I was the biggest U2 fan throughout the 80s and parts of 90s. My favorite album during college was The Unforgettable Fire. I probably have worn out that CD by the time I graduated. Funnily enough, it was Actung Baby that I had a problem with, and I subsequently stopped listening to U2 even though I bought that album and Zooropa. I guess I just miss the old U2 when they were singing about MLK and the violence in Ireland. My favorite songs of U2 are Bad, A Sort of Homecoming, God Part 2, All I Want Is You, and Running to Stand Still.
So I loved New Year’s day when it came out but then lost interest especially with Joshua Tree. I fell in love with Actung and disliked Zooropa. The early stuff I don’t Ppreciate until much much later and I am now like “why didn’t I like Bad?!” lol
I'm pretty much a lifelong fan, though on the younger side. My parents loved them, and I have distinct memories of 5 year old me playing my mom's War tape repeatedly. I also remember singing along to songs on the Joshua Tree with a shoe microphone. That being said, it wasn't until I heard Pop as a high school senior that I dug deeply into them. Though I of course loved their many sounds, it was the lyrics that grabbed me. I loved the way Bono spoke about relationships, doubt, and faith in an open and not dogmatic manner. I grabbed onto Pop when I was having serious doubts about God and church, and the album seemed to articulate much of my own struggle. After Pop, I reached back to War and October, and again discovered sings that helped make sense of my faith and how it could interact with the larger world. I pretty much went forward from there in their discography, and even now, find beauty iand insight in their new and older music.
I'm Fortunate I was in College 19 when I Heard Gloria Then New Year's Day I've been a Huge Life Fan of U2 Honesty if you don't like U2 You're not very smart and don't have good taste. Their music has evolved with their maturity it's all Incredibly Awesome. Yes Achtung Baby is Their Masterpiece but All The Albums are Incredible and all should of won a Grammy. Not being biased just a fact. They broke new ground with every album. I've seen all their tours multiple times starting with ZooTV. Incredible Live and Their Albums are Extremely Well Produced. Easily The Best Band in The World. Always Nice if people come around to liking U2 eventually.
The first time I ever heard of U2 was when I saw the Pride (In the name of love) video on local music video show after school. Had that tune stuck in my head. It wasn't really until high school with Achtung Baby that I became a massive fan. They have a great catalog of songs for people to check out if they are unfamiliar with the band.
I'm more or less a lifelong U2 fan. They were for a long while my favorite band, though my ardor has mellowed greatly over the past 10 years. I thought Songs of Experience was decent enough, though it didn't capture my imagination in the way the older records did. Part of that is simply due to my age, changing tastes and the degree of novelty that is lost when you've been listening to a band for over 25 years. Unforgettable Fire and Achtung Baby have long been my favorite U2 records and favorite records of all time. I love the atmospheric haziness of both these albums, and the more European cast to both of them. Arguably the Joshua Tree has more sonic variety and sense of progression, and unarguably has more critical acclaim, but for me its always felt front-loaded, with epic songs up front which kind of get smaller in scale as you wend through the track listing. To me, leaning Americana is not U2's strength, even though they can have very straightforward rock energy and Bono's vocals sometimes have a dimension that suits roots rock. The Unforgettable Fire maintains its washiness all the way through, and the ambient textures, though rooted in (relatively) sophisticated early 80s studio rack tech, dates extremely well. It sounds vast, expansive, warm, JUST eliding the kind of over-chorused sheen that marked many other 80s guitar textures. When they do sing about America on this album, in an accessible way on 'Pride,' or more esoterically on 'MLK' (would we know this song was about MLK if it was not so titled?) and especially 'Elvis Presley and America' (iirc they needed more tracks for the album and Eno encouraged Bono to step up to the mic and express his thoughts about Elvis) the music sounds European, which is a more compelling dynamic to me than U2 trying to sound American and bluesy and mostly failing as on Rattle and Hum and (sometimes) the Joshua Tree. Another factor here is live performances. I think some of the live versions of Bad are great improvements over the studio version, but it doesn't ruin the studio album overall. Whereas with the Joshua Tree, hearing the ZooTV versions of Bullet the Blue Sky and Running To Stand Still especially, it's hard to go back to studio versions. The live version of Exit adds a simple but effective rising riff to the choruses (using octaves) that improves the more static riff on the record, which simply bounces between two notes in an octave. I could go on, but I think I've expressed my thoughts here sufficiently.
