U2: Top 100 Songs

U2 Top 100 Songs

At 16 years old, an Irish singer and guitarist named Paul Hewson (better known as Bono) hooked up with guitarist Dave Evans (aka “The Edge”), bassist Adam Clayton, and drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. The four met at Mount Temple Comprehensive School and were signed to Island Records within four years, first hitting the scene with 1980’s Boy. Over the next seven years, they built a strong college-rock base and then with 1987’s The Joshua Tree became the world’s biggest rock band. The band has remained a stable force nearly four decades, thanks to their stick-together-as-a-group attitude. They’ve stretched their sound and been celebrated for nearly every direction they’ve gone. For a complete list of this act’s DMDB honors, check out the DMDB Music Maker Encyclopedia entry. Click here to see other acts’ best-of lists. image from gigslutz.co.uk Spotify Podcast: Check out the Dave’s Music Database podcast U2: Songs of Surrender based on this list. Debut: March 21, 2023, at 7pm CST. New episodes based on Dave’s Music Database lists are posted every Tuesday at 7pm CST.

Awards:

Top 100 Songs Dave’s Music Database lists are determined by song’s appearances on best-of lists, appearances on compilations and live albums by the featured act, and songs’ chart success, sales, radio airplay, streaming, and awards. DMDB Top 1%: 1. With or Without You (1987) 2. One (1991) 3. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (1987) 4. Beautiful Day (2000) 5. Pride (In the Name of Love) (1984) 6. Sunday Bloody Sunday (1983) 7. Where the Streets Have No Name (1987) DMDB Top 2%: 8. New Year’s Day (1983) 9. Vertigo (2004) DMDB Top 5%: 10. Mysterious Ways (1991) 11. Desire (1988) 12. I Will Follow (1980) 13. Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own (2004) 14. Bad (1984) 15. Night and Day (1990) 16. Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of (2000) 17. Walk On (2000) 18. Angel of Harlem (1988) 19. Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me (1995) 20. Sweetest Thing (1987) 21. Even Better Than the Real Thing (1991) 22. Staring at the Sun (1997) 23. Electrical Storm (2002) DMDB Top 10%: 24. You’re the Best Thing About Me (2017) 25. Stand by Me (live with Bruce Springsteen, 1987) 26. Discotheque (1997) 27. The Saints Are Coming (with Green Day, 2006) 28. All I Want Is You (1988) 29. When Love Comes to Town (with B.B. King, 1988) 30. The Fly (1991) 31. Window in the Skies (2006) 32. Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses? (1991) 33. Theme from Mission: Impossible (Adam Clayton & Larry Mullen, Jr., 1996) 34. Get on Your Boots (2009) 35. Gloria (1981) 36. Stay (Faraway, So Close!) (1993) 37. Two Hearts Beat As One (1983) 38. Elevation (2000) 39. Numb (1993) 40. The Unforgettable Fire (1984) 41. City of Blinding Lights (2004) 42. God Part II (1988) 43. All Because of You (2004) DMDB Top 20%: 44. In God’s Country (1987) 45. Ordinary Love (2013) 46. Bullet the Blue Sky (1987) 47. Last Night on Earth (1997) 48. Magnificent (2009) 49. Everlasting Love (1989) 50. Invisible (2014) 51. Moment of Surender (2009) 52. Every Breaking Wave (2014) 53. Lemon (1993) 54. Miss Sarajevo (1995) 55. Until the End of the World (1991) 56. A Sort of Homecoming (1984) 57. Unchained Melody (1989) 58. One Tree Hill (1987) 59. Song for Someone (2014) 60. The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone) (2014) 61. I’ll Go Crazy if I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight (2009) 62. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) (1987) Beyond the DMDB Top 20%: 63. 11 O’Clock Tick Tock (1980) 64. Spanish Eyes (1987) 65. Jesus Christ (1988) 66. Get Out of Your Own Way (2017) 67. The Ground Beneath Her Feet (2000) 68. Original of the Species (2004) 69. If God Will Send His Angels (1997) 70. Silver and Gold (1985) 71. October (1981) 72. All Along the Watchtower (live, 1987) 73. “40” (1983) 74. Fire (1981) 75. Trash, Trampoline, and the Party Girl (1982) 76. The Hands That Built America (2002) 77. Running to Stand Still (1987) 78. Out of Control (1979) 79. Dancing Barefoot (1989) 80. A Celebration (1982) 81. Please (1997) 82. Satellite of Love (1992) 83. Love Is Bigger Than Anything in Its Way (2017) 84. Surrender (1983) 85. Zooropa (1993) 86. Paint It Black (1992) 87. Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour) (Bono & the Edge with Jay-Z & Rihanna, 2010) 88. MLK (1984) 89. Three Sunrises (1985) 90. Red Hill Mining Town (1987) 91. Fortunate Son (1992) 92. Wire (1984) 93. Hallelujah Here She Comes (1988) 94. The Electric Co. (1980) 95. Your Song Saved My Life (2021) 96. Walk to the Water (1987) 97. A Room at the Heartbreak Hotel (1988) 98. Love Resuce Me (with U2, 1988) 99. Zoo Station (1991) 100. The First Time (1993) Resources and Related Links: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for U2 DMDB profile page for U2 Dave’s Music Database: “Acts’ Profile Pages and Best-of Lists” First posted 9/6/2017; updated 3/22/2023.

