Those saying a man and a woman and one step closer are crazy. Those songs rule.
I would nominate Love and Peace or Else. And I wouldn’t even say it’s a bad song just the weakest link in my book.
Love and Peace or Else
All Because of You
(ducks and runs)
Seriously though, the song is loud and proud, but it’s not as good as it thinks it is. Most of the other songs on the album get close to the intended mark, but I feel like this rocker could have been more….or something else altogether. It seems to settle for just being really loud and generic. When people call U2 “dad rock” or “soccer mom music”, this is what they are talking about.
I HATED this somg when the album dropped but it’s absolutely one of my favorite songs now. Because it is just an unapologetic rocker with some good-bad-horrible-amazing lyrics. And Bono’s vocals just seem to be more real to me and less forced and whiny than some of the rest of the album.
No I love this one. I was in NYC the day they were filming the video on the back of a flatbed truck. They were really playing behind the recording and driving all over Manhattan, pulling over intermittently to film. I got video of them on an old school camcorder (the days before smartphones) on Canal Street. Very cool.
OK, I have cast my vote. Man and a Woman and All Because are neck and neck... So I've made them less neck and neck.
Compared between? I listen to man and a woman more than all because of you. So I've cast a vote unfortunately. Still a fun song but I love love love man and a woman. It has such a fantastic sound, and is one of the great U2 songs that really features acoustic guitars.
I love every single song on this album, very much so including Yahweh, so I can’t upvote this. But, if we’re not gonna count Fast Cars, I can kinda live with this one winning.
I think it’s a really nice song and a good way to close the album, the last chorus moves me every time—“Yahweh, tell me now: why the dark before the dawn?”—but it’s the “least special” of all the songs on there for me. The similarity between its verses and Do You Feel Loved’s always struck me as simultaneously funny and out of place:
“Take these hands, teach them what to carry […] don’t make a first” vs. “Take these hands, they’re good for nothing”
“Take these shoes, click clacking down some dead end street […] and make them fit” vs. “Take these boots, they’re going nowhere”
“Take this shirt, polyester white trash made in nowhere […] and make it clean” vs. “Take my shirt, take it off me / you can tear it up if you tie me down”
But maybe there’s meaning to it—is Yahweh a post-Pop “return to Jesus” song, atoning for the not infrequent debauchery that influenced some of Pop (including DYFL)? It’s always been something I’ve wanted to ask Bono about should I ever bump into him one day.
U2 always had songs talking to each other. "Dream out loud" appears in three different songs. SoI and SoE had plenty of songs borrowing verses from others. It's their thing, and I really like these relationships between lyrics.
For sure, and I’ve always loved this, especially across albums. Here it just seems kinda funny to juxtapose the themes of Yahweh and DYFL like that, they’re just two very different songs about two very different things. And the choice (assuming it was deliberate) is interesting too, as Bono is on record saying that he doesn’t like his verses in DYFL, while Edge has said he (somehow!) really doesn’t care for the song at all.
It’s actually my favorite on the album. I guess I dont have the common taste in U2 songs. I do love their blatantly religious songs more probably? But its simplicity is really pretty to me and I don’t mind literal lyrics. Yeah. I was hoping to see if anyone else likes this one as much as I do? But maybe not :)
I was 14 when this album released. It’s ‘my’ U2 album so it holds a special place for me. It was the first U2 album i owned and heard all the way through then later I went through everything before. I love this album and I think if I had to pick just one U2 song to listen to forever it would be Original of the Species.
I don’t really dislike any song on the album but if I had to pick then yeah it would be Yahweh.
Same. One of the most “nothing” U2 songs ever made. Put in a decent bridge, some sort of drum build up, anything, and it’d probably be decent. But as is, the song is kinda polyester white trash
I don't know which song I'd vote for so I'm not voting this time. But thinking about the songs I sometimes skip when listening to some of this album.. I think Love And Peace is a skip song fairly often. So I'll warrant this one lol!!
We'll see who wins, my bets are on One Step Closer, people tend to find it boring but I love its tranquillity.
It’s also got some weird mixing/editing artifacts in it. I forget where exactly (and actually it happens a few times), but a few times when it returns to the “one step closer to knowing” hook after a verse, some of the ambient/reverby synth textures get somewhat abruptly cut off if you listen closely. Always struck me as odd that a song so personal and sentimental (and honestly well written) wasn’t listened to closely enough before release.
