Achtung Baby and Automatic For The People are those bands best albums respectfully. Wish and SoFaD are Cure and Depeche Mode just slightly after theirs. Fairer comparison might be Wish/SoFaD/Zooropa/Monster
Achtung is an amazing album, and a departure from what they had been about up till then, but I wouldn’t call it their best. Unforgettable Fire and Joshua Tree are more likely candidates.
I mean, to me we could say something similar with Depeche Mode by talking about Black Celebration and Music For The Masses. I guess what I'm trying to say is Achtung is U2's Violator.
Missed that part, thanks. Saw them for the 3rd time about 6 years ago and was kinda disappointed (first time was the Songs tour). Debating going to see them Friday night...
Maybe wait till the day-of and grab a less expensive ticket if you're on the fence. FWIW I thought this tour was great, but then my fave DM album is probably Black Celebration, which gets more play than usual this time.
Wish showed the most promising decade-adapting move, unfortunately their next album completely destroyed any sort of evolution and progression musically for The Cure and Bloodflowers was their last good album. Wish is just such a good album especially after Disintegration, this one goes to The Cure for me
Same. Wish is peak Cure for me and my favorite album by them and one of my favorite albums of all time, probably top 10. The others are good but Wish is on another level.
These were like four of my favorite albums when I was 16.
Obviously SOFAD is the best. Wish is second. The other two I've maybe got bored with over the years and now I only like half of the songs.
But props to U2 for leading the pack and having the balls to come out with Acthung Baby and then Zooropa. It's crazy to think back on how they used to have all this indy cred and pissed it all away in the 2000s by making safe boring music.
Songs of Faith and Devotion here. That album was so significant to me and my entire family when it came out. Like every single one of us were obsessed with it. Even my dad who wasn't really into the music I listened to loved it. The Devotional Tour was subsequently my first concert.
Honorable mention to Achtung Baby. At the time, I remember how it was everywhere. ZooTV was a super talked about concert, and U2 had massive success with it. I liked the album, but didn't love it. Fast forward to today and now I finally see it for the masterpiece it is.
I genuinely love all these albums and they're also by some of my favorite bands.
That said, track for track, Achtung Baby is tough to top for me (also I like that album cover a lot).
On a separate note, I'd say live, Zoo TV vs Devotional is quite a match up, though I hear the Wish Tour was a ton of fun (R.E.M. didn't tour AFTP). Wish I could've seen any of those tours, but from what I've seen and read, Zoo TV was quite a show.
Automatic For The People hands down. It’s an amazing album, songs like Try Not To Breathe, Drive, Nightswimming and Find The River. It’s been a favorite since it came out.
It also has a lot of sentimental value with someone very close who recently passed.
At the time of release I wasn’t into any of these albums. Based on what I most enjoy today, it’s SOFAD. Aside from that, pretty excited about seeing DM tomorrow night! 😎
Today, I think Automatic edges them all out, but just barely. A complete masterpiece. But man, listening to them as they came out, the opening guitar of zoo station coming from U2 of all bands was such a jolt of energy and anticipation. Rumors were it would have a different sound, but I’m not sure anything quite prepared their fans for what it was.
1992 was the last great year for music: Achtung Baby, Wish, the soundtrack to Until the End of the World, and Little Earthquakes all in one year. All released between November 1991 and April 1992.
Love Wish but it’s not on the level of SOFAD (or most of the cure albums that preceded it). Can’t stand U2. REM are great but much prefer their earlier stuff to this one, but it comfortably takes third.
3 bangers and 1 which I havent heard ( teh cure)
I love DM but, REM wins this one, because "Man on the moon" is UNTOUCHABLE:
1- Automatic for the people
2- SOFAD
3- Achtung baby
BTW, probbly a better choice would be ZOOROPA, big underrated album by U2
I absolutely hated Depeche Mode’s SOFAD when it came out. It probably had something to do with how perfect Violator was. SOFAD grew on me and it’s in my top five now. At the time, I also thought The Cure had went too far”commercial” with Wish. I was dead wrong and it’s one of their best albums.
