U2's Worst Ever Song.

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It's got to be "Angel of Harlem". It's simply appalling.

Discuss. Debate. Argue.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 23:32 (twenty years ago)

I admire your fortitude at picking just one song from that misbegotten album.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 23:34 (twenty years ago)

No need to debate. You are absolutely correct.

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

xpost: Ned, you make me happy...

― John Justen (johnjusten), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 23:36 (twenty years ago)

it is 18-odd years since i reviewed* this LP (and last played it), and this is certainly the song which sticks in my mind as the icon of its awfulness

*cf tiresome story abt censorship and resignation blah zzz

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 23:38 (twenty years ago)

A mod should just change the title of thread to "U2's Worst Ever Song Is Angel Of Harlem"

― van nostrum (Buck Van Smack), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 23:43 (twenty years ago)

i'll put it in the FAQ if you like

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 23:45 (twenty years ago)

"Drowning Man" to thread.

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 23:46 (twenty years ago)

Neil Tennant's response to "When Love Comes To Town" and "Hawksmoor 69" is classic.

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!).

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 29 June 2005 23:59 (twenty years ago)

I realized that despite being a huge U2 fan I can't really listen to much between War and Achtung Baby anymore.

― Gear! (Ill Cajun Gunsmith) (Gear!), Thursday, 30 June 2005 00:03 (twenty years ago)

The worst U2 song ever is "Boomerang."

Okay, time to close the thread.

― Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Thursday, 30 June 2005 00:04 (twenty years ago)

And jeez, even if you hate "Angel Of Harlem," I promise you that I can give you U2 songs far worse.

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."

― Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Thursday, 30 June 2005 00:06 (twenty years ago)

"Discotheque" is worse than every song named on this thread thus far.

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

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Thursday, 30 June 2005 00:06 (twenty years ago)

MIR otm

― Gear! (Ill Cajun Gunsmith) (Gear!), Thursday, 30 June 2005 00:08 (twenty years ago)

except for the "Discotheque" bit

― Gear! (Ill Cajun Gunsmith) (Gear!), Thursday, 30 June 2005 00:09 (twenty years ago)

I think I'm in agreement about "Angel of Harlem".

― Ian Riese-Moraine has been xeroxed into a conduit! (Eastern Mantra), Thursday, 30 June 2005 00:10 (twenty years ago)

"Discotheque" is worse than every song named on this thread thus far.

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.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 30 June 2005 00:11 (twenty years ago)

into the FAQ then?

― mark s (mark s), Thursday, 30 June 2005 00:11 (twenty years ago)

Yes please.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 30 June 2005 00:12 (twenty years ago)

Yikes. Given that I actually like all the songs everyone's mentioned, I'm not even sure if I should venture how much I loathe "Lemon".

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 30 June 2005 00:18 (twenty years ago)

I believe you mean to say "LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEmoNNNNNNNNNNN!"

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 30 June 2005 00:19 (twenty years ago)

― Gear! (Ill Cajun Gunsmith) (Gear!), Thursday, 30 June 2005 00:20 (twenty years ago)

The Six Temptations of Rasputin.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 30 June 2005 00:20 (twenty years ago)

"Lemon" and "Walk On" are the duddest of the duds amongst U2 singles, definitely.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Thursday, 30 June 2005 00:21 (twenty years ago)

"And He Wandered Into the Wilderness, And LO He Removed His Sunglasses, and He Squinted, For It was Bright."

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 30 June 2005 00:21 (twenty years ago)

And I love "Lemon" too. It was the one track from "Zooropa" that made me think, "Damn, they may be good at this `experimental' shit after all."

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 30 June 2005 00:25 (twenty years ago)

B-but there's that godawful power-drill sound that makes me want to stuff my ears with kitchen utensils!

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

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 30 June 2005 00:27 (twenty years ago)

I can only assume you all managed to block out "the sweetest thing" and managed to pretend it never existed, because that wins U2's worst ever song HANDS DOWN!!

― Rock Bastard, Thursday, 30 June 2005 00:30 (twenty years ago)

[sheepish] I like that song.

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 30 June 2005 00:33 (twenty years ago)

I've posted this on another thread but I love the quote so much. This is Neil Tennant quoted by Chris Heath soon after Rattle & Hum came out:

"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."

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 30 June 2005 00:34 (twenty years ago)

I'ma keep my big mouth shut this time, except to say

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

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Thursday, 30 June 2005 00:44 (twenty years ago)

Pop is probably my favorite U2 album.

