This transitional, hit-or-miss set, U2's first collaboration with producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, followed 1983's breakthrough, War. When things click, it bridges that record's fight-the-power arena rock withthe texture fetishism of its follow-up, The Joshua Tree. The transcendent"Bad" is the triumph, but the bonus disc adds fascinating experiments,including the excellent Bowie-drag outtake "Disappearing Act" and somefunky B sides that borrow from Eno's Talking Heads playbook (see "BoomerangII"). They're working notes from the band's first great reinvention; itwouldn't be its last.

“The Pretender”

This song wasn't part of the planned track listing for 2007's Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, and was put together in a day. "It happened after we recorded a lot of stuff," said Dave Grohl. Yet it ended up as the album opener and the lead single. Grohl called it "a stomping Foo Fighters uptempo song with a little bit of Chuck Berry in it." The singer hinted at the lyrics' political overtones: "Everyone's been f---ed over before and I think a lot of people feel f---ed over right now and they're not getting what they were promised."