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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dramalover
Beautiful Day
I heard it on the radio first...that song reawakened my love of U2 that had been there since the 80's. "Beautiful Day" had hope and excitement and joy, and helped me to see all those things that have been around me the whole time. That single spurred a new decade of listening to and loving U2's music.
davy_wedge
I Will Follow
The first single I heard by U2 was I Will Follow. I was on the way to my best mate's house and he was hanging out of his bedroom window waving at me. I could hear music blaring out of his window but he disappeared and the music stopped. Listen to this he shouted and came back to the window with a huge grin on his face. I wondered why he didn't just let me in the house but all of a sudden I heard this chiming guitar blasting out followed by drums building up, a voice saying 'I Will Follow' quickly followed by a drum roll and then pounding bass. Everything was together, so simple and beautiful. I was hooked before the vocals came in. This was it, this was what I'd been waiting for. I was 13 and suddenly I wanted to play guitar, be in a band. It was the end of my childhood and the start of everything else. I felt fantastic!
lucvanhout
NEW YEARS DAY
In 1984, I was 13 years old, my friend let my listen to the WAR-album. WAW... what was this??? Yeah, it was great music!!! From then, I'm a U2-fan. A few years later was it the Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum age. I think that these albums will be my favourits for ever. The athmosphere around Rattle and Hum (the movie) is more than perfect, the cloching, black and white, for me it was the right way that U2 has taken, so thank you. I still don't understand that there was that negative critic around U2, the way that they had taken. The 90-ties wasn't my thing but than came All that you can't leave behind. I was happy U2 has taken this direction, since then they're back and the albums after ........ they're great. Seeing U2 live, everybody knows that they are the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!
davide78
Lemon
From 1993 I love this song and I haver loved U2!
Dan
With or Without You...
1987 was a big year for U2 and for me personally. I was newly married and got a great new job in a new state and things were getting better day by day! I was in a record store in Providence, RI and spied a CD single in a cardboard gatefold of "With or Without You". It was a gorgeous package with great photos...beautiful! I bought it instantly and took it home. I didn't even have a CD player at the time. I still love to look at this CD and remember my life at the time when I bought it. And it's still my favorite U2 song to this day...
norty
EBTTRT
Even Better Than The Real Thing was the single that got me hooked on U2, Achtung Baby the album can also be blamed for getting me hooked. Since then it's been U2 all the way! I'm staying tuned......
nugieu2
U2 Single's
A Celebration sad to think it never made an album!!!
gabrycn69
where the music has no limits
Was the 1996, i was 6; i turned on the radio, and a song captured my attention... that song was incredible.. the starting guitar riff.. the bass, an amazing voice! i was really ipnotize listening that song! i wanted to run for km screaming e singing that song! a sense of freedom was in me! and from that moment, this is MY song! it has come and will be beside me in every moment of my life!
antoniettatodaro1
Sunday Bloody Sunday
For me all their songs are special, beautiful or sad moments connected with my life. They are my life. A special song is Sunday Bloody Sunday because it was what I heard when I met the love of my life. O When The street name does not have listened to all the fans present at the pub, The Temple Bar in Dublin a few hours before their concert held at 360 ° tour Croke Park on July 25, 2009 in which I participated coming from Sicily to listen, time to high emotion. U2 Thanks to exist
angelfish23
Only alone!
well, "Achtung Baby" turned me, I was 12 then. It took me another year to figure out that my first U2 record ever had been a different one.... Of course I started to buy older albums, which wasnt easy since a) I was still in school and pocket money only takes you so far and b) it wasnt easy to find those albums in my hometown (there was no internet then, ok?). So it actually took me quite a while to get my hands on a copy of "Rattle and Hum"... and suddenly while listening to the cd it dawned on me..."Achtung Baby wasnt my first U2".... When I was 8yrs old my best friend and I bought vinyl singles with our pocket money whenever we could. Usually she´d tell me what to buy with MY money since she was 4 yrs older than me. She was my idol and I always did what she asked me to. But not this time.... I bought U2 "Desire" instead of whatever she had told me. The result was that we had a big fight and she made fun of me and questioned my taste in music so bad, that i didnt dare to admit in her presence anymore that I loved "Desire" so much. I only listened to it when I was alone... So the fact that I bought my first U2 record at the age of 8 really hit me and I was completely in awe... I mean...if that isnt fate? If U2 and I arent just meant to be, after all that...? So here I am... 21 yrs later... still following...oh and btw that friend... moved away and we havent seen each other in over 20 yrs...go figure... I hope the next new single will be another unforgettable one! Cant wait for it... :°)
ZOO_ADDICT
In 1983 I put a coin in the jukebox and
At the pub i was looking young people putting coins in the jukebox and I ask my father if I could do the same, so my father gave me a coin and I launch the jukebox and select the number 3 button...then It was a shock : piano bass and then drums : New Year's Day!! One Young people playing at the babyfoot told me "hey little lad that's rock n'roll" That's why New Year's Day is special to me
mystery
Soulmusic
Stuck in a moment was the song I felt was almost written for me in 2001 when I had my first child followed by a postnatal depression. I still get sad when I remember just how lonely I felt, almost at my wits' end. I recovered fully through time, counceling, and living by the words of Stuck in a moment "You gotta stand up straight, carry your own weight. These tears are going nowhere, baby".
