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  1. No it's a poem. By someone (can't remember the name) and the filled the air with some tunes. That's all...


  2. Although 'drunken chicken/america' is fairly bad as a 'song', it is quite good as a poem (which is what it is) and so should not be listed as their worst song ever.
    Especially as they didn't write it themselves.
    I like how Bono changes his voice on it.
  3. Originally posted by dieder:[..]

    No it's a poem. By someone (can't remember the name) and the filled the air with some tunes. That's all...


    It is the poem America by Alan Ginsberg. I love the poem but the U2 version not so much. It was included in the same booklet as Ginsberg's most famous poem, Howl.
  4. Playboy Mansion has got to be worst!


  7. The lyrics capture the consumerist zeitgeist of the 90s.
    The song could be better executed though, but calling it their worst song ever is rough.
  8. Originally posted by TheCowboy:[..]

    I've always loved One Step Closer. That song sticks out on the album to me much moreso than say, Original of the Species or Miracle Drug.


    omfg i know everyones got their own opinion but i cant believe u dlislike those 2 songs, i love HTDAAB from start to finish, when i 1st heard zooropa i thought WTF , casue at the time id only heard their latest 2 albums and joshua tree, but now i love it. Bono refers to songs as scents, well if thats true playboy mansion smells like vomet that has been left in a warm room for too long.

  9. ...in your opinion lol - it's a bit much to approach a subjective issue with objective statements...


  10. Ok, I haven't heard the song in a year, so I decided to have a listen to it and Miami again to see which one is the worst and if it is really as bad as some people say.

    Firstly, the lyrics are good, some of the better ones on Pop, eg. "If Surgery, the fountain of youth..And talk shows, confession" , "Chance is a kind of religion, Where you're damned for plain hard luck"
    all perfectly capture (and sarcastically condemn) the consumerist America of the 90s (and now incidentally)

    The way it's sung and the electro guitar also contribute to this atmosphere, the chorus isn't half bad either. However like most of Pop, the concepts are usually sound, though the execution mightn't be there (due to the rushed production). In this instance I don't like the ending much, with the 'there will they be' singing, should have left it out.

    In the final scheme of things however while it may not be a great song, it is arguably a good (or at the very least a passable) song, and calling it out as the worst song ever is a bit OTT.

    Miami is another story however...Q didn't include 'The Playboy Mansion' on its list of "Ten Terrible Records by Great Artists."

    And another glaring omission from these lists is anything from Boy, I just listened to the remastered version. It's definitely not a debut in the vein of Hot Fuss, his singing/lyrics are awful on much of the album, although the instrumentation (especially the bass/drums) are surprisingly good on some songs ie the intro to Into the Heart, Twighlight.
    It seems Adam and Larry had their contributions toned down quite a bit on later records.
  11. Originally posted by vanquish:[..]

    And another glaring omission from these lists is anything from Boy, I just listened to the remastered version. It's definitely not a debut in the vein of Hot Fuss, his singing/lyrics are awful on much of the album, although the instrumentation (especially the bass/drums) are surprisingly good on some songs ie the intro to Into the Heart, Twighlight.
    It seems Adam and Larry had their contributions toned down quite a bit on later records.


    Woah, I have to wholeheartedly disagree with you here, mate. If you look at the lyrics in the context of the theme of the album as a whole, and take into consideration Bono's age--late teens when he wrote the songs--I don't think they can be called awful at all. It seems to captures that innocence perfectly. The songs definitely aren't cohesive like they are on JT for example, but I don't think that's what the album is trying to do. It's Bono's self-contradicting one-liners that establish the basis for his more complex lyrics later on. Lyrically, I think it's a great introduction to the band.
  12. Originally posted by AllBecauseOfU2:[..]

    Woah, I have to wholeheartedly disagree with you here, mate. If you look at the lyrics in the context of the theme of the album as a whole, and take into consideration Bono's age--late teens when he wrote the songs--I don't think they can be called awful at all. It seems to captures that innocence perfectly. The songs definitely aren't cohesive like they are on JT for example, but I don't think that's what the album is trying to do. It's Bono's self-contradicting one-liners that establish the basis for his more complex lyrics later on. Lyrically, I think it's a great introduction to the band.


    I thought the lyrics and singing were quite sloppy, sentimentalist and childish. In many cases the songs were quite good before Bono started singing, which sounds rather unrestrained and outdated today.

    For example Into the Heart, starts off brilliant with a kinda "Luminous Times' vibe, and Enoesque atmospherics. But while in their later career the song would evolve into something as majestic or grand as the intro, on the album we instead have Bono caterwauling "Into the heart/ of a child/ I stay awhile/ But I can't go there" for four verses with no real variation.

    I agree with this reviewer:
    "most of the lyrics on “Boy”, lack any real focus or substance and seem abstract. Bono had yet to develop his complex and deep songwriting skills, something that would become prominent in later albums."

    Perhaps the album was an impressive debut back in 1980, today however it (or October) must rank near the bottom of the U2 albums.

    While I agree that the lyrics fit the context, sometimes they are quite silly and other times half serious.
    It feels like the Bpy's theme of innocence/naviety/adolescence seems to be determined by Bono's songwriting abililities at the time. ie he couldn't write more serious, insightful or cohesive lyrics so they decided on a theme that would match what he could write at the time.

    Again I must stress that I have no nostalgia of the album, it wasn't the first U2 album I listened to, I first listened to it 4/5 years ago and so don't have the same sentimentalism towards it that others with more favourable views of the album may have.

    I also don't feel the need to enshrine everything U2 has ever recorded, they may be the best band in the world but it doesn't mean that everything they touched turned to gold.