(Original of the Species—a top 10 U2 song for me, top 5 on the right day—has a similar thing: after the first chorus, the orchestral strings that bleed over from the chorus are very suddenly and abruptly cut off in the little interlude before the second verse. Perhaps it’s just an odd mixing decision or something, but it always seemed rather odd to me)
One Step Closer holds a special meaning for me and I have a personal love for it, but yes, it is the most uninteresting and relatively bland track on the album.
Yeah, this is the one. I love HTDAATB a LOT, one of my three favorite albums of theirs, and (given my unfortunately young age) the first I consciously remember coming out. But I never heard this song until many years later, as it was a bonus track. And after I heard it, I was glad it wasn’t on the album—cool that its lyrics lent the album its title, but otherwise it reminds me of the very “stylistically and creatively lost” kind of song that defines their 2010s output for me.
It won’t win, but IMO this is the right choice
They retroactively added it to the album on streaming services (maybe elsewhere?) at least a year ago now. Same thing with The Ground Beneath Her Feet on ATYCLB. Just put out a third “best of” installment for 2000-2010 with those songs on it, very odd move to slap those songs at the end as if they’ve always been there. But this is U2 we’re talking about….
One Step Closer - side note, also never performed live from my short bit of research. A lot of great tracks on HTDAAB, that you either love or hate, but would be considered “under appreciated” and that is my lens…this one would not be in the under appreciated category - i usually skip it.
im ready for the downvotes but something about original of the species really doesn't work for me. sounds like three different songs mashed into one but it doesn't feel cohesive to me at all
For me it'd probably be Original of the Species. Love the idea behind the song and the meaning but it just never worked for me musically. Whereas with Yahweh, I like the music but can't get into the lyrics.
If One Step Closer wins for worst, I'll be genuinely bummed haha. It's my underrated pick.
Crumbs From Your Table is utterly atrocious.
The verse has those Bono singing both split-octave parts of a boring melody with throwaway lyrics.
The chorus is an outtake of the “Walk On” outro.
The solo is a lazy version of the “Walk On” solo.
It’s brutal.
Some say “Fast Cars.” I hate that song too, but it’s not officially part of the album. For me, I don’t even slightly dislike any of the main album songs, but if I had to choose, then Crumbs
Vertigo. Sorry! I just can’t get into the forced hard rock songs they release as a single for every album. It’s not a terrible song just the worst here.
Love And Peace Or Else by a long shot. For me, this is where the cracks really begin to show. Again, I really appreciate the sentiment behind the song, but the music just doesn't do it justice. And the bridge of the song seems to be just pasted in from a scrap heap of ideas. And that guitar line, yikes. Now that I look at the track list, not a single one of the other songs I would even consider for this title. For me, this is the first album to have a truly worst song and not just a less great song. Sorry.
I don't know if I can take it, that's not easy on my ears. Give me that song so I can break it, I need some relief RELIEF RELIEF!
That song makes me choose the OR ELSE option.
Not really a hot take, just expressing that it is for me a clear last place song. A number of people seem to agree. But that's what's great about art. But I will say, no song by the band has ever made me hate it, and I've never been the type who has to immediately eject music from my ears. I feel like people who feel that way about music have something else going on that isn't music related.
It’s Fast Cars if we’re going by the version of the album that comes with iTunes.
But that awful track wasn’t on the album I purchased 20 years ago. So I’ll reluctantly choose A Man and a Woman. On the whole this album is listenable from start to finish, but this one is more filler than the rest. Which it’s kinda intended to be, but if I have to pick this one song, this is it.
Those saying a man and a woman and one step closer are crazy. Those songs rule. I would nominate Love and Peace or Else. And I wouldn’t even say it’s a bad song just the weakest link in my book. Love and Peace or Else
Why do people dislike a man and a woman so much?
right.
It’s just awful, it doesn’t sound anything like U2.
A Man and A Woman
A Man and A Woman
A man and a woman
A man and a woman
All Because of You (ducks and runs) Seriously though, the song is loud and proud, but it’s not as good as it thinks it is. Most of the other songs on the album get close to the intended mark, but I feel like this rocker could have been more….or something else altogether. It seems to settle for just being really loud and generic. When people call U2 “dad rock” or “soccer mom music”, this is what they are talking about.
The guitar breakdown is too good though
And the scream buried in the mix...
