U2's 40 greatest songs – ranked!
40. North and South of the River (1997)
Bafflingly left off Pop – it was released on the B-side of Staring at the Sun – North and South of the River is audibly better than swathes of that album: a low-key excursion into something resembling trip-hop, replete with breakbeat and lo-fi orchestral samples and particularly yearning Bono vocal.
39. Vertigo (2004)
If All That You Can’t Leave Behind returned U2 to something like their pre-Achtung Baby selves, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb’s roaring lead single took them back even further: inspired once more by the Sex Pistols and Buzzcocks, it stripped their sound to its elemental punk roots: one guitar, bass, drums.
38. In a Little While (2001)
Once they had shaken off their youthful obsession with Siouxsie and the Banshees and Joy Division, U2 seldom sounded like anyone other than U2. In a Little While, however, has a 70s Rolling Stones feel to it. Subsequently covered by both Hanson and William Shatner, it’s a lovely, loose ode to enduring romance.
37. Out of Control (1980)
U2’s debut single is very much a product of its era, further bedevilled by the difficult recording session at which the band’s own technical limitations were revealed. Re-recorded for 1980’s Boy, however, Out of Control shone, its blazing youthful power fully revealed itself.
36. Sleep Like a Baby Tonight (2014)
The contents of Songs of Innocence were overshadowed by the – oddly enough, not everyone wanted a U2 album to automatically appear in
