U2 Lists: Top 10 U2 Videos
@U2,
January 20, 2009
By: Miranda Greer
[Ed. note: This is the seventh in a "U2 Lists" series, where @U2 staffers pick a topic and share their personal rankings on something U2-related.]
 There's the one where they dress in drag; the one where they're cartoon characters; the one where Edge gets a foot in his face; the one where Larry rescues a mermaid; and the one where they pretend to be The Village People. Over the past three decades, U2's music videos have spanned the highs -- and lows ("Red Hill Mining Town" anyone?) -- of visual communication. They've made us think, made us cry, made us want to get up and dance and, on more than a few occasions, made us laugh.
Choosing just 10 of U2's videos for this list was a tough job -- a top 20 list would have been a lot easier. Having to leave some videos off the list -- like "Beautiful Day" -- really kinda hurt! To narrow it down, I decided to pick the videos that immediately come to mind when you think about U2, the videos I look up on YouTube at parties or in the office to show my friends, the videos that made the biggest creative or artistic statement and the videos that have stood the test of time. So here goes, for better or worse, my Top 10 U2 Videos.
10. "The Unforgettable Fire" Of all the videos before The Joshua Tree era, this is the one that stands out in my mind. Filmed in Stockholm, Sweden, the video has aged gracefully (Bono's shocking mullet aside), particularly when you compare it to videos of a similar age, like Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" or Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" (although her haircut is surprisingly similar to Bono's). The video is elegant and evocative and accurately captures the song's haunting beauty. The special effects -- like the carousel morphing into an atomic bomb's mushroom cloud -- are done tastefully and don't make me cringe (unlike most special effects from the '80s). The video communicates a feeling of loneliness; Bono just looks kind of sad and isolated looking out at the city's lights on his own. Maybe the other guys refused to be in the same room with that mullet! Whatever the story, this is a video that makes you feel the song.
9. "All I Want Is You" A dark and eerie video about unrequited love and broken hearts, "All I Want Is You" is the first U2 video I remember seeing and immediately comes to mind when I think about the band's video offerings. This was U2's first foray into cinematic music videos, where the aim was to tell a story from start to finish in the short amount of time available, rather than just illustrate the song. Beautifully shot and directed by Meiert Avis in moody black and white, the video would probably be closer to the top of many people's lists. But despite all the positives, it is the lingering questions about what happens at the end of the story that forced me to lock this one in at no. 9. Who dies? The girl? The other guy? Does anyone actually die, or is the whole funeral part a dream? According to Ned O'Hanlon, the video's producer, the ending is clear: "Well, y'know...it's easy to work it out. She dies," he said in an interview with our very own Matt McGee back in 2004. So there you have it. I guess the plan with the storyline was to get people talking, and hey, it worked. Here we are still talking about it 20 years later.
8. "Lemon" Fun, futuristic and starring Bono as both The Fly and Macphisto, this video captures the band at the height of their technological powers. The video pays homage to the work of groundbreaking photographer Eadweard Muybridge, who was the first person to successfully capture motion on film using something called a "Zoopraxiscope." No kidding, I didn't make that up! So those action sequences with the state-the-obvious subtitles, like "man hitting snare drum," which used to always make me laugh, were actually a nod to Muybridge. While the video may seem light and fluffy on the surface, there's actually a complex, multifaceted work of art there to be discovered and enjoyed. Oh, and anything that features the boys in their blue Zoo TV uniforms -- a skillful mix of suave and communist chic -- has to be worth watching.
7. "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)" Directed and filmed by Wim Wenders in Berlin, the video for "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)" sees U2 playing the role of musical guardian angels to an up-and-coming band, helping them learn to play their song. Beautiful and elegant, the video has a very European art-house feel to it, which has probably helped it age so gracefully. For a video that's nearly 16 years old, it still looks classy and could compete with just about anything played on MTV today. There's an element of whimsy to this video that makes it so appealing to me: like Edge playing the old-fashioned music box while riding the bus, the band jumping off the statue of Victoria's shoulders, the random flash of angel's wings and Bono's hair tied in a black ribbon, giving him a very French circa early 1800s feel. But my favourite part of the video is the ending where, in pre-dawn light, "angel" Bono falls out of the sky, then gets up and dusts himself up, grabs his briefcase and runs off towards his new life on earth: "The bang and the clatter as an angel hits the ground."
