The title of “World’s Greatest Rock Band” has been bandied about ever since the genre began. U2 certainly could stake a legitimate claim to it for a good stretch in their prime. Album after album, song after song, the Irish quartet came with the goods.
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You generally don’t get to that “World’s Greatest” level without also showing that you can cross over to the pop charts. U2 did that for a quarter-century with US pop hits. A relatively forgettable track that caused some consternation within the band finally ended their run.
Consistent Hitmakers
Looking back at the start of their career, it’s interesting to note which U2 songs didn’t hit the US Top 40. Songs like “New Year’s Day” and “Sunday Bloody Sunday”, now considered generational anthems, fell short.
The band finally got it done with “Pride (In The Name Of Love)”, the first single off their 1984 album The Unforgettable Fire. From 1984 through 2009, only one U2 album (Zooropa in 1993) failed to produce at least one Top 40 hit. As much as they were critically acclaimed, these guys made music for the masses as well.
Coming into their 2009 album No Line On The Horizon, the band found themselves on an impressive hot streak. Their previous two albums in the 2000s, All That You Can’t Leave Behind and How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, were triumphs. But their last LP of that decade proved a bit more problematic. The lead single had something to do with that.
‘Line’ Drawings
In many ways, No Line On The Horizon combined the crowd-pleasing tactics of their previous two records with some of the experimental touches found on records like Achtung Baby and Pop. After sessions with Rick Rubin failed to produce the intended results, the band went back to working with trusted collaborators Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, and Steve Lillywhite.
There are some stellar songs on No Line On The Horizon. The title track packs a wallop. “Moment Of Surrender” is a moody, moving ballad. “Cedars Of Lebanon” represents one of the band’s most daring closing tracks. But none were chosen as the first single. Perhaps thinking they had to go upbeat, at least in terms of music, U2 chose a song called “Get On Your Boots”.
“Get On Your Boots” shared a lot with previous fast-talking rock anthems like Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” and Elvis Costello’s “Pump It Up”. Although the lyrics in the verses hinted at war zones, the chorus and other refrains suggest a sexy love song. It was an odd mix, and the public didn’t quite accept it wholeheartedly.
“Boots” on the Ground
“Get On Your Boots” squeaked to No. 37 on the US charts. After the fact, even the band themselves didn’t seem too pleased with it. The Edge claimed they were trying to do too much with what should have been a simpler song. And Larry Mullen Jr. complained that the song put the kibosh on any momentum No Line On The Horizon might have been able to summon.
U2’s next album, Songs Of Innocence, stirred up its own kind of controversy due to the aggressive marketing tactics used to promote it. No Top 40 singles emanated from it. Thus, as of right now, “Get On Your Boots”, unwieldy as it might be, stands as the last of its kind from this magnificent group.
Photo by © Aaron Rapoport/CORBIS OUTLINE/Corbis via Getty Images
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