4 U2 Classics That Show off Their Mastery of the Slow Stuff

When they first hit the music scene, they were a scruffy quartet known for anthemic guitars and drums and Bono’s bellow. But as they progressed and became the world’s biggest rock and roll band in the 80s and 90s, they broadened their palette.

Over the years, U2 gave us some of the most heart-rending ballads of their era. Here are four that still hit awful hard after all these years.

“All I Want Is You”

Rattle And Hum found U2 biting off a bit more than they could chew. It was a double album that attempted to pay tribute to the American roots music they loved while also including live performances, all while a movie was being made around it. You can understand how it all ended up a tad disjointed. But the highs are very high, and “All I Want Is You” is right at the top of that list. The album’s closing track gets a boost from the unique string arrangement provided by Van Dyke Parks. That contrasts nicely against the typical U2 musical elements, à la The Edge’s chiming guitar and Bono’s howling vocals. An appearance in the film Reality Bites helped this beauty get a bit more exposure.

“So Cruel”

U2 found a new way of getting it done on Achtung Baby, undercutting some of the rafter-scaling qualities of previous triumphs with a bit more grime and murk in the musical mix. Bono also changed up his tactics as a lyricist, allowing for some irony and darkness to enter the picture a bit more than in the past. Those changes come to fruition on the stunning “So Cruel”. Bono wrote the track in part while reflecting on The Edge’s marital problems at the time. The song doesn’t flinch from some of the unpleasant moments of an impending breakup. Sticky emotions rise to the surface and cling. “So Cruel” manages to be strangely beautiful and fearlessly unsettling all at once.

“Staring At The Sun”

At the time of its release, not many folks warmed up to Pop, U2’s attempt to subvert their traditional sound. They decided not to work with longtime producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois on the record, leaving the album in the hands of Flood and his electro-experimental tendencies. The album now sounds ahead of its time. But even when it was released, “Staring At The Sun” gave fans something a bit more familiar to orient themselves. Even though Edge’s guitar sounds as if it’s being channeled through a blender, it still makes its presence felt. And Bono delivers the swirling melody and the lyrics about relationship angst with a great deal of passion.

“Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own”

This song hails from the 2005 album How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, which, like its predecessor, All That You Can’t Leave Behind, returned U2 to the more straightforward rock sound they cultivated in the mid-80s. That approach put a heightened focus on the songwriting, which was top-notch throughout the record. “Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own” shows off that skill. Bono wrote it as a tribute to his father, even singing it at his dad’s funeral before the band had the chance to record it. He doesn’t obscure the complexities of the relationship. But love wins out in the end, especially during the section when the music crescendoes as Bono wails, “You’re the reason I sing.”

Photo by Patrick Ford/Redferns

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