How many number one songs have U2 had?

How many number one songs have U2 had?

The short version: UK 7 and US 2

The long version: U2 have had all kinds of hits on the music charts. But at the end of the day, it is the songs that made number one that pop up as the defining questions in pub quizzes. So to help you out, here is a definitive look at the U2 songs that have reached the absolute summit.

There are various kinds of charts that track popularity. They often revolve around specific genres like rock, country, and blues, allowing music that would never be mainstream to get some air time. There are even iTunes charts, which for some unexplained reason people seem to think matter.

To my mind, there are only two charts that really count in the historical record. Being 'Top of the Pops' in the UK means you are number one, and crowning the Billboard Hot 100 means you have the most popular song for the week in America. We will use those heavily scrutinized charts to show exactly how many number one hits U2 have secured.

Conquering America

First up is the American Billboard chart, which shows that U2 have had exactly two number one hits. Both of these chart toppers were absolute anthems from The Joshua Tree: "With or Without You" and "I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For". This 1987 masterpiece is the era that propelled four post-punk lads from Dublin into global stadium juggernauts, backed by The Edge's iconic shimmering delay pedal sound and Bono's soaring vocal delivery. The album would go on to sell over 25 million copies worldwide.

"Desire" from Rattle and Hum made it as high as number 3, while a couple of subsequent singles from Achtung Baby and Pop made the top 10. And that is it. So, U2 have only ever had 2 number one American hits.

Bono commanding the stage at the Rose Bowl.

Ruling the UK Charts

It is a much better story for the UK chart, where U2 found a bit more consistent success at the absolute top.

Surprisingly, nothing from The Joshua Tree went to number one in the UK despite the album’s massive, culture-shifting success. It was actually the Bo Diddley inspired beat of "Desire" from Rattle and Hum that became U2’s first official UK number one hit.

Then came 1991, an era defined by massive reinvention. Bono donned oversized wrap-around shades and black leather to introduce his egomaniacal alter ego, "The Fly." When "The Fly" dropped as the lead single from Achtung Baby, it smashed straight into the number one spot. It was a long wait between drinks until "Discotheque" brought its heavy dance groove and giant mirror ball lemon to the summit in 1997.

U2’s All That You Can’t Leave Behind delivered a massive return to traditional form with a string of popular singles, but only the culturally ubiquitous "Beautiful Day" in 2000 managed the top spot. A slightly debatable entry is "Take Me to the Clouds Above" by LMC vs. U2. It is debatable because it was a dance track featuring heavy samples from U2's "With or Without You" mixed with a healthy splash of Whitney Houston. At the end of the day, the song has U2’s name in the artist slot, so it officially counts as a number one.

How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb offered a notable double. Both the blistering rock track "Vertigo" and the deeply personal, Bono penned tribute to his late father, "Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own", grabbed their time in the top position. Unfortunately, the experimental No Line on the Horizon suffered from a distinct lack of hit singles.

This means U2 have had seven number one hits in the UK and two in the US. Unsurprisingly, U2 are even more legendary in their home country of Ireland, claiming the number one place an awesome 21 times. The next most popular country is the enlightened nation of Canada with 14 chart toppers, which is exactly twice as many as their UK successes.

List of U2’s UK Number One Songs:

• Desire
• The Fly
• Discotheque
• Beautiful Day
• Take Me to the Clouds Above
• Vertigo
• Sometimes You Can’t Make it On Your Own

It's the Age of Extinction

Yes, if you would

Remember Chicago

Report Alien Activity!

Hound from Transformers 4 revealed. Game of Throne fans thoroughly confused

This is Hound's alternative mode for Transformers 4. He looks pretty rugged. I am loving these new looks for our friends from Cybertron!

Prime's alt mode in T4 is a... truck!

Here's what fearless Autobot leader Optimus Prime will look like in truck mode in Transformers 4. It's a slight 'joosh' of his truck mode - it looks a little more fierce oui? One could argue it looks slightly more toy like than real life but that's probably the point.

Autobots roll out!

