One notable exception is “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses,” an anguished breakup song that finds Bono channeling a heartbroken soul singer who’s lost his swagger. “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses” Īlthough The Joshua Tree is U2’s masterpiece, Achtung Baby runs a close second - even though the latter found the band members largely recoiling from the straightforward pop-rock that made them superstars. “The Electric Co.” is also notable for being an early example of Bono and Edge’s vocal interplay the latter’s cascading backups add crucial warmth to the song.Ģ0. Boy‘s careening “The Electric Co.” embodies these adventurous roots: The Edge’s clipped, delay-drenched riffs and drummer Larry Mullen Jr.’s brisk beatkeeping buoy Bono’s ringmaster-like performance. U2’s early albums exuded youthful energy and brash confidence, influenced as they were by the nascent early ’80s post-punk scenes bubbling up in England and Ireland.

“Stay (Faraway, So Close!)” nabbed a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song in ’93, but lost to Bruce Springsteen’s “Streets of Philadelphia.” The underrated Zooropa in particular boasts the gorgeous “Stay (Faraway, So Close!),” which was inspired by (and appears on the soundtrack of) Wim Wenders’ 1993 film, Faraway, So Close! Driven by tick-tock drums and languid, lavender-hued guitars, the single emerged during U2’s Sinatra-obsessed phase - no doubt explaining why Bono’s smoldering croon resembles the aural equivalent of a perfect smoke ring. It’s a misconception that U2’s mid-’90s albums are nothing but day-glo electronic excursions.

Recorded with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, “Magnificent” has a pulsating, motorik foundation that meshes well with the Edge’s blocky guitar chords and Bono’s keening, hopeful vocals.Ģ2. “Magnificent,” which Bono told Rolling Stone in 2009 has its roots in the Magnificat (a Bible passage spoken by the Virgin Mary) is one of the best later-day examples of this approach. “Magnificent” Ĭontrary to the dominant narrative, U2 never completely eschewed electronics after the ’90s they just figured out how to incorporate them in subtler ways. Bono sheepishly references his propensity for “shooting off my mouth,” but also reassures Ali he’s a charmer: “I’m the kind of trouble that you enjoy.”Ģ3.

So it goes with his latest mash note for Ali, “You’re The Best Thing About Me.” The pop-rock song is a sleek, carefree sonic pastiche encompassing rippling guitars, fizzy keyboards and propulsive grooves, along with plenty of rakish asides. The lyrics Bono writes about family - namely, his late mother, Iris, and long-time wife, Ali - rank among his best, most honest work. In concert, however, the song is transformed into an extended epic whose cry of “I’m wide awake” feels like a pledge for survival rather than last-ditch desperation.Ģ4. On disc, the song blooms slowly, driven by increasingly urgent chiming guitars, rattlesnake percussion and a cushion of lush keyboards. Case in point: The Unforgettable Fire album cut “Bad,” a delicate song about addiction’s wrenching effects that’s said to be inspired by Dublin’s mid-’80s heroin epidemic.

U2’s songwriting genius often reveals itself live, when the band members break free from studio formalities and allow emotion to take the wheel.

U2 songs in sing 2