Red Mosquito

I think it was hard for them because a lot of people pointed out that they wanted to became electronic, work with Paul Oakenfold and guys like that and fans were pretty angry about it.
Thats why i guess the next one is so bland, its the first time U2 made a record to anyone to like.

VinylGuy wrote:I think it was hard for them because a lot of people pointed out that they wanted to became electronic, work with Paul Oakenfold and guys like that and fans were pretty angry about it.
Thats why i guess the next one is so bland, its the first time U2 made a record to anyone to like.

I think part of Pop's lack of success was dumb marketing and release strategy. If Discotheque was going to be the lead single, they should have released an alternate single for rock radio. Hearing Discotheque on our rock station turned off a lot of people and fans of even Achtung Baby!, I think the album would have been better received if Gone, Mofo or even Staring At The Sun were the lead single for rock radio.

yeah maybe. Not sure. The album is really good. U2 embarrassed themselves later in their career in that regard with very lackluster material...the Green Day song, that One cover with Mary J Blige, The Apple debacle, those Rhianna songs, Kendrick...Only Madonna did it worse than them.

tragabigzanda wrote:

surfndestroy wrote:

VinylGuy wrote:I think it was hard for them because a lot of people pointed out that they wanted to became electronic, work with Paul Oakenfold and guys like that and fans were pretty angry about it.
Thats why i guess the next one is so bland, its the first time U2 made a record to anyone to like.

I think part of Pop's lack of success was dumb marketing and release strategy. If Discotheque was going to be the lead single, they should have released an alternate single for rock radio. Hearing Discotheque on our rock station turned off a lot of people and fans of even Achtung Baby!, I think the album would have been better received if Gone, Mofo or even Staring At The Sun were the lead single for rock radio.

Agreed. And the whole album and marketing strategy felt to me like such a crass grasp for popularity with a younger audience. Really embarrassing piece of art.

Maybe, but I think the path from Achtung Baby to Zooropa to Pop is a very natural musical evolution regardless of how it dovetailed with the day's trends and whether the band had any intentions of courting an as-yet unwooed audience -- you can hear things in their early '90's material, especially in how they allowed some of their material to be remixed, that to me show that the road to Pop was paved with genuine musical curiosity. U2 being U2, it's certainly not hard to believe that they would have considered the marketing and aesthetics of the move alongside the artistic ones, but all of elements of their songwriting are intact on Pop; the aesthetic elements are secondary in the music, even if they were primary in the hype.

All this discussion is really giving me a new perspective on Pop. I really like the two albums that followed it, but I definitely need to revisit it. I think the two albums that followed Pop are the peak of the 'return to form' stuff and the last two albums just feel even more ...basic and anthemless in comparison to that 90s and early 00s material.

Lovely thoughts liebzzz

Into it.

Glad to resuscitate a dead thread and spark a great conversation. Hopefully tomorrow I will get to the next album.

tragabigzanda wrote:

liebzz wrote:Glad to resuscitate a dead thread and spark a great conversation. Hopefully tomorrow I will get to the next album.

Is there a way we can convince you to quit while you’re ahead? Bc it’s about to get ugly

Pff no way. Atomic and No Line are wonderful

All That You Can’t Leave Behind

The journey U2 takes from Achtung Baby to Pop is one filled with big leaps of faith in challenging their audience to move with them. It was somewhat ingenious of them to sense that another Joshua Tree, for as great as that album was, wasn’t going to cut it for them in the 90s. That they had to push themselves to do something fresh and interesting. By the second half of Pop (the first half is pretty great in my estimation), it starts to feel again like it’s time to move on. The great question though is to what.

That answer came at least initially in the form of All That You Can’t Leave Behind, a clear attempt to not only bridge the divide between The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby, but also to reach out and pull their audience back - the ones who felt their investment in U2 had all but dried up. In here are big stadium rock songs tugging at universal themes and ballads begging for peace on earth. For many, this is that giant swing for that popular album that had been a decade in the making. Beautiful Day and Walk On and Elevation could be stadium and wedding venue barn burners. Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of and Peace on Earth could make you sway. This is “all the feels” of a the late 90s all balled into one painstakingly curated album that must have had the record executives drooling.