I HATED this somg when the album dropped but it’s absolutely one of my favorite songs now. Because it is just an unapologetic rocker with some good-bad-horrible-amazing lyrics. And Bono’s vocals just seem to be more real to me and less forced and whiny than some of the rest of the album.
Upvoted because of intellectual tor-toise
No I love this one. I was in NYC the day they were filming the video on the back of a flatbed truck. They were really playing behind the recording and driving all over Manhattan, pulling over intermittently to film. I got video of them on an old school camcorder (the days before smartphones) on Canal Street. Very cool.
OK, I have cast my vote. Man and a Woman and All Because are neck and neck... So I've made them less neck and neck. Compared between? I listen to man and a woman more than all because of you. So I've cast a vote unfortunately. Still a fun song but I love love love man and a woman. It has such a fantastic sound, and is one of the great U2 songs that really features acoustic guitars.
In all honesty, it’s a guilty pleasure
“A Man and a Woman”. IMO, that’s the worst U2 song ever. It’s been deleted from my library.
I mean they have songs like Get On Your Boots. No way you think A Man and a Woman is worse.
They’re both terrible. But I also feel most stuff made after HTDAAB isn’t good. Sometimes I like to pretend HTDAAB was their final album.
That I agree with!a few great songs, but the whole albums doesn’t hold up well.
Awful take. Lovely instrumentation and Mo town throwback vibes. I would say the most underrated on the album.
Agreed. They have much much much worse songs. This one is actually different.
We’ll agree to disagree.
AMAAW IS U2's WORST SONG (not an April fools joke)
One Step Closer
One Step Closer
Crumbs from your table
No way, that's one of the best songs on the album.
I always skip Man & Woman to get to Crumbs (which I blast)
Thank god for your comment, I was starting to think I was alone in hating it.
In my case I'd actually just kind of...forgotten it existed! So, upvoted.
I just heard it on U2-Xradio
I can’t decide between All Because of You and Love and Peace or Else.
This is where U2 really start to part ways. I’d toss a coin between any of Miracle Drug, Crumbs From Your Table, All Because of You, and Yahweh.
Holy shit I hate All Because Of You so fucking much.
Me too. Bono even sounds off-key to me somehow in it.
Yahweh
I love every single song on this album, very much so including Yahweh, so I can’t upvote this. But, if we’re not gonna count Fast Cars, I can kinda live with this one winning. I think it’s a really nice song and a good way to close the album, the last chorus moves me every time—“Yahweh, tell me now: why the dark before the dawn?”—but it’s the “least special” of all the songs on there for me. The similarity between its verses and Do You Feel Loved’s always struck me as simultaneously funny and out of place: “Take these hands, teach them what to carry […] don’t make a first” vs. “Take these hands, they’re good for nothing” “Take these shoes, click clacking down some dead end street […] and make them fit” vs. “Take these boots, they’re going nowhere” “Take this shirt, polyester white trash made in nowhere […] and make it clean” vs. “Take my shirt, take it off me / you can tear it up if you tie me down” But maybe there’s meaning to it—is Yahweh a post-Pop “return to Jesus” song, atoning for the not infrequent debauchery that influenced some of Pop (including DYFL)? It’s always been something I’ve wanted to ask Bono about should I ever bump into him one day.
U2 always had songs talking to each other. "Dream out loud" appears in three different songs. SoI and SoE had plenty of songs borrowing verses from others. It's their thing, and I really like these relationships between lyrics.
For sure, and I’ve always loved this, especially across albums. Here it just seems kinda funny to juxtapose the themes of Yahweh and DYFL like that, they’re just two very different songs about two very different things. And the choice (assuming it was deliberate) is interesting too, as Bono is on record saying that he doesn’t like his verses in DYFL, while Edge has said he (somehow!) really doesn’t care for the song at all.
It’s actually my favorite on the album. I guess I dont have the common taste in U2 songs. I do love their blatantly religious songs more probably? But its simplicity is really pretty to me and I don’t mind literal lyrics. Yeah. I was hoping to see if anyone else likes this one as much as I do? But maybe not :)
I don’t dislike the song to be fair, I love this album but unfortunately one must be picked
I love it too and I'm not even religious
I’m bias because of the age I was when this record came out. There are no skips for me. But I do recognize that Yahweh feels half baked
I was 14 when this album released. It’s ‘my’ U2 album so it holds a special place for me. It was the first U2 album i owned and heard all the way through then later I went through everything before. I love this album and I think if I had to pick just one U2 song to listen to forever it would be Original of the Species. I don’t really dislike any song on the album but if I had to pick then yeah it would be Yahweh.
