U2 "Pop" - classic or dud?

Zooropa was also, for what it's worth, a pretty free collaboration with Eno. They had two studios, one for the band and the other for Eno. The band would finish some stuff and then hand it over to Eno to fiddle with (same process with Eno/James and Wah Wah). "Pop," for what it's worth, marked the band's most radical break from habit, enlisting Howie B. as its Eno, plus a hodgepodge of names in often less than lead roles. Flood, Ben Hillier, Marius De Vries, Mark "Spike" Stent, Alan Moulder ... Also, at least a third, maybe more, of the songs on "Pop" were written around the same time as "Zooropa," if not a tad earlier. Perhaps because it's so underrated it stands up better than it should, but it definitely underscores just how important someone like Eno or Lillywhite, let alone an all-around adept musician/producer like Lanois, is to the band. Doesn't explain the group's more conservative detour to dullsville after this one, though.

There was a great interview with Eno a few years back where he described the downside of the way the band works. U2 stuff is largely worked up from scratch in the studio, out of jams and stuff (which is weird for this least adept at improvising rock bands), then gradually gets stronger and coalesces ... unless the band keeps working, at which point the songs morph again and get worse and less good. So they keep hammering at them to get them back in shape, etc, but if the process ebbs and flows enough times, the band can run out of time as deadlines loom. In the case of this album it was a huge tour on the horizon, so they supposedly had to end sessions at a less than ideal stage.

I'll have to look up which mixes and where they appeared although there were definitely a few on the Best Of if memory serves. I think I went off someone's recommendation on a msg board years ago and was pleasantly surprised at the difference it made. Not night and day exactly, but enough to make me sit up and take notice.

i'm not sure anything would've worked the way they wanted (zooropa was a new jersey and casual fans had kinda turned away cf rem and new adventures) but there was this element of ok we have to be hit makers here but also have to maintain our 90s eurohip vibe plus gotta stay relevant so let's do an oasis type number and a trip hop number or two and let's embrace techno but at the same time we need to make it verse chorus verse songs o and also we're U2 so we need to say something, we need to impart our wisdom. it's a better, more interesting record than rattle and hum but the folly at heart is the same.

U2 stuff is largely worked up from scratch in the studio, out of jams and stuff (which is weird for this least adept at improvising rock bands), then gradually gets stronger and coalesces ... unless the band keeps working, at which point the songs morph again and get worse and less good. So they keep hammering at them to get them back in shape, etc, but if the process ebbs and flows enough times, the band can run out of time as deadlines loom. In the case of this album it was a huge tour on the horizon, so they supposedly had to end sessions at a less than ideal stage.

Also, Larry was recovering from back surgery while the band went ahead in the studio without him. He came back, did some stuff, then left again to fully rehabilitate. When he came back the second time, most of his work was recording drum tracks with/to replace the loops they'd been working with. Their whole process was out of whack, not helped by the deadline they couldn't move.

I would've been totally cool with more songs like "Do You Feel Loved" and "Mofo." They chickened out -- blame deadline or whatever. "Wake Up, Dead Man" and "If God Will Send His Angels" were the Zooropa outtakes.

did anyone go to the k-mart press conference? I did: the stink of preening, smug "oh look how au courant we are, no more "angle of Harlem" from us!" was overpowering. It's true that Pop was to Achtung baby as Rattle was to Joshua.

U2 at the lectern explaining to their fans that Pop Music Was Good. Remember they opened that tour with M's "Pop Muzik"?

still shocked 'do you feel loved?' wasn't a single. would've definitely voted for 'gone' in the u2 poll.

I would've been totally cool with more songs like "Do You Feel Loved" and "Mofo."

Me too. Always thought "Mofo" was one of their great songs, as good as anything they'd ever done.

did anyone go to the k-mart press conference?

I remember a long writeup in The Nation on this by Dave Marsh. He pointed out that someone at the press conference asked U2 why they were essentially shilling for KMart, given the sweatshop labor used to make the clothes sold there. Bono called the questioner a snob and moved on.

Pretty sure If You Wear that Velvet Dress is also a Zooropa leftover. And Last NIght on Earth. And I think Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, which wouldn't have really fit on Zooropa or Pop.

It was.

xp It wasn't about sweatshops. "Why was the band, by its appearance, promoting Kmart, a chain that censors recordings, as does Wal-Mart? Bono called the guy a "snob.""

Not that I'd take Dave Marsh's word for gospel, given how much he loathes U2. http://www.miaminewtimes.com/music/rattle-and-bum-6360325

Always thought "Mofo" was one of their great songs, as good as anything they'd ever done.

Never could fully get into this song. I like it fine, but mostly it feels like a genre exercise in the same way that the entirety of Bowie's Earthling was. I think Do You Feel Loved is a much more successful attempt at recontextualizing those sounds.

And I think Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, which wouldn't have really fit on Zooropa or Pop.

Seems like it would fit pretty well on Pop actually. But, again, in a different mix and definitely without those Broadway strings.

https://scontent-mia1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xat1/v/t1.0-9/12118767_958448767527484_3126987890053575950_n.jpg?oh=eb8595c89faa5b382e5936931e7f4d9b&oe=56CB8FB6