The Best of 1990–2000 is the second greatest hits album by Irish rock band U2. It was released on 5 November 2002 through Island Records, except in the United States where the album was released on the Interscope label as a single-disc CD compilation. The Best of 1990–2000 & B-Sides was released on the same day with a second disc featuring 14 of the B-sides released between 1990 and 2000 and a bonus DVD with a trailer for the album and three other segments. A video album of the same name was later released in December 2002. The album contained two newly recorded tracks, "Electrical Storm" and "The Hands That Built America"; the latter was released on to Gangs of New York while the former was released as a single. The album also included "new mixes" of several songs, as well the tracks "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" and "Miss Sarajevo". The album charted at number one in 13 countries and was the twelfth-best-selling album of 2002, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.
Track listing
"Electrical Storm" was released as a single in promotion of the album. "Gone," "Discothèque," "Staring at the Sun," and "Numb" were remixed by Mike Hedges for the compilation. "Mysterious Ways" is identical to the album version with the exception of a single lyric. "Miss Sarajevo," co-written by Brian Eno, was originally included on the album Original Soundtracks 1, which was released by the band under the alias "Passengers".
Limited Edition B-sides Disc
"North and South of the River" was written with Christy Moore. "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" was written by Lennon–McCartney. "Your Blue Room" was written with Brian Eno.
Limited Edition Bonus DVD
"The History Mix" is a video montage anthologizing the band's nineties albums and tours. It includes snippets of interviews, promotional videos, and so forth. The live version of "Please" is from the Helsinki Olympic Stadium in Helsinki, Finland, recorded on 9 August 1997 and directed by Maurice Linnane.
Charts and certifications
Charts
Decade-end chart
Certifications
Video
The Best of 1990–2000 was also released as a video compilation, featuring music videos from the songs on the album. The DVD version of the video featured one to two videos for each song on the album, plus seven bonus videos, as well as directors' commentaries, and three mini-documentaries. The VHS version of the video featured simply one video for the 16 songs from the album. On all versions however, there is no video for "The First Time", as one was never made or rather released. In its place was put the video of "The Fly", which itself was on certain versions of the album. The DVD case had two disc slots, one for the main videos, the other for the "History Mix" DVD from the "A and B sides" version of the album. In its absence, a CD/DVD-shaped paper disc is used as a placeholder.
Track listing
Music and words by U2, except where otherwise noted.
An "easter egg" also features. From the main menu on the DVD, if "One" is clicked, the main screen for "One" will appear. Once on this screen, the digit '1' could be clicked on the remote control three times. If clicked three times, a three-minute video of a fish tank, with fish swimming in it, appears. After some time, some Trabants will appear in the video as fishes, which swim from one end of the screen to the other.
The lyrics to "The Ground Beneath Her Feet" were written by Salman Rushdie. The song features Daniel Lanois on pedal steel guitar. All tracks have been remastered for these releases.
