Continuing in the Friday series of lists of Top 25 songs of some of my favorite groups, here’s a rundown of U2 classics. This list comes from Ben, who knows his U2.
Sooner Kip has asked why someone else is putting something on my blog. Well, because it’s mine and I can put anything on here. Also, I’ve been ridiculously busy lately and am sitting here on an ASAP deadline.
And should anyone else have a list they’d like to contribute, just let me know. Might be able to make that work.
And FYI, Ben’s list is very similar to my own. Songs I have a particular fondness for will be denoted with an asterisk. And now, I turn it over to Ben.

A big thanks to Bomani for letting me do this. I had a great time going back and listening to the music I basically grew up to.
Yeah, I was that kid with the U2 shirts on every day in elementary and middle school.
Here’s my list of the top 25 U2 songs.
#25 “Angel of Harlem(*)” Rattle And Hum
Some say this is about Billie Holiday, others think it’s more about American music in general. I think it’s the first song with horns that I liked.
#24 “Bullet The Blue Sky (Live)” Rattle And Hum
Heavy, baby. Just might be the hardest song U2’s done. It was also disgraced by Christian nu-metal band P.O.D. in ’99. Thank God they’re gone.
#23 “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me (*)” Batman Forever Soundtrack
One of the best lyrics in rock: “They want you to be Jesus/They’ll get down on one knee/But they’ll want their money back/If you’re alive at thirty-three.” It’s almost worth buying the soundtrack and wading through Seal, but not quite. Just download it – legally, of course. And just wondering, what the hell was Michael Keaton doing that was so important he couldn’t do another Batman?
#22 “Desire(*)” Rattle And Hum
U2 was exploring American music during their ‘87 Joshua Tree tour when they wrote this little ditty. First UK #1. I enjoy its criticism of false preachers.
#21 “Until The End Of The World” Achtung Baby
Just a good, old fashioned rock song. I think U2 Oral Sex Reference #1,297 is in this one, too.
#20 “Your Blue Room” Passengers Original Soundtracks No. 1
Between recording Zooropa and Pop, U2 went into the studio with longtime producer Brian Eno under the Passengers moniker and cranked out some of the weirdest stuff, man. Seriously, if you ever see this album and are in the mood, I suggest you pick it up. This song sounds like a laid back Sunday morning, sippin’ on bourbon. It also marks the first and only vocal appearance by the bass player, former Mr. I’m Fuckin’ Naomi Campbell.
#19 “Numb(*)” Zooropa
After Vanilla Ice – a lot of y’all had that album and you know it – and before Eminem, there was a white sorta-rapper in The Edge on this track. I think it’s about excess. But your guess is as good as mine though. It’s included here solely for originality.
#18 “Please(*)” Pop
Another political song in the mold of “Sunday Bloody Sunday.” In fact, when performed live, the drumming during the bridge takes on Sunday’s distinctive beat.
#17 “11 O’Clock Tick Tock” U23 EP
If you held a gun to my head and asked me what this song is about, you’d have to kill me. I got no clue what it means. It just sounds good.
#16 “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (Live)(*)” Rattle And Hum
Ok, I don’t particularly like this song. Gospel music ain’t really my thing. But it’s considered one of their bigger hits so I felt compelled to include it. And the live version featuring the New Voices of Freedom Choir is infinitely better than the one on The Joshua Tree.
#15 “Lemon” Zooropa
Zooropa was recorded during a break in between legs of the mammoth ZooTV tour in 1993. As such, it’s an album filled with more generic expressions rather than specific ideas. This song, I feel, best encapsulates the major themes of the album. It’s also an example of the fact that The Edge can do any damn thing he wants with a guitar.
#14 “If You Wear That Velvet Dress” Pop
I love this song. I really do. It always makes me think I’m on the moon or something when I’m…shall we say, communing with Jah. It’s smoooooooth like a comb on silky-ass hair.
#13 “So Cruel(*)” Achtung Baby
Been dumped? Left hatin’ that bitch/bastard? Listen to this. Trust me.
#12 “Exit” The Joshua Tree
Been dumped? Left hatin’ that bitch/bastard? Don’t listen to this. Trust me.
#11 “Running To Stand Still(*)” The Joshua Tree
This one makes me think Bono rode the horse for a minute. It also cemented in my mind that very few convey so much with the sound of their voice as he does.
#10 “When Love Comes To Town” Rattle And Hum
It’s got B.B. King. That’s all you need to know.
#9 “Gone” Pop
Pop was panned by a number of critics when it came out in 1997. Big mistake, if you ask me. It had been hyped as a techno/dance record for a couple years before its release and maybe the fact that it wasn’t led to the negative reviews. That said, it’s probably my favorite U2 record to date. It’s unique in that it’s a scathing critique on the wave of pop music that hadn’t even happened yet. Somehow they got out before Britney fuckin’ Spears and those ridiculous boy bands and made fun of them before they had recorded a single note. Listening to this song, you’d think being famous is hard. Might be, but I’d love to try it out for a day or two.
#8 “I Will Follow” Boy
This is the song that basically started it all for U2. It‘s held up pretty well over the last 25 years.
#7 “Beautiful Day” All That You Can’t Leave Behind
You’re probably just as tired of hearing this song as I am. Yet it’s hard to deny the quality. It has a perfectness – I know I made that up – that’s rare in today’s songwriting. Which is probably why we’re all tired of the damn thing.
#6 “New Year’s Day(*)” War
A song about reconciliation, Edge plays guitar and piano at the same time, even live.
#5 “Where The Streets Have No Name(*)” The Joshua Tree
This is a personal favorite, especially live. I get chills when the stage lights turn red and that chimey guitar starts ringing.
#4 “Pride (In The Name of Love) (Live)(*)” Rattle And Hum
This song, an elegy to Dr. Martin Luther King–who hit me in my chest–was born out of the sessions for The Unforgettable Fire, however I’ve always thought the live translation was more stirring. One of the most profound and distinctive guitar riffs The Edge has ever played.
Bomani’s note – this is the song Stevie should have tried to write when he did “Happy Birthday.”
#3 “Sunday Bloody Sunday (Live(*))” Under A Blood Red Sky
Despite Bono saying, “This song is not a rebel song, “ it’s as political a song as any this side of The Clash in the early ‘80s.
#2 “With Or Without You(*)” The Joshua Tree
I put this in the two slot because singing it – poorly, I must admit – prompted me getting my first-ever piece of ass back in 10th grade. And it‘s a pretty damn good song in its own right, even without my juvenile memories attached. Contains one of the best basslines ever recorded.
#1 “One(*)” Achtung Baby
This is probably the best rock/pop song ever written and one of the best songs from any genre in the last half-century. “You ask me to enter/But then you make me crawl/And I can’t be holding on/When all you got is hurt.” Man, that’s just real. If you didn’t hurt the first time those words really sunk in, you’re one cold bastard.
Bomani’s note – I have listened to “One” before for hours on end. I personally lived the song from August ’01 to August ’02. Absolutely amazing.
Two songs I was looking for–“Mysterious Ways” and “Red Hill Mining Town.” Otherwise, Hooray Ben!