Unforgettable Single

10 Aug 2012541
Over on our Discography page you'll find dozens and dozens of singles the band have released over the years.

Starting with U23 way back in 1979 - Out of Control, Stories for Boys, Boy-Girl - the trail leads all the way to 'I'll Go Crazy', third single from No Line On The Horizon, in 2009.

Maybe you'd forgotten Lemon was a single. Or you've never listened to Fire. Or you just recently discovered Please. But there'll be a U2 single that's special to you in some way - the one that comes on the radio or arrives unnoticed when your iPod's on shuffle and suddenly a moment in your life comes back to you.

What was the U2 single that stopped you in your tracks - and still does ?

It might depend on where you were when you first heard it, what was happening in your life, how you first got into the band?

Remind yourself of the history of the band's single releases and look through the promotional videos on this page in our Video Gallery (set aside a week or two for this) -  find the one that reminds you of a time and place in your life.

In the comments below tell us why this song is special for you. Is there a story behind it - an anecdote from your life ?

What brings the track alive for you? What was happening to you at the time you first heard it that means you'll never get over this single?

We have prizes for the best, the funniest, the most moving or surprising entries. Add them in the comments below. Did we mention that ? (Don't forget - we're not talking about any U2 track but about those released as singles...)


Comments
541
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SuperSono
Sometimes you can't make it on your own
I still get goosebumps when i hear at the words "And it's you when I look in the mirror, And it's you when I don't pick up the phone, Sometimes you can't make it on your own", i don't want to sound pretentious, but is almost like if it was writien form my Dad, when insted it was for Bono's. It amazes me how music can be so universal, this feelings are so wide spread, we share the same ideas, the same sentiment, even the same fears, it adds a whole new meaning to the statement "we are all created equal"... in proves we are all ONE... When ever i lip sync to this song, specialy in the: "I know that we don't talk I'm sick of it all Can - you - hear - me - when - I - Sing, you're the reason I sing You're the reason why the opera is in me... Where are we now? I've still got to let you know A house doesn't make a home Don't leave me here alone..." I cant do anything but cry, thinking of my father... this song will always create a feeling of "conection" as it expresses a lot of who he is, and how our relationship works. Thank you U2 for all the memories... thank you U2.com team for this forum...
oldschoollt
A Celebration
Without a doubt one of the most over looked U2 songs that comes out of the War days. It ROCKS!
Darlynne
One
This song changed my life. I am now 55 years old and have heard a LOT of music. But "One" is the most perfect, all in one, everything I've ever wanted to say song that I have ever heard.....EVER. I think of it and sing it everyday and it always makes me a better person!
KittyCatClaudine
POP MUZIK
New York, London, Paris, Munich - Everybody's talkin 'bout POP MUZIK!! Danced me wee Irish Arse off to U2's remake. Still my Favorite!!
leesie222
Beautiful Day
This isn't my favourite U2 song, and I don't think it's even my favourite single - but Beautiful Day is the only single that I can pin to a certain moment in time. When ATYCLB was released, I was in grade six, vaguely aware that a band called U2 existed and happily listening to whatever pop songs came on the radio. I took part in an after-school dance class and our instructor came up with a choreography to Beautiful Day (parts of which I still remember to this day!) By this point I knew that U2 had written the song, but I had absolutely no grasp on the scope and scale of their previous work. A few months later, I presented my mother with a meagre list of birthday and Christmas presents I wanted that year. Looking for more ideas, she suggested I "ask" for a CD. I agreed, but I wasn't involved in enough current music to know which bands or artists I should "get into". I don't know if my mom remembered the dance, or if she randomly pulled it out of thin air, but for some reason she bought me All That You Can't Leave Behind. Within a month or two, I had the entire album memorized. I brought the CD to classroom parties at school (my twelve-year-old handwriting still has my name written on the sleeve in permanent marker- oh, the horror!), I listened to the album on my discman during roadtrips and I sang the songs constantly in the shower. Since then I've acquired the rest of their studio albums, some live albums and concert videos, and been fortunate (and crazy!) enough to see them five times in concert. But through all of this, Beautiful Day is truly the song that started it all off for me. When my eleven-year-old self first danced to Beautiful Day way back in elementary school I don't think I had any idea what the song and the band would eventually mean to me.
