Modern Rock Tracks No. 1s - U2 and "One"
A Mother's Day 2024 tribute to U2's "One," a track presumptively about love, lifting each other up when you're down, and being a part of someone's life. Or anti-romanticism.
U2 - “One”
Weeks atop the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart: 1 week (April 4, 1992)
Billboard Hot 100 chart toppers during this time:
Vanessa Williams - “Save The Best For Last” (3 total weeks, beginning 3/21/92)
What can I say about “One” that hasn’t already been said? At one point, before the magazine did a do-over on its “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” chart, Rolling Stone noted that U2’s “One” was ranked #36 ALL TIME among the greatest songs ever recorded. This was better than the best tracks from such heavyweights as David Bowie, Simon & Garfunkel, and Smokey Robinson, just to name a few. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame once listed “One” among a handful of U2 songs that shaped the history of rock and roll.
To put it lightly, “One” is a singular song with a lot of critical bona fides behind it, and yet, as the third single from “Achtung Baby,” it didn’t quite match its status as a much-beloved song when it came to its chart position.
For starters, “One” only topped the Modern Rock Tracks chart for a single week in April 1992, a tragedy punctuated by the ridiculous longevity of the previous #1 hit, the shriek-laden Bjork-fronted “Hit” by The Sugarcubes. Again, I know there are fans, but “One” was on the MRT chart for seven full weeks before it ascended to the top spot, and was stuck behind The Sugarcubes for a long damn time. Just craziness.
Even more interesting is the track’s performance on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, the flagship chart for all things popular in music. “One” topped out at #10 on that chart, barely a top-10 single from an album that reached the top of the Billboard 200 chart. Even “Mysterious Ways,” a former MRT #1 single, managed a #9 finish as the second release off “Achtung Baby.” I’ve always found these chart anomalies to be interesting, if only because, sometimes, chart performance doesn’t always serve as a marker for a song’s longevity or legacy.
So with that said, what makes “One” such a longstanding favorite among both U2 fans and music lovers across the globe? First and foremost, it’s just a well-composed song. The layers of guitars and the pacing of Bono’s vocals give the song both a haunting quality and an urgency that keeps your focus throughout the track. There are a couple of well-produced guitar bridges punctuated by Bono’s return to the sometimes biting, sometimes emotionally charged punch of the song, with meanings and interpretations that vary depending on the person who’s listening to the song.
In Neil McCormick’s 2006 book “U2 By U2,” Bono talks about the song and describes it less as a song about unity and togetherness, but more about “disunity” and the fracturing of relationships.
"There was melancholy about it but there was also strength. ‘One’ is not about oneness, it's about difference. It's not the old hippie idea of 'let's all live together.' It is a much more punk rock concept. It's anti-romantic: 'we are one but not the same. We get to carry each other.' It's a reminder that we have no choice.
I'm still disappointed when people hear the chorus line as 'got to' rather than 'we get to carry each other.' Like it or not, the only way out of here is if I give you a leg up the wall and you pull me after you.
There's something very unromantic about that.” — Bono
I tend to have a slightly different take on it, as I tend to see things a little more “glass half full” in my interpretations. I also wasn’t nearly going through a complete band breakup at the time I created the song, as U2 apparently was during the recording sessions for “Achtung Baby,” so I lack the jaded edge that Bono and the boys may have been feeling in that moment.
Whereas Bono sees “we get to carry each other” as an anti-romantic call to just struggle through our issues because we have no choice, I tend to see it more optimistically as having the opportunity to go through things together, knowing that we’re not alone, and that we have others to lean on. We’re lucky to be alive in a world where our experiences, though different, are shared among each other, and we get to lift each other up at different times in our lives.
I’ve mentioned this in the confines of my professional life as well: We all have external issues and problems we bring into our jobs, and that can have a positive or negative effect on how we perform our tasks on a daily basis. But recognizing our humanity, our “oneness,” can help give us the perspective to lift up others who might be going through a hard time, and give us the satisfaction of knowing that there may come a point when that person will need to be lifted up. We’re here for each other, in other words, and we’re lucky to exist in a place and time where such togetherness helps us get through the good times and the bad.
I’m writing this article on Mother’s Day 2024, and it’s in this vein that I think of the song in terms of my own mother, and how much I’ve had to rely on her as a port in the storm or a shoulder to cry on when I needed it the most. And, in the end, even though our experiences are different and have shaped us in vastly different ways, she should know that she can rely on me to be a port in the storm for her when she needs it. Thus, to me, the message of “One” isn’t disunity or anti-romanticism, but rather the opportunity to make our shared existence better. I’m lucky in that way, as are any of us who have a parent, relative, loved one or even close friend/acquaintance to “carry each other” through.
As I noted above, “One” only had a short reign at the summit of the Modern Rock Tracks chart, holding down the top spot for a single week. Nevertheless, the song was rated by Billboard Magazine as the top modern rock track of 1992, as U2 cleaned up all the year-end accolades thanks to the staying power of “Achtung Baby.”
U2 continued to stick around on the MRT charts throughout 1992, riding out all of the singles released from their album. “Even Better Than The Real Thing” would top out at #5 on the MRT chart later in the summer of 1992, and “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses” would come in at the end of ‘92 and manage a #7 peak on the MRT chart.
At this point, after three U2 #1 articles in quick succession, it’s probably OK that we’re going to be taking a small break from the band in this space. Their follow-up to “Achtung Baby,” the somewhat-maligned “Zooropa,” failed to chart any singles near the top of the MRT chart, but they’ll be back again before too much more time passes.
Rating: 9/10
Chart Check: A look at other notable MRT chart songs from this time period
Last week, I mentioned They Might Be Giants and their #24 MRT chart hit “The Statue Got Me High.” Well, as it turned out, when I saw them in concert this past Thursday in Pittsburgh, the band played a set focused heavily on their album “Apollo 18,” which included a live performance of “The Statue Got Me High.” It was awesome!
As for this week’s “Chart Check,” there’s not much to report, as most of the top 10 tracks during this time were already covered in last week’s section. So, for now, I’ll post a couple of “One” covers that are pretty great.
“One” by Mary J. Blige and U2: Mary J. Blige teamed up with U2 with a pretty solid cover of “One” off her “The Breakthrough” album in 2006. It’s really well done; Blige really brings a new level of emotional clout to the song, and the accompaniment with U2 is a real treat.
“One” by Chris Cornell: The late Soundgarden/Audioslave frontman did a pretty unique cover of “One,” incorporating both the U2 version of the song, and Metallica’s completely different “One” track. Here’s a live version of the unique amalgam of Metallica and U2, sung by one of the best vocal talents of the 1990s and 2000s.
“One” by Johnny Cash: Of course, if it’s a song that has an angsty edge to it, odds are good there’s a Johnny Cash version, and it’s just as good as you can imagine. It’s not quite on the same level as his cover of NIN’s “Hurt,” but it’s a solid take from one of the all-time greats.
“Snacks and Candy” by Miracle Legion: Miracle Legion, a band that has an R.E.M.-themed jangly guitar sound, had a decent track that charted at a peak of #28 on the MRT chart with “Snacks and Candy.” There’s a bit of a Primus edge to it as well, but the fast-paced alt-rock grooves make this one an unexpected toe-tapper.