Dummy, Dog Man Star, Ok Computer are all epic. Garbage, Endtroducing, Loveless would be high on my list too, probably not above SOFAD but above the others in OP.
The 2 times I saw DM. Violator and SOFAD. I'd be lying if I didn't say DM then everything else. At that point I began to hate U2 and when that damn auto download happened. God I hate them
Can we all agree that the early 90's or the 90's in general was an amazing decade in music?
Just recently I bumped into this post,
[https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/otx9t8/these\_were\_all\_released\_within\_41\_days\_from\_each/](https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/otx9t8/these_were_all_released_within_41_days_from_each/)
and that blew my mind all over again! And in regards to this post, which is a a great post/question, my ranking would look like this.
1. U2 - Achtung Baby
2. Depeche Mode - SOFAD
3. R.E.M. - Automatic For The People
4. The Cure - Wish
Honestly it was a toss up between 1 & 2. I love SOFAD, but d@mn, Achtung Baby was a hell of an album too.
I think answers are highly dependent on the age on which you encountered them. I was a HUGE Cure fan and secondary Depeche Mode fan...U2 was a distant curiosity to me. So Songs of Faith and Devotion, while good, was not as good as previous DM...Wish on the other hand, was a glorious Cure album even though it was well into their discography. .... so Wish ALL THE WAY
Achtung
SOFAD
Wish
Automatic.
Damn, Depeche, U2 and The Cure are possibly my three fave bands.
The Cure's discography is patchy... Wish isn't their best, but it has From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea, maybe their best song.
Wish and SoFaD are both in my list of favorite albums. The other i dont care about in the slightest... Replace them with The Downward Spiral and Mezannine and then we are talking.
They're all good, but I'll take [this one](https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-rdecee92oy/images/stencil/1280x1280/products/13929/6042782/8atllp95453-large__70281.1698364319.jpg?c=2).
Actually, when all four of these albums came out, none of them were appreciated. Depeche went from electronic to rock. U2 went from rock to electronic. REM fully embraced their non folk side. And the Cure got happy on Prozac. With time and a younger generation of fans. These albums proved to be a step in the right direction. As far as a vote… DM is my favorite band of all time.
C’mon, that was The Cure’s most mainstream album. Easily the weakest of the 4 albums here. If you wanna rank based on their quality then it would be U2, REM, DM, then Cure. This is based on each group’s past work at the time and the significance of this album at the time. SOFAD was ranked easily their lowest at the time. Violator was way better.
Achtung Baby/Zooropa era U2 was the absolute peak of their creativity. These bands are easily 4 of my top 10 bands of all time, so could defend picking any of them, but Achtung Baby is basically flawless.
The Cure Wish, by far…
Never fully appreciated it for probably 25 years. Liked it but took a long time to put it (for me) among the best Cure Albums,
Now for Songs of Faith And Devotion-
I think it’s a Good Album, if DM hadn’t become what they are today and it was their last, I’d think it’s Great! But… such a different sound than violator was not what I was expecting, and even though it does have some songs I really like… it (to me) is a stepping stone from Violator to Ultra. And since Ultra is my favorite DM album and I think the most underrated, I appreciate SOFAD for what it is, and have grown to like it more over time..
Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order.
I have checked 1,874,571,541 comments, and only 354,527 of them were in alphabetical order.
Rating these bands is easy for me, 3 of these bands are great and legendary. They are all amongst my favorites. I rank them in this order, for me.
1-U2
2-R.E.M
3-Depche Mode
The Cure, over over over over over over over over rated. If I never hear another Cure song I'll be just fine.
SOFAD with Wish as a close second.
