BBC Music likes their lists, and good for them for doing so. The site churns out some good ones, though each seemingly has a flaw. That is how ranking music works, however. One can not please everyone, but mistakes should still be pointed out.
In a recent ranking of the best albums of 1984, BBC Music made some excellent decisions. Prince's Purple Rain soundtrack being at the top feels right and good. As does Depeche Mode's Some Great Reward at No. 14 (the list is only 15 strong). But not having U2's The Unforgettable Fire included is just plain wrong.
While Bono and his mates were then on a run of making some staggering great albums (The Unforgettable Fire is pinched between War and The Joshua Tree, arguably among the best three-album runs in music history), U2 only released one in 1984, and it went against everything that was, well...happening in 1984.
BBC Music's ranking of the best albums of 1984 missed an important one from U2
In a rock world dominated by the decisions of MTV, where bands not only had to make a handful of great tunes but also make some elite videos to go along with them, U2 chose to produce an album that barely had a single, and certainly not one where people would shake their butts while watching a music video.
The Brian Eno-produced work was stark, layered, and moody. The sonic landscapes were pushed and pulled, and the album helped set up the world of U2 music to come. This was no longer post-punk rage; this was something unlike anything before, at least for the band from Ireland that would become such a force.
Some of the time didn't even seem to get what U2 was doing, so sucked into what was expected of most bands. Make an album, create some videos, play to pop sensibilities, even though the band might not have been pop at all. This wasn't U2's way at the time, and has never truly been, but has only touched on that with Warhol-type sarcasm.
Where The Unforgettable Fire should have been listed on BBC Music's ranking isn't as important as the fact that it should have definitely been ranked somewhere. Among the fantastic choices above, as well as including XTC's The Big Express, David Sylvian's Brilliant Trees, and the Smiths' self-titled debut, should have been U2's fourth, and seemingly most underrated, album.
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