cboggsu2
Where The Streets Have No Name
Watching the movie Rattle And Hum at the theater, the song Bad came on (which itself is an amazing song in this movie) and the whole movie was in black and white, then Streets came on and the movie went to color, the song starts as the band walks onstage and goose bumps came out for me listening to this song as the crowd goes crazy as the lights come on at Sun Devil Stadium. I am in awe and memorized by the song, it has 24 years since then and I still get goose bumps rewatching the movie or listening to the song
BmoreU2Fan
Boy/War/Joshua Tree
I cannot pinpoint a song but these 3 albums bring back so many memories. Boy and War, I wore the cassettes out while living in Japan. Johsua Tree, I suggest you drive across America crank this album, drive through Joshua Tree National Forrest, UNREAL. I have worn out all my Cassettes, CD's and I am sure I will wear out my Itunes. U2 takes me places I have never been! Thanks!!!!
Stormatic
Vertigo
Never have I been more excited by a single from U2. Being a fan since 1993 this was U2 with a harder edge (no pun intended), not many layers, but 100% fire, attitude and soul. This was a single that grabbed new fans, (the iPod generation) and injected a rocket fuel into the vains of older fans that we haven't had in quite a while. This wasn't like "Beautiful Day" where U2 were going back to their roots, this was something different and exciting. Bono's melody and lyrics have a urgency about them which ripped a hole in the time space continuum as his voice is sounding like he is in his early 20's Larry is constantly pushing the song forward like a freight train Adam's bass is adding a thumping bottom end to the song which separates the men from the boys. The Edge is playing that kickass riff, that hook that spins around your head like a tornado. This was the song that I listened to on repeat, that I told my friends about, that I heard on the radio, that I saw on TV. It was the single that you could not ignore, this song demanded attention. That is why it is my favorite single.
Saradactyl
MLK
I used to listen to it on my Walkman every night before I went to sleep. When they opened with it at the 1986 Amnesty International Conspiracy of Hope concert, I cried. Prior to that, I had always laughed at those silly, hysterical girls in the old clips of the Beatles. To this day, it gives me chills and I'm so happy they still play it live.
eweto
One
A very special song that conjures up emotions in me that not too many songs do. Sublime, emotive, descriptive and passionate, but most of all beautiful.
danic
A Day Without Me
Dublin 1980 was pretty crap..hanging out in Conno's house cos his old man had put a dart board in their spare bedroom..we liked their gaff cos they were abit exotic,i think his mam was foreign..he was the youngest in his family and his sisters were alot older..they had the luxury of that spare room where we hung out,listened to LPs and singles..ska was our big thing-madness,the specials,bad manners and the selecter..somewhere in his pile of singles i spotted a picture of a train station..it looked like Blackrock to me..he told me they were an Irish band- his sister's fella had got the single for him.He stook it on the record player and i remember it as clearly as yesterday..i was blown away..ska was history for me..i had no idea of its heavy subject matter back then but it was exactly how i felt about me,my ego or lack of at the time,dublin,the eighties.Later i found out a relation of my old mans was the engineer on Boy and I got a signed postcard of the October album pic. which he was working on.By that stage I had played Boy til it was scratched to pieces..the memories come flooding back-those colored discs,i became crazy about the B side version of Twilight,I'm sure it drove the ol neighbours crazy too!!my first big gig at 14 or 15 in the Phoenix Park on a beautiful day(Eamonn Couglan winning the World 5000 m as announced by Fanning)..on down the many years til i was bringing my own girls(giving them a break from JLS n One D)to see a Dublin gang play a small gig in 360 at Croker..Dublin is very different now,as am I,as I'm sure are the band but those songs still send a tingle down the spine imbued as they are with so many memories,intertwined with many experiences,people n places..I'm kind of glad that black n white pic of the train station prompted me to listen to that song..a train station..appropriate!i hopped on and I'm still sharing that journey.Cheers!
