They have written a few timeless songs. Imo, their best album has to be 'Achtung Baby', which is pretty solid throughout.

I've little time for their post 'Pop' albums as they seem to have lost their edge , but I think that 'Vertigo' was a classic single.

And yes, while he may mean well, Bono has almost always come across in interviews and non-musical public appearances, as the Irish themselves might put it, as 'a bit of an eejit'.

ProgRocker said:

i find the two so intertwined, i don't how you could separate the politics from the music.

Rodya24 said:

Me too. There's no doubt they know how to write an anthemic pop song, and some are great. But I don't love them.

They share the Beatles' ability to stay accessible without selling out, but they weren't nearly as innovative.

im not a fan at all, id go as far to say that i dont like them

georgeguitar said:

What are your reasons?

NDRU said:

I have to agree with that as well.

They aren't one of my favorites, but I like them well enough.

LittleSmedley said:

Very well put.

A buddy of mine went to see their last LA show. When he came to work the next day I asked him how it was.

"Dude... at one point they're doing the song 'One', it's all hushed and dramatic you know, and the big video screens start showing the faces of all the different varied peoples of the world..an old black lady, a young Asian guy, a businessman, a hippie, a tribal villager and what not... and then all the faces on the screen start swirling around to create... a giant BONO HEAD!!!!"

I laughed and loud and started singing, "I AM THE WORLD! I AM THE CHILDREN!"

That about sums it up.

Earnest, "quality" music and hearts in the right place, and I do give Bono props for taking his charitable work seriously. But I just can't listen to them without cracking up.

Reminds me of another old joke, where the band's doing one of their big dramatic buildups, and they've brought the music to a slow burn... Bono steps to the mic and claps his hands purposefully, then steps away. About 15 seconds later, he steps back up and does it again.

After a few minutes of this he intones, "Every time I clap my hands... a child in Africa dies."

A guy in the audience yells "Well stop fucking clapping then!!"

bobzilla77 said:

that is too funny!

the big bono head thing doesn't sound right, though. i went to 6 of those vertigo shows and each time the pictures during "one" morphed into a shot of the live audience, not bono. i doubt they did it differently at one show.

sassybritches said:

You must really, really love U2!

Rodya24 said:

i think they're the best band out there. and at 50 bucks for floor seats, i could afford to go to a bunch of them, including the tour closer in honolulu!

OVER RATED!

Rodya24 said:

I dont like bonos voice, and there music itself doesnt really do much for me!

The Joshua Tree & Rattle & Hum
are my favorites.

I wouldn't say I do/don't like them.
maybe they still have a few surprises.

They've had both downright indispensible and mediocre musical moments, but I can't think of another band that through a 30-year career has been quite as successful in striking a balance between worldclass marketability and retaining some level of artistic dignity and social conscience. Bono's preachy, sure, but who says we don't need preachers?

More than anything else, as a kid who was there for day one of MTV, I'm just sorta proud of them. I can recall these nameless, acne-scarred Dublin boys who looked like they probably had third-shift meat packing gigs... and now they're legendary -- keeping company with popes, presidents, world spiritual leaders! You can take college classes on their career; even attend churches whose hymnals are comprised of U2 songs! That's such a cool story to me.
[Edited 9/20/07 20:05pm]

The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby are my CDs, but "Gloria" is probably my longstanding favorite single. I wasn't into anything remotely punkish as a kid, so I can recall immediately flipping the channel the second I saw the band standing on that pier in the video back in '81. But now, there's no ignoring that guitar riff... and you gotta love a band that can have Euro punk types and little black kids on Cleveland's east side singing in friggin' Latin!

georgeguitar said:

Sometimes I like his voice. Other times it irritates me.

Miles said:

Yeah I like "Vertigo" a lot too. Great song.

Rodya24 said:

Some love, some loathe, many admire Bono's charitable endeavours but can't stand him or his outfit.

Me? I loved Achtung Baby, Zooropa and Pop. Loathe everything before and since.

Adam Clayton's cool.

Shapeshifter said:

they really do have one of the best rhythm sections of any four piece rock band.

Great songwriting. Lame musicianship. "One" is one of the best songs ever written.

One really cool thing about them is that after all these years it's the same four guys. They've never replaced anyone! It's hard to think of another band that was around for as long with the same original members.

AlexdeParis said:

Co-sign.

Christaro said:

I agree with all of your comments.

"One" is such a fantastic song.

NDRU said:

The complete opposite from the Rolling Stones, come to think of it.

i adore them , faves are War, Boy, joshua tree, all that you can't leave behind, rattle and hum, October, and Zooropa. i've been a fan since i saw the 'Live at the Red Rocks' concert on MTV back in the 80s. it was love at first sound Gangstafam asked me what was my fave songs by them but i couldnt think of any at the time. there are a lot of 'em that i don't feel like listing but my absolute are:

sunday bloody sunday

new years day

gloria

lemon
in a little while

electrical storm

staring at the sum

sometimes you can't make it on your own

numb

one


and then i just may like some different songs a different day. U2 is the only band that i would plop down spend $300 or more if i could to see them in concert without hesitation. and honestly i wouldn't do that for prince. i'm a bad prince fan