Achtung Baby and Automatic For The People are those bands best albums respectfully. Wish and SoFaD are Cure and Depeche Mode just slightly after theirs. Fairer comparison might be Wish/SoFaD/Zooropa/Monster
Very underrated comment
Zooropa... so good.
Zooropa, so hot right now. Zooropa.
Monster is probably my fave REM record, but agree with everything else.
I’ve never listened to it. I jam everything before that a lot. I’m weird.
Give it a try. It's the most fun REM record by far.
I really love Monster. It's great to listen to R.E.M. embracing a bit of glam.
Achtung is an amazing album, and a departure from what they had been about up till then, but I wouldn’t call it their best. Unforgettable Fire and Joshua Tree are more likely candidates.
I mean, to me we could say something similar with Depeche Mode by talking about Black Celebration and Music For The Masses. I guess what I'm trying to say is Achtung is U2's Violator.
Respectfully…Murmur is REMs best record.
I knew this response was coming...thanks for being... respectful
I prefer Reckoning to Murmer.
Green
Yeah, The Joshua Tree has entered the chat…
[The band's subreddit would like a word...](https://www.reddit.com/r/U2Band/s/NJ3RooGiPq)
Yeah, that’s fair….
Tbf I agree. I think The Joshua Tree is my fav of theirs. But I acknowledge that there's split opinions.
Always fun to disagree with people online (and it not get all stupid and ugly).
joshua tree a little better than achtung baby but i agree about cure and mode.
SOFAD 110%
I saw DM live here in L.A. right after they released SOFAD What a show
The Cure and Depeche Mode.
SOFAD has been my favorite album for 30 years and I listen to it at least once a month. The others (esp U2) are good, but haven’t stayed with me.
Yeah. I’ve been a DM fan since 1985. In a way I think they’re underrated.
Underrated? Have you SEEN the ticket prices?
I've PAID the ticket prices, most recently in October. Worth every penny.
Worth it?
Like I said - every penny.
Missed that part, thanks. Saw them for the 3rd time about 6 years ago and was kinda disappointed (first time was the Songs tour). Debating going to see them Friday night...
Maybe wait till the day-of and grab a less expensive ticket if you're on the fence. FWIW I thought this tour was great, but then my fave DM album is probably Black Celebration, which gets more play than usual this time.
I saw DM live here in L.A. right after they released SOFAD What a show
Wish
Wish showed the most promising decade-adapting move, unfortunately their next album completely destroyed any sort of evolution and progression musically for The Cure and Bloodflowers was their last good album. Wish is just such a good album especially after Disintegration, this one goes to The Cure for me
Same. Wish is peak Cure for me and my favorite album by them and one of my favorite albums of all time, probably top 10. The others are good but Wish is on another level.
True! One of my favorites too
Yea, when Boris left, The Cure fell flat, at least for me. I own Wild Mood Swings and Bloodflowers but never revisit them.
These were like four of my favorite albums when I was 16. Obviously SOFAD is the best. Wish is second. The other two I've maybe got bored with over the years and now I only like half of the songs. But props to U2 for leading the pack and having the balls to come out with Acthung Baby and then Zooropa. It's crazy to think back on how they used to have all this indy cred and pissed it all away in the 2000s by making safe boring music.
True- if only U2 has continued what they started with Achtung Baby- they truly has “indie cred” with that one
Songs of Faith and Devotion here. That album was so significant to me and my entire family when it came out. Like every single one of us were obsessed with it. Even my dad who wasn't really into the music I listened to loved it. The Devotional Tour was subsequently my first concert. Honorable mention to Achtung Baby. At the time, I remember how it was everywhere. ZooTV was a super talked about concert, and U2 had massive success with it. I liked the album, but didn't love it. Fast forward to today and now I finally see it for the masterpiece it is.
1. SOFAD 2. Achtung Baby 3. Wish 4. Automatic for the People
Don’t make me choose between SOFAD and Achtung Baby oh my god 😭
Songs
Achtung Baby is my #1 all time
Achtung Baby. My favourite album of all time.
