"It's a musical journey" - U2 POLL RESULTS

We've done well enough for a top sixty, which will be twenty each over the next three days. I'll get going shortly.

Normally I'd start with a funny picture, but instead I'm going to plug Bill Flanagan's book U2 At The End Of The World, which I'm loving and is certainly the best music book I've read. Any story I recount will likely come from there.

http://fupaper.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/pope_bono.jpg?w=400&h=565

"I bless this poll".

That is unpleasant.

I don't want to click on this thread anymore.

There are only two ties, so I haven't bothered to tiebreak them. First up is a threeway for 58th, with a rampaging beast of a track to kick things off.

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/6375/058mofo.jpg

58 Mofo
five votes
Pop (1997)

http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/4909/05840.jpg

58 “40”
four votes
War (1983)

Love that image for Mofo

http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/9185/058drowningman.jpg

58 Drowning Man
four votes, one first place
War (1983)

http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/2794/057october.jpg

57 October
93 points, four votes
October (1981)

58 Drowning Man
four votes, one first place
War (1983)

― Ismael Klata, Monday, August 8, 2011 10:15 AM (26 minutes ago) Bookmark

wonder if the first place vote was kool g rap lurking?

Ah, good to see October placing! Didn't expect that

I thought these 10 would do well

1 the unforgettable fire
2 with or without you
3 beautiful day
4 i will follow
5 out of control
6 heartland
7 zoo station
8 until the end of the world
9 the fly
10 lemon

might have expected October, Drowning Man and Mofo to do better really.

I admire Mr Klata's pictures.

Thank you. They're not my pictures though, just my graphics, lest any lurking photographers feel the need to pull me up!

I meant to say - I'm not adding youtubes as I'm at work, and I've added votes all recordings of any track together. However, lots of people specified particular versions or mixes of tracks. Once something gets announced, if you've got a favourite version you'd like people to hear by all means put it up.

I quite liked the live tracks that appeared around the "Fire" single, and the "An Cat Dubh" off the NME cassette of the time.

Still...

(I didn't vote here, have no real appreciation for them.)

wonder if the first place vote was kool g rap lurking?

Haha no, I think it was me. Probably overrating it somewhat, but after not having really listened to U2 with both ears for something like 25 years, that was one of the few songs that I thought was unequivocally lovely this time round. And it was all the better for me having totally forgotten it in the interim. Interesting to see from youtubes though that Bono had revisted it solo (did a slightly dodgy version with a female vocalist) and that U2 had been playing it on one of their recent tours.

It was indeed. I'm planning on putting up the full voting spreadsheet (suitably anonymised in some way) at the end of this btw, if I can work out how to do it.

http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/7134/056yourblueroom.jpg

56 Your Blue Room
94 points, four votes
Original Soundtracks 1 (1995)

Pretty sure I purposely ignored "War" in voting. "Mofo" would have been a top 3 U2 b-side. I should listen to "Pop" again, though, since it always had a lot I liked.
Are you going to reveal which tracks got negative votes?

I will, yes. None of the ones so far have. There was about a 50/50 take up of the 'most hated' option.

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/1196/055ifalldown.jpg

55 I Fall Down
98 points, three votes, two first places
October (1981)

That's a good picture

and a bit of a surprising hit (if 55 can be called a hit)

I only like it cos it would take me back to October 1989 a bit.

Love the pictures. Mofo my only vote so far. Going back to that song after several years I was surprised how well they nailed the professed purpose of Pop. I think that album (like NLIB) suffered from being billed as more experimental - and in this case explicitly fun - than it turned out to be. A bunch of good songs (and some weak ones) that don't add up.

"it's a musical journey"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb9g0ksXEgo&feature=related

ah fuck it, i don't know

I read something saying that Pop was billed as a techno album when it came it out. Is that true? If so, no wonder it seemed like a failure. Put it next to anything by any comparable act and it sounds startling.

http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/8919/054theelectricco.jpg

54 The Electric Co
101 points, five votes
Boy (1980)

"Hello, is that the Electric Co? I have a query on my bill."

