Nothing tops “One”

Art is in the eye of the beholder, but sometimes consensus is also an indicator. I think U2 is the best Christian Rock Group Ever. Their cross-over appeal certainly attests to it.
It’s rare to see Christian celebrities engaged on behalf of the poor and needy. These days it’s even more rare for Christians to advocate for peace and tolerance. God knows I’m capable of more.
I say God bless Bono!

1 – One
2 – One Tree Hill
3 – Red Hill Town
4 – Mothers of the Disappeared
5 – Stay

One
In God’s Country
Where the Streets Have No Name

where the streets have no name
pride
one
city of blinding lights
beautiful day
mysterious ways

You know I had to chime in, Kuo.
1. One
2. Pride (In the name of love)
3. Walk On
4. Stuck In a Moment
5. Sunday Bloody Sunday

I guess I’m weird, my favorite U2 song is either “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses?” or “Miss Sarajevo.”

what’s your wife’s top 5?

Jen – incoming… my guess is five tracks from Achtung.

1. Vertigo. Not the greatest U2 song ever, but the single greatest musical description of the experience of bipolar disorder ever (even if completely unintentional on Bono and the Gang’s part), with its roaring fuzz-tone guitar and bass lines and vaguely paranoid lyrics. So it’s the most MEANINGFUL U2 song to me.
2. New Year’s Day. “I … will be with YOU again” is possibly the most chilling (goose-bumping) refrain/coda ever on a rock song. Accelerating the trend of (quasi- if not actually) Christian death/rebirth themes in so many of U2′s songs.
3. Stuck In a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of/Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own (tie). I know it’s cheating, but these songs are so similar thematically (based on the deaths of Michael Hutchence of INXS and Bono’s father) in terms of death and loss, they would have been good just from the inspirations, even if Bono didn’t have his heart in it. But of course, Bono never lacks heart in anything he does, musically or otherwise. And the songs do naturally contrast — since “Sometimes” deals with a parent rather than a friend, it is anguished and mournful compared to the detachment and even anger of “Stuck In.”
4. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For. I know, I know, we’re not supposed to use a #1 song, but still — not musically complex, but featuring naked lyrical honesty from Bono. With enough vision to see he might find it (and he indeed did as half-rock star, half-global activist) and enough compassion for those of us who haven’t. (Yet.)
5. Pride. That clanging, then shotgun intro. And with the specter (literally) of Martin Luther King, a reminder of the ultimate consequences of what “in the name of love” may mean in a hateful world. Yet ultimately, it is a rare protest song that is also a celebration (and Bono had to resist the temptation, he’s said in interviews, to use the lyrics to directly attack Reagan rather than honor King).
PS — David, since it’s your favorite, have you ever heard the remake of “Streets Have No Name” by the Pet Shop Boys — a disco remix that leads into Frankie Valli’s “Can’t Take My Eyes of Off You”? It’s, um, surreal.
PPS — For all the agony of my own painful divorce, “One” doesn’t do much for me — perhaps because it’s (intentionally or otherwise) become so anthemic, and divorce, except among celebrities (which I guess the Edge’s would count as …) is ordinarily the most private of heartaches. The Edge himself has expressed his bewilderment at fans’ reaction to the song in interviews.

How about “Streets” for at least a top 5 music video? Could any other band have the stones to not only film on a rooftop in L.A. but announce it?

“Bad”: nothing to add to David’s comment.
“One Tree Hill”: U2′s most brilliant studio performance; the song was written for a friend’s funeral, and Bono’s pain comes through loud and clear, even if you aren’t listening closely enough to know what the song is about.
“Peace on Earth”: More poignant now than when it was written; so many people have died (and are dying) for the “big ideas” of the neocons and the jihadists.
“40″: Many church hymns aren’t as faithful to the Psalmist’s words as this song; more than any other U2 song, this one is certain to be in circulation 100 years from now.
“Running to Stand Still”: The best song about addiction ever written (and not for lack of competition).

have you seen this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=et994A6chtM

this is truly a “how do I solve a problem like Maria?” problem. How do you catch a moonbeam in your hand? I’m sure I’ll change my mind as soon as I post this, but here’s the spousal entry…
1 – Bad. Single words painting an incredible spiritual/emotional portrait.
2 – Elevation. My current favorite, as my 2-year-old sings this at the top of her lungs while bouncing on our “cozy chair.” Still, an incredible spiritual anthem.
3 – One. Maybe I just like one-word songs? seriously, the message is timeless. NOT the Mary J. Blige version.
4 – Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For. Put a great black choir at the end chanting that chorus, and it’s hard not to lose yourself.
5- Acrobat. Poetry. All the things David said.
ps Pride and Where the Streets Have No Name are absolute classics. I love them. But somehow I can listen to my 1 – 5 songs tirelessly.

