U2: The best ... and worst albums

Last week's battle over the best U2 album was so much fun, we're going to do ramp it up a little. For next week's Stuck in the '80s podcast, we're gonna rank the band's entire discography. Yep, all the way from 1980's Boy to 2009's No Line on the Horizon.

Plus, we'll bring back SIT80s heartthrob Tom Jones, who has a brand-new U2 story to share with everyone. Will it top the time I tried to leave my friend's girlfriend behind at the U2 show in Tampa back in '85? (She e-mailed last year to say all is NOT forgiven!) Tune in and find out.

In the meantime, we want your recommendations for our ranking. I know there's a lotta love for Joshua Tree out there. Maybe there's enough sentiment to even push it past Unforgettable Fire and Achtung Baby. For those who need the full list in chronological order, here it is:

• Boy (1980)
• October (1981)
• War (1983)
• The Unforgettable Fire (1984)
• The Joshua Turee (1987)
• Rattle and Hum (1988)
• Achtung Baby (1991)
• Zooropa (1993)
• Pop (1997)
• All That You Can't Leave Behind (2000)
• How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004)
• No Line on the Horizon (2009)

Comments

[Jacob]

Joshua Tree beats all

[Johnny]

1. Joshua Tree

Ahhh...then the rest...

[MItch]

1)Zooropa
2)Achtung Baby
3)POP
4)The Unforgettable Fire
5)The Joshua Tree
6)No Line On The Horizon
7)Rattle And Hum
8)War
9)All That You Can't Leave Behind
10)How To Dissmantle an Atomic Bomb
11)Boy
12)October

I like all of their albums but 90s U2 is my favorite. :)

[bam2215]

1. The Joshua Tree- Where The Streets Have No Name, With or Without You, One Tree Hill, Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Running to Stand Still.

2. How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb- Miracle Drug, Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own, City of Blinding Lights, Yahweh.

3. Achtung Baby- One, Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses, So Cruel, Mysterious Ways.

4. War- Sunday Bloody Sunday, "40", New Year's Day, Two Hearts Beat As One, Seconds.

5. All That You Can't Leave Behind- Beautiful Day, Walk On, Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out of, Kite.

6. Boy- I Will Follow, Twilight, Out of Control.

7. The Unforgettable Fire- Pride, Bad, Wire, A Sort of Homecoming.

8. No Line On The Horizon- Moment of Surrender, I'll Go Crazy if I Don't Go Crazy Tonight, Magnificent, No Line On The Horizon.

9. Rattle And Hum- Desire, All I Want is You, Angel of Harlem, When Love Comes To Town.

10. October- I Threw A Brick Through A Window, Gloria, I Fall Down, Tomorrow.

11. Pop- If God Will Send His Angels, Discotheque.

12. Zooropa- Stay(Faraway, So Close!), Zooropa.

[tyler]

Wow lot of hatred for Zooropa. I thought it was definitely in their top tier and in someways better than Achtung Baby. Very inventive, it had the grooves, very dark and industrial. My list goes..

1. Boy
2. Joshua Tree
3. The Unforgettable Fire
4. Zooropa
5. War
6. Achtung Baby
7. All that you can't leave behind
8. Rattle 'N Hum
9. No line on the Horizon
10. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
11. October
12. Pop

[John]

1. Joshua Tree
2. Achtung Baby
3. War
4. Unforgettable Fire
5. Rattle and Hum
6. No Line On The Horizon
7. All That You Can't Leave Behind
8. Zooropa
9. Boy
10.Pop
11.How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
12.October

[Blaine]

I've always been mad about "Like a Song.." off of War. Who's with me?

[Jake]

1. Achtung Baby
2. Zooropa
3. Joshua Tree
4. Pop
5. Rattle and Hum
6. Unforgettable Fire
7. Boy
8. War
9. October
10. All That You Can't...
11. How to Dismantle...
12. No Line...

[Governor X]

1. Achtung Baby
2. Joshua Tree
3. Zooropa
4. The Unforgettable Fire
5. Rattle and Hum
6. POP
7. October
8. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
9. All That You Can't Leave Behind
10. War
11. No Line on the Horizon

[prman007]

1. Achtung baby
2. Joshua Tree
3. War
4. All that you can't leave behind
5. Atomic Bomb
6. Unforgettable Fire
7. Rattle and Hum
8. No Line on the Horizon
9. October
10. Boy
11. Pop
UNLISTENABLE - Zooropa

[Greg]

Joshua Tree
Achtung Baby
Rattle and Hum
War
All the rest, except
Zooropa
Pop

[Blaine]

Don in Tulsa is a wise man.

And I say that not just because I was born in Tulsa.

[don in tulsa]

war tops my list.

war
the unforgettable fire
october
boy
joshua tree
none of the rest matter at all

[Spears]

I left live albums off the list. Although "Under a Blood Red Sky" is probably just as significant as any studio album they've done.

My $.02

1) The Joshua Tree
2) The Unforgettable Fire
3) War
4) Boy
5) October
6) Actung Baby
7) Rattle and Hum
8) All That You Can't Leave Behind
9) How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
10) No Line on the Horizon
11) Zooropa
12) Pop

[Bassnote]

I included "Under A Blood Red Sky" on the list because it was the first U2 album I ever owned. I have an emotional attachment to that album. I forgot to put "Rattle and Hum" on my list, but I didn't omit it on purpose. I'd rank it at #11, between "How to Dismantle.." and "Zooropa."

