Retro Spins: U2 - Rattle And Hum

For their final entry into the 80's, U2 set to task to create a hybrid live / studio album, which in turn would be accompanied by a rockumentary film. While the band intended the project to be a tribute to many of the legacy artists who came before them, the band were accused by some of trying to place themselves amongst the ranks of such artists.

In total, nine studio tracks would be recorded, and mixed within them would be live songs recorded from several shows, including Denver's McNichols Sports Arena, Tempe, Arizona's Sun Devil Stadium, "Save the Yuppie Free Concert" in San Francisco, and Madison Square Garden, New York. For the film, the Denver shows were represented in black and white, while Arizona in color.

Upon its release, critics were split, and those against it were not kind. While some stated U2 were making a deliberate and pretentious attempt at rock and roll renown. Things didn't get much better, or nicer from there. From the perspective of multiple reviewers, it was called a mess, disjointed, stylistically confused, lacking cohesion, U2's self-celebrated ascension into pop history books, flat out awful, and probably the best for last, stated that Rattle And Hum just prattles and numbs.

To be fair, not everyone hated it. However, as it usually goes, the most critical are the loudest. The critics also didn't hinder album sales, with Rattle And Hum becoming another platinum seller for the band. It would also become the first double album to reach number one in the USA since Bruce Springsteen's The River in 1980 and would also reach number one in the UK and Australia.

As for me, I have to agree with the harsher critics. Specifically, in that it feels like there's no direction to the album. It's consistent jumping back and forth between live tracks and studio cuts makes it difficult to get into a rhythm with it all. Perhaps the better approach would have been to relegate the studio tracks to one platter, with the live portions being on another. This separation would have perhaps helped everything flow better.

I won't pan it fully, though. It's not without its hits, such as Desire, and Angel Of Harlem. However, wading through almost seventy-five minutes of music to find seven minutes of good stuff isn't really conducive or appealing.

Overall, the biggest fault I have with Rattle And Hum is that it's just too bloated, and unfocused. Again, separating the live from the studio may have helped to fix this. I don't know, it just feels like a poor note for U2 to end the 80's on, but ultimately, it's no surprise. Like I said from the very beginning, I was never a big fan, or I suppose fan at all, of them.

Obviously, my opinion on the subject isn't the end all be all, and U2's popularity only continued to soar. They released six albums between 1991 and 2009, all of them becoming multiplatinum sellers. It was only with 2014's Songs of Innocence, that sales would vastly plummet. However, we were also in a digital era at this point, so it's difficult to say that their popularity waned, so much as the general population was consuming music differently.

U2 continues to tour, showing no signs of slowing down. As of this writing, November 2025, the band was also working on material for a new studio album, tentatively slated for 2026.

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Retro Spins: U2 - The Unforgettable Fire

U2 were riding high on the success of 1983's War, and the tour that not only followed, but lead to the concert film, U2 Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky. They'd transitioned from mildly successful band to superstars, taking the world by storm.

When time came to return to the studio, the guys were ready to explore new sounds. As a result, longtime producer, Steve Lillywhite, was out, and duo Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois were brought in. The two brought with them a more ambient and atmospheric sound, which was at the time a drastic change for the band.

The end result was a smashing success for U2, with sales continuing to rise. Critics and fans ate it up, catapulting the album to platinum certification around the world. Ironically, retrospective reviews have not been as kind. While some dub it the band's coming of age album, and a solid bridge between War and The Joshua Trees, others have ranked it among the worst albums of all time.

In support of its release, the band embarked on a 112-show tour. However, the songs from The Unforgettable Fire brought with it a series of challenges from their elaborate and complex textures, making it difficult to translate these to live shows. To work around this, U2 adopted sequencers, something they'd not utilized before, but have continued to do so since.

Playing through it myself, I found it to be a pretty hit or miss affair. While on one hand, you get the massive hit, Pride (In The Name Of Love), the rest of the album, with exception of Wire, felt pretty much forgettable to me.

Do I hear the more complex sound and maturity in U2? Yes, absolutely, but it's not enough to catapult otherwise mediocre songs to noteworthy. At least not for me. If anything, The Unforgettable Fire falls into that aspect that left me not enjoying their follow-up, The Joshua Tree. It's just boring, and that's me putting it nicely.

Capitalizing on the era of MTV, U2 issued a VHS companion piece with the album, The Unforgettable Fire Collection. This cassette featured music videos for The Unforgettable Fire (the song), two versions of Pride (In The Name Of Love), and live videos of Bad, and A Sort Of Homecoming. Rounding out the tape was a making of documentary for the album. The documentary would later be released as a bonus feature on the 2003 DVD, U2 Go Home: Live from Slane Castle.

U2 would follow-up the album with 1987's The Joshua Tree, their biggest selling studio album of all time. However, I've already posted a Retro Spin on that one. While I was initially going to hop off the train at this point, after mulling it over, I've decided that tomorrow I'll go ahead and wrap up their 80's releases with the live / studio hybrid released Rattle And Hum.

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Disclaimer: They Toy Box does not endorse or contribute to piracy. Retro Spins posts are intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. None of the music discussed here is available for sale, downloading or distribution.