Vorsprung durch Technik: U2 Zooropa poll

For all that's been said about Kid A confounding expectations, tracks like 'Numb' and 'Lemon' must have sounded fucking bizarre to long-time U2 fans.

― Working night & day, I tried to stay awake... (Turrican), Tuesday, February 28, 2017 3:05 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I mentioned this upthread, but on release day some local rock radio DJs (in fact, Steve Dahl of "Disco Demolition" fame) played bits and pieces, skipping around and basically shitting on every song. "Where's the cool strumming thing?!"

Achtung still had guitars all over the place and Edge's delay thing on a couple of songs and the usual TRIUMPHANT choruses. Zooropa had none of the delay thing, long guitarless sections, and no cheer-along choruses.

"Where's the cool strumming thing?!"

Lolol

Yeah! I mean, Achtung Baby still had things like 'Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses' etc.

'The Fly' just comes across as U2 with some new effects pedals, whereas 'Numb' and 'Lemon' both sound like another band entirely. Those tracks sound quite modern in a way even certain tracks on Achtung Baby don't.

For the first and only time in her life my sister bought the album on the first day and gave it to me, disgusted, the next day.

I remember seeing the video to 'Lemon', long before I heard Zooropa in full, and thinking "ah, they must have released a remix as the single" ... I didn't realise it was the actual fucking track! It seemed far too radical to be them.

The British press liked it. I remember a complimentary review in Select comparing it to Bowie's Low, which made sense b/c Bowie was at the dawn of his '90s comeback and the Ryko reissues only a couple years old.

The Fly' just comes across as U2 with some new effects pedals, whereas 'Numb' and 'Lemon' both sound like another band entirely. Those tracks sound quite modern in a way even certain tracks on Achtung Baby don't.

― Working night & day, I tried to stay awake... (Turrican), Wednesday, March 1, 2017 7:39 PM (forty minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I disagree and am definitely with Josh in Chicago on this one. You are looking at the two albums from todays pov. But The Fly *at the time* was a huge shock, way more than Zooropa was. I remember it vividly, the radio premiere of the 'new U2' single when it came out. I was 13 years old and a big fan at the time. I stayed up late to hear it, through headphones, and remember being so thrilled and shocked I had a physical response to it - upset tummy. Because of the roaring sound, the 'danger' of the sound!

Zooropa and AB the only u2 records I can still appreciate, though I haven't listened in years because they went utter shit. But don't downplay that, at the time, The Fly was a big big deal. It paved the way for Zooropa, which, while much more experimental and refreshing, wasn't such a big step after AB.

* teh band became utter shite, not those two albums

I don't remember "The Fly" being a huge shock -- it was different, but very recognizably U2 (basically, what Turrican said).

I always thought their version of "Night and Day" the year before -- which sounded less like standard U2 fare at the time than "The Fly" would -- softened their audience up/prepared them for something relatively atypical.

not sure how shocking the music was by itself, but i heard the song for the first time when i saw the video, and coming after rattle and hum they might as well have turned into slayer, they seemed like a wholly new creation in image and tone.

otm re Night and Day

in retrospect it wasn't so huge a shift but yeah 'the fly' was a very unexpected leap in 1991

'one' rather less so

True. 'When Loves Comes to Town', 'All I Want Is You' and the 'Everlasting Love' cover were the three singles preceding 'The Fly'. That's a huge difference in sound and approach.

There's a lot of tracks on Achtung Baby that, shorn of their window dressing - which essentially is all that it is - could have fit on any U2 LP. A lot of those tracks are indentifiably U2 songs at their core. The usual melodic sense, and even with the window dressing there's still one eye on classic rock.

'Lemon' would not work any other way than how it is presented on Zooropa, and there's barely an element of classic rock in there. It's far more modern a construction than, say, something like 'So Cruel', which could have closed The Joshua Tree or something.

But The Fly *at the time* was a huge shock, way more than Zooropa was.

It came as such a shock to this guy it took him 25 years to remember to sue them:

http://www.nme.com/news/music/u2-accused-of-stealing-song-for-achtung-baby-1996651

True. 'When Loves Comes to Town', 'All I Want Is You' and the 'Everlasting Love' cover were the three singles preceding 'The Fly'. That's a huge difference in sound and approach.

― Le Bateau Ivre, Wednesday, March 1, 2017 3:57 PM

You're forgetting their cover of "Night and Day," an aural precursor.

anyway "The Fly," a flop in America released like Def Leppard's "Women" several years earlier as a way to consolidate the Real Fans, wasn't such a shock in America. Remember: Jesus Jones and EMF had hits here.

"Night and Day" wasn't a single, oddly enough, but I remember hearing it on the radio, and the video was in regular rotation.

There's a lot of tracks on Achtung Baby that, shorn of their window dressing - which essentially is all that it is - could have fit on any U2 LP. A lot of those tracks are indentifiably U2 songs at their core. The usual melodic sense, and even with the window dressing there's still one eye on classic rock.