U2 released “Pride (In the Name of Love)”

Pride (In the Name of Love) U2

Writer(s): U2 (see lyrics here) Released: September 4, 1984 First Charted: September 15, 1984 Peak: 33 US, 34 CB, 27 GR, 31 RR, 2 AR, 1 CO, 3 UK, 26 CN, 4 AU, 2 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 89.33 video, 127.03 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Over three albums, U2 had built a following with songs like “I Will Follow,” “New Year’s Day,” and “Sunday Bloody Sunday.” However, it was “Pride (In the Name of Love)” which gave the band their first Billboard top 40 hit. It became a staple in the band’s live sets and “a modern rock classic.” AMG It also represents the pinnacle of what U2 is about: “intense, passionate, 100 percent emotionally committed rock & roll; the pursuit of social justice and peace…and…the relentless spiritual quest of Irish Cathlocis…and how this spirituality interacts with everyday earthly concerns.” SS The song originated during a soundcheck before a November 1983 concert. Lyrically, Bono, the band’s lead singer, initially aimed to write a song “condemning Ronald Reagan for an arrogant pride that led to nuclear escalation.” SF The focus was on the pride that comes before a fall. TB However, after reading books about Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X SF and seeing the King exhibit at the Chicago Peace Museum, SS Bono decided to write about civil rights campaigns and “those throughout history who have died because they preached of the equality of all men.” SF It was a concept an Irish band could relate to. The band’s guitarist, The Edge, said, “Because of the situation in our country, non-violent struggle was such an inspiring concept.” TC The song compares what King “tried to accomplish with the journey followed by Christ, and analogizes Christ’s betrayal by Judas with the assassination of Dr. King.” SS The song incorrectly asserts that King was shot in the morning, but it actually happened at 6pm. Bono typically fixes the error now in live performances. WK The song isn’t subtle. “The whole purpose of this record is to make a big noise.” PW It was “an excuse to shout really loud and beat the drum as hard and straight ahead as possible, guitars ringing gloriously all around.” PW “If this song were about anyone but MLK it would probably be terrifying.” PW It’s also important to note that “U2 couldn’t begin to pull this stuff off if they weren’t utterly and unmistakably and almost pathetically sincere about it.” PW Perhaps it was the song’s lack of subtlety that led to some mixed reviews. Rolling Stone’s Kurt Loder said the song “gets over only on the strength of its resounding beat and big, droning bass line, not on the nobility of its lyrics, which are unremarkable.” WK Robert Christgau complained in the Village Voice about the lyrics glorifying MLK’s martyrdom. WK On the flip side, Denise Sullian wrote at All Music Guide that “the freedom-fighting anthem is alternately gentle and powerful from verse to chorus” and that “the soundscape is unrelenting.” AMG The song became a rallying cry for turning MLK’s birthday into a national holiday when the band was touring for their next album, The Joshua Tree. The band received death threats for supporting the movement and at a show in Tempe, Arizona, Bono was warned by the FBI of someone who actually had a ticket to the show, was armed, and was threating to shoot Bono on stage if he sang “Pride.” Bono sang it anyway, closing his eyes during the lines about MLK being shot. When he opened his eyes, the bassist, Adam Clayton Jr., was standing in front of him, ready to take a bullet for his bandmate. SF Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for U2 AMG All Music Guide review by Denise Sullivan TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Page 437. SF Songfacts SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Pages 139-40. DT Dave Thompson (2011). 1000 Songs That Rock Your World. Krause Publications: Iola, WI. Page 53. TB Thunder Bay Press (2006). Singles: Six Decades of Hot Hits & Classic Cuts. Outline Press Ltd.: San Diego, CA. Page 213. WK Wikipedia PW Paul Williams (1993). Rock and Roll: The Best 100 Singles. New York, NY: Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc. Pages 218-20. Related Links: First posted 2/7/2021; last updated 3/30/2023.