Convince me that POP is a great album!

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lov12113

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Hey everyone, I've been on interference for about 8 years or so, and I've noticed a vocal group of people who love POP to no end. I've always thought POP was good in parts (i.e. Please, Gone, Staring at the sun, and even Do You Feel Loved?) but I couldn't get into a lot of it (Playboy Mansion, Miami, Velvet Dress). However, I recently had a conversation with a friend who loves POP and thinks it's highly underrated and actually pretty brilliant. I started to delve back in to the album and I'm starting to agree, but I'm not quite all the way there. So, all you diehard POP fans, let me hear your thoughts on why POP actually is brilliant. Go ahead, convince me that POP is actually one of U2's best. No, I'm not trying to start a thread where people troll. I'm serious! All opinions are appreciated, whether you like POP or not. :wave:
 
lol why the heck do you need us to convince you? If you like it, you like it. If you don't, you don't. Personally it is in my Top 5 U2 albums, maybe even Top 3 on some days.
 
I think all the songs are brilliant hence that's why I think Pop is brilliant.
 
I love what Pop represents in the U2 catalogue, and that alone makes me a big fan of the album.

I enjoy the music, but that's not why I love POP

At no other period in U2's 35 year career would you be able to hear Discotheque, Do You Feel Loved, Mofo and Miami. You could only capture that particular U2 in 1997.

I'd rather that those song existed and be awful than have never existed at all.

Few other popular artists with the longevity and reputation of U2, would put their commercial credibility on the line like that.

Love it or loathe it, at least they fucking did it!
 
It's funny how the right mood while listening makes such a big difference! The other day I started a thread saying that IGWSHA bores me to tears. And this morning I listened to the first half of Pop again and really enjoyed the song.

intedomine said:
I love what Pop represents in the U2 catalogue, and that alone makes me a big fan of the album.

I enjoy the music, but that's not why I love POP

At no other period in U2's 35 year career would you be able to hear Discotheque, Do You Feel Loved, Mofo and Miami. You could only capture that particular U2 in 1997.

I'd rather that those song existed and be awful than have never existed at all.

Few other popular artists with the longevity and reputation of U2, would put their commercial credibility on the line like that.

Love it or loathe it, at least they fucking did it!
Click to expand...

:up: Well said!

Now I wish they hadn't gone back and fucked up certain songs like Discotheque and Staring At The Sun by creating new mixes for them, but that's a whole 'nother discussion.
 
just listen to it with your own ears, and, if that doesn't work, get some new ones :D
 
I'll give you 9 reasons why Pop is fucking awesome.

1.Discothèque
2.Do You Feel Loved
3.Mofo
4.If God Will Send His Angels
5.Staring At The Sun
6.