovely noise at times and Mullen is a monster drummer. But by god I was glad when it was over.

Anyway, worst song. AOH is pretty awful. As is Sunday Bloody Sunday. But I'll go for I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - a chorus made for drunken accountants to bawl on the last tube and horrid verses about climbing mountains and loosing chains. Tripe.

Outside Rattle and Hum -- I'm definitely in agreement with "The Refugee". Actually, I don't like most of War -- it's the most pompous and anthemic thing they ever made, and not in a pleasant way (because it's serious and not ridiculous). Even The Alarm's debut is more tolerable!

Sundar, do you remember when U2 dressed up like The Village People? That was the video for "Discotheque".

Hmmm..."Bono's vocals were extracted from the song".

One of my mother's friends was in the video for "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" -- that was the one filmed in Vegas, right?

I like where you're going with this...
It's like something on In Debt -- however, throw in a fuckload of samplers and voila! The bonus track for D.I. Go Pop!

So much for the elegant future.

I think it was my cousin, who is roughly the same age as my older brother (around 20 when Rattle and Hum was excreted), who said "This is not a good album." And that was all.

That said, this was the first time I had ever heard BB King, and I thought it was pretty cool then. Now, its poor man's monkey business. They spend the entire album interspersing American-music-stylings with U2isms, and then end up with a split album that satisfies neither master. Ugh.

Worst song? Gotta say Lemon. That track can go straight to the hell of bad white blues.

The only thing missing from "Angel Of Harlem" is Bono putting on a Sambo outfit and trying to get BB King to hambone with him.

you could say that about "when love comes to town," too. and i just did!

"Walk On," "Elevation," "Vertigo," "All Because of You"--all worthy contenders.

"Lemon" is fucking awesome. As is "Discotheque". And all those R&H singles besides "When Love Comes to Town" which is just OK.

(xpost: SO MUCH DENIAL. Everything U2 has done since 2000 is LIGHTYEARS better than the embarrasing, aggressively embarrasing trainwreck of "sincere" minstrelry that is "Angel In Harlem".)

Mmm, Angie Harmon.

Can I just say that U2 is terrible in general, from their earliest piles to their current crap? Thanks.

I mean, maybe it's not great, but worse than fucking "Elevation"?

BY LIGHT-YEARS. "Angel Of Harlem" is one of the most inexcuasable pieces of music ever recorded.

(xpost: Geir, what did I tell you about that crack pipe?)

dude, she doesn't want dry love.

Musically, there is so much that's right with "The Sweetest THing" that clunky lyrics don't matter. There is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING REDEEMABLE about "Angel Of Harlem"; in fact, looking at its component parts only makes the end result that much more offensive, repugnant and horrifying.

"new York, like a Christmas tree"
that's an idiom, IDIOM!

it's funny how neil tennant is completely correct about u2 being bullshit and fake etc. but sadly i still think they made (and occasionally make) good music! as good as the pet shop boys, anyway.

Well, I'm sure you don't like it because the beat's ripped off of a PiL song that's all percussion and very little else!

As for the question, two answers: "Peace on Earth" and "Yahweh".

At last, I take the bait. David A., this was much discussed here: Is this the part where Greg Kot flies the rockist flag?

U2 got the memo around Achtung Baby, but when when they ventured into PSB territory in Pop the strain showed. At THEIR best they're a great arena-rock band, which is nothing to sneeze at.

Obituarist, please add to file. "Friends remember him as 'OTM, for the most part.'"

Heck, that makes the shortlist for my headstone!

rogermexico
19xx - 20xx
He was OTM, for most part.

http://hometown.aol.com/jmann37395/images/flag%20jacket1.jpg

Also, at least half of the album "October" is unlistenable, but it's a such a morass of suckitude that individual songs don't really stand out as being especially appalling.

Dr. C hitting the nail firmly on the head: a)songs I still love, b) are dull c) are unbearable (my worse choice “all I want is you”). Still a lot of respect for Edge + Mullin. As a callow youth I bought ‘New Years Day’; it opened up a lot of doors.

How any experienced songwriter thinks they can get away with these hackneyed rhymes is beyond me:

I and I
In the sky
You make me feel like I can fly
So high

Perhaps it was a leftover from The Ironic Period.

I believe this happened toward the end of "Where the Streets Have No Name".

It's too bad that such a moment had to ruin what is otherwise their best ever song.

no disagreement there. but you can hate "elvis presley & america," "angel of harlem," AND "when love comes to town" equally as much :)