A good list, mine differs in a couple of places.
5 – City of Blinding Lights. Bono has said it was a song written about NYC but I feel like it’s applicable to any city you fall in love with. A classic U2 tone both in terms of guitar riff and lyrical content.
4 – Seconds. From the “War” album, a tune that warned about the danger of nuclear war; it was the first U2 track that contained voices other than Bono as The Edge sang the first two stanzas.
3 – Bad. The note that Bono hits near the end of the track, “I’m wide awake…” is a wail from deep in his soul…I challenge anyone not to have chills when he hits that note.
2 – Where The Streets Have No Name. I’ve been wrestling with how to rank that last two all afternoon and after watching both videos, can surmise I have it right. Streets was the very first U2 tune I have ever heard and like most seminal moments in life, I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing. Utterly awe inspiring.
1 – Ms. Sarajevo. Not a megahit along the lines of others mentioned on this blog, but I think both the circumstances and performance perfectly sum up the U2 experience. Ms. Sarajevo was a performance of Bono, The Edge and Brian Eno, along with Luciano Pavarotti at the Maestro’s annual benefit, “Pavarotti and Friends”.
The tune was a musical tribute to a beauty contest held beneath the rubble of the former Olympic city and it isn’t often I can keep tears out of my eyes when I listen to the track. Great music, with an eye to those who are suffering is the U2 experience; when listening, you hear two artists injecting beauty into darkness and the result is something that cannot help but to shake the very foundations of your soul.

Rinat, we have the exact same list…

Who are you people and what kind of U2 fans are you? (kidding) But, seriously, any list of U2 songs, must include:
-One
-Sunday Bloody Sunday
-City of Blinding Lights
-Walk on
-Gloria
And as a personal favorite, though probably not top 5 material, I must make mention of the version of “Where the Stars Go Blue” that Bono recorded with The Coors in Dublin- those lovely Irish voices together!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NMSWEF1dvM

Maxcat06 you have great taste!

My goodness – no one else for “In the Name of Love”?

“Angel of Harlem.”

Jim:
“Pride” was on my list …

Red Hill Mining Town
One Tree Hill
One
Ultraviolet
Beautiful Day
To me, The Joshua Tree album is a set of songs that in classical music is termed a Passion. “Red Hill Mining Town” is ‘about’ the prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, and “One Tree Hill” is…well, too obvious. Just like the album title. (Trust not the teller, trust the tale.)
Achtung Baby seems to me a mediation on the Book of Acts and the individual Disciples. Strangely I’ve forgotten which of them I once figured “Ultraviolet” to be about, but “One” is quite obvious. (So is “Until the End of the World”.)
I’ve found the last few albums lacking in the earlier subtlety and brilliance. They’ve become preachy, really, and boxed into conventional Christian thinking. But for an artistic meditation on Jesus’s thoughts on the Cross as the day passes, All that You Can’t Leave Behind is not bad. I love the wild-yet-serene passion to the opening of “Beautiful Day”. But otherwise I’ve found only the title track, ‘New York, New York’, and ‘Grace’ memorable. And only a little of what U2 has created since- it’s still rousing stuff, but the proofs by deep emotional insight that made the earlier work so compelling and persuasive just don’t seem there, the insights seem shallower.
These days I do find the music of Bono’s back yard neighbor in Killeney, Enya Brennan, more compelling. Her spiritual journey…well, one could say Bono’s art and life is an amazing demonstration of the possibilities and fulfillment of one half of the full distance, or the taking of one of two roads that lead to the same City. Her art and life is about the other half, the other road. (The “explanations” offered for her songs are as much red herrings as are Bono’s, by the way.)

I can’t believe it, Jillian… “Red Hill Mining Town”… I thought I was the only one! It belongs at the top of the list! Deeply Stirring with a capital “S”… then again, this is from an old school U2′er who first listened to them on vinyl and cassette!

1~ The Drowning Man
2~ Tomorrow
3~ Sunday Bloody Sunday
4~ Walk to the Water( b side)
5~ With or Without You

I can easily remember where I was when I 1st heard U2.
I was standing in my parents living room (1980?) after a swim &
they were on MTV. They played “Gloria”—- and I thought to myself,
“who are these guys”? Been hooked ever since.
1. I still haven’t found…. (a personal anthem)
2. Beautiful Day
3. Mysterious Ways
4. Bad
5. With or without you

This concert is cool!…would love to see them!