6. "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own" This video is like peering through a small window into Bono's childhood: his bedroom, his house on Cedarwood Road, his neighbourhood and the Post Office where his dad worked. When I see Bono lying in his old bedroom staring up at the ceiling, I can't help but imagine him there as a teenager, doing his homework, thinking about girls and dreaming about his future. There's no doubt that there's an element of voyeurism here; the feeling you're seeing things that are incredibly personal and private, things that you normally would not be able to see. But it is this "put all of your cards on the table" style of honesty that makes this video -- and this song -- so special.
5. "Numb" Could Edge be any cooler in this video? Our guitar hero is the master of understatement as he endures water torture, gets poked, prodded and slapped, force-fed, tied up and kissed and has feet rubbed into his face. No matter what they throw at him, Edge is unfazed and maintains his focus on delivering his lines to the camera. It's one of the few videos where Bono plays a supporting role and lets another member of the band steal the limelight -- and steal it Edge does. He does a stellar job playing the part of someone who is numb to their emotions and the world around them. And while his aim was probably to keep a straight face throughout, I love all of the little expressions he comes out with during the different physical tests and distractions -- particularly when the girls start biting his ear and later when Bono ties him up.
4. "One" (Berlin version) It's kind of ironic that U2 made three videos for a song called "One." Clearly, not even the band could decide which incarnation was best, and so they released all three to the viewing public. While I like them all, Phil Joanou's uncensored "Bono in the bar" is probably my favourite. It's not particularly sophisticated, and some of the shots with the models are very early '90s, but it does have an intimate and personal feeling to it, like you and Bono are having a chat about things over a few drinks at your local. And, you know, Bono is looking pretty fine sitting there across the table, drinking his whiskey and smoking that cigar; I could sit back and watch that all day long. But while this is the version of the video I look up more often on YouTube, I know it will be Anton Corbijn's Berlin version that goes down in the history books as the most significant. Full of subtle visual references, Corbijn's video was all about communicating the essence of what it meant to be one: wholeness (man and woman), unity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit and the reunified East and West Berlin), balance and loneliness (Bono's dad Bob Hewson standing alone on the seesaw). Corbijn has been quoted as saying that he put more energy and emotion into this video than any other he has worked on. He even hand-painted the Trabants used in the shoot. For me, this video deserves a spot in the top 10 for its beauty, its complexity and pushing the boundaries. And it's not every day you get to see what your favourite band members would look like as women.
3. "Mysterious Ways" Exotic and sexy, this is a video that makes me want to crank-up the music and dance! It takes you on a psychedelic ride through Fez, Morocco, where director Stephane Sednaoui makes you feel like you're rolling around inside a kaleidoscope, as the colours, patterns and distorted images collide on the screen. In this video, what's up is down; reality is stretched and pulled in all directions, adding to its mysterious and seductive allure. This technicolour journey through Fez's medina is so different to the band's previous videos; it shrugs off the dark and brooding styles from the mid-to-late '80s, offering instead a visual feast of colour and light. And you can't help but smile when the belly dancer starts to do her thing.
2. "Where the Streets Have No Name" It's not exactly a visual masterpiece, but the sheer fact the band and their management were bold enough to record -- or even attempt to record -- this video for "Where the Streets Have No Name" earns it a spot in the top five. Filmed documentary-style in downtown Los Angeles on the roof of a liquor store, the video captures the chaos, energy and raw excitement of this iconic moment in U2 history. It encapsulates that feeling of wanting to break free, take risks and get our of your comfort zone that you get from the song. It's rebellious and anti-authority -- but that just makes me love it even more.
1. "Electrical Storm" Take two very beautiful people, a gorgeous location and one of our generation's finest photographers and what do you get? The sexiest U2 video ever made. I'm not sure how they talked Larry into doing this, but I'm so glad they did. I've YouTubed this video so many times I'd hate to count, and pretty much everyone I know has been treated to a screening (or two). Beautifully shot and directed by Anton Corbijn near Bono and Edge's holiday house in Eze sur Mer on the French Riviera, the video combines the cinematic style used previously in the "All I Want Is You" video and that sense of whimsy seen in "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)" But this video is more than just eye-candy. Corbijn skillfully uses symbolism -- like the bathtub and the now infamous glowing elk -- to communicate the song's mood and message. Shot in black and white, it's the contrast of textures -- the rocky beach, the ebb and flow of the sea, the glittering sequins on Samantha Morton's mermaid outfit -- with movement -- the fireworks, the train, the mermaid running along the beach and writhing in the bath -- that make it so effective. And there's something about Corbijn's use of light, particularly in the close-up shots on Larry and Samantha that reminds me of George Hoyningen-Huene's iconic photography of swimmers and divers from the 1930s. I'm sure this video will prove to be just as timeless as these iconic images.
(c) @U2/Greer, 2009.
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