I have no idea what that song is about.

if you don't know...

http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/6501/053ithrewabrickthrougha.jpg

53 I Threw A Brick Through A Window
102 points, four votes
October (1981)

That's one of my favourites, I like the awkwardness of it.

http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/4866/052surrender.jpg

52 Surrender
108 points, five votes
War (1983)

http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/493/051heartland.jpg

51 Heartland
110 points, six votes
Rattle And Hum (1988)

mmm "Heartland"

"October"'s a good tune too! didn't vote for it but it lurked in my pre-ballot consciousness

"Mofo" rose quite a bit in my estimation on listening through the oeuvre last week & I ended up voting for it.

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/4603/050somedaysarebettertha.jpg

50 Some Days Are Better Than Others
115 points, six votes
Zooropa (1993)

^^^ one of mine

Already also regretting not voting "A Sort of Homecoming," one of the all-tine great "Oh, yeah? What do you think about this!?" openers, which admittedly U2 has pulled off a couple of times.

yes, I noticed upon compiling my ballot that I voted for many of their album openers from 1984 on.

Already had four of my 20 show up! October, Surrender, Heartland (I think) and this last one.

@Josh, fwiw I put 'A Sort of Homecoming' very high. But that's all I'm saying about it right now ;)

Some Days Are Better Than Others was my #11.

I love the graphics and am so happy to see Pop make an appearance. I always figured "Electric Co." was about a kid watching The Electric Company.

http://img804.imageshack.us/img804/6376/049tripthroughyourwires.jpg

49 Trip Through Your Wires
116 points, six votes
The Joshua Tree (1987)

Hard to choose from Zooropa. I went for title track, Numb, Dirty Day and Lemon but Some Days is great too.

Only chose seven from the 80s, and no deep cuts.

Pope Bono is surprised that anybody has listened to October
xp Yikes, "Trip Through Your Wires" is a bad song

^^ my #12

my #2

REALLY? It sounds like "Hand In Glove" being played by a high school band.

October's a funny album, isn't it? If I want energy I can put on Boy or Under A Blood Red Sky, stridency War, beauty I'll stick on The Unforgettable Fire, etc. etc. I can't think what I'd be wanting in order to stick on October, except a change.

Yeah, I put it on to remember where those other random good songs from "Under a Blood Red Sky" come from.

Next up is my #1. The relative lack of interest in it perplexes me. At least it beat my #2, which got ZERO from everyone else.

http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/3189/048exit.jpg

48 Exit
117 points, four votes, one first place
The Joshua Tree (1987)

I get the impression you don't like it. Anyway, the song is much better in the context of the film "Elvis Ate America."

After finishing 'Popcorn,' his first film, in 1978, Jeff Koons continued his emerging exploration of pop iconography with the now legendary 'Elvis Ate America' - a four minute work using a fragment of super 8 footage shot by the teenage Koons at one of Presley's Las Vegas 'Rhinestone' concerts in the early seventies. The final edit of the film was destroyed by fire but Koons is considering remaking it.

Argh! I've just found your ballot Josh - it went to my ilxor webmail, which I almost never access. Of all the ones to miss!

For completeness I've picked up the other mistakes that were mentioned too. Fortunately not much has changed - With Or Without You and The Unforgettable Fire switch places, One drops out of the top ten, and there's a little rejigging further down the top forty of which Exit is the biggest gainer.

So this is the final final countdown:

1. Where The Streets Have No Name ... 703 ... ☆☆☆☆☆
2. The Fly ... 664 ... ☆
3. Bad ... 638 ... ☆☆☆☆
4. With Or Without You ... 637 ... ☆☆☆☆ ... ↓
5. The Unforgettable Fire ... 632 ... ☆☆☆
6. New Year's Day ... 580 ... ☆☆
7. I Will Follow ... 573 ... ☆☆
8. Beautiful Day ... 487 ... ☆
9. Lemon ... 484 ... ☆☆
10. In God's Country ... 459 ... ☆☆

11. Stay (Faraway, So Close!) ... 458 ... ☆
12. Until The End Of The World ... 455 ... ☆☆☆
13. One ... 453 ... ☆☆ ... ↓
14. All I Want Is You ... 431
15. Pride (In The Name Of Love) ... 422 ... ↓
16. A Sort of Homecoming ... 391 ... ☆
17. Zooropa ... 390
18. Wire ... 383
19. Sunday Bloody Sunday ... 379
20. Mysterious Ways ... 344

