Mix Tape of the Day: April 7, 2015 - The Best of U2 (The 1990s)

Thought I missed this one, huh?  I decided to save the best for last (well, best, according to me).  For, as great as The Joshua Tree album was, I feel that the tonal shift from the '80s to the '90s that came with Achtung Baby was one of the best creations in modern music.  It is literally one of my favorite albums and I had to refrain from including the whole tracklist here.  I eventually chose my seven favorites (plus one of the B-sides) from it so I could feature some of the other greats of this decade.

1. One - U2 (1991) I'm starting with "One," arguably U2's best song.  Part of the fun of this album is revisiting it and finding so many great songs one right after another.

2. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses - U2 (1991) This one was my goto U2 song for a long time.  I may have burned myself out on it over the years, but hopefully, you can understand why I kept revisiting it.

3. So Cruel - U2 (1991) Honestly, I like this one because it reminds me of the intro music to Pokemon Snap.  And it's also just as amazing.

4. The Fly - U2 (1991) As part of the style shift away from the '80s, Bono established personas for himself.  This one was dubbed, "The Fly."  I'm not sure that it was an entirely brilliant move on his part, but the song that accompanied it was fantastic.

5. Mysterious Ways - U2 (1991) Yes, "Mysterious Ways" is on this one too.  As is "Even Better Than the Real Thing," but I had to remove one of them and "Mysterious Ways" won in the end.

6. Ultraviolet (Light My Way) - U2 (1991) Some more deep cuts.  I always find myself coming back to this one.  I great gem that could have been a single in it's own right.

7. Love Is Blindness - U2 (1991) And then of course, the closing song on the album is another U2 classic love song.

8. Lady with the Spinning Head (Extended Dance Remix) - U2 (1991) This one matches the sound of "The Fly" which is why I like it so much.  It's just fun to have more Achtung Baby in existence.

9. The First Time - U2 (1993) Achtung Baby certainly carries this 1990s era, because I just wasn't as strongly drawn to the following two albums, Zooropa and Pop.  But thanks to the compilation album The Best of 1990-2000, I was exposed to some of the deeper tracks from these albums, as well as updated mixes of their singles which sounded a lot better with the sound established at the beginning and end of the decade.

10. Numb - U2 (1993) This one is just so cool.  But what makes it even cooler was Weird Al's unofficial parody that just replaced the lyrics with the words to Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham.  It's...inspiring.

11. Stay (Faraway, So Close!) - U2 (1993) I listened to a lot of these songs when I was a lovelorn 14-year-old, so they really get me right there, you know?

12. Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me - U2 (1995) ...Promotional songs for the Batman movies were the best!

13. Gone - U2 (1997) Farewell, U2!  It's been fun going through the past 35 years with you!