My Top 2000 Songs #1031: God Part 2

Another one that, like John Lennon's "Imagine" from a couple days back, seems to get a bad rap. And, sure, Bono is at maximum pomposity here, starting with the gall to designate himself worthy of creating the sequel to the afore-referenced Lennon's "God." But as with much of 1988's Rattle & Hum, Bono's audacity in assuming the mantle of spokesman for all that's come before--from Lennon, to soul, to the blues--is offset by some of the band's finest songs.

And on "God Part II," you can hear U2 shifting from the chiming sonics that they'd mined for the past few years into something more adventurous, an electrical bombast that would elevate 1991's Achtung Baby and 1993's Zooropa, merging Britpop with elements of shoegaze and Madchester before other bands started following suit. It's the U2 track that most makes me want to reach for the volume dial and shake the walls.

Live:

Cover from December (nope, dunno their work):