21. Red Hill Mining Town ... 307 ... ☆
22. Zoo Station ... 284
23. Running To Stand Still ... 281 ... ☆
24. Two Hearts Beat As One ... 276
25. Out Of Control ... 275
26. Even Better Than The Real Thing ... 270
27. Ultraviolet (Light My Way) ... 265 ... ☆
28. One Tree Hill ... 252
29. Miss Sarajevo ... 241
30. Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me ... 201 ... ☆

31. Bullet The Blue Sky ... 194 ... ↓
32. Gloria ... 193
33. Seconds ... 192
34. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For ... 189 ... ☆ ... ↓↓
35. Acrobat ... 187
36. City Of Blinding Lights ... 167
37. Desire ... 165
38. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses? ... 159
39. Love Is Blindness ... 157
40. Love Comes Tumbling ... 149

41. Discotheque ... 148 ... ↓
41. Dirty Day ... 148
43. Exit ... 145 ... ☆
44. Numb ... 142
45. Twilight ... 141
46. A Day Without Me ... 122
46. 11 O'Clock Tick Tock ... 122
48. Trip Through Your Wires ... 116
49. Some Days Are Better Than Others ... 115
50. Heartland ... 110

51. Surrender ... 108
52. I Threw A Brick Through A Window ... 102
53. The Electric Co ... 101
54. I Fall Down ... 98 ... ☆☆
55. Your Blue Room ... 94
56. October ... 93
57. Mofo ... 90
57. Drowning Man ... 90 ... ☆
57. "40" ... 90
60. Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own ... 88 ... ☆

61. A Celebration ... 84
62. Stories For Boys ... 77
62. Mothers Of The Disappeared ... 77
64. Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of ... 76 ... ↓
65. Do You Feel Loved? ... 75
66. Like A Song ... 73
67. Tomorrow ... 71 ... ☆
68. Gone ... 70
69. Another Time Another Place ... 66
70. Walk On ... 63 ... ↓

71. Hawkmoon 269 ... 61
71. Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car ... 61
73. Indian Summer Sky ... 60
74. An Cat Dubh ... 58
75. The Three Sunrises ... 56
76. Last Night On Earth ... 54
77. Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World ... 53
77. Please ... 53
79. Is That All? ... 52
80. Staring At The Sun ... 51

81. If God Will Send His Angels ... 49
82. Wake Up Dead Man ... 46
82. If You Wear That Velvet Dress ... 46
84. Baby Face ... 43
85. Promenade ... 42
85. Kite ... 42
87. The Sweetest Thing ... 40 ... ↓
87. In The Name Of The Father ... 40 ... ☆
87. Cedars Of Lebanon ... 40
90. Van Diemen's Land ... 39

90. Luminous Times ... 39
92. In A Little While ... 37
93. Party Girl ... 36
94. Moment Of Surrender ... 35
95. Rejoice ... 34
96. Window In The Skies ... 33
96. Walk To The Water ... 33
96. So Cruel ... 33
99. Breathe ... 31
100. Salome ... 30

100. Miami ... 30
100. Fire ... 30
103. Unknown Caller ... 27
103. The Wanderer ... 27
105. She's A Mystery To Me ... 26
106. Night And Day ... 25
107. Stranger In A Strange Land ... 23
107. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) ... 23
107. Boomerang I ... 23
110. Crumbs From Your Table ... 21

110. 4th Of July ... 21
112. Lady With The Spinning Head ... 17
112. Ground Beneath Her Feet ... 17
112. Deep In The Heart ... 17
112. The First Time ... 17
116. When I Look At The World ... 16
116. Angel Of Harlem ... 16 ... ↓↓
118. Vertigo ... 15 ... ↓↓
118. United Colours ... 15
118. Spanish Eyes ... 15

121. A Different Kind Of Blue ... 14
122. The Saints Are Coming ... 13 ... ↓
122. All Because Of You ... 13
124. When Love Comes To Town ... 12
124. Theme from Mission: Impossible ... 12
124. New York ... 12
124. MLK ... 12
124. Electrical Storm ... 12
124. Bass Trap ... 12
130. The Refugee ... 9 ... ↓
131. Get On Your Boots ... 1 ... ↓
132. The Hands That Built America ... -5 ... ↓
133. Elevation ... -7 ... ↓↓
134. Peace On Earth ... -20 ... ↓
134. Elvis Ate America ... -20 ... ↓
134. A Freak like Me ... -20 ... ↓

Thanks again, Ismael, the negative vote thing turned out to be a great addition too. Impressed that three voters kept "Angel of Harlem" in the black.

the negative vote thing was cool, although i'm not sure if it would work nearly as well for any of the other upcoming artist polls as well as it did for this one, really a very inspired and appropriate touch for U2.