In that regard, this album could be considered a tremendous success, vaulting U2 back into the center of conversation. For me, this album falls flat of all its grandiosity. What made U2 great in the 80s wasn’t necessarily Edge’s fills (they helped) or Bono soaring vocals (admittedly a big piece), but the rhythm interplay between Larry Mullins, Jr. and Adam Clayton - never short of finding new and interesting ways to spin their cohorts signature sounds. They are lost in the shuffle here. I can’t think of a single moment where their contribution feels evident. The 90s U2 were sonically innovative while staying mostly true to who they were as a band. There’s nothing exciting or innovating on this album that would give me a pause. And both 80s and 90s U2 grabbed you on the sense and feeling that this was a band with something to prove, even if they really didn’t, there was a soul and will behind the music, the words, and the vocal delivery that there was a missing something out there that needed to be had. If that exists on this album, then that missing someone only feels like the lack of fame they weren’t capturing on their last two albums. This album feels like a sales pitch. The songs are fine, but it’s not the U2 on the verge of chaos in Boy, the political firebrand of The Unforgettable Fire, or the unbending will to grow in Achtung Baby. I am sure the excitement of a new U2 record resembling old U2 was exciting and tantalizing, but over the course of time and fame and bloated hype, this album ends up being good enough, not great, when you strip all the context away.

If I had only one word to describe this album is would be bland.

i agree with you. I kinda hate it and i havent even listened to it in full, i know most of the songs and singles but ugh...2001 was such a difficult moment to hear Bono talk about peace or freedom in the context of 911. Seeing him embracing the us flag, being super buddy with bush...it was super tough.

I remember all those Rolling Stone covers, talking about this one being incredible and shitting on Pop...jesus. Even visually they feel super cheap. And i agree with you, this album feels like its been designated by the label. Everything is super fucking bland.

Listened to Pop today in full, man it feels like a different album in the second half, but I'll listen to that second half again later tonight.

As for the band shitting on it...yeah there was a sense that when ATYCLB came out that they indicated that the electronic touches of the preceding two albums were excessive. I don't agree on ATYCLB being bland (that award goes to the Songs albums), and I think there's heart in ATYCLB, and I hold it dear, but it does herald a safer U2.

My memories of the album may be tainted with Bono being insufferable around that era. He used to be so fucking cool in the Zoo tv era, or Pop and then you had him turn into this corporate soul.
Of course he always was, but this is when he started to be obsessed with being seen with everyone from Bush to Steve Jobs and he really went for it in terms of going for the flag.

VinylGuy wrote:My memories of the album may be tainted with Bono being insufferable around that era. He used to be so fucking cool in the Zoo tv era, or Pop and then you had him turn into this corporate soul.
Of course he always was, but this is when he started to be obsessed with being seen with everyone from Bush to Steve Jobs and he really went for it in terms of going for the flag.

I mean yes. What I tried to do here was kind of not let that get in the way. Same with all the material preceding it. Get it down to the music and the music alone. I just found that once you take away the context, there’s really not much to root for here. It just feels like a prototypical late 90s anthem rock release. Nothing to draw you in or make you feel like you are hearing something with any particular force, authority or power - a collection of decent songs when taken in whole comes off as bland.

I agree 100% with that take.

liebzz wrote:... a collection of decent songs when taken in whole comes off as bland.

I'd say side one is a collection of good to great songs. While not groundbreaking, Beautiful Day and Walk On are great songs. As someone who has had his parents die, Kite hits an emotional home run. Elevation is fun and provides sonic nods to the Achtung Baby! era and Stuck in a Moment is very poignant.

I do agree with the criticism of the bass and drums. This album started the death spiral of drums in U2. They sound small and tiny. The bass and drums used to be able to bring such a sexy vibe to the songs now sound sterile and lacking all soul.

I'm going to join you on your last leg of this journey, liebzz -- I haven't listened to some of these albums in years. Looking at the tracklists for most of these, I am inclined to think I like all of them better than I would be inclined to rate them from memory. Queueing up ATYCLB now!