#22

Pop has some decent stuff on it tbh

Could do with some critical re-evaluation

#23

Anyone who really likes The Bends will probably like U2

#24

I do remember much comment about Radiohead being ā€˜The Next U2ā€™ around the time of The Bends.

#25

Thereā€™s definitely some U2 influence in their early stuff

I read somewhere that Thom Yorke was a big fan of them

#27

My two U2 loving friends also really love The Bends, so I call that proof positive.

#28

My dad is the biggest U2 fan I know and prefers OK Computer to The Bends. Contraversial.

I have a soft spot for Rattle and Hum as the first album I ā€œborrowedā€ from my parents aged about 7. But Achtung Baby is their best.

#29

Yes! But itā€™s a game of two halves. Side A has the hits - that otherworldly intro to Where The Streets Have No Name then the yearning mega-single With Or Without You, the uplifting gospel of I Still Havenā€™t Found What Iā€™m Looking which then gives way to the slide riffery critique of Amerika that is Bullet The Blue Sky (subdued compared to the Zoo TV live version but still packs a punch) and then everything drops town for the beautiful Running To Stand Still. Itā€™s not just a solid five tracks - itā€™s the platform U2 used to become the biggest band on the planet and itā€™s nigh on perfect.

Side B thoughā€¦more a collection of average songs thrown together. I have friends that prefer it - less bombast, more Americana, more flawed but therefore more interesting as a result. (On a side note Pop is the epitome of flawed but interesting and the U2 album I revisit the most). There were B-sides at the time that I would have happily inserted in the place of most of the songs on this side and much preferred - Walk To The Water being the stand-out example. Apparently there was tension in the band at the time about which songs made the final cut which makes sense.

I wouldnā€™t call it an alternative rock album - this became mainstream almost instantly and U2 hit serious pay-dirt with it. Radio was all over it and up to that point U2 probably felt like outsiders - Pride In The Name Of Love was a hit before this but it was stand-alone and yes, Live-Aid went well but now that they had a slew of hits on their hands and were Rockā€™s hottest ticket. I got into them at this time and played the album to death but enjoyed their other albums more: Boy for the post-punk vibe, October for earnest declarations of faith drenched in reverb, the forgotten classic that is War, the long-delay experimentation of the Unforgettable Fire, the sonic knockout of Achtung Baby that finally got begrudgingly kind words from the indie press and of course Pop which the band see as a miss-step. Iā€™ve enjoyed/endured subsequent albums but their earlier albums I got lost in, inspired me to play guitar/bass and join bands and The Joshua Tree was where it started.

So yeah, itā€™s good. And yes The Bends might just be my favourite album ever.

#30

War is an absolutely superb album.

2 Likes
#31

a co producer on this record use to babysit us when we were bairns :slight_smile:

#32

Flood ?

#33

Nah, howie b

1 Like
#34

ah cool. I used to love his album turn the dark off.

1 Like
#35

Havenā€™t listened to that in years

#36

me neither. May dig out the cd and chuck it in the car.

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#37

Yeah thatā€™s right, we donā€™t let up as we get older up here

#38

Well this has been posted in the wrong thread :grinning:

#39

Nice. If you ever see him again, tell him that I reckon Pop is underrated.

1 Like
#40

Iā€™ll be sure to :grinning:

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#41

I loved it growing up but it got partially ruined for me by classic rock radio playing the singles to death. Since no oneā€™s mentioned either yet, ā€œOne Tree Hillā€ and ā€œExitā€ are phenomenal songs. Iā€™ve always thought ā€œExitā€ was an influence on Pearl Jamā€™s Vitalogy.

2 Likes
#42

never topped this