Songoftheday 6/26/18 - Give me one more chance and you'll be satisfied, give me two more chances you won't be denied...

"Even Better Than The Real Thing" - U2
from the album Achtung Baby (1991)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #32 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 6

Today's song of the day comes from the Irish rock band U2, whose landmark album Achtung Baby had already spun off a pair of top ten American pop hits with "Mysterious Ways" and "One". The fourth single from the record (first promo single "The Fly" was a minor pop hit) was the uptempo flash of "Even Better Than The Real Thing". Written by the band from work originally back in their previous album Rattle and Hum, the song sported a music video from Kevin Godley (Godley & Creme) that had Bono and the boys with lookalikes of themselves...

"Even Better Than The Real Thing" became the third top-40 pop hit in the U.S. from Achtung Baby in September of 1992. The was a huge hit on rock radio, spending three weeks at #1 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart and peaking at #5 on their Modern Rock format tally. The remix from Paul Oakenfold (which itself charted in Europe) became their biggest dance hit to date climbing to #27 on the Dance Club Play list. Internationally, the single reached the top-10 in Canada (#3), Ireland (#3), Austria (#8), the Netherlands (#8), New Zealand (#8), and Sweden (#10). It also got to #11 in Australia, #12 in the UK (in its original form), and #18 in Switzerland. The Oakenfold remix brought the song to #8 in the UK and #10 in Ireland.

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U2 performed "Even Better Than The Real Thing" for the MTV Music Video Awards in 1992...

And in concert in 1992 in Manchester, England....

And the following year on their iconic ZooTV tour along with "Mysterious Ways"...

At that time, the Paul Oakenfold remixes of the song caused it to climb higher on the chart than the original version, and U2 even uses this version as the clip on their official YouTube channel...