Update:

Here's Bumblebee going all old school:

A list of songs that U2 have covered

U2 songs cover list

You could be forgiven for thinking  that one of the biggest bands in music history wouldn't need to do covers but history has shown the Beatles did and as did the Rolling Stones (have you heard their version of My Girl?) - so why shouldn't  U2 record the odd cover song? They are a great way to add a bit of colour as a B-side on a single, and ideed they are popular as an artist's public appreciation for what has inspired and influenced them.

Here's the list of songs U2 have covered:

Song Name                        Release  found on                                           Original writer

"Night and Day"	Red Hot + Blue	Written by Cole Porter
"Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)"	A Very Special Christmas	Written by Ellie Greenwich and Phil Spector
"I Believe in Father Christmas"	(RED)Wire Volume 1 Issue 2	Written by Greg Lake and Peter Sinfield
"Beat on the Brat"	We're a Happy Family: A Tribute to Ramones	Written by Jeffrey Hyman, John Cummings and Douglas Colvin
"I Remember You"	"Elevation" single	Written by Joey Ramone, Johnny Ramone, Dee Dee Ramone, and Tommy Ramone
"Fortunate Son"	"Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" single	Written by John Fogerty
"Instant Karma!"	Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur	Written by John Lennon
"Happiness Is a Warm Gun"	"Last Night on Earth" single	Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney
"Don't Take Your Guns to Town"	"Elevation" single	Written by Johnny Cash
"Satellite of Love"	"One" single	Written by Lou Reed
"Everlasting Love"	"All I Want Is You" single	Written by Mac Gayden and Buzz Cason
"Paint It Black"	"Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" single	Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
"Dancing Barefoot"	"When Love Comes to Town" single	Written by Patti Smith and Ivan Kral
"Springhill Mining Disaster"	The Late Late Show Tribute to The Dubliners	Written by Peggy Seeger
"Neon Lights"	"Vertigo" single	Written by Ralf Hütter, Florian   Schneider, and Karl Bartos
"Pop Muzik"	"Last Night on Earth" single	Written by Robin Scott
"Jesus Christ"	Folkways: A Vision Shared	Written by Woody Guthrie

"Unchained Melody"

"With or without You" single

Written Alex North and lyrics by Hy Zaret

I found this lil guy in my back yard

He might do for Easter lunch?

Peta has no idea about video games. No surprises there!

Why did the whale cross the road?…To get to the other tide

It would seem by recent media comment that animal rights lobby group PETA think that killing whales in the new Assassin’s Creed video game means that players will go out and kill “ALL THE WHALES” themselves. Or something.

Whale lover Matt Bruce from Peta said:

"In Assassin's Creed 4, you get ahead by killing. Joe Shmoe who plays this game in his mother's basement in the safety and comfort of his home will feel a sense of accomplishment by killing this whale."

And he’ll probably get gamer achievement points too Matt. Those are really important to gamers.

"This would be a different story if the game portrayed the cruelty and horror experienced when a whale is literally fleeing for her life and then shot with a harpoon — or even several harpoons — and forced to struggle for hours or be hacked apart while still alive aboard a ship," Bruce said.

So basically PETA reckons whales should only be depicted when they die with fear in their eyes?

Personally, this writer doesn't support the killing of whales and thinks the Japanese people suck when it comes to their whale culling for ‘scientific purposes’.  However PETA is being rather stupid with their Assassin’s Creed admonishment – their argument is pretty much akin to saying that all copies of Moby Dick must be removed from libraries all over the world and burnt. Good luck with that Matt Bruce!

 Ubisoft's senior PR manager, Stone Chin (what an awesome name!), who must be loving the free publicity for their new game ,responded with some common sense:

“History is our playground in Assassin's Creed. Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag is a work of fiction that depicts the real events during the golden era of pirates. We do not condone illegal whaling, just as we don't condone a pirate lifestyle of poor hygiene, plundering, hijacking ships and over-the-legal-limit drunken debauchery."

Ha. I love it when PR folks forget the dry drivel they usually serve up to the press and  choose to mock pirates instead.

And let's put all this in perspective. Except for Star Trek IV: The Undiscovered Country where it was learned that whales are more important than humans in terms of saving the Earth from a strange alien force, I'm pretty sure that human life is more important than the lives of whales. So for a game franchise that’s about sneaking up on humans and killing them (indeed, ASSASSINATING them) why is no body jumping up and down about that?