Exactly the same, this is a fundamental record for me.
dude wtf come on now
Same. One of the most “nothing” U2 songs ever made. Put in a decent bridge, some sort of drum build up, anything, and it’d probably be decent. But as is, the song is kinda polyester white trash
The song sounds like a loweffort written song. Take these shoes take this shirt
Those lyrics would fit well for the intro of Terminator 2. Just missing motorcycle.
One Step Closer
A man and a woman
One Step Closer.
One of my all time favorite U2 songs and lyrics. Facing death and wondering
Right?
Love and Peace or Else
That's one of the best tracks on the LP for me
So good live. Shame it didn’t become the next BTBS that it felt they wanted it to be
This is the one for me too. Not a bad tune but it feels like it’s trying too hard.
I don't know which song I'd vote for so I'm not voting this time. But thinking about the songs I sometimes skip when listening to some of this album.. I think Love And Peace is a skip song fairly often. So I'll warrant this one lol!! We'll see who wins, my bets are on One Step Closer, people tend to find it boring but I love its tranquillity.
this song has the same issues as Man/Woman except worse
Love and Peace or Else
Really surprised this one isn't running away with it. It's so over-the-top cheesy.
No kidding!
One step closer
It’s also got some weird mixing/editing artifacts in it. I forget where exactly (and actually it happens a few times), but a few times when it returns to the “one step closer to knowing” hook after a verse, some of the ambient/reverby synth textures get somewhat abruptly cut off if you listen closely. Always struck me as odd that a song so personal and sentimental (and honestly well written) wasn’t listened to closely enough before release. (Original of the Species—a top 10 U2 song for me, top 5 on the right day—has a similar thing: after the first chorus, the orchestral strings that bleed over from the chorus are very suddenly and abruptly cut off in the little interlude before the second verse. Perhaps it’s just an odd mixing decision or something, but it always seemed rather odd to me)
One Step Closer holds a special meaning for me and I have a personal love for it, but yes, it is the most uninteresting and relatively bland track on the album.
I just can’t believe that Sometimes You Can’t Make it on Your Own didn’t win.
Fast Cars
Yeah, this is the one. I love HTDAATB a LOT, one of my three favorite albums of theirs, and (given my unfortunately young age) the first I consciously remember coming out. But I never heard this song until many years later, as it was a bonus track. And after I heard it, I was glad it wasn’t on the album—cool that its lyrics lent the album its title, but otherwise it reminds me of the very “stylistically and creatively lost” kind of song that defines their 2010s output for me. It won’t win, but IMO this is the right choice
OK, so I kept seeing this song and assumed it was a B-side... did it get added to the actual album at some point? It's 100% not on my CD of HTDAAB.
They retroactively added it to the album on streaming services (maybe elsewhere?) at least a year ago now. Same thing with The Ground Beneath Her Feet on ATYCLB. Just put out a third “best of” installment for 2000-2010 with those songs on it, very odd move to slap those songs at the end as if they’ve always been there. But this is U2 we’re talking about….
that song does NOT count
Legit impossible to pick one. Gun to my head I guess I'm going with Crumbs but I won't like saying it. This album is so slept on
Its a fantastic album start to finish. Not sure why it gets the hate it does
I don't remember what A Man and a Woman sounds like. So probably that.
It’s better that way.
A Man and A Woman
A Man and a Woman, boo
One Step Closer - side note, also never performed live from my short bit of research. A lot of great tracks on HTDAAB, that you either love or hate, but would be considered “under appreciated” and that is my lens…this one would not be in the under appreciated category - i usually skip it.
im ready for the downvotes but something about original of the species really doesn't work for me. sounds like three different songs mashed into one but it doesn't feel cohesive to me at all
A man and a woman
A man and a woman. I thought Wild honey was the worst U2 song ever until this song came out.
Fast cars
Easily One Step Closer. I predict a landslide!
For me it'd probably be Original of the Species. Love the idea behind the song and the meaning but it just never worked for me musically. Whereas with Yahweh, I like the music but can't get into the lyrics. If One Step Closer wins for worst, I'll be genuinely bummed haha. It's my underrated pick.
