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  1. First of all, the only "hit" singles U2 have had since 1991-

    Vertigo
    City of Blinding Lights
    Beautiful Day
    Elevation
    Walk On
    Discotheque
    Staring in the Sun

    That's 7, and IN 1991/1992 they had 6 singles, probably 4 or 5 of which were huge. They've been waning off for some time now.
  2. The only?
    For the sake of argument let's start at Zooropa, you are also ignoring

    Numb (a hit despite not being released as a proper single)
    Lemon
    Stay (US#4)
    Miss Sarajevo
    HMTMKMKM

    Pop: LNOE+Please (I'll grant you that Mofo wasn't exactly a hit, IGWSHA debatable)
    Compilations:
    Electrical Storm
    Sweetest Thing
    The Saints are Coming (US #2 !)
    Window in the Skies (NL + IT #1, UK#4!)

    not to mention:
    SYCMIOYO (grammy+ UK #1 ! )
  3. Originally posted by EyesWithPrideB3:First of all, the only "hit" singles U2 have had since 1991-

    Vertigo
    City of Blinding Lights
    Beautiful Day
    Elevation
    Walk On
    Discotheque
    Staring in the Sun

    That's 7, and IN 1991/1992 they had 6 singles, probably 4 or 5 of which were huge. They've been waning off for some time now.


    Well if we talk UK top 10 singles:
    The Fly (#1)
    One
    Even Better Than the Real Thing (Remix)
    Stay
    HMTMKMKM
    Miss Sarajevo
    Discotheque (#1)
    Staring At The Sun
    Last Night On Earth
    Please
    Sweetest Thing
    Beautiful Day (#1)
    Stuck In A Moment
    Elevation
    Walk On
    Electical Storm
    Vertigo (#1)
    All Because Of You
    Sometime You Can't Make It (#1)
    City Of Blinding Lights
    One (Mary J. Blige)
    Saints Are Coming
    Window In The Skies
    --------------------------
    As far as I'm aware, there were 3 singles that failed to make the top ten between Achtung Baby and No Line On The Horizon. Many of the singles I listed came very close to the number one spot, release them a week later/earlier and they may have hit number one. All it would take is another killer lead single and they'll get another number one.

    Here's a fact for you. U2 have scored a number one album in the UK for every single album since and including War...except for one.
  4. PoP or NLOTH ??? Or Zooropa?
  8. Hmmm, well maybe that says enough about being relevant???
  10. I don't think U2 will call it a day just now. They've recorded quite a lot of material. They should call it a day with the idea of being n. 1. That spot, as far as album sales is concerned, is probably now occupied by Coldplay, for better or worse (for me, worse: but Coldplay are younger, and fresher, so more power to them).


  11. My opinion also.

    No Line On The Horizon sold 158,000 copies when it went to number one, which is a damn sight more than a lot of the other artists got when they hit number one that year. Had it not leaked?...maybe a different story. That number is only 6,000 less than ATYCLB and that was only number one for a week. The average sale for a number one album in 2009 was nearly 95,000.

    The problem with No Line On The Horizon was it's impact, very minimal due to poor performing singles and the rejection of it halfway through the 360 tour. It's clear that in the build up and at the release, there was a lot of interest. Something blew that interest away though.
  12. Originally posted by iTim[..]

    My opinion also.

    No Line On The Horizon sold 158,000 copies when it went to number one, which is a damn sight more than a lot of the other artists got when they hit number one that year. Had it not leaked?...maybe a different story. That number is only 6,000 less than ATYCLB and that was only number one for a week. The average sale for a number one album in 2009 was nearly 95,000.

    The problem with No Line On The Horizon was it's impact, very minimal due to poor performing singles and the rejection of it halfway through the 360 tour. It's clear that in the build up and at the release, there was a lot of interest. Something blew that interest away though.


    Lack of good songs, and lack of big hit. There was no Beautiful Day, Elevation, City Of Blinding Lights, or Vertigo on NLOTH. You can take any example across their entire career, point is, NLOTH didn't have any really great hit singles.

    Boots was too weird (people were turned off by sexy boots, bossy boots, etc.), a little bit too much like Vertigo, and just generIally not that appealing to a casual listener. It wasn't joyful, and it didn't have a good tempo to "dance" to. Sure we could rock out to it live, but it didn't have that extra something like other singles do. It came alive in a live setting, but I think a large part of that was due to the high that everyone was already feeling in the presence of U2, and because it was surrounded by other great U2 songs in the set. When U2 played Boots at the various award shows when it first came out, everyone went "meh".

    Magnificent was a stab at something in the same vein of Beautiful Day, but again, something about it just didn't capture people. Was it the lyrics? Was it the key? Who knows. I for one never really loved the song. Maybe when it first came out, when it was new, but I don't htink it'll stand the test of time like Beautiful Day or Vertigo will. I think Magnificent mainly suffered because Boots came before it though. People had already decided "Ah, the new U2 isn't that good, time to move onto something else". I think if Magnificent, or even for that matter No Line 2 (that remix version) came out as the first single, the album release would've been a totally different story.

    I think U2 realizes all of this now, and they won't make the same mistake again for the next album. I'm not saying that they have to release a classic sounding hit single before they can hit people with the new sounding stuff, because The Fly would counter that point in a huge way. I'm saying that they just need a better first hit single next time. Something that will really make people go "wow, what else is there?" Rather than "Crappy U2 song, who else has a new album out?"
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U2start is run by fans for fans. Help us reduce personal costs. Consider to make a donation to support us.
U2start is run by fans for fans. Help us reduce personal costs. Consider to make a donation to support us.