robertito525i
One/Sometimes
My father passed away last Friday August 24th and these two songs that written for Bono's father always reminded me of my relationship with my father. I've felt a kinship with him, trying to please the person you look up to and you can never do it. But, you do hear from other family members that they are proud of what you have accomplished but can never tell you.
stentboy
Where The Streets Have No Name
In 2006 I had a triple bypass heart surgery. I never had a heart attack but the 10 stents(little wires that open clogged arteries) collapsed. They were the defective Cordis drug indusing stent. But I also had my left rotator cuff torn and I notice in NYC they play music and watch soap opera's in the OR. Anyway when I had my heart surgery I was freaking out because I was a drummer and I thought this is it . So the nurse gives you a valium and a benedril to calm you down and then your put on a pile of wood and the next thing I hear is Bono singing to me and it's not the drugs because the IV 's and tubes weren't set up and those opening chords and when Larry and Adam kick in all is well in the world and live that is the greatest song ever! Robbie
snoopy71
Out Of Control
Definitely "Out Of Control"....the first record i bought from U2 in a little record store....I don't know why but his Song is for me the Best.....the Greatest....
wau2freak
The Ground Beneath Her Feet
Not technically ever released as a single...this song seems to stick in my head. I was in St. Stephen's Green Shopping Centre, the year I studied abroad and this soundtrack album had just been released. I popped into HMV (I think) and they had headphones out to listen to the album. As this track opened with it's haunting descending notes I actually found my eyes starting to water, it was so beautiful! There are many other songs by U2, the give me the same feelings and chills, but for some reason this song came to mind. So, I guess it's not a song that was ever released as a single, and I'm not sure they've ever played it live...but it's a single I would pick!
norwaylad
New Year's Day
Living in Paris in The 80 ths , New years Day was my favourite selection on the local cafe juke box , often to the annoyance of the older Parisiennes. it got me through many lonely days and nights.
Steve Slocum
Gloria
That riff edge plays hooked me - still does!
scooby555sti
One
I just love this song, i never get tired of hearing it .... The 1st time i heard it, i can rember where i was to this day .... But there are many more U2 songs that i like also .... One awesome band, i can't wate for the next Tour.
Liamstar
I Will Follow
Love it, love it, love it even after all these years! Seen U2 in Glasgow Scotland every tour they have played, Dublin once, New York, Las Vegas and last summer at the Sun Life stadium,Miami on June 29th. I have so many I love including the Unforgettable fire, Mysterious Ways, Vertigo, Love and Peace or else and Sometimes you can make it on your own, this one gets me everytime, so beautiful!
FrenchGirl
Stay (faraway, so close)
This song is like a diamond lost in a bag of trash! Well, at least that's what I thought the first time I heard it ;-) Since then Zooropa has grown on me, but still, Stay is forever "my" special song! Each time it comes to my ear, my heart skips a beat, I take a deep breath and while the air comes out of my lungs I smile and can't wait for the next gem I'll find in an unexpected place... My sincere thanks to the band for that.
tpatsch121
I Will Follow
1981 - saw the I Will Follow video on MTV and loved the song, enough to go out and buy the Boy album. I've been following ever since!! My all-time favorite U2 song is BAD ... the best song ever!!
rweb
Hold me, thrill me, kiss me, kill me.
My heroes created the best soundtrack of all the movies about my favorite superhero. What else?
Conakry
Bad (live from Wide Awake in America)
The intro gives me goose bumps and the way Bono sings this song and the way he sings the oooh wooh part, with so much feeling. I know U2 from the War album and have all their albums. And offcourse I like so much songs they made but Bad is to me their best song. Thanks guys for you music!!!