For Led Zeppelin, I'm going to offer the option of sending a "most hated" track and I'll show those results, but they're not going to affect the main point totals.

yeah Zep's a good one for that

(The Crunge)

In the NAAAME of looooove, ONE MAAAAWH in the name of loooove

Pretty unfuckwithable.

Also, fuck you if you don't like "The Crunge".

I read it, ages ago. I remember nothing about it except the "nautical kleptomania" anecdote.

wait what?

xpost Well, if I had to pick just one track. I pretty much like everything from that band. I guess I don't really like "Carouselambra," either, and that one goes on three times as long.

If you're not going to deduct points from the main tally for Zep, it might be worth allowing for a top three or five 'most hated', scoring them 5-4-3-2-1 or whatever, and having a separate mini countdown (countup?) for that. Two-for-the-price-of-one. Zep's got a small enough catalogue that that ought to work I think.

Might wind up three for the price of one, because I was also planning on asking for an album ranking. With nine studio albums and three live albums, asking for people to rank their top five seems like zero work.

three?

Song Remains the Same, BBC Sessions, How the West Was Won

I'd forgotten all about the BBC one, must dig that out. It's excellent - also has the debut of Stairway iirc, which is met by impressed but very polite applause.

This was my ballot:

1 i fall down
2 i threw a brick through a window
3 a day without me
4 twilight
5 seconds
6 two hearts beat as one
7 like a song...
8 a celebration
9 out of control
10 exit
11 wire
12 surrender
13 luminous times (hold on to love)
14 love comes tumbling
15 deep in the heart
16 walk to the water
17 spanish eyes
18 the three sunrises
19 the unforgettable fire
20 bad

I left out some big hits and ranked others further down the list to give more points to songs I thought might not receive many. I loved TJT b-sides a lot at the time and most of them still hold up better than tracks which made the album. It's sad that "A Celebration" just missed out from the big count. I had the usual suspects from R&H on my shortlist but nothing beyond as I stopped caring after that.

i will never understand ppl gaming their ballots like that, tbh. Why not just list yr favourites and let the results stand?

Thanks to this poll, this is what my last.fm for the last 7 days looks like:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-uEuuWssPNtM/Tke3Jmu90AI/AAAAAAAABHE/gVc9URbhjvM/U2.jpg

I'd totally forgotten how much I loved this band.

Henry Rollins isn't going to like that.

i forgot that hank hates u2. didnt he say they have the worst rhythm section in the world or something?

Boy and October are the only albums by this band that I retain any affection for. Interestingly, they are probably over-represented on this poll.

Rollins should know that Van Halen had the worst rhythm section in the world.

i will never understand ppl gaming their ballots like that, tbh. Why not just list yr favourites and let the results stand?

Because then the results are predictable, canonical and boring. I don't think moving "The Unforgettable Fire" and "Bad" to the bottom of my list had that much of an effect on the end result, anyway.

I don't necessarily think canonical = boring. The thought that so many different people of different ages and levels of knowledge and background can achieve some sort of consensus on ANYTHING is actually pretty mind-boggling to me. Canons exist for reasons.

ignoring that on ilm 80% of voters will be doing the same thing tby

hats off Ismael! it's been so refreshing to read a U2 thread on ILX that is free from the haters.
these polls are proving great for that. pleased to see Red Hill Mining Town do so well in this; my fave definitely.

gotta read that Flanagan book, always meant to.

all of the ballots that do not include 'one' are best.