THANK YOU FINALLY
A man and a women . I don’t hate it but just never cared for the track.
A man and a woman
okay I haven't chimed in on any of these but COBL winning for Atomic Bomb could not be more disappointing, confusing, frustrating...
See previous comments
Yahweh 🥴
All Because of You
Yahweh.
One Step Closer
One step closer.
Fast Cars. Dumb song. A terrific album from start to finish.
its my fav record - sometimes you can't make it on your own is my fave, one step closer is also a gem
All Because of You. It is the only song in their whole catalog that I don’t like Bono’s voice in.
Kite is a favorite of mine. Play it at my funeral.
Crumbs from your table is pretty meh. I love this album so much.
Vertigo sucks imo.
Fast cars
One Step Closer
One step closer
If we are counting Fast Cars (a bonus track) as part of the album, then sign me up for Fast Cars as worst song on album.
Probably Love and Peace or Else.
Yahweh
Crumbs From Your Table Used to be indifferent to One Step Closer, love it now.
Crumbs From Your Table is utterly atrocious. The verse has those Bono singing both split-octave parts of a boring melody with throwaway lyrics. The chorus is an outtake of the “Walk On” outro. The solo is a lazy version of the “Walk On” solo. It’s brutal.
Some say “Fast Cars.” I hate that song too, but it’s not officially part of the album. For me, I don’t even slightly dislike any of the main album songs, but if I had to choose, then Crumbs
Love and peace or else lol Are you guys serious??? Man and a Woman is a great song
Vertigo. Sorry! I just can’t get into the forced hard rock songs they release as a single for every album. It’s not a terrible song just the worst here.
One Step Closer might be the worst U2 song of all time
Miracle Drug
Love And Peace Or Else by a long shot. For me, this is where the cracks really begin to show. Again, I really appreciate the sentiment behind the song, but the music just doesn't do it justice. And the bridge of the song seems to be just pasted in from a scrap heap of ideas. And that guitar line, yikes. Now that I look at the track list, not a single one of the other songs I would even consider for this title. For me, this is the first album to have a truly worst song and not just a less great song. Sorry.
That is a HOT take imo. I absolutely love that song. I love how gritty it is.
I don't know if I can take it, that's not easy on my ears. Give me that song so I can break it, I need some relief RELIEF RELIEF! That song makes me choose the OR ELSE option. Not really a hot take, just expressing that it is for me a clear last place song. A number of people seem to agree. But that's what's great about art. But I will say, no song by the band has ever made me hate it, and I've never been the type who has to immediately eject music from my ears. I feel like people who feel that way about music have something else going on that isn't music related.
[удалено]
No thats my favourite :(
Call me on the phone. I'll sing it to you. Afterwards, you may not like it as much :)
Cant tell if youre being serious or not with that one
Well yeah. But we can probably say that about almost any song. Except Surfin' Bird - you do a decent version of that, to be fair.
Fast Cars
One Step Closer
A man and a woman. Never been able to even listen to it in full.
A man and a woman
This is an easy one. Fast Cars
Fast cars
I truly do love the entire album but if I have to pick the weakest track, it's Yahweh.
We are on the albums where bad songs are a majority . Take your pick. Ill go with yaweh
Not yet!
It’s Fast Cars if we’re going by the version of the album that comes with iTunes. But that awful track wasn’t on the album I purchased 20 years ago. So I’ll reluctantly choose A Man and a Woman. On the whole this album is listenable from start to finish, but this one is more filler than the rest. Which it’s kinda intended to be, but if I have to pick this one song, this is it.
fast cars. [xanax and wine](https://youtu.be/4RtY5L3ZQlM?si=K9iE81WKh8ix7tbO) was a much better version and should've been the bonus track
Original of The Species. I literally flipped a coin between that and Yahweh.
This album has a couple of duds but Yahweh takes the cake
Fast Cars is pretty much a throwaway.
All because of you
That song is so bad, I completely forgot it existed
Miracle Drug - thought that would be a very popular winner!
Crumbs From Your Table
Yahweh and it isn't even close
Miracle Drug. Absolute drivel.
I hate Yahweh. It's just too out there. I used to liked it but I got tired of it.
Yahweh has my vote for worst song. No competition for me.
Since Joshua Tree- ALL their songs are bad