fever
The Fly
When I was in middle school and junior high, I was a devout U2 fan. This was in the 80s, when synthetic pop music ruled the airwaves. I would proclaim to people that U2 were brilliant in their simplicity, that they were four musicians on stage that didn't need any flash, either in their image or their musical style. Then The Fly came out. I was in high school driving in my car when I first heard it come on the radio, this "brand new U2 song". I was stunned. I had to pull over and stop and just listen. My musical world had been turned upside down. It was industrial, beautiful, trashy, poetic, processed, artful, and utterly unique. The old U2 was suddenly gone. This was a new era. That the band would embrace electronica, samples and loops went against so much of what I thought U2 were. I soon after saw U2's new image on the cover of Rolling Stone, with Bono in his fly shades. Who were these people? It was exciting, and at the same time a little unsettling. This song to me crystalised change: change for the band, change for the world, and changes for me in my life. This song challenged me to go beyond the comfort zone, to branch out musically, and to embrace the unknown. In a way, this song helped change my life and formed who I am as a person today. I will never forget the first time I heard the sound of "four guys chopping down the Joshua Tree". I still get chills to this day when I hear this song, as it takes me back to the crossroads of my formative years. Thank you, U2.
shaunblond
"Rejoice" live at Anaheim
Not a single, but the night I attended the U2 show in Anaheim on June 18, 2011, Bono announced that Aung San Suu Kyi had just been released in Burma, and the band played a little piece of music as Bono sang "Rejoice!!!!!!!!!!" with the audience. Beautiful ... Gave me chills ...
The_ArachNerd
WAR!
In 1982 I was first introduced to U2 by the cool skater kids at church camp in the form of the WAR album. We were just hanging around the concrete steps of the dorms listening to a small boombox blaring songs like "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "New Years Day". I remember being awestruck by the intensity and rawness of the music as well as the honesty of the lyrics. Their punk sensibility was gritty and in-your-face, and it was politically charged, spiritually vibrant, and unmistakeably real. It changed my life. I still get goose-bumps when I hear the song "40". What a great album!
xXpriJenkerXx
New Year's Day
It was a couple of years ago and I was in my dad's car. We were on a road trip. Then this song comes up, and it was so amazing, and once it was over I asked him what song that was and who did it. It was New Year's Day by U2. So once we got home, i bought it, and then I started buying different U2 albums. This is their best single in my opinion, and it served as a gateway to my obsessive behaviour of the world's greatest rock band.
shrike
Stay
God sends his Angels down to empathize with us, with one or two becoming human and suffering alongside us. It encapsulates my hybrid Protestant/Catholic upbringing, my philosophical transformation to a more Buddhist sensibility, possibly a connection with Bono and the band. The truth is that we are all angels hitting the ground.
cottonpot
Kite/momemt of surrender/one tree hill
Hard to pick just one. These three, hands down have deep meaning for me. The lyrics resonate with a number of events in my life. Also, moment of surrender live when bono speaks of our little green plantet spinning aroungbthe sun..and then he dedicates the song to those people who are trying to hold on and not fall off.....inspirational that!
In God's Country
I was already a fan of U2 when Joshua Tree was released. But when this record it the street, I was blown away. The entire Mount Olympus atmosphere with Bono's wail was breath taking. The energy transcended anything I had heard before. In God's Country stirs my soul because of my faith and how much I am awed by the paint brush of God's work and the lyrics of this song strike such a chord in the very center of my being. The Edge plays raw, searing guitar riffs that just course through the human spirit and leave you longing....longing...for peace, for harmony, for nature and for more U2 genius. When I hear this song I am moved to that place where all U2 fans go...a place of great passion and ethereal wonder. And there is simply no better band on the planet to pull that off.
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