Rate this artist/band: U2

[RPS]

So U2 released their latest album quite a while back ago, so I figured they'd be a logical band to sit back and reflect. I left off October and The Unforgettable Fire because they were the least selling ones and in my opinion haven't heard a lot of people being gigantic fans, whereas more risky albums like Pop have developed a cult following. I tried my best to objectively collect the best U2 singles, and I think I did a good job although Joshua Tree is overrepresented, but all three singles went #1, so...

They are described as the biggest band in the world and one of the best band of the eighties. Me personally, I think that outside of Pop and Joshua Tree, they haven't done anything that great. Pop is a great experiment and I actually loved it. Although I can understand why it would alienate, I think it was a great artistic risk they made and it paid off. Joshua Tree is just an amazing album from first to last and it's place in music history cannot be understated.

[MGW]

I love U2, but you did miss my favourite song - Sunday Bloody Sunday!

I'd argue that Zooropa was a cracking album as well though, but I was disapointed with How To Dismantle and Atomic Bomb, Vertigo and Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own, it was pritty average.

Still one of my favourite bands, the new single is a little....odd though

[James Casey]

Some of my favourite singles, some of my least favourite singles. They can come across as a great laugh, but also seem like a lot of the stuff they come out with is a test to see if people are going to pull them up and tell them to stop arseing around.

That said, they did One. They did Streets Have No Name, and WOWY, so they'd be in the positives for me on that alone.

[METALMAN]

7

War

Beautiful Day but ideally Sunday Bloody Sunday.

U2 aren't amazing or anything but they're by no means awful. Sunday Bloody Sunday is an absolutely fantastic song from an great album. I like the earlier U2 because they sound so much more raw and energetic.

[Gene Kiniski]

Didn't vote because of the "best single" option is lacking.

Rating: 7

Best Album: All That You Can't Leave Behind

Best/FAVORITE Single: "Stuck In A Moment"

I give them a 7, but it may be my mood right now. I like U2, don't get my wrong, but they fall into the same "overly overrated" category that I lump Pearl Jam and Nirvana into. They are great band and I will listen to "Stuck in a Moment" nearly any time that it is being played.

[GoGo Yubari]

Bleh. I've heard very little out of them that I find appealing. Also their best single is "Elevation" and the only reason I voted for "Achtung Baby" is because I needed to vote for something so I based my vote off of which album title I found the most amusing.

[Lowerdeck]

The Joshua Tree is my favorite album of all time. I haven't really been a huge fan of the stuff in the 90s and current, much more liked the 80s sound to the pop-ier stuff.

EDIT:

I voted 7

Joshua Tree

and "Where The Streets Have No Name", though my favorite song off that album might have to be "Bullet The Blue Sky"

Edited March 20, 2009 by Lowerdeck

[lari]

8 - maybe 7 for average quality, but they've had so many releases and been so consistent I gave an eight.

Joshua Tree

Discotheque

[YI]

No "Sunday Bloody Sunday"? WHAT THE FUCK!?!

Outside of "Beautiful Day" the whole 'current' incarnation is a bit shit. And even before that, I'm not HUGE on them. I mean "The Joshua Tree" is pretty good (but that might be in part to me not knowing a lot else from around that period, so taking it as 'the best from that time'), but I still haven't got around to listening to "War", which I've been meaning to do for a while.

5 - I find them a little dull, fuck I like "The Joshua Tree" but I'd struggle to listen to the 'fecker' all the way through.

"The Joshua Tree"

"Sunday Bloody Sunday" but out of those, "Beautiful Day"

Edited March 21, 2009 by YI

[RPS]

For those wondering, I tried to collect the U2 singles list out of how well they did on the Billboard Charts. Sunday Bloody Sunday only made it to 53.

[METALMAN]

U2 only got famous in America after live aid didn't they? That would explain why their best song is so low.

[Liam]

I gave them an 8. They kinda suck now, but they used to be awesome. Their 80's output is pretty nifty.

[Ananas]

I voted 6, "Joshua Tree" and "Where the Streets Have No Name". My instinct is that it's hard for me to rate them "average" or worse, but the strength of their earlier work (which at the end of the day was just strong mainstream arena rock for the most part) isn't enough to make up for the vapid shit I've had to put up with on the radio since "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb". Full disclosure: it's not helpful that my local modern rock station played "Get On Your Boots" hourly for weeks.

[RPS]

Get On Your Boots is perhaps the most god awful song released this year. How anyone could think that it was good is beyond me. I know I included it in the poll (mainly because it has charted so high), but it really is like listening to someone scratching a chalk board.