Great summaries. To your point I find it interesting that I have no memory of Bad or Unforgettable Fire or Red Hill Mining Town or One Tree Hill…did they play these on Classic Rock Radio? All I know is I love these songs now. Actung is an amazing record.
@@therockcave never heard any of those on radio, but I was in single digits when those came out. By the mid-90s, Sunday Bloody Sunday was about the only thing I remember on my local rock radio station. Maybe Streets or With or Without You from time to time.
Love U2. My favorite U2 album: The Unforgettable Fire. I recognize that The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby are masterpieces and arguably better albums (both I still listen to tons), but TUF holds a place in my heart that is just special. I love this record’s atmospheric quality and the sound painting that the band is doing on this album. And yeah, the song BAD is stunningly, gobsmackingly good. The best, however, is not album but…U2 live. U2 are essentially a *live* band. Their songs come to life & sound better than than studio versions when performed live. Best live band still around today. Check out some of their live albums & EPs.
Achtung Baby & UF are my favorite U2 albums, and my favorite albums overall. Love the atmospherics of UF. Joshua Tree to me is overrated, front-loaded, the Americana cast to some of it suits them less IMO. I like them best when they are more European and atmospheric.
@@therockcave Tower Theater in Philly. Bono lept into the crowd and body surfed, singing, while being passed around overhead by the audience. would never happen today...
@@vap0rland Awesome. I can only say I was front row General Admission Pearl Jam 1994 up against the stage and INXS 10-31-87 at UCONN right before Kick got huge. Hundreds of concerts, Pink Floyd and Roger Waters being favorites.
@@therockcave a former roommate saw more than ten Led Zeppelin live shows - anytime he was within 400 miles of their concerts, he would go. never saw pink floyd, that would have been amazing
I was the biggest U2 fan throughout the 80s and parts of 90s. My favorite album during college was The Unforgettable Fire. I probably have worn out that CD by the time I graduated. Funnily enough, it was Actung Baby that I had a problem with, and I subsequently stopped listening to U2 even though I bought that album and Zooropa. I guess I just miss the old U2 when they were singing about MLK and the violence in Ireland. My favorite songs of U2 are Bad, A Sort of Homecoming, God Part 2, All I Want Is You, and Running to Stand Still.
So I loved New Year’s day when it came out but then lost interest especially with Joshua Tree. I fell in love with Actung and disliked Zooropa. The early stuff I don’t Ppreciate until much much later and I am now like “why didn’t I like Bad?!” lol
I'm pretty much a lifelong fan, though on the younger side. My parents loved them, and I have distinct memories of 5 year old me playing my mom's War tape repeatedly. I also remember singing along to songs on the Joshua Tree with a shoe microphone. That being said, it wasn't until I heard Pop as a high school senior that I dug deeply into them. Though I of course loved their many sounds, it was the lyrics that grabbed me. I loved the way Bono spoke about relationships, doubt, and faith in an open and not dogmatic manner. I grabbed onto Pop when I was having serious doubts about God and church, and the album seemed to articulate much of my own struggle. After Pop, I reached back to War and October, and again discovered sings that helped make sense of my faith and how it could interact with the larger world. I pretty much went forward from there in their discography, and even now, find beauty iand insight in their new and older music.
I'm Fortunate I was in College 19 when I Heard Gloria Then New Year's Day I've been a Huge Life Fan of U2 Honesty if you don't like U2 You're not very smart and don't have good taste. Their music has evolved with their maturity it's all Incredibly Awesome. Yes Achtung Baby is Their Masterpiece but All The Albums are Incredible and all should of won a Grammy. Not being biased just a fact. They broke new ground with every album. I've seen all their tours multiple times starting with ZooTV. Incredible Live and Their Albums are Extremely Well Produced. Easily The Best Band in The World. Always Nice if people come around to liking U2 eventually.
The first time I ever heard of U2 was when I saw the Pride (In the name of love) video on local music video show after school. Had that tune stuck in my head. It wasn't really until high school with Achtung Baby that I became a massive fan. They have a great catalog of songs for people to check out if they are unfamiliar with the band.
Agree! I liked “New Years Day” then nothing until Achtung Baby (whole album love) then went back to the rest of their catalog and found some gems.