'Lemon' would not work any other way than how it is presented on Zooropa, and there's barely an element of classic rock in there. It's far more modern a construction than, say, something like 'So Cruel', which could have closed The Joshua Tree or something.

Replace the piano in "Lemon" with a guitar playing the same figure and it's almost "Last Night On Earth" with more falsetto

I would love to get my hands on the bordering-on-avant-garde-for-U2 album you all are talking about because it sounds a lot more interesting than Zooropa.

Unforgettable Fire is a lot more U2 gone avant-garde, as such. Zooropa is just a fun weird spare album.

that would be Passengers! probably best to forget Elvis Ate America, as you said. everything before and after is really something though. I was listening to Eno's The Shutov Assembly album the other day and it was eye-opening how much it resembled the passengers album in a lot of ways. Made me want to further explore Eno's early to mid nineties work, and probably more relevant to what showed up on that album than what U2 and Eno did with Zooropa.

Nerve Net!

nomar otm

I bought The Shutov Assembly and Arrested Development's debut at a Sound Warehouse in Broward in spring '93.

Guess which I sold to CD Warehouse fist.

'Night and Day' was on the 'Red Hot' compilation wasn't it? But I agree with you Alfred, that it is on the same sonical palette. Still, a Sinatra cover wasn't exactly the same as The Fly.

btw here's where I recommend Bill Flanagan's U2 At the End of the World again, one of my favorite biographies. It follwos the band from 1990-1994 as they record Achtung with the threat of breakup, tour the world, record Zooropa with Eno and the Edge fully in control of production, and watch Bosnia and Michael Jackson collapse.

^ cosign that, enjoyable read, like a really good travelogue Rolling Stone or Spin article made book length.

i prob said this upthread but i wish lcd soundsystem would cover "daddy's gonna pay for your crashed car"

You're alone, bro.

Couple of tracks on Zooropa sound like LCD Soundsystem already, well, apart from the vocals

Something to be said about Zooropa is that it's probably the swan song for Bono's voice. Up to that point I'd put him among that generation of great post-punk, post-Bowie and Ferry romantic vocalists from the 80s such as Midge Ure or Morten Harket, with considerable depth and range. From Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me and onwards his voice'd become increasingly thinner and weaker, to the point it's become nearly unlistenable to me now.

Malo Vox.

I was a huge u2 fan as a teenager, especially "Achtung Baby", up until "Zooropa" was released (I haven't listened to any of their albums after that).
I've always found it - not bad - but minor.
I tried to listen to it again following this thread (maybe for the first time since then).
"Lemon" is nice. "Stay" too. the rest is ok.
The only track I really like is "The Wanderer" !

As said upthread, I think The Fly was a shock primarily because of the video and the new branding of the band. Sonically, the so-called transformation was greatly exagerated.

Seriously. I was a long time fan, Joshua Tree was my first ever concert, and I saw a Rattle and hum in the theaters, even bought a poster in the lobby. I was maybe sixteen when The Fly came out? My reaction to the video was that they had turned into Depeche Mode. Ridiculous now, obviously, and ridiculous then, but I think it defines the context a better.

well, then Depeche turned into U2 by releasing "I Feel You" (which also flopped in America).

yeah, the video was a huge part in the shock of "The Fly" but sonically it was also a big leap from "Rattle&Hum".

Anyway, the big single was "Mysterious Ways", which was more in line with what came before

On your knees, boy!

yeah, that one was less of a change (never liked it much).

What I wrote about Zooropa on its anniversary several years ago.

"The Fly"was bigger in EU (well, I checked UK and NL chart history), "Mysterious Ways" did better in the US.

Seriously. I was a long time fan, Joshua Tree was my first ever concert, and I saw a Rattle and hum in the theaters, even bought a poster in the lobby. I was maybe sixteen when The Fly came out? My reaction to the video was that they had turned into Depeche Mode. Ridiculous now, obviously, and ridiculous then, but I think it defines the context a better.

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, March 2, 2017 2:31 PM (fifty-one minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

well, then Depeche turned into U2 by releasing "I Feel You" (which also flopped in America).

― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, March 2, 2017 2:39 PM (forty-four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The Great Corbijning

Re Mysterious Ways, that super low dubby bass was a huge change from old U2, not a continuation, IMO. Aside from With Or Without You, bass is not that prominent on Joshua Tree, say, Ted Nugent's rip aside.

well, "Bullet the Blue Sky" was quite heavy with big drums, low end and metallic guitars.
That one wasn't too far from "Achtung Baby" (except the lyrics, of course).

"Mysterious Ways" it was more the drums that were different from their previous sound.

Bullet was the Nugent rip I referenced. Nugent sucks, but Stranglehold rules.

Zooropa is weirdly linked in my mind with the Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me soundtrack, which I was listening to concurrently at the time as a kid in my rural hometown, so I was excited for U2's apparent new mood experiment phase.