― Gear! (Ill Cajun Gunsmith) (Gear!), Thursday, 30 June 2005 00:45 (twenty years ago)

the only elements difft between neil t's review and mine back in the day are:
i. i can't remember what i exactly said since it was not published*
ii. except that i said they treated b.b.king like their BUTLER**
iii. i like dinosaurs and think they function poorly insult-wise***

*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

― mark s (mark s), Thursday, 30 June 2005 00:52 (twenty years ago)

"The Sweetest Thing" - holy shit, I forgot about that

― van nostrum (Buck Van Smack), Thursday, 30 June 2005 00:54 (twenty years ago)

It's right up there with "Angel Of Harlem" though. Raw sewage.

― van nostrum (Buck Van Smack), Thursday, 30 June 2005 00:54 (twenty years ago)

Why is 'Angel Of Harlem' so bad? I mean that in all seriousness.

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 30 June 2005 00:56 (twenty years ago)

There's nothing wrong with "Lemon" or "Sweetest Thing" (though I prefer the original b-side mix and not the gawdawful "la-la-la-la-la"-bestotten re-recording for the needless Best Of disc.

"Angel of Harlem" still remains the worst.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 30 June 2005 00:57 (twenty years ago)

Gimme the crack pipe: "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"

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

― Pete Scholtes, Thursday, 30 June 2005 01:04 (twenty years ago)

Pete, I respect your opinion, but I think you spelled "aren't" wrong. It should be spelled "define".

― John Justen (johnjusten), Thursday, 30 June 2005 01:29 (twenty years ago)

Why is 'Angel Of Harlem' so bad? I mean that in all seriousness.

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.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 30 June 2005 01:33 (twenty years ago)

Vegemite, I'm not really sure if I can explain why "Angel of Harlem" is just so fucking grating. It's like a pastiche of their earlier output blended with all the brass from The Teardrop Explodes playing some mock (nigh-on blasphemous) rendition of lower Mississippi River blues and jazz watered-down to the umpteenth power. That's probably not even half-accurate but it's all I can come up with. It's just yucky.

― Ian Riese-Moraine has been xeroxed into a conduit! (Eastern Mantra), Thursday, 30 June 2005 01:37 (twenty years ago)

Ha! Ned saves the day!

― Ian Riese-Moraine has been xeroxed into a conduit! (Eastern Mantra), Thursday, 30 June 2005 01:38 (twenty years ago)

Hmm.

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

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 30 June 2005 01:39 (twenty years ago)

Ned, that stuff could be said about any U2 song* -- except for the dull arrangement, I agree that it's a fairly dull-sounding song that probably would have been better had it been a stripped-down acoustic ballad.

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

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Thursday, 30 June 2005 01:39 (twenty years ago)

* 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.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 30 June 2005 01:42 (twenty years ago)

"Angel Of Harlem" is one of my favorite U2 singles. I think you haters are totally mental.

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.

― Matthew C Perpetua (inca), Thursday, 30 June 2005 01:55 (twenty years ago)

Well, that and your love for "Angel Of Harlem" probably put us in rival camps.

― John Justen (johnjusten), Thursday, 30 June 2005 02:04 (twenty years ago)

Speaking as a non-fan, I love "Lemon"! It's blue-black and camp and club and diffident-insistent and seedy. "Angel of Harlem" seems pretty harmless to me. I don't see why someone would think it's worse than "When Love Comes to Town", which gets my vote. (I don't really care about album tracks or rarities I'll never have to hear.)

― Sundar (sundar), Thursday, 30 June 2005 02:04 (twenty years ago)

The *song* "God Part II" isn't so bad, but it does feature one of the most horrible, pretentious, cringe-worthy song titles ever.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Thursday, 30 June 2005 02:04 (twenty years ago)

"God Part II" cracks me the fuck up! The lyrics are almost brilliant in their ludicrousness.

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)?

― Ian Riese-Moraine has been xeroxed into a conduit! (Eastern Mantra), Thursday, 30 June 2005 02:09 (twenty years ago)

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

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

― John Justen (johnjusten), Thursday, 30 June 2005 02:11 (twenty years ago)

Skipping 47 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

I guess everyone's just taking a "smoke break" now.

― n/a (Nick A.), Thursday, 30 June 2005 16:12 (twenty years ago)

If you know what I mean.

― n/a (Nick A.), Thursday, 30 June 2005 16:12 (twenty years ago)

I mean everyone's masturbating.

― n/a (Nick A.), Thursday, 30 June 2005 16:13 (twenty years ago)

We were waiting on you.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 30 June 2005 16:14 (twenty years ago)

dude everyone knows that 'walk on' is the worst ever

― katie, a princess (katie, a princess), Thursday, 30 June 2005 16:40 (twenty years ago)

Angie Harmon is an annoying Republican bitch.

