I am tired of people ripping on ATYCLB and HTDAAB

Originally posted by achtungbaby1366:They are the ones that make the music, so I will take their word for it that they know what they are doing and they know what sounds best.

Originally posted by LenaF:If someone would ask me which I think is the best U2 album, I would say that I cannot decide between ATYCLB and HTDAAB. And then I would add that at least these are my two favourites at the moment.

Maybe 'best' and 'favourite' are two different things. Sometimes it seems like it. Could it be that 'favourite' doesn't require any explanation, whereas 'best' does? Possibly.

Some might argue that I should wait 20 years and then say which I think is best. But whose to say that 'timelessness' is the most important quality anyway?

The only thing I can say for sure is that I hope that NLOTH is their best album so far, but I don't count on it. One should never count on anything.[..]Eh...? They might know what they think sounds best, and what they want to release, but they don't know what you or me prefer. Even though some might say that they're Gods.

Originally posted by anstratdubh1979:[..]

Nothing wrong with Beautiful Day. But I dont' think that it defined the band.

Originally posted by vanquish:[..]

It certainly did for the 00s, just like ISHFWILF, WTSHNN etc. did the same back in the 80s.
By being a massive hit (of which they have few these days) it showed that U2 were still relevant.

However both albums certainly rank below AB and JT (and perhaps R&H, Pop, Zooropa), I think that's is one thing we can all agree on.

Originally posted by markp91:[..]


C'mon, ATYCLB is way better than R&H, as is HTDAAB
And (but that's more a personal thing) they're both way better than JT.

Originally posted by APOED:I'm a minority here in a lot of ways. Been a big fan since '89 so I didn't get turned onto U2 by these albums. It's been fun to watch them evolve ever since. At the time, Achtung Baby was an unbelievable surprise, because it seemed to contradict everything they'd Done before. It was so effectively different, in fact, that I don't think they'll ever be able to pull off that kind of surprise again. So to compare the new album to AB just doesn't fit in my opinion. U2 has already established a reputation for changing their sound, so it wouldn't come as the same kind of shock this time as it did in 1991.

That said, the common sentiment seems to be that U2 went back to their 80's roots with ATYCLB and HTDAAB after changing their sound in the 90's, and some see that as a step backward. I actually think that ATYCLB was fresh and inventive because U2 had never really done a modern pop record before. Most of what they did before was fly in the face of convention. Remember, at the time, Bono said he wanted to compete with Britney Spears before ATYCLB was released. So that kind of approach from U2 was definitely fresh, and what was even better were the actual songs. ATYCLB seems to be a somewhat divisive album among fans, but I absolutely loved it. It instantly became my favorite album of theirs and still probably is, along wth AB. I'm not sure how many people I've ever seen who rank AB and ATYCLB as their two favorites since they're so different thematically, but hey, I'm weird, I guess.

HTDAAB, however, was a real disappointment for me. From the opening notes of "Vertigo" when the single was released, I thought, "Uh oh... I don't like this. They've done this before." It took about a day after I first heard it to realize that "Vertigo" was more or less a 21st-Century updating of "Stories for Boys". Then I got the album and I heard "Miracle Drug", which seemed a ripoff of "Beautiful Day" (listen to the chord sequences in the second verse), SYCMIOYO, a pale imitation of "One", LAPOE, which sounded a bit like a poor Zooropa outtake, COBL, which sounded like WTSHNN Part 2, ABOY, sounding like a Rattle and Hum reject, "Crumbs" which openly ripped off "Walk On"'s riff in its bridge, "One Step Closer", which echoed "The Ocean", and "Yahweh", which could've fit in on October. The only two songs that sounded like they covered new musical ground were "Man and a Woman", which sounded like a bad Fleetwood Mac tune, and OOTS, which sounded like the bastard child of a Queen and Beatles b-side. At first, I just reasoned that HTDAAB was a "grower", but over 4 years later, it still hasn't grown on me. At this point, I doubt it ever will. Whereas ATYCLB might be my favorite album of theirs, HTDAAB barely ranks ahead of October for me as me last favorite U2 album (I don't count Passengers, otherwise THAT ranks well below even October).

So, to go back to the title of the original topic, I guess I am defending ATYCLB, but I too am definitely ripping HTDAAB. I can't wait (and am crossing my fingers) to find that NLOTH is something new and different and more like the adventurous, "try-something-different" U2 that I always used to love before. Early indications of reviews seem to be positive, so I'm keeping my hopes up...

However both albums certainly rank below AB and JT (and perhaps R&H, Pop, Zooropa), I think that's is one thing we can all agree on.

Originally posted by APOED:
HTDAAB, however, was a real disappointment for me. From the opening notes of "Vertigo" when the single was released, I thought, "Uh oh... I don't like this. They've done this before." It took about a day after I first heard it to realize that "Vertigo" was more or less a 21st-Century updating of "Stories for Boys". Then I got the album and I heard "Miracle Drug", which seemed a ripoff of "Beautiful Day" (listen to the chord sequences in the second verse), SYCMIOYO, a pale imitation of "One", LAPOE, which sounded a bit like a poor Zooropa outtake, COBL, which sounded like WTSHNN Part 2, ABOY, sounding like a Rattle and Hum reject, "Crumbs" which openly ripped off "Walk On"'s riff in its bridge, "One Step Closer", which echoed "The Ocean", and "Yahweh", which could've fit in on October. The only two songs that sounded like they covered new musical ground were "Man and a Woman", which sounded like a bad Fleetwood Mac tune, and OOTS, which sounded like the bastard child of a Queen and Beatles b-side. At first, I just reasoned that HTDAAB was a "grower", but over 4 years later, it still hasn't grown on me. At this point, I doubt it ever will. Whereas ATYCLB might be my favorite album of theirs, HTDAAB barely ranks ahead of October for me as me last favorite U2 album (I don't count Passengers, otherwise THAT ranks well below even October).

Originally posted by APOED:

I'm not sure how many people I've ever seen who rank AB and ATYCLB as their two favorites since they're so different thematically, but hey, I'm weird, I guess.

Originally posted by vanquish:[..]

I meant we can all agree on JT and AB being better than those two.


I kind like R&H though, but you don't like JT so that American stuff isn't your cup of tea.