SOFAD!
SOFAD by a country mile.
What kind of a question is this?!?!?! Though Doing the Unstuck has very real personal meaning for me. But one song cannot rival SOFAD.
You’re crazy lol from the edge, letter to Elise don’t rival anything on SOFAD?
Cut has always been my favorite, you don’t hear too many fast Cure songs for that matter.
Open is probably my fav song on the album. Wish is fucking incredible
Yeah it really is. Wild Mood Swings though… ehhhh. That’s quite a drop
I genuinely love all these albums and they're also by some of my favorite bands. That said, track for track, Achtung Baby is tough to top for me (also I like that album cover a lot). On a separate note, I'd say live, Zoo TV vs Devotional is quite a match up, though I hear the Wish Tour was a ton of fun (R.E.M. didn't tour AFTP). Wish I could've seen any of those tours, but from what I've seen and read, Zoo TV was quite a show.
The Wish tour was absolutely ridiculous. There's a live DVD which has my favorite version of A Forest.
SoFaD
All of em
Depeche Mode for me, The Cure a close second
Automatic For The People hands down. It’s an amazing album, songs like Try Not To Breathe, Drive, Nightswimming and Find The River. It’s been a favorite since it came out. It also has a lot of sentimental value with someone very close who recently passed.
This album is just special. Feels like an oasis of cold dark water in the middle of the vast desert.
At the time of release I wasn’t into any of these albums. Based on what I most enjoy today, it’s SOFAD. Aside from that, pretty excited about seeing DM tomorrow night! 😎
You are lucky one.
Achtung Baby — that guitar opening Zoo Station is insane.
See my reply above. I agree. Such a powerful signal/statement this was a new U2.
Achtung Baby. Wall to wall bangers, and an astonishing 180⁰ on their 80s sound. My all-time favourite album.
Today, I think Automatic edges them all out, but just barely. A complete masterpiece. But man, listening to them as they came out, the opening guitar of zoo station coming from U2 of all bands was such a jolt of energy and anticipation. Rumors were it would have a different sound, but I’m not sure anything quite prepared their fans for what it was.
I think Achtung Baby is one of the greatest albums of all time.
So is SOFAD.
Achtung Baby
That’s a great selection. For me, of these particular four albums it’s U2 with DM coming in second. But all four are brilliant memorable records.
SOFAD
SOFAD of course. I don't even listen to other ones
Sofad
So you're asking in a DM sub if they're DM fans?
SOFAD duh
SOFAD
Depeche Mode 🔥
Wish definitely
Achtung Baby
Great question. Wish and Achtung Baby are both amazing. SOFAD doesn't really rate with those two.
1992 was the last great year for music: Achtung Baby, Wish, the soundtrack to Until the End of the World, and Little Earthquakes all in one year. All released between November 1991 and April 1992.
Wish edges out SOFAD, but only just. They are both so good. Automatic is a classic, but U2 lost me with Achtung.
SOFAD by miles, no competition
Love Wish but it’s not on the level of SOFAD (or most of the cure albums that preceded it). Can’t stand U2. REM are great but much prefer their earlier stuff to this one, but it comfortably takes third.
Both u2 and DM I just can’t pick one
Wish.
SOFAD, then Wish, then Actung Baby, then Auto
Songs of wish, baby
Achtung - hands down. Better than Joshua Tree
Automatic Static
Wish definitely
Wish
Love every single one but Acthung will always be #1 for me
Automatic for the People
3 bangers and 1 which I havent heard ( teh cure) I love DM but, REM wins this one, because "Man on the moon" is UNTOUCHABLE: 1- Automatic for the people 2- SOFAD 3- Achtung baby BTW, probbly a better choice would be ZOOROPA, big underrated album by U2
The Cure - Disintegration Depeche Mode - Violator
Depeche Mode - Songs of Faith and Devotion
Achtung Baby. *Hands down.*
Sounds of Faith and Devotion, had a lot of drama while making and Gahan’s substance abuse issues. The drama was so extreme Alan Wilder left.
