18 Tracks, 24 Years, Great Songs

I first heard of the Irish rock band U2 when they came out with their single New Year’s Day in early 1983. This song has an expansive feel; the lyrics tell of how the feeling of resolve each January 1 soon turns into disillusionment. However, the lyrics still cling to the hope that the world (and the singer’s relationship) will be better. This song was the band’s first chart single in America, reaching the 50s. Musically, New Year’s Day reminds me of peacefully falling snow.

Sunday, Bloody Sunday like New Year’s Day, was originally featured on the band’s albumWar Sunday is an ominous, passionate plea for reconciliation in war-torn Northern Ireland, where there had been decades of unrest due to religious differences. This is probably my favorite track by the band—it always gives me a shot of adrenaline because it was so well written and sung. It has an unbeatable hook—and a militaristic, anthemic feel, though it is decidedly antiwar. The song is just as apropos for today’s strife-torn world as well.

Pride (In the Name of Love) was the song that became U2’s first top-40 hit in the U.S., though it only reached the 30s. Still, it was an eloquent and earnest paean to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and a good way to honor him on his birthday, along with Stevie Wonder’s 1980 album track “Happy Birthday” (from “Hotter Than July.”). Pride is a fitting tribute to the man who died 39 years ago in Memphis, at age 39. The rhythmic vibe of this track is pulsating and purposeful, given the lyrical content.

When I first heard With Or Without You, in March 1987, I had a feeling it would be the band’s commercial breakthrough on the pop charts. It was their biggest hit ever, reaching #1 for three weeks in May 1987.The track has a foreboding quality to it, and the lyrics reflect on a co-dependent relationship that one cannot let go of. The song’s tone is torturous, and there is a strain of martyrdom to it (Being Irish Catholic, I can relate well to this! LOL.) The guitars unleash a torrent of frustration at the end of the song and serves as a catharsis.

I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For was the second single from TheJoshua Tree and their second number 1 hit. The song has a sense of longing and unfulfilled dreams—in both relationships and spiritual needs. You can tell the singer has tried hard to make the relationship work—but in vain. Musically, the song effectively combines vocal and guitar hooks. The instrumental interlude brings to mind Argent’s 1972 hit “Hold Your Head Up.” The song seems to deplore the yuppie materialism that was rampant in the late 1980s, two decades removed from the summer of Love, as well as two decades ago.

Their next hit was Where the Streets Have No Name, and this has a slow-building momentum that reminds you of an approaching train. Lyrically it is about the desire to take one’s lover far away. Musically, it sounds like an approaching dust or sand storm, and the lyrics allude to the need to get away from the confines of everyday life.

Desire was a top-five hit for the band in late 1988—it tells of the double-edged sword known as longing. Desire can be both rewarding and dangerous, as the lyrics tell us. Sometimes unfulfilled desires left to fester can explode into violence. The song has an adrenaline rush and makes me think of refreshing fall days. The fall of 1988 was welcome after an oppressive summer. The harmonica hook toward the end of the song works quite well.

By the end of the 1980s, the band was being criticized for taking itself seriously—and trying to take on the world’s problems in many of their songs. As a result, they decided that lightening up would be a good career move. The strategy worked, as most of their 1990s singles were about sex or romance. Mysterious Ways was on the surface about a seductive woman, but the lyrics also seem to allude to the addictive power of drugs. Musically, it was a high-tech, sinuous, densely produced late fall/early winter number that reached the top 10 in early 1992.

Like Mysterious Ways, One was from the album Achtung Baby. One saw the band in more familiar, ponderous territory. Lyrically, the song was a bit forlorn and morose, but musically it worked quite well. The overall tune reminded me of Procol Harum’s 1967 hit “A Whiter Shade of Pale.” One became a top-10 hit in June 1992.