rgeib
GLORIA!
It was Oct or Nov of 1981the and I had moved from a small Ohio town to the big city. MTV was the craze and I had never seen anything like it. There were many bands with cool songs that I liked but then this new band hit the "videowaves". A band that had this sound like no other! I could tell the video wasn't filmed in the U.S. and it had this rawness that kept me glued to the tube every time it came on. Many of U2's other singles have captured my attention but Gloria was the Genesis of my passion for the band!
stbansp
stuck in a ...single
stuck in a moment was the first single that I ever heard... the reason why I´m a U2 fan ... when I saw the video I knew that this song was the soundtrack of my life...
adark
Beautiful e-card
My history with U2 had begun with Mysterious Ways of Achtung Baby. But Beautiful Day it will be always special to me. It was in the very beginning of "U2.COM", I remember like was today when I recieved my Beautiful Day e-card I spent the whole day listening that 30 seconds of the song, and was magical for me I fell in love with the song with the first chords and until today when I listen the song I just wait to hear: "What you don't have you don't need it now What you don't know you can feel it somehow What you don't have you don't need it now Don't need it now Was a beautiful day". And it'll always be a beautiful day in my heart. Adark
lgg
The Sweetest Thing...
Such a light little ditty, but it's unforgettable now because I think it sums up my relationship with my wife. I was a long way away from meeting her at the time, so it didn't have the same impact. Now, I'm the blue-eyed boy who met the brown-eyed girl (6 years ago). and it can be a stormy kind of love, but still my black eyes do burn brightly for her. This tune has elevated in my mind substantially since its 1998 release. It's a funny thing how the meaning of a song can change so dramatically over time.
kevfly82
My Thrilling Single- Hold Me Thrill Me K
As a child born in the 80's and growing up through the 90's, I feel like I really didn't know what music was until I heard the first notes of 'Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me'. It woke me up! I felt like I grew devil horns like Macphisto's at first listen. I was only 13 years old and I had no clue who U2 were. Even though I heard many of their songs already, I never put it all together. I was hooked from the very beginning of Edge's & Larry's intro. To share the thoughts of a then 13 year-old me, I remember thinking to myself 'That guitar is straight out of Mars! And who's that singing? He sounds so sinister. I gotta get this album!' So I got my mom to drive me to the Kmart in town and she bought me the Batman Forever soundtrack. Man I was so excited to play that cd, couldn't wait to rip the plastic wrapping off. I only knew 1 or 2 other songs on it because kept playing track 1. It did the job of the single - provided the hook to sell the album. Without 'Hold Me Thrill Me.' I wonder if I would've ever had the fascination for the band like I do now. It's not my favorite U2 song- that title might belong to Lemon or Breathe or All I Want Is You- but it was the gateway, that crazy song that I heard at the perfect time of my life that was I grew addicted to for an entire summer and created a path that led me to everything U2. 11 shows & 17 years later I still love that song & it's the U2 single I haven't been able to live without. -Kevin C, Chicago
philwilson
Pride
1984, I was 11, this was my introduction to U2. Been hooked ever since. Simple as that.
bielu2
Vertigo
The first music of U2 that I ever listened were Vertigo! I was 8, and I heard on the radio a beautiful voice saying: ''Uno, dos, tres, cartoce!''. From that day, I just can't stop to listen this amazing band!
LWood
One person's Trash is another person's a
U2 singles have been apart of my life since the fall of 1984...I was an avid fan of U2 at the time and was introduced to a series of U2 songs that I just could not believe...U23, Boy, October, and War singles. The one that stood out the most was Trash, Trampolene and the Party Girl. Under a Blood Red Sky was my favorite at the time, just before Unforgetable Fire and the follwing singles were my favorite. Listening to the studio version of Trash was like uncovering a secret treasure!!! I have looked forward to U2 singles from then on...maybe even more than the albums themselves! Can't wait for the next singles to come out!!!
babyface82
Discotheque
Discotheque was the song that made me fall in love for U2. The video was amazing!! I remember me and my friends (we were 15 at that time) in front of tv, dancing "boom cha" like U2 at the end of the video!!
