Which is the best U2 B-side?

Which is the best U2 B-side?

When a band records an album, they often have a selection of songs that don't make the final cut but they are good enough to be released in some form and historically they've been added as a B-side as support to the A-side of a single release. 

While Oasis were famous for their b-sides, U2 are not so much well known for their b-sides but none the less, they've built up a pretty sweet collection of songs and albums.

What do you think is there best one? Choose from the list!

U2 B-sides List

A Room at the Heartbreak Hotel
B-side on the 'Angel of Harlem' single released in December 1988.

Alex Descends Into Hell For A Bottle Of Milk / Korova 1
B-side on 'The Fly' single, October 1991.

Always
B-side on 'Beautiful Day' single, October 2000. 

Are You Gonna Wait Forever
B-side on 'Vertigo' single, November 2004.

Ave Maria (Jacknife Lee Mix)
B-side on 'Sometimes You Can't Make it On Your Own' single, February 2005.

Beat On The Brat
From 'We're a Happy Familiy', a tribute album to The Ramones. February 2003.

Big Girls Are Best
B-side on 'Stuck in A Moment' single, January 2001.

"Boomerang II" from The Unforgettable Fire's Pride, September 1984.

Boy/Girl
A track on U2's very first single 'Three', October 1979.



Can't Help Falling In Love (Triple Peaks Remix)
B-side on 'Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses' single, August 1992.

Dancing Barefoot
B-side on 'When Love Comes to Town' single, April 1989.

Deep In The Heart
B-side on 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For' single, May 1987. 

Everlasting Love
B-side on 'All I Want is You' single, June 1989.

Fortunate Son
B-side on 'Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses' single, August 1992.

Hallelujah Here She Comes
B-side on 'Desire' single, September 1988.

Happiness is a Warm Gun (The Gun Mix)
B-side on 'Last Night on Earth' single, July 1997.

Holy Joe
B-side on 'Discothèque' single, February 1997.

Johnny Swallow
B-side on 'Fire' single, July 1981.

Lady with the Spinning Head
B-side on 'One' single, March 1992.

Love Comes Tumbling
B-side on 'The Unforgettable Fire' single, October 1984.

Luminous Times (Hold on to Love)
B-side on 'With or Without You' single, March 1987. 

Neon Lights
B-side on 'Vertigo' single, November 2004.

North and South of the River
B-side on 'Staring at the Sun' single, April 1997.

Paint It Black (cover of the Rolling Stones)
B-side on 'Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses' single, August 1992.

Race Against Time
B-side on 'Where the Streets Have No Name' single, August 1987.

Salomé
B-side on 'Even Better Than the Real Thing' single, June 1992.

Satellite of Love
B-side on 'One' single, March 1992.

Silver and Gold
B-side on 'Where the Streets Have No Name' single, August 1987.

Slow Dancing
B-side on 'Stay (Faraway, So Close!)' single, November 1993.

Spanish Eyes
B-side on 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For' single, May 1987.

Summer Rain
B-side on 'Beautiful Day' single, October 2000.

Sweetest Thing (The Single Mix)
Released as a single in 1997. Originally a b-side on 'Where The Streets Have No Name' single, 1987.

The Three Sunrises
B-side on 'The Unforgettable Fire' single, October 1984.

Touch
B-side on '11 O'Clock Tick Tock' single, May 1980.

Tower of Song
B-side on 'Window in the Skies' single, January 2007. From the movie 'Leonard Cohen: I'm your Man'.



Trash, Trampoline and the Party Girl
B-side on 'A Celebration' single, March 1982.

Treasure (Whatever happened to Pete the Chop)
B-side on 'New Year's Day' single, January 1983.

Two Shots of Happy, One Shot of Sad
B-side on 'If God Will Send His Angels' single, December 1997.

Unchained Melody
B-side on 'All I Want is You' single, June 1989.

Walk to the Water
B-side on 'With or Without You' single, March 1987.

Where Did It All Go Wrong
B-side on 'Even Better Than the Real Thing' single, June 1992.

Check out the lyrics to You're The Best Thing About Me

How to connect your Iphone to the Xbox 360 and Xbox One

How to connect your Iphone's Wifi to the Xbox 360 and Xbox One (and Scorpio)

I was recently tidying chords behind the TV and I managed to break the internet when I un-plugged the modem - the connection to the ISP just couldn't be made.

I was gutted as I wanted to play some Dead Space but my game save was 'in the cloud' so I was prevented from playing.

I sat defeated cursing my first world problem. Whilst doing so I got a text message on my Iphone and I got a little twinkle in my eye.

I could try and use the Wifi Hotspot function the phone has and see if the Xbox 360 would accept that as a source of internet data.

The short answer, is yes, you can connect the iphone's wifi to the Xbox!

Here's how to connect the two devices:

• Turn your iphone's Personal Hot Spot on. 
• Turn on the Xbox
• If you have an ethernet plugged in to the xbox, remove it. 
• Go to the Network settings section of the Xbox
• Identify the wireless signal of your Iphone - it will be your Iphone's name. Select it.
• Enter the password of your hotspot wifi as given to you on the phone. 
• Once satisfied the connection has been made, sign into Xbox as per normal and you are away. 

Using your Iphone's data does run the risk of you blowing your datacap and and you'll possibly have limited connectivity via your 3G / 4G network so I doubt you'll be doing a multi-player marathon anytime soon but you should be able to access your saved games at the very least!

