Why nine best U2 albums ever, you ask?
First of all, great question, thanks for asking. The answer is that nine U2 albums were selected for the best 1,000 albums ever project, a five-year journey in which I ranked and then wrote a full-blown memoir-meets-pop culture article about each of the 1,000 albums that has meant the most to yours truly, the publisher of Pop Thruster.
The buzz around Carnaval De Luz, the band’s 16th studio album, prompted me to revisit U2 and produce this piece. The jaw droppingly impressive thing about U2 is that not only that they’re still arguably one of the most popular bands in the world, but that they formed FIFTY YEARS AGO as of this writing.
Fifty. Five-zero.
There’s the tiniest of tiny numbers of artists and musicians who are still being paid attention to after half a century, let alone still producing new work after that period of time.
Going back through the nine U2 albums selected for my own epic project in this tiny corner of the digital universe, it’s meaningful to see how different albums and eras for the band intersected with my own life, going all the way back to my first experience with the band: sitting on the basement floor of the house I grew up in on Long Island, seeing the “Sunday Bloody Sunday” music video in heavy rotation on MTV…
Here we go with the nine best U2 albums ever, with a selected pull quote from each associated album piece. I hope you enjoy.
1) The Joshua Tree (#78 of the best 1,000 albums ever)
It’s funny. The year that The Joshua Tree was released, 1987, reminds me that’s the year I think of as when the 1980s became THE 1980s.
We’re talking neon belts, leg warmers, wild avant-garde sunglasses like the dude from Mannequin wore, and synthetic pop music both great (see: INXS’ Kick, #84 of best 1,000 albums ever) and really not great (I’ll just go ahead and call out Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam’s “Head to Toe” here, but I’m sure you can come up with your own examples).
But then we also have U2 – who at that point had not released a studio album since 1984’s The Unforgettable Fire (beloved by some, but an album that was not included in the best 1,000 albums ever project) – coming out with a yearning, driving, yet deeply soothing album from a band exploring both the United States and also something deeply personal, deeply internal at the same time.
An antidote and a balm to THE 1980s, really.
2) Rattle and Hum (#197)
Let’s rewind back to the fall of 1988, shall we? Rattle and Hum was released in October of that year, and it’s one of the first album releases that I recall being a pretty big deal in my life (especially as I was just getting into “classic rock” at that time, much of which had been around for years or even decades by then).
I had just purchased my first portable cassette tape player, and the very first non-mixtape that I got my hot little hands on was Rattle and Hum. I recall it being an iconically autumnal day in New York, and I remember getting on my bicycle on a cool, sunny gorgeous Saturday with fall colors blooming all over the place.
3) Achtung Baby (#216)
If you weren’t around at the time and at least semi-tuned into what was going on with rock music, it’s hard to explain how much of a departure Achtung Baby was from all of the music that U2 had produced before it….
Gone was the U2 of earnest and yearning explorations of America – including its blues and soul traditions – and gone too was the U2 of political declarations. Instead, here we had this very European dance music-inspired sound, including electronica infused into the core U2 sensibilities. And we also had songs that were strikingly personal.
4) All That You Can’t Leave Behind (#224)
My current assessment is that half of the album’s material comfortably sits with the best songs that U2 has ever produced. The first four tracks – “Beautiful Day,” “Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of,” “Elevation,” and “Walk On” – are all smashers, while I’m also in absolute head over heels love with “In A Little While,” an exquisitely gorgeous pop song that is equal parts simple and perfect.
5) War (#440)
War is a terrific blast of energy, passion, and expertly constructed rock-meets-post-punk/new wave by a band that was even then brimming over with confidence and ambition. It still feels fresh as ever today and even timeless in its way.
6) Songs of Experience (#504)
If Songs of Innocence was U2 yearning for youth and immediacy, then Songs of Experience is the wiser, steadier companion – more confident, more assured, and ultimately more rewarding with time.
7) Songs of Innocence (#541)
It’s an interesting choice that “The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone),” a tribute to The Ramones’ frontman, is decidedly not a punk rock song. Instead, it’s quintessentially U2: rousing and soothing and pleasing rock and roll that works perfectly well at a moderate volume.
And the song, like Songs of Innocence as a whole, mixes in elements and influences from the band’s past, particularly the sound of The Joshua Tree updated with slightly fuzzed up elements from the Achtung Baby era and electronic influences that the band has experimented with over the years.
8) Zooropa (#728)
Zooropa, as is often noted, is similar to Achtung Baby in some respects, though it’s more experimental in some ways. It will always be in the shadow of Achtung Baby in terms of major U2 eras, but it’s a really strong album in its own right – even if not all of its experimental tics quite pop.
9) Boy (#850)
Listening to “I Will Follow” in the 2020s – and this goes for Boy in general – I’m struck by how fresh and energetic and urgent it still sounds. This is a band with massive talent and massive ambitions.