The Best of 1980-1990
by
U2
Edit

Release type:What's this?
compilation
First released:
Nov 3 1998

Overview Edit

The Best of 1980–1990 is the first greatest hits compilation by Irish rock band U2, released in November 1998. It mostly contains the group's hit singles from the eighties but also mixes in some live staples as well as one new recording. In April 1999, a companion video (featuring music videos and live footage) was released. The album was followed by another compilation, The Best of 1990–2000, in 2002.

A limited edition version containing a special B-sides disc was released on the same date as the single-disc version. At the time of release, the official word was that the 2-disc album would be available the first week the album went on sale, then pulled from the stores. While this threat never materialized, it did result in the 2-disc version being in very high demand. Both versions charted in the Billboard 200.

The boy on the cover is Peter Rowan, brother of Bono's friend Guggi (real name Derek Rowan) of the Virgin Prunes. He also appears on the covers of the early EP Three, two of the band's first three albums (Boy, and War), and Early Demos.

The Overview appearing in this section is attributed to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best_of_1980-1990. Portions of this Overview may be available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, version 3.0 or any later version, available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/. Additional terms may apply. See Wikipedia Terms of Use for details.

This particular version Edit

Record label:
Catalog number:
314-524 613-2
Release dates:
  • Nov 10 1998 in United States

Genres

Alternative Rock, Classic Rock, Rock. Vote on Genres

What do Amazon.com customers think?

4 stars Good collection, but a bit deficient
For the casual fan, this is a fairly good collection of U2 singles from the 1980s. If you would like to explore this era further, I recommend the following records (in order of priority): (1) 'The Joshua Tree' (1987); (2) 'Under a Blood Red Sky' (1983); (3) 'Rattle & Hum' (1988); (4) 'War' (1983); and (5) 'The Unforgettable Fire' (1984).

For the diehard fans, it should be noted that there are a few glaring omissions here (see "*" below), including no singles from 'October' (1981) (only the hidde…
Written by "serious_u2_fan"
2 stars Excellent music, lamentable execution
I'd like to summarize the objections other people have to this compilation, while adding one of my own that (amazingly) no one else has mentioned yet. First of all, I have no problem with U2 cutting off this compilation at 1990 like others do; post-Achtung Baby U2 is a remarkably different band, and those songs would've sounded jarring here. Furthermore, there simply wouldn't have been enough room to include hits from Achtung Baby, Zooropa, and Pop along with the early stuff - the later period w…
Written by Jeffrey Blehar

Track listing Edit

  • CD 1 : The Best Of

    format:
    number:
    title:
    number name artist hh:mm:ss
    1
    Pride (In the Name of Love)
    3:50
    2
    New Year's Day
    4:18
    3
    With or Without You
    4:58
    4
    I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
    4:40
    5
    Sunday Bloody Sunday
    4:42
    6
    Bad
    5:51
    7
    Where the Streets Have No Name
    4:36
    8
    I Will Follow
    3:38
    9
    The Unforgettable Fire
    4:55
    10
    Sweetest Thing (the single mix)
    3:02
    11
    Desire
    2:59
    12
    When Love Comes to Town
    4:18
    13
    Angel of Harlem
    3:50
    14
    All I Want Is You / October
    9:51

Credits Edit

  1. engineer

  2. performer

    1. Brian Eno [keyboards, synthesizer]
  1. producer

    1. Brian Eno [programming]

Other versions Edit

The Best of 1980-1990 29 tracks format: 1 x CD, 1 x unknown format
record label: Island Records
release dates: Nov 3 1998 in United States, Nov 4 2002 in United Kingdom
view details
The Best of 1980-1990 14 tracks format: 1 x CD
record label: Island Records
catalog number: 524612
release dates: Nov 3 1998
view details
15 tracks format: 1 x CD
release dates: 1998 in Japan
view details
The Best of 1980-1990 14 tracks format: 1 x cassette
release dates: Nov 10 1998
view details
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