[Kevy Metal]

For it's artistry, vision and concept I can see why one would label Zooropa as "essential", but I don't think the quality of the songs holds up as well as many of the other albums. Nor is it as good as a whole. Maybe I'm just short-sighted on this one.

I think Rattle and Hum suffers from a consistency problem as well. It has some really good songs: "All I Want You", "Angel of Harlem", "Silver and Gold". "God Pt.2" is a personal favorite. There's some very ho-hum moments in between the great ones, and then it can be excessive. Basically it's kinda all over the place. It's as if they were drunk on the Americana vibe from the Joshua Tree era and didn't know how to manage their enthusiasm. That being said, I'd take Rattle and Hum over many other albums by many other bands.

[Wuenchdog]

Would you believe Time Magazine just did a quasi-ranking of U2 Album rankings? They didn't list them in order - just put them on a bar graph ranging from "Essential" to "Respectable" to "Not So Much".

The only three they had as absolutely "Essential" were "Joshua Tree", "Achtung Baby" and "Zooropa" - which to some degree goes against alot of Stuck in the 80's listeners and hosts. Mr. Spears favorite "Unforgetable Fire" looks about 4th on his list. Oh those know-it-all music critics - (oops, sorry, Sean Daly)

Still, it should make for a good podcast. I think ranking the best U2 individual songs would be harder and spark more debate than the best albums because of the diversity of their sound over the years. For what it its worth, put me with the consensus of ranking Joshua # 1.

[CHAD]

walter i agree with you, rattle and hum gets slagged an awlful lot by u2 fans. i guess, after joshua tree, anything would have been slagged. but, i have to say, i probably play rattle and hum a good bit, as far as u2 cd's go. like i said in the earlier thread, i'm a u2 fan, but i'm not a hardcore fan. i have all the cd's, except zooropa. i used to have it, but sold it back years ago. i have my favorite bands, bands that i go all ga ga for. u2 is a band that i listen to on ocassion, but not something i grab all the time. i kinda have to be in the mood for them. as for rattle and hum, i'm a big fan. i love the live versions of some of the older stuff. in fact, i think the version of i still haven't found what i'm looking for is better than the studio version. hopefully when they get around to doing the deluxe version of rattle, they'll include the hollywood mix of desire. i loved that version, and can't find it anywhere on itunes or amazon. i recently downloaded most of the bonus stuff from the other deluxe editions. it's pretty good stuff.

[DerekT]

Zooropa, in my opinion should be last place cause I can not stand that song "Lemon". I agree that Joshua Tree should be in the top spot. I will not judge anything else since I have not heard the other albums, just the hits on the radio and MTV. I have not heard the whole album Zoorope either, but that video and song drove me nuts. (I like the rest of what I heard, just one song.)

[Walter Cox]

No ranking for me, but I will say out of all the U2 albums I own, I listen to Rattle & Hum the most.

Incidentally, "All I Want Is You" was the last song I played on college radio.

[CHAD]

so it's a pretty universal opinion, that pop kinda blows. there are some good songs on it, but all the others weigh it down on my list.

[Kevy Metal]

01. The Joshua Tree
02. Boy
03. War
04. The Unforgettable Fire
05. Achtung Baby
06. How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
07. October
08. No Line On The Horizon
09. Rattle and Hum
10. All That You Can't Leave Behind
11. Zooropa
12. Pop

It seems that Under A Blood Red Sky is not included because it is a live album. I would agree with this exclusion. And if it were included I would rate it low because it's a live performance of previously recorded material vs. studio productions (apples and oranges) and it isn't even the whole show.

[Kirk]

1 The Joshua Tree (1987)
2 Achtung Baby (1991)
3 Rattle and Hum (1988)
4 War (1983)
5 The Unforgettable Fire (1984)
6 October (1981)
7 All That You Can't Leave Behind (2000)
8 Zooropa (1993)
9 Boy (1980)
10 How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004)
11 No Line on the Horizon (2009)
12 Pop (1997)

[Ian (in CT)]

So, I was typing up my list when I gazed up at Chad's list. To my amazement, it is the same!

1. Joshua tree
2. Rattle and hum
3. Actung baby
4. All that you leave behind
5. The unforgettable fire
6. War
7. How to dismantle an atomic bomb
8. No line on the horizon
9. Boy
10. October
11. Pop
12. Zooropa

[Bassnote]

1) The Unforgettable Fire
2) Under A Blood Red Sky
3) Joshua Tree
4) War
5) Actung Baby
6) Boy
7) All That You Can't Leave Behind
8) No Line On The Horizon
9) October
10) How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
11) Zooropa
12) Pop

[Jono]

Surely they'll all tie for bottom place? And where's Under a Blood Red Sky?

[CHAD]

1. joshua tree
2. rattle and hum
3. actung baby
4. all that you leave behind
5. the unforgettable fire
6. war
7. how to dismantle an atomic bomb
8. no line on the horizon
9. boy
10. october
11. pop
12. zooropa

[CHAD]

is the power ballad podcast still in the works?