missed this poll since i haven't been around but an unranked chronological top 20 for me would be

an cat dubh/into the heart
surrender
red light
wire
love comes tumbling
with or without you
red hill mining town
hawkmoon 269
heartland
until the end of the world
the fly
love is blindness
zooropa
stay
your blue room
discotheque
if you wear that velvet dress
please
in a little while
breathe

could assemble a couple more top 20 lists pretty easily and this one isn't remotely set in stone. despite being close to my favorite band if not #1, they're pretty anomalous in my collection and important in their own influence on me insofar as tastemaking, inspiring me to dig up their weirder influences rather than following the bands that try to copy their sound, since U2 is compelling because of what they're influenced by and somehow it all works really well for me filtered through those dudes (as opposed to other bands which skip the ambientisms and pop and dance music influences and stick with echoing guitar and an "emotive" frontman who is usually too self-aware to bono it up and act like an idiot, which is precisely what keeps bono from being dull half the time.) i actually think the rhythm section is pretty dope, the edge is an awesome guitar player when he's not getting into real estate skirmishes, and bono is a very good vocalist most of the time and can be an exceptional lyricist when he tries (esp in the '90s), and the group still kicks up a good groove on their best tracks, and they remain pretty amazing live (though their choice in opening acts is not as good as it once was, public enemy in '92 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> black eyed peas in '09.) my wife was frankly horrified at the prospect of seeing them at the rose bowl, being only moderately interested in them (as much as an old school indiepop girl can be) and not liking the notion of sitting through 45 min of fergie and being stomped on by rabid larry mullen jr groupies, but walked away from the show a fan. i suppose any show where you can randomly group together and bond with friendly folks as disparate an australian soccer hooligan, a 6'8" dude who claimed to actually hate U2 (his wet eyes during "magnificent" revealing otherwise), a nyc musician, and a jr exec @ goldman sachs(!) for a few hours will leave a positive impression.

Don't know how to collate this, but what single song appeared on the most ballots, regardless of placing? What song appeared on the fewest ballots but placed anyway?

I'll look it up later Josh, but from memory the top seven all got on slightly more than half of all ballots. I Fall Down must have been the least-voted-for to place, with its double no.1 vote.

Including your lost ballot, The Fly got 27 votes; Streets, Bad and With Or Without You all got 26. I Fall Down was the only one to reach the list with just 3 votes. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses? and Until The End Of The World also needed notably fewer votes to place than the tunes immediately around them.

"The Fly" is such a great song

A man will list
A man will poll
On the sheer face of ILM

it's no secret

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qAuqq1LFnU

http://www.nme.com/nme-video/u2---the-making-of-achtung-baby/1175099302001

From the Sky Down is a 2011 documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim about rock band U2 and the production of their 1991 album Achtung Baby. The film documents the difficult recording period, the band members' relationships, and the record's legacy. Archival footage and stills from the recording sessions will appear in the film, along with unreleased scenes from the group's 1988 motion picture Rattle and Hum. For the documentary, the band were filmed during a return visit to Hansa Studios where the album was recorded, and during rehearsals in Winnipeg for the Glastonbury Festival 2011.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_the_Sky_Down

It's on BBC One next Sunday at 2225

can't wait!

It's starting now.

heh how'd i miss this thread.

Enjoyin this

It was fabulous to watch

though they talked a certain amount of self-indulgent tosh about the creative process etc
(I've come to think this creative process is not very hard)

then BBC rescreened Glastonbury set but it looks different and better, and some songs and daft chatter missing

I loved watching Eno on the doc actually, ie Eno in 1984 and 1991 rather than especially now

well this was great; kind of all over the place mind. i thought it was somehow building to a big finish about Glastonbury and then it.. didn't. maybe that was the plan originally. a lot of the footage was very familiar as is always the case with these mainstream docs, but the making of 'One' bit was great, can't believe Eno didn't like 'One' at first.

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/the_completist/2011/10/u2_essay_analyzing_all_of_u2_s_songs.single.html
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/the_completist/2011/10/best_u2_albums_complete_ranking_of_u2_s_records.single.html

I think "Dirty Day" is the closest they ever got to un-self-conscious stoner rock

What's the closest they ever got to being unselfconscious generally?

Back in 1980 a local paper did a blind listening test of a bunch of the new wave music with a group of high schoolers. I still remember one kid thought Boy was "too acid rock." xp

How I rank those top forty hits

ooooh just realised One is Eno backwards

I can get with that list, except I like All I Want is You a lot.

It's not the way I'd rank them. 'Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses' would be a hell of a lot higher, for a start.