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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bee4everhappy
A Beautiful Day
Without knowing the meaning and the exact lyrics of this song, the title and the magnificent music just captured me and my friend. So we decided that A Beautiful Day was OUR SONG during our wedding day 10 years ago in August. After it had been extremely bad weather the whole week, the weathergods decided to take away some dark clouds while we were driving our rented Corvette '58 to the church, and the sun came through. I had asked the pianist if he could play the music of 'A Beautiful Day' from U2, when my father walked me up to the altar. Needless to say that tears were flowing , tears from happiness, emotions, and excitement and we have had A Beautiful (but most of all unforgettable wedding) Day. There are not that many songs that give me chills, but up till today, whenever I hear A Beautiful Day on radio, tv or whatsoever, the volume goes up to the maximum and in my mind I'm experiencing our wedding day (our Beautiful Day) all over again. My husband surprised me with a magnificent honeymoon to Africa, which I never expected or could have imagined that I would ever do in my life, so the planes that are flying over Bono's head in the video of A Beautiful day bring back memories that I will never never never forget, especially when we were on the airport waiting for our journey to begin. Thank you Bono, Adam and the rest of the band for this BEAUTIFUL song!
joy2114
Beautiful Day
"All that you can't leave behind" came out at about the time my husband passed away. The songs from this album helped me deal with so much! I still love thes songs so much, but Beautiful Day always reminds me to look at the bright side of life.
jimbojags
picture this
joshua tree tour... 1987 ..@ murrayfield stadium .. edinburgh.. scotland.,,, lovely warm summer day .. my view from around 50 metres from the middle of the stage was red sky at night.. the open track music came on ... where the streets have no name ... on walked the edge ,adam & larry .. & then bono & then the place eruppted .. im now 45 years old & have seen U2 in the famous glasgow barrowlands & elsewhere many times & have seen bowie , the who , stones all the superstars but that song on that day .. awsome what a gig ......................... everytime i hear it i stop .. hairs on the back of my neck stand up & i go back to that day .... thankyou for the memories guys .. glasgow always thiks of u as one of your own.
mootjuhhh
All I Want
I don't know why, but i'm crying every time i hear that song. I love it.
Amyjkrebs
Bad (1992 Hartford, CT) Stay (2011 Chica
I was 15 years old when I first saw U2 perform. When they began "Bad" I swear no one in the audience made a sound, all I could hear was Bono's haunting voice belt out the words. That moment has stuck with me and since then I have always used that experience to describe what music should be. Fast forward 20 years and I'm standing with my 10 year old son in Soldier field waiting to see his favorite band, U2. This time it was "Stay (Far Away, So Close) that got under my skin. That has always been my favorite song by the band and to be able to stand there in that stadium and hear Bono actually sing it brought tears to my eyes. The fact that I was able to share the experience with my son and to give him those memories made it even more special. For him it was "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", I swear he was born singing that song and he lit up like a firefly when it began to play. Thank you U2 for being a part of my family.
nickrips56
With or Without You
16 years old coming of age I saw this on MTV in 1990 and raced up stairs to play it on the album (that my dad had bought in 1987) and cried with joy at the power. No song has ever had the same reaction before and since.
StephenT
Where the Streets have No name
The Sydney Olympic stadium during the Vertigo world tour 2006. At the end of the song, Bono paused .... "did you feel that" he said. It was the most moving song I have ever seen performed. I had goosebumps. When you understand the song .... it's just so beautiful. The film clip, shot atop an LA shop at a busy intersection, is the only film clip I have never gotten sick of watching. Love it.
TimDObelbower
Love is Blindness
I'm not sure if this was a single-and it's a toss up between this and Stay(Far away. so close) I love the way these boys end their albums-with a nod, a prayer or a plea to the Almighty. When I began to understand the all-reaching scope of grace, this song made more sense to me. "Take the money,Honey. Blindness" This line marked me. Of course I don't deserve it-and can't begin to grasp the scope of Love-God's grace! It is beyond my the limits of my finite mind-but my heart feels it-in a parked car, in a crowded street-the cold steel. It's the way God woos up-and sometimes Love feels and is like complete brokenness. I love these boys-and love that they love Our Father
onewire
One (+Stay video)
Although I became a U2 fan after listening to "The Unforgettable Fire" album, in 1991, I was unemployed, almost broke, had moved back in with my parents and was sleeping on the floor when I 1st heard: "Is it getting better? Or do you feel the same? Will it make it easier on you, now you got someone to blame?" Those lyrics sounded like I was being directly addressed. The chord change at "then you make me crawl" resonated. I had "bottomed out" emotionally and spiritually that Fall/Winter. Then I saw U2 live in concert that Spring, and I knew everything was going to be OK. U2, One, and Achtung Baby basically saved my life and carried me through a dark period. Then the "Stay (Faraway, So Close)" video was released, and the image of guardian angels restored me spiritually all the way through to the present day. "One" is special because it always reminds me that it is in the darkest hour that the light will shine the brightest.
alexandraackerlyons
With or Without You
I was nine years old when "Joshua Tree" came out. I wasn't allowed to watch MTV, but would sneak it in occasionally. I remember seeing the video for the first time and thinking Bono was the sexiest thing ever (not that I knew what sexy was, but it was the first time I ever had those thoughts). I immediately bought the album on cassette tape and played it over and over, igniting my life-long love of Bono and U2. It may have been my first but I now own every album.
debilaw
The Unforgettable Fire
I bought the album (and I do mean album, because I bought it on vinyl and still have it) when I was fifteen with money from my first job because I liked the song Pride (in the name of love), but The Unforgettable Fire just touched my heart and soul in a way I can't explain. This song just made me fall in love with U2. Actually every song on this album is amazing. After The Unforgettable Fire I bought all of their other albums, and the The Unforgettable Fire was the first concert I saw, for my sixteenth birthday, in Austin, Texas. It's something I will never forget.
drowl
One
I was sitting in a bar having a bourbon. The bar band was U2. I couldn't believe that were playing this small room. They sounded great. But then they played a song I had never heard. "We have to carry each other." I woke from my dream. Later that year U2 released Achtung Baby -- and I learned the name of the song was "One".
jackattack
Gloria
Aged 14, in the middle of a hot Adelaide summer I went to a New Years Eve party & the album (yes a vinyl album) on constant rotation was Under a Blood Red Sky. So began my 27 year (& counting) love affair with U2. Every time I hear Gloria I remember that night, that time of my life as a teenage girl, and the beginning of my obsession with Bono.
angiebabe
with or without you
Heard this for the first time when i was 12 i found the Joshua tree in my dads record collection and that was that i was hooked, i'm 37 now and i still stop and listen when i hear it, just love it .... and i too said its to be played at my funeral know it sounds gloomy but its been noted.
504jumper
Where The Streets Have No Name
My father died of cancer when I was in high school. I was a sophomore and although we weren’t getting along up until he got sick, I thought he would beat his illness. He didn’t and I took it badly. I lost everything. I got into a lot of trouble in school and with the law. I had a bit of a breakdown and a scared the hell out of one of my best friends. A year later, The Joshua Tree came out and after hearing “Where The Streets Have No Name” really touched me. That song put to words and music what I was feeling. I went to the show with my friends and when the band sung that song, I felt so filled up with the music it made me forget how sad I was. Years later, when Zoo TV came to the Oakland, California I actually got to speak with Bono for a few minutes after the show. We followed his limousine back to the Pan Pacific Hotel in San Francisco. I managed to stop him as he was headed inside and he stopped to talk with me. He asked me if I would like an autograph and I said yes. He asked me if I had a pen and I said no. He said no problem and signaled to his driver who one. He signed my ticket and my concert tee that I was wearing. I told him about my dad and about what WTSHNN meant to me. I told him I know that was not what the song was about but that’s what it meant to me. He told me he lost his mother when he was in school, too, and he understood how I felt. He thanked me for telling him my story and gave me hug. It was one of the best days of my life. We shook hands and he went back to his hotel. Whenever I listen to that song, I think about my dad and those few minutes with Bono and it makes me feel good.
Harald Schieber
i still haven't found what I'm looking f
That was the single most touching title for me. When I came to know it, I think it was 1985, it touched me deeply, because it was exactly what I was feeling. I was going to become a Lutheran Minister, and I became one and still am, but unfortunately "You know I believe it, but i still haven't found what I'm looking for". Although I have to admit, that I still not really know, what I am looking for. But this one is playing in my head ever since. Regards, Harald
Chrisvertigo
Bad
First fell in love with "Bad" hearing it live at BandAid way back , but it has become extra special for me since then - in 1998 I had a rockclimbing fall (three days after my honeymoon) that left me in a coma for 4 weeks (1998), and "Bad" became THE song that I clung to during the next few years of recovery... And to this day, as soon as it starts playing, tears come to my eyes and I remember the whole journey, recovery, my wife's pain/hope/love throughout, the subsequent trials and tribulations... "I'm wide awake/I'm not sleeping..." Still means so much to me - my kids know it as "Daddy's song", and it holds a very special place in my heart! Another powerful song for me is "Vertigo" - from 2008 till 2012 we ran a business taking a mobile rockclimbing tower + extreme air attraction (have a look at www.vertigotas.com.au) to shows/fairs/schools/events, etc - and the name of our business was "Vertigo"! My kids and I already pumped out "Vertigo" LOUDLY and knew it as our "dancing song", so when we took up the business it all seemed so perfect!! We aren't operating Vertigo anymore - costs too high, mostly because as a legacy of the aforementioned climbing fall I have a slight vision impairment, so it was unsafe for me to tow Vertigo (10m trailer, 2.7 tonnes!), which meant paying staff loooong hours as we travelled all over Tasmania with it... I'm still gutted about not operating Vertigo anymore - looking for a buyer at present ($65K o.n.o. if anyone out there is interested!)... Thing is, though, that pretty much EVERY U2 song I've heard through the years is linked to some special event or other in my life... I'm 43, and have been following the band religiously since early teenage years, culminating in FINALLY seeing them live in Sydney last year for the 360 degree tour - and when they played both "Bad" and "Vertigo" (I'd requested them via email, explaining my links to both songs) it felt like they were playing them for me especially! WORDS CANNOT DO JUSTICE TO HOW THAT FELT FOR ME, LET ALONE AS TO HOW ABSOLUTELY AMAZING THE WHOLE CONCERT WAS!!!!!!!!! ... Bit of a long-winded rave, but there you go - as far as I'm concerned, these guys are without a doubt THE BEST BAND IN THE WORLD, and have been for a loooong time! Cheers...
i
the fly
16 weeks of bryan adams at number 1 with 'everything i do i do for you', was enough to make me want to leave the uk. then U2 release a new single, i buy it think its awesome - so does everyone else- it goes stright to number 1 and the the charts are restored to a normality. God Bless THE FLY.
Machisen
Where the Streets Have No Name
The song that gave me chills when I first heard it, and still does: Where the Streets Have No Name. I love the way Bono will often start it out kneeling, quoting a verse or phrase from the Psalms. I was especially touched to see the song performed on PBS--Bono had just attended his father's funeral before this concert--the song instantly took on a deeper meaning.
eriklefstad
The Sweetest Thing
I was a poor student back in 1998, so I can clearly remember that winter evening I treated myself to the new single from my favorite band and a six pack of "Julebrus" (Lit. "Christmas Soda.") Christmas was around the corner, which meant that I had a couple of exams looming ahead of me. I took a welcome break from studying, opened the first bottle and inserted the highly anticipated CD-single into the player. I must have played that song at least twenty times in a row. It was bittersweet, elegant and totally irresistible. I also like the original version, even if/because it is a bit rough compared to the reworked gem I brought home with me. The video is funny and the irony of the 90’s works better here than anything from the POP-era. (At least when you look at it in retrospective.) The timing was crucial: After the somewhat disappointing album POP, I decided that they were back on track and that their next album would be worth waiting for. I can’t recollect whether I was suffering from any bouts of unrequited love or not at the time, but that doesn’t matter anyway. Their music is more important than such trivial matters.
colryan
Amazing Grace - June 18, 2011
We took our children to 360 for their very first U2 concert. My daughter Grace was named after the "Grace" song on the "All that you can't leave behind" album. Watching her listen to Bono sing "Amazing Grace" made us both cry. Colryan
soloyanbuenosaires
The Fly
The one and only time I met the band, in 1997, I asked Edge : "have you ever been guitar teacher ?" he said no. To which I replied : "Yes you have. I've learnt the guitar by listening to U2 songs and trying to sort them out." He gave me a nice wink. "Now I'm a very bad guitar player" I said. He cracked up laughing. In 1991, I was 17. I was guitarist in a band. We were mostly covering U2 songs. Stuff from Joshua tree and Rattle & Hum that I had tried to reproduce 4 hours a day for the last 2 years. I had done it quite right, the band sounded good, we were deadly serious about it. Playing "Exit", "Bullet the Blue Sky" or "Silver & Gold" was haunting... I had been in Dublin for the summer of 1991, managed to sneak into the Principle Management offices (great welcome by Cecilia Coffey). I had seen the Lovetown tour in 1989. I had the cowboy hats & boots. As a U2 fan, I was "ready for what's next". or so I thought. When "The Fly" came out, it was as if the ground gave way. I lost my balance, U2-ishly speaking. First I didn't understand. Then I did. What I took for granted was just tip of the iceberg. And the iceberg was now upside down. I had to "dream it all up again" myself. My approach to guitar changed. I understood oneself has to explore, not reproduce. I started writing my own songs. The band ceased to be a cover band. In other words, after "The Fly" came out, the world opened in front of me...
philldag
Oh Lord, If I had anything . . .
I was 12, I was living in Sydney in 1983 and we had a show called Rock Arena on TV (no MTV in Australia until the late 80's). I heard Gloria for the first time and stopped everything I was doing. I'd just started to play the guitar and it was then I wanted to play like the guitarist from this video. Thus began my obsession with everything that was The Edge. I claim Edge to be my primary influence on my guitar playing, although I have many different influences now, it was Edge that made me want to keep playing the guitar. I was fortunate enough in 2006 to shake his hand and thank him for that inspiration when they where staying on the Gold Coast in Queensland preparing for the Vertigo Australia tour.
effie
BAD
LOVE THE LYRICS. LOVE U2
bonowho
WHERE THE STREETS HAVE NO NAME
This to me is a true U2 Anthem. I will never forget hearing it live for the first time. 1987 at the Pontiac Silverdome, DETROIT - 80,000 front row centre (no GA). Lights went down and on come the boys one at a time.........CLASSIC.
mgarcia
Pride
In the name of love!!! I first heard this song when I was in Junior High, my best friend's older sister was playing it and that's when I was introduced to U2 and the love affair began. It's been over 20 something years and that song still gives me goose bumps. It's the song that made me fall in love in them, it's the song that I blast every time it comes on, it's the song that I look forward to at the concerts. It will always be my favorite.....
prideinnampaid
Where The Streets Have No Name
1 single?! Really?! I was in high school when this single hit the US. It's a song that I love from the fade up/build to that last note from The Edge. I absolutely love the drive and energy of the song. It's even more incredible live. My husband has it as his ringtone and it never gets old. When it comes up on my iPod, I have to just stop what I'm doing and just listen. It has all the elements of an amazing rock song. As for the lyrics, sometimes I want to just bust out into a huge run down the street singing "I want to run. I want hide. I want to tear down the walls that hold me inside..." and never stop. It's the perfect "release" song from the everyday angst of life. I love it and will never stop listening to it!! (Along with all the OTHER singles I could name. Still can't believe I had to pick only one.)
JPC57
Kite
Simply Magic!!!
vikMage
Where The Streets Have No Name
It was a Sunday Afternoon. I arrived early at the place where my friends & I would regularly hang out & thought I'd wait for them in the coffee shop across the street. Seeing as there wasn't a lot of cars passing by that day which was unusual for such a usually dense & touristic area, I decided I'd sit on the second floor of the shop because it had a kind of a windowed facade where you could look down towards all the shops & people walking around which would be relaxing with the background radio music they were playing in the shop, whilst I'd wait for my friends to arrive. Then something incredible happened. As "Where The Streets Have No Name" started playing in the background, the whole neighbourhood started emptying & by the time Bono started to sing, everyone was gone. For almost the whole duration of the song, as I looked left & right towards the horizons of that large & long normally busy street, there was not one car, person, cat or dog, you name it passing by. A moment of total serenity. Time had stood still & stopped from being & it was beautiful! I will never forget that afternoon.
johnnysav
I will Follow
I think I could literally list all the singles as having some meaning for me. U2 has delivered some beauties from a singles perspective! I have to go back to hearing U2 for the first time on radio, being simply frozen in my tracks in my parent's kitchen when Edge's guitar takes off with " I Will Follow". What the hell was that? Coming from a small town with one AM radio station, this was not the music we normally heard. I was blown away, what power, what sound, who is that guy singing to me, it was all a wonder. It continues to remind me of the great and beautiful things that music can do for us! It also started an incredible musical journey ( didn't Adam mention a musical journey in Rattle and Hum?) for me and this band that still exists today.
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