10 Greatest Classic Rock Bands Of All Time
9. U2
There are an awful lot of haters these days for this Irish band, the overt politics of lead man Bono, the stain of the 'Discoteque' era and the poor decision to dump their latest album on our I-Tunes account not helping their legacy. However it's impossible to ignore what a powerful force they were throughout the 80's, becoming one of the last great Classic rock bands.
While the plethora of wannabe knock offs have also contributed to tarnishing the band's legacy, Bono's ability to provide such honesty and emotion in his lyrics made U2's songs something we could all relate to. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For brilliantly explores the human search for purpose, while the phenomenal War album put a human face to the 'troubles' of Northern Ireland.
The band's highpoint came with 1987's The Joshua Tree album and 1989's Rattle and Hum, with Bono at his most contemplative and introspective. Classic love anthems such as All I Want is You and With or Without You were massive commercial hits at this time, but creatively the likes of Angel of Harlem and Where the Streets Have No Name were as good as anything the band produced.
Subsequent experimentation on albums Acthung Baby and Zooropa displayed a band earnestly searching to push their music to new limits, smartly retreating back to their rock roots after the abominable Pop album. They may not have hit the heights of their 80's peak again, but it was still damn good stuff.