Bretho
One Tree Hill
Only released in AUS/NZ I found this 7" gem at a 'garage sale'. They still play it on the radio in NZ and each time I hear it, shivers run up my spine! ..Rediscovered now thru U22..Enjoy it!
gladams
All I want is U2...
Back in the day, I was on a constant search for U2 recordings. While visiting a friend several hours away, I spied a U2 cassette single, "All I Want Is You." I played that cassette over and over on my car stereo for weeks afterward. Now, I can't help but have a soft spot for that first U2 "single" I ever purchased.
Diego1987
Hold me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me
This song likes me because i'm fan of Batman, when i see the credits od batman forever and listen this song... since that day in the cinema i can't stop to ear u2 and HMTMKMKM!!!!!
joshthetree
I will be with you again
Last year at school, no qualifications, roller discos, terrorism, recession, unemployment, strikes, greenham common, cruise missiles, 3 minute warning, protect and survive, cold war, solidarity, first love, first job, mullets, flying boots, long black coats, cool sun glasses, spiky geled hair, checked shirts, the alarm, big country, simple minds, cider, rem, husker du, echo and the bunneymen, spear of destiny, PIL, pogues, disaffected youth, lost generation, apartheid, boycott, thatcher, regan’s star wars, cold war, space shuttle, return of the jedi , flash dance, trading places, under a blood red sky, vhs, vinyl, march, protest, scargill, the tube, Lech Walesa, rejection, bereavement ……….NEW YEAR’S DAY gives me a time capsule that takes me back to 1983, when I first heard it gave me hope in a very bleak period of the eighties - I think it still sounds as good now as it did then.
Pichan
ELEVATION
Recorded Live from Boston 2001 was broadcasted on Japanese TV and I saw it by chance. I didn’t know Bono…even his name. When I saw him singing and dancing Elevation so sexy…I fell in love with Bono. It was love at first SIGHT…or was it love at first LISTEN? All That You Can’t Leave Behind is my first album, and ELEVATION is my first single that I’ve ever bought! The more I know U2, the more I love U2. Now I can’t live without U2. This love started from ELEVATION!
pepebasabeleoz1
Stay Faraway So Close! Single
And the chance to hear the Bono Sinatra´s Duet and the incredibles live version of Bullet and Love Is Blindness from the Zoo and Zooropa Tv Tour...
ferisaurio
I Will Follow
I inherited the love for U2 from my dad, I was 14 years old when he was killed, has been the worst moment of my life. At that time, I found consolation on U2's songs. Bono's mom died when he was 14 years old, he wrote "I Will Follow" as a tribute to her, so I felt totally identified with him and this song... it reminds me how I felt at that time, and how I feel now, tryin to follow my dad, to feel close to him. So everytime I'm feeling lonely I hear this song because even when it makes me cry and feel sadness, it also makes me feel hapiness because it reminds me that my dad hasn't left me, that's what makes this song so special for me.
Anam
Cirque du lemon
My vote goes to Lemon, the single that wasn't a single at all in most territories. It was the summer of 1993 and ZooTv was bringing its strange circus act to Europe. The Lemon video was the first sight most of us caught of the ringmaster, MacPhisto, in his mischievous pomp. I was seventeen and discovering rock music, cider and girls at Feile, to the backdrop of Oakenfold's bouncing Perfecto Mix. Somewhere in the folds of the original, however, lie loss, melancholy and a sense of hope. The electro-cello part before the last chorus breaks my heart, despite the all round disco juicyness of the groove. I found the US CD single in a bargain bin in Wildwood NJ years later, a long way from home and hope. Later, in happier times, I paid a small ransom in Soho for the yellow vinyl. They are true treasures. Choosing a favourite U2 single is a bit like Sophie's Choice, but the nod goes to Lemon, a wee slice of 1993 that will always make me feel seventeen again.
Nanda260
I'm prout that my fav single is Pride...
...because it's the first U2 song I ever heard [in the middle 90's when I was only seven if I'm not wrong]... The passionate chorus "in the naaaame of looove..." just stuck like glue in my mind and couple of years later lead my way to find out a little bit more about a band, that in that time, was know for me as U-2, (that's right, with a slash inbetween...)
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