Sweetest Thing was a straight-ahead love song that had a springlike feel. Unfortunately, it was released in early fall—in 1998—and it only made it about halfway up the chart. The song has sort of a 1960s R&B good-timey feel, and it sounds refreshingly un-jaded, though there is a bittersweet tone to the lyrics and vocals as well.

Beautiful Day sounds as though one is beginning an exhilarating plane ride or accelerating in a very fast car. The guitar hook sounds like an overdrive. The unexpected bridge adds texture to the song and sounds as though the driver of the car came upon a breathtaking sight on his travels. The track has a refreshing autumn-like feel to it, and it reminds me of the first truly cool air mass of the fall. Not surprisingly, I first heard the song in September—in 2000.

Walk On, the second single from All That You Can’t Leave Behind, is a reflective track dedicated to Aung San Sou Kyi. It won the Grammy for Record of the Year despite failing to crack the Hot 100, even though the likes of Destiny’s Child, Nelly, Crazy Town, J-Lo, and Shaggy were near the top of the chart that year. Go figure. The lyrics encourage us to keep fighting for what is right, even if it may not be popular.

Elevation was a standard offering about sexual longing and the experience of it. It has a bit of an early-㣪s classic rock feel. The singer says he needs sexuality to elevate his soul. There is a bass-like feel to this tune, and the vibe is AOR all the way. The bridge, like many of U2’s, had a 180-degree turn for 10 seconds before the AOR swagger returned. It was like driving down a highway, then suddenly encountering a sharp left turn. This bridge was a bit too brief to truly shine, however.

Stuck in a Moment (That You Can’t Get Out Of) is lyrically about a relationship that two people cannot turn back from—sort of a romance of entrapment. This song became popular soon after 9-11 when a lot of people could relate to being frozen in time. It was very difficult not to relive those horrible moments that fateful day five and a half years ago, and this song helped people cope. It was a reflective ballad that was sensitively sung. Some of the lyrics, though, are your basic pick-yourself-up pop psychology. The bridge in this track is an effortless transition—U2 is adept at constructing bridges that add nuance and oomph to many of their songs. In addition, the coda of Stuck adds a reassuring tone to the track.

Vertigo, a 2004 release, is a song about sexual passion. The hard-driving guitar hook brings to mind the 1970s and has a summertime feel to it. The song probably would have done better if it had come out early in the summer, rather than in October.

Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own was a 2005 release and was inspired by the illness and death of Bono’s father The track is poignant and emotionally moving, especially in the interplay between The Edge’s guitar and Bono’s vocals. The vocals are impeccable, and the lyrics are seamless. This won the Grammy for Song of the Year. Unfortunately, it only reached #97 on the Hot 100, a gross injustice, considering that such inane crap as Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl” was at the top of the charts.

Because of radio’s constricted playlists (and their love affair with boring bands like Nickelback and Hinder), I never heard The Saints Are Coming until I owned this CD. The track opens with a poignant a cappella version of the first few lines of the classic “House of the Rising Sun.” The track then morphs into an urgent-sounding plea for help. The track is a collaboration with Green Day, who were coming off their most successful album ever, as well as Record of the Year for “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” The two bands mesh quite well. This song should be a hit—it is much better than pabulum like “Lips of an Angel.”

The other new track is called <i>Window in the Skies</i>, and it is another catchy song about the thrill and danger of falling in love. The track has a late-㣪s/early-㣴s mainstream rock/pop feel to it, with a few 1960s frills as well to serve up a tasty pop concoction. The vocal interplay during the fadeout adds more texture to the track.

I was disappointed that a few of my U2 favorites, such as 1987's "In God's Country," 1997's "Staring At the Sun," and 2002's "The Hands That Built America" were not included, but still this is an impressive collection.

U2, along with R.E.M, represented the vanguard of intelligently conceived modern rock—before the genre fell into the mid-㣾s morass of whiny self-indulgence and the banality known as alterna-pop. U2 is one of the giants of rock music, and their place in the pantheon is well deserved.