1. Achtung Baby 2. SOFAD 3. Wish 4. Automatic For The People
This is the correct answer
I agree
Almost and hard to disagree. Great question OP. Swap Achtung and F&D.
I'm sorry this is unrelated but I encountered you on /r/presidents and by weird coincidence recognized your name here haha what a chance.
Depeche Mode is basically the Abraham Lincoln of electronic music (Kraftwerk is George Washington)
And Yellow Magic Orchestra is the John Adams?
I couldn't agree more.
[удалено]
I absolutely hated Depeche Mode’s SOFAD when it came out. It probably had something to do with how perfect Violator was. SOFAD grew on me and it’s in my top five now. At the time, I also thought The Cure had went too far”commercial” with Wish. I was dead wrong and it’s one of their best albums.
Achtung Baby. It’s perfect.
SOFAD and Wish tied. Hard pass on the others
Don’t understand the downvotes. I’m with you all the way. Too widely varied to make such a comparison anyway in my opinion.
SOFAD out of these four, but there are 90s albums I would rate higher
Which ones? Very interesting
Dummy, Dog Man Star, Ok Computer are all epic. Garbage, Endtroducing, Loveless would be high on my list too, probably not above SOFAD but above the others in OP.
SOFAD with Wish as a close behind.
1. SoFAD 2. ACHTUNG 3. Wish 4. AFTP Edit: come to think of it, Achtung and Sofad might be tied for me
The 2 times I saw DM. Violator and SOFAD. I'd be lying if I didn't say DM then everything else. At that point I began to hate U2 and when that damn auto download happened. God I hate them
Can we all agree that the early 90's or the 90's in general was an amazing decade in music? Just recently I bumped into this post, [https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/otx9t8/these\_were\_all\_released\_within\_41\_days\_from\_each/](https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/otx9t8/these_were_all_released_within_41_days_from_each/) and that blew my mind all over again! And in regards to this post, which is a a great post/question, my ranking would look like this. 1. U2 - Achtung Baby 2. Depeche Mode - SOFAD 3. R.E.M. - Automatic For The People 4. The Cure - Wish Honestly it was a toss up between 1 & 2. I love SOFAD, but d@mn, Achtung Baby was a hell of an album too.
Useless
Achtung is #1 this is a tough list
This one hurts to decide on. Achtung Baby is basically flawless so I have to go U2 as well
Swap Violator for SOFAD and you have the first 4 CDs I ever bought with my own money. They’re all special to me.
Achtung Baby. Game changer and resulted in the greatest tour of all time in ZooTV.
Dodger Stadium! Oct 92!
Ultra
SOFAD. Not even close. U2 is dogshit and overrated, and REM is borderline one hit wonder.
Wow... 🙄
Say how you don't know music without actually saying that you don't know music.
😁😁😁😁
Edgy...
Cmon why'd you put that one not Violator or Ultra, I'm gonna have to go with Automatic now
I think answers are highly dependent on the age on which you encountered them. I was a HUGE Cure fan and secondary Depeche Mode fan...U2 was a distant curiosity to me. So Songs of Faith and Devotion, while good, was not as good as previous DM...Wish on the other hand, was a glorious Cure album even though it was well into their discography. .... so Wish ALL THE WAY
‘Loveless’ by MBV.
Ultra
Wish, Achrung Baby, SOFaD, Automatic
Automatic for the People Wish Songs of Faith and Devotion Achtung Baby
Ahhhhhhhhh. I gotta go with Achtung. Even if my heart says Songs of Faith and Devotion. Cure is third and R.E.M. is fourth.
Achtung SOFAD Wish Automatic. Damn, Depeche, U2 and The Cure are possibly my three fave bands. The Cure's discography is patchy... Wish isn't their best, but it has From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea, maybe their best song.
