The Secret History of Rock

U2’s Biggest B-Side

Alan Cross 3 Comments

The most popular non-album track U2 ever recorded was “The Sweetest Thing”—and there’s a story that goes along with it.  

Bono wrote the song in 1987 as a way to make up to his wife after he forgot her birthday.  It was his suck-up present.  He wanted to include it on The Joshua Tree album, but it was too late.  The album and the artwork were done and there was no way to sneak it onto the record.  

No matter.  It ended up as a B-side for the single version of “Where the Streets Have No Name”—which is where it stayed.  But the song took on a life of its own and became something of a hit.  U2 was then forced to release a remix on one of their greatest hits albums.

They even did a video for it, starring Bono’s wife.  Still want the original version?  It’s on a special disc of non-album tracks that came out in 2001.

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

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3 thoughts on “U2’s Biggest B-Side”

  • Rafa Lopez
    November 16, 2011 at 12:49 am
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    Yep, that was U2's greatest "B-side hit", if that is possible. I would add "Spanish Eyes" to this entry, not only because I'm Spanish, but also because it is probably U2's most played B-side on different tours (yes, in their Spanish gigs). Bono refers to his wife's brown eyes as "Spanish eyes" in the song "In a Little While". Ali is the "brown-eyed girl" who meets the "blue-eyed" boy in "The Sweetest Thing".

    And I would like to remark another great B-side track from U2, "Two shots of happy, one shot of sad", written for another birthday, Frank Sinatra's (blue eyes again). In my humble opinion, their best B-side ever.

    Reply

  • I thought that Bono wrote that song for his wife to suck up for an extra-marital affair?

    Reply
  • Steph D
    November 16, 2011 at 3:22 pm
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    U2 have ALBUMS worth of solid B-sides. Heck, the entire Zooropa album is sort of an Achtung Baby B-sides collection that snowballed into a full-fledged album. And still there's more available.

    In fact, I liked the B-sides from the Pop album era better than some of the album material. Two Shots of Happy is excellent, Slow Medicine with Willie Nelson is an amazing collaboration, and the entire Please Live EP was amazing.

    Sweetest Thing might be the most popular, but it isn't even in the top 5 of my "Best U2 B-sides" list.

    Reply

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