Oh wait.

We bet these idiots hate Star Wars Darth Vader quotes as well.

What happened when Dave left his guitar at my house

My brother Dave was dumb enough to recently leave his guitar at my house. 

Which means it got sanded down and stained, because that's what I do. This is no ordinary guitar however. 

It's one of those 'back from the dead' guitars that can still manage to carry a raucous sing-a-long to About a Girl by Nirvana. 

As you can see, it was once smashed up and placed on a wall of a student flat. I approve that it hung below a picture of Courtney Love getting her tits out at the Big Day Out. 

Bless.

Someone eventually took it off the wall, banged some nails in it, taped the already taped down body even more and she was good to go.

After Uni was done and dusted Dave and a mate toured all over NZ and the guitar went from Cape Reinga to Stewart Island via a few dodgy hitch hiking adventures and the odd illegal jump on the back of a train trip.

Let's be clear. 

This guitar was beginner's guitar. It was probably worth 30 bucks on Trade Me in its prime. And its prime was before Trade Me was even an idea in Sam's mind. And after the smashing up incident, this thing was a piece of shit but it had a nice tune so it was with a lil bit of, "I better not fuck this up" and I started the project.

Taking off the Victoria Beckham, Olo Brown, Silverchair stickers and the sticky tape was pretty easy which meant it was obvious I'd fuck up pretty quickly and on the first sand I went with a very course grit which meant I took a massive amount of the veneer away, exposing an underlay of wood that was not supposed to see the light of the day. Crap.

But I kept going and then sanded the shit out of the guitar using finer grit sand paper. In amongst all of that, I glued the body back down and drilled some screws into the base of the neck in an effort to straighten it as it was a bit out of whack (indeed to compensate for that, the bridge had a popsicle stick placed in it to raise the strings up to compensate).



After that, some work on the fret board was required, so I went to MusicWorks where the Manager ordered me in some fret wire which I then cut up and banged into the fret board with a hammer. I then screwed up by trying to fill the holes with some plaster which fixed the hole but looked pretty ugly.

Fretless neck

Then it was on to the fun stuff, the staining. I looked on the  net for advice on  how to stain a guitar. It turns out that if you want to do a good job, you basically need 10 years of experience as a luthier or have access to a guitar workshop. But, there is always a cheat and I found an awesome cheat.

Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil Stock Finish is a kit for staining, oiling and finishing gun stocks and the internet suggested it could be used on guitars and given it was a fairly cheap all in one solution, I gave it a shot.

The stain was the classic 'walnut' but the guitar sure did not come up like that, more what I might described as a 'dirty beach tide' which looked awesome! I left the guitar alone for a week or two after that to let things settle and then I oiled the guitar with the Tru Oil which really added some life to the guitar. Here's the stained guitar:

If you have a look at the top picture, you'll recall the guitar was covered with stickers and twinked on quotes, including the lyric, "and I forget just why I taste" which grunge fans might know as a line from Nirvana's Teen Spirit.

So, to give the guitar back a little taste of it's heritage, I downloaded the famous Nirvana font (actually called Onyx), made a stencil and put it on the back of the guitar.

My intention was to use a highlighter as a style guide and then use the soldering iron to poker it in but I decided it looked pretty good so chose not to do the pokering. It was rough as guts but I think it came up pretty good all things considered:

After the oiling, I let the guitar have a few days to settle and then I applied the Gun Stock Sheen Finish. I had no idea if this was going to work and indeed I was a little bit scared of how it was going to turn out. Would it be too shiny? Na, it came out an awesome tone with no shine at all as the sheen was more of a conditioner than anything.

I love the non uniform look that resulted. See that writing on the inside of guitar? That's an old Shihad set list I found inside the body! 

After that it was a simple matter of adding the strings, putting the tuning pegs back in, tuning up (which was a b'arch of a job to do) and seeing how it played....

Overall I'm pretty happy with the result. For a piece of shit guitar that used to hang in pieces on the wall of student flat, it's come a long way even if it's no Red Special! The simple beers and whiskey drunk after were deserved! 

Dave, your guitar is ready for pick up!!

I wonder if The Edge knows how to use this interactive Circle of Fifths chord finder tool