And don't do any game updates!

I imagine this little trick is also be able to be used by Android phones and the like that have the same wifi hotspot connections.

A subtle Oak, with a hint of dampness

I confess. I think I have an addiction to sand paper. I keep sanding things like desks and manrobes. Now I've gone and got a table to restore to former glories.

Another sweet deal from Trade Me, this nice Oak Table has kept me busy for the last couple of weeks.

Here's the restoration journey in pictures and some wooden attempts at whimsical prose.

We picked the table up from someone's storage shed and I got the feeling the table had been exposed to a little dampness. I started with the table top as that's easy pickings, using an old sander recently given to me by my Cousin. The stain came off very easy and what was exposed felt a little damp. I left it to gain some exposure to the drier climes of the living room fire and began to work on the other parts of the table.

I turned by attention to the legs of the table at which point the sander started sparking bright flashes, hissing like a cat cornered by the Vet and smoking like Thomas the Tank engine after a hot date so I went inside and watched Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy which was thoroughly entertaining spy film starring  Commissioner Gordon.

I wondered if any spy had ever been tortured with an electric sander to the face and then I went to bed.

I returned later and sanded the shit out of the table and chairs with my trusty Ryobi.

Chairs.

I don't think I'll ever be able to sand another chair for a while. They are really tough. Worse is the staining. So damn fiddly.

So the table and chairs were duly sanded and stained with a mahogany colour and the Oak wood responded marvellously and gave a orange like colour which I describe as Tiger.

The final part of the restoration was to cover the chairs. I got some nice leather-like chair covering from Spotlight (first willing trip to that place ever!), some hessian from a shopping bag a guns stapler.

Who knew gun staplers where so much fun? 600 hundred staples later, the chairs were presentable enough for Queen to sit on. Well kinda, my first effort was pretty rubbish, the final chair to be covered was pretty good!

Costs of the renovation:

Table and Chairs $180 from Trade Me
Stain - $50 bucks from Bunnings
Sand paper - $20 bucks from Bunnings
Chair covering - $35 bucks from Spotlight

All up $285 bucks which is a steal compared to buying the same thing in a fancy antique store somewhere where in Petone.

Here's the table in it's extended mode. It's like the Transformer of the table universe....

Did you know you can also add oak to your homebrew for better flavour?

5 U2 songs with lyrical bite

5 U2 songs with lyrical bite and their meaning

To my mind, a really great song is one which has hidden depths - and those depths can usually be found in the lyrics. A classic rock song, can say anything and mean everything.

Look at Oasis's Wonderwall lyrics for example. It's basically a love song but without really actually meaning anything, in contrast, here's 5 U2 song lyrics that have some real meaning, some real bite and what the words mean.

Walk On from All That You Can't Leave Behind

This is one of those songs that stray into the say anything, mean anything territory but U2 have but some real context around it to to ensure that it's lyrics are not misunderstood.

Dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi, this song is a freedom song, dedicated to the exponent of democracy and freedom in Mynamar.

Poignantly during the 360 degree tour, U2 played this song at every concert and had supporters of Amnesty International come out on to the stage to show their support for Aung San Suu Kyi and U2's support for the people of Mynammar and their efforts to become a truly democratic society.

Spanish Eyes 

Despite stealing lyrics from "She's a rainbow" by the Rolling Stones, Spanish Eyes is a love song to Bono's wife Ali - and she is actually Irish thus confusing the heck out of many U2 fans. This b-side from The Joshua Tree era kind of complements The Sweetest Thing in the sense that it was also a b-side and also a love letter to Ali.

God Part II from Achtung Baby

People often wonder why this song is called Pt II as they've never heard of a U2 song called God before. It's actually intended as a sequel to John Lennon's song called God. Lennon's song refers to things he didn't believe in such as Hitler - Bono's version also refers to things that he also doesn't believe in but also goes on to refer to how pissed he was at the author Albert Goldman who wrote an unflattering biography of Lennon (and also a bio of Elvis, and given U2's love of Elvis, I'm not surprised Bono made the reference).

Sunday Bloody Sunday from the War album

This one is a pretty obvious song, but newer U2 fans may not realise the real meaning of this song. It's an exploration of the conflict that can exist between the State, it's people and when religion gets thrown into the mix. Inspired by two terrible occasions where soldiers shot civilians in Northen Ireland - the lyrics capture these moments crisply by invoking the cross fire that occurred between Ireland's conflicting religions and the military acttion that was taken - an by extension the State's role in the massacres.

Zooropa from Zooropa

Zooropa is a really crazy song that opens the album of the same name. Some fans have been confused by the lyrics of the song - they seem so mumble jumbled and make no sense. The real meaning of the song can be determined when you realise the lyrics are a hodge podge of slogans from famous brands. Zooropa's lyrics have a running theme of irony, tying in the "media overload" themes of the Zoo TV Tour into the context of a post-Berlin Wall Europe.

The song's lyrics touch on how modern technology can unite people as well as separates  them from each other.

Want more on U2's songs? check out U2 lyrics that explore Jesus, Yahweh and The Good Book.

EDI Cosplay from Phoenix Comicon

Check out Reborn Flame's sweet picture of Mass Effect cosplayers - I think the EDI one is pretty impressive! I think EDI was attending the Phoenix Comicon. What do you reckon, is there any better EDI cosplayers out there in cosplay land?

Those other two dudes are all right as well I guess ;)