I'm more or less a lifelong U2 fan. They were for a long while my favorite band, though my ardor has mellowed greatly over the past 10 years. I thought Songs of Experience was decent enough, though it didn't capture my imagination in the way the older records did. Part of that is simply due to my age, changing tastes and the degree of novelty that is lost when you've been listening to a band for over 25 years. Unforgettable Fire and Achtung Baby have long been my favorite U2 records and favorite records of all time. I love the atmospheric haziness of both these albums, and the more European cast to both of them.
Arguably the Joshua Tree has more sonic variety and sense of progression, and unarguably has more critical acclaim, but for me its always felt front-loaded, with epic songs up front which kind of get smaller in scale as you wend through the track listing. To me, leaning Americana is not U2's strength, even though they can have very straightforward rock energy and Bono's vocals sometimes have a dimension that suits roots rock.
The Unforgettable Fire maintains its washiness all the way through, and the ambient textures, though rooted in (relatively) sophisticated early 80s studio rack tech, dates extremely well. It sounds vast, expansive, warm, JUST eliding the kind of over-chorused sheen that marked many other 80s guitar textures. When they do sing about America on this album, in an accessible way on 'Pride,' or more esoterically on 'MLK' (would we know this song was about MLK if it was not so titled?) and especially 'Elvis Presley and America' (iirc they needed more tracks for the album and Eno encouraged Bono to step up to the mic and express his thoughts about Elvis) the music sounds European, which is a more compelling dynamic to me than U2 trying to sound American and bluesy and mostly failing as on Rattle and Hum and (sometimes) the Joshua Tree.
Another factor here is live performances. I think some of the live versions of Bad are great improvements over the studio version, but it doesn't ruin the studio album overall. Whereas with the Joshua Tree, hearing the ZooTV versions of Bullet the Blue Sky and Running To Stand Still especially, it's hard to go back to studio versions. The live version of Exit adds a simple but effective rising riff to the choruses (using octaves) that improves the more static riff on the record, which simply bounces between two notes in an octave. I could go on, but I think I've expressed my thoughts here sufficiently.
Great summaries. To your point I find it interesting that I have no memory of Bad or Unforgettable Fire or Red Hill Mining Town or One Tree Hill…did they play these on Classic Rock Radio? All I know is I love these songs now. Actung is an amazing record.
@@therockcave never heard any of those on radio, but I was in single digits when those came out. By the mid-90s, Sunday Bloody Sunday was about the only thing I remember on my local rock radio station. Maybe Streets or With or Without You from time to time.
I'm with you on Achtung Baby. My favorite albums since then would be No Line On The Horizon and Songs of Innocence, but they all have some merit.
They have loads iog album tracks that are amazing in the 80s . Wire is a brilliant song too.
I don’t know wire. Will listen!
Should’ve seen the tour !!!! TopJimmy
Rattle & hum is class! Hawkmoon, heartland, desire….greatest band in the world
Definitely underrated!
#u2 #theunforgettablefire #therockcave #songoftheday #sotd
Love U2. My favorite U2 album: The Unforgettable Fire. I recognize that The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby are masterpieces and arguably better albums (both I still listen to tons), but TUF holds a place in my heart that is just special. I love this record’s atmospheric quality and the sound painting that the band is doing on this album. And yeah, the song BAD is stunningly, gobsmackingly good.
The best, however, is not album but…U2 live. U2 are essentially a *live* band. Their songs come to life & sound better than than studio versions when performed live. Best live band still around today. Check out some of their live albums & EPs.
‘Bad’ live is awesome.
Achtung Baby & UF are my favorite U2 albums, and my favorite albums overall. Love the atmospherics of UF. Joshua Tree to me is overrated, front-loaded, the Americana cast to some of it suits them less IMO. I like them best when they are more European and atmospheric.
saw them on the War tour - was amazing. For me, this album was when I stopped liking their music.
The War tour? thats amazing! where?
@@therockcave Tower Theater in Philly. Bono lept into the crowd and body surfed, singing, while being passed around overhead by the audience. would never happen today...
@@vap0rland Awesome. I can only say I was front row General Admission Pearl Jam 1994 up against the stage and INXS 10-31-87 at UCONN right before Kick got huge. Hundreds of concerts, Pink Floyd and Roger Waters being favorites.
@@therockcave a former roommate saw more than ten Led Zeppelin live shows - anytime he was within 400 miles of their concerts, he would go. never saw pink floyd, that would have been amazing
@@vap0rland I’ve never talked to someone who saw Zep. That I would like. Floyd in 87 and 94.