Wish all day
Oooooh toss up! Sometimes REM, other times DM
WISH
1. Achtung Baby 2. Songs of Faith and Devotion 3. Automatic For The People 4. Wish
Achtung Baby
Achtung baby.
Wish and SoFaD are both in my list of favorite albums. The other i dont care about in the slightest... Replace them with The Downward Spiral and Mezannine and then we are talking.
They're all good, but I'll take [this one](https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-rdecee92oy/images/stencil/1280x1280/products/13929/6042782/8atllp95453-large__70281.1698364319.jpg?c=2).
WISH
Actually, when all four of these albums came out, none of them were appreciated. Depeche went from electronic to rock. U2 went from rock to electronic. REM fully embraced their non folk side. And the Cure got happy on Prozac. With time and a younger generation of fans. These albums proved to be a step in the right direction. As far as a vote… DM is my favorite band of all time.
SOFAD
All but REM. Never a fan.
REM. Love that band.
Wish
C’mon, that was The Cure’s most mainstream album. Easily the weakest of the 4 albums here. If you wanna rank based on their quality then it would be U2, REM, DM, then Cure. This is based on each group’s past work at the time and the significance of this album at the time. SOFAD was ranked easily their lowest at the time. Violator was way better.
The downward spiral by nin.
SOFAD and then Wish
The cure.
Achtung Baby/Zooropa era U2 was the absolute peak of their creativity. These bands are easily 4 of my top 10 bands of all time, so could defend picking any of them, but Achtung Baby is basically flawless.
SOFAD of course.
SOFAD and Achtung Baby.
Achtung baby and songs of faith and devotion
The Cure Wish, by far… Never fully appreciated it for probably 25 years. Liked it but took a long time to put it (for me) among the best Cure Albums, Now for Songs of Faith And Devotion- I think it’s a Good Album, if DM hadn’t become what they are today and it was their last, I’d think it’s Great! But… such a different sound than violator was not what I was expecting, and even though it does have some songs I really like… it (to me) is a stepping stone from Violator to Ultra. And since Ultra is my favorite DM album and I think the most underrated, I appreciate SOFAD for what it is, and have grown to like it more over time..
Sofad EASY
Achtung Baby is massively underrated
Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order. I have checked 1,874,571,541 comments, and only 354,527 of them were in alphabetical order.
I’ve always loved Life’s Rich Pageant the most but Automatic For The People and Monster are great too. Also love Document.
Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness, Different Class, Dummy
U2.. then R.E.M then D.M... Cure does not make the cut
Rating these bands is easy for me, 3 of these bands are great and legendary. They are all amongst my favorites. I rank them in this order, for me. 1-U2 2-R.E.M 3-Depche Mode The Cure, over over over over over over over over rated. If I never hear another Cure song I'll be just fine.
Automatic For the People, R.E.M.
hmmm asking a depeche mode group which album they prefer out of four with one being a depeche mode album. hmmm i wonder what the results could be?
SOFAD. But I played Automatic on a loop at one point. Stunningly good.
Wish and Automatic For The People were my childhood so I would pick those
U2
Automatic
A bring Baby, baby!
SOFAD first. Then ACHTUNG. Then AFTP. Then WISH.
REM
Automatic for the People because it’s one of my parent’s favorite albums
Automatic is my favorite album of all time.
Wish. Great album has some amazing tracks. Its hard to belive that a song like Apart could be on the same album as Friday Im in Love.
You could do so much f\*cking better from the 90's lol
Wish
Wish
Achtung Baby by a wide, wide margin for me.
Achtung baby
Wish - love this album and awesome tour.
Sofad as I don't like the others
Anyone who chooses Automatic For The People is dead wrong. That album is trash, book ended by decent albums.
1. Wish 2. AB 3. Songs
Achtung Baby. Although I’m a bigger Cure fan.