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

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Thursday, 30 June 2005 17:15 (twenty years ago)

angie harmon reminds me too much of my old roommate

― Gear! (Ill Cajun Gunsmith) (Gear!), Thursday, 30 June 2005 17:16 (twenty years ago)

Angie Harmon can blow me, literally and metaphorically. She's such a red-state cheeseball, married to Jason Sehorn, formerly of my beloved Giants. Jason Sehorn is the cheesiest professional athlete of the last twenty years.

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Thursday, 30 June 2005 17:16 (twenty years ago)

http://www.sptimes.com/News/012601/photos/sb-sehorn.jpg

― Gear! (Ill Cajun Gunsmith) (Gear!), Thursday, 30 June 2005 17:19 (twenty years ago)

Eep, she's a GOP supporter? Nevermind.

― Ian Riese-Moraine has been xeroxed into a conduit! (Eastern Mantra), Thursday, 30 June 2005 17:30 (twenty years ago)

I don't really get what's so bad about AOH. I actually find it to be one of their more harmless singles.

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

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Thursday, 30 June 2005 17:31 (twenty years ago)

I saw this episode of Law & Order where a guy killed this lady because a painting made him do it, and Angie Harmon's character was basically saying, "Well, maybe it did... after all, this modern art crap is basically evil pornography." I was wondering if maybe she wrote her own dialogue for that particular scene.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Thursday, 30 June 2005 17:48 (twenty years ago)

The nice thing about TV is that you can mute it.

― n/a (Nick A.), Thursday, 30 June 2005 17:50 (twenty years ago)

Could hardly possibly get much worse than "Bullet The Blue Sky"

― Geir Hongro, Thursday, 30 June 2005 17:52 (twenty years ago)

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?)

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 30 June 2005 17:53 (twenty years ago)

the best way to stop angie harmon's mouth from saying evil right-wing shit is to stick yer schlong in it.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Thursday, 30 June 2005 18:08 (twenty years ago)

The Sweetest Thing has got to be the worst... There are many horrible U2 songs from which to choose, but for a horrible song to show up on a greatest hits disc as a long-lost b-side gem, when it was really a best-forgotten b-side that got more airplay than it deserved both times it surfaced is reason enough to give it the dubious distinction. Pluys it truly is their most horrible song.

― geyser muffler and a quarter (Dave225), Thursday, 30 June 2005 18:17 (twenty years ago)

my love she throws me like a rubber ball
oh oh oh, the sweetest thing
but she won’t catch me or break my fall
oh oh oh, the sweetest thing
baby’s got blue skies up ahead
but in this I’m a rain cloud
you know she wants a dry kind of love
oh oh oh, the sweetest thing

dude, she doesn't want dry love.

― katie, a princess (katie, a princess), Thursday, 30 June 2005 18:38 (twenty years ago)

I like "The Sweetest Thing"! The extra beat in the intro is fun, and the back-up vocals are nice. It's catchy and pops into my head now and then. But it's not a very "U2" song, and I'm not much of a U2 fan, so that may be part of it.

― n/a (Nick A.), Thursday, 30 June 2005 18:40 (twenty years ago)

Get one parsing of metaphor ability.

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.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 30 June 2005 18:42 (twenty years ago)

Speaking as someone who only really knows the choruses to most U2 hits, I'd have to say that "Angel of Harlem" really doesn't seem particularly good or bad. It's regular old U2 to me.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Thursday, 30 June 2005 18:44 (twenty years ago)

hopefully you're entertained by the fact that i had to look up the word "parsing"

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

― katie, a princess (katie, a princess), Thursday, 30 June 2005 18:46 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, "Angel" seems alright, I don't really know, there must be worse from their fly / cyberpunk / mid-late 90s era?

― paulhw (paulhw), Thursday, 30 June 2005 22:17 (twenty years ago)

is "angel of harlem" the one with the horn section? i think i've mostly blotted it out of my memory.

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.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 30 June 2005 22:25 (twenty years ago)

the funny thing is, there are a lot of u2 songs in competition for this title. and most of them probably aren't really that bad, they just have lyrics and vocals and a few instrumental touches a shade cheesier than is usual for the band. i mean *all* u2 lyrics are atrociously, pretty much without exception.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 30 June 2005 22:26 (twenty years ago)

also angie harmon looks like nicole simpson. just sayin'.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 30 June 2005 22:28 (twenty years ago)

Could hardly possibly get much worse than "Bullet The Blue Sky"

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!

― Ian Riese-Moraine has been xeroxed into a conduit! (Eastern Mantra), Thursday, 30 June 2005 22:38 (twenty years ago)

Apologies, late to thread, but doesn't it seem odd to anyone else that Neil Tennant's most damaging critique of U2 is that they're fake???? WTF? No, Bono really is a giant fly-hominid or a weird hybrid of Liberace and Lucifer. Of course they're fucking fake, they're an overblown stadium rock band, ffs, and I'm saying this as someone who enjoyed more than a lot (heh) of their stuff up to (at least) Zooropa, and a few songs beyond that (the intro to "Miracle Drug" from HTDAAB is playing on my iTunes right now, and it's sublime -- too bad the rest of the song can't live up to its promise, same with "City of Blinding Lights" come to think of it, and one of their most underrated songs, "In a Little While" is also post-Zooropa). I just don't get why "fake" would be such a pejorative, especially coming from Neil Tennant of all people (whose music I also have enjoyed greatly).

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

― David A. (Davant), Friday, 1 July 2005 23:38 (twenty years ago)

Oh, and "New York" is up there, too.

― David A. (Davant), Friday, 1 July 2005 23:40 (twenty years ago)

Yahweh -- it has no redeeming qualities. I even forget how it goes. No one start singing it, please.

― JC-L (JC-L), Saturday, 2 July 2005 00:38 (twenty years ago)

I mean "Yahweh" the song, not Yahweh the guy.

― JC-L (JC-L), Saturday, 2 July 2005 00:39 (twenty years ago)

God so many terrible songs to pick from but I will never forget the first time I saw the video for Numb with the Edge being tied up, I don't see how that one can be topped or bottomed.

― Jim Reckling (Jim Reckling), Saturday, 2 July 2005 01:23 (twenty years ago)

Apologies, late to thread, but doesn't it seem odd to anyone else that Neil Tennant's most damaging critique of U2 is that they're fake???? WTF?

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

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Saturday, 2 July 2005 02:43 (twenty years ago)

Wasn't meant to be "bait", I hadn't seen that thread. Now I have, I think you were OTM for the most part there.

― David A. (Davant), Monday, 4 July 2005 20:36 (twenty years ago)

David A: Neil Tennant damned U2 because their purported sincerity was a sham. The Pet Shop Boys at their best, on the other hand, find deep swells of emotion in artifice, camp, and kitsch.

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.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Monday, 4 July 2005 22:21 (twenty years ago)

David A, apologies if it sounded like I thought you were baiting me. I was referring to my post upthread where I promised to keep my big mouth shut.

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Monday, 4 July 2005 22:25 (twenty years ago)

"OTM for the most part"

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.

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Monday, 4 July 2005 22:31 (twenty years ago)

Some good choices here, but right now my most hated U2 song is "A Man And A Woman." Even on the bad songs, you could usually count on Edge or Mullen doing something interesting but everyone pretty much phoned it in on this one.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 16:15 (twenty years ago)

What song were they playing during this moment?

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

― Mark (MarkR), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 16:26 (twenty years ago)

"Yahweh." It makes me want to stab my eardrums out.

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.

― Lyra Jane (Lyra Jane), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 16:49 (twenty years ago)

anything from the new album

― meister, Tuesday, 5 July 2005 16:54 (twenty years ago)

There are 3 U2 songs now : a) the singing-ringing one in which The Edge does his stuff, b) the rock-ordinaire one e.g Vertigo. The Achtung ones have become this now e.g Zoo Station, She Moves. and c) the excruciating ballad (One, Sometimes You Can't).

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.

― stevo (stevo), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 17:49 (twenty years ago)

"Elevation" is certainly one of the weediest, most pedestrian by-numbers songs I've ever heard, U2 or not.

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.

― Huey (Huey), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 18:11 (twenty years ago)

What song were they playing during this moment?

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.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 18:25 (twenty years ago)

Can we PLEASE take the "hackneyed rhymes" meme out to the back pasture and shoot it?

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 18:27 (twenty years ago)

Ah, "Angel of Harlem" ain't so bad if you totally ignore the lyrics (like I always do) and just appreciate the music - I've certainly heard a dozen worse Dylan-&-the-Hawks-1966 ripoffs over the years. "Elvis Presley And America" is pretty appalling.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 20:18 (twenty years ago)

"Elvis Presley And America" is pretty appalling.

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

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 20:42 (twenty years ago)

You can, but you wouldn't be answering the thread question.

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 20:47 (twenty years ago)

I never expected this thread to have such legs.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 21:29 (twenty years ago)

yeah -- and i LIKE u2.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 21:31 (twenty years ago)

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