The most underrated albums of all time: U2

There are even said to be people who consider “Zooropa” to be the best U2 album. If you have millions of listeners, you also get millions of opinions. One record that is mysteriously rarely cited as a favorite is How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb – the logical progression from 2000’s momentarily compelling but a bit too accommodating All That You Can’t Leave Behind.

But then came U2 with the bold “No Line On The Horizon” (2009), and that probably made the predecessor look too classic. The eleven “Atomic Bomb” songs simply demonstrate everything that U2 can do: they draw a bow from darkness to light, from fear to confidence – a path that Bono follows again and again, but rarely so captivatingly.

It’s a long way from “Vertigo” to “Yahweh”, accompanied by alarming guitar sounds that The Edge doesn’t hide under any junk here. Half-jokingly, Bono called it “our first real rock album”.

In any case, it’s a chunk: Immense power and grace under pressure characterize the political songs (“Love And Peace Or Else” and above all the mercilessly realistic “Crumbs From Your Table”) just like the love songs (“All Because Of You”). And in between, Bono even allows himself a bit of almost forbidden sensuality (“A Man And A Woman”).

In the end, however, it always boils down to God and clan. The perseverance hymn “Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own” is followed by horror and finally love when Bono recognizes his own father in the reflection: “If we weren’t so alike/ You’d like me a whole lot more.” In “One Step Closer” he talks about the biggest crisis in life, death.

Noel Gallagher gave him the song title. With his father suffering from cancer, Bono asked his colleague if the dying man believed in God. Then Noel, once again not at a loss for a clever answer: “Well, he’s one step closer to knowing!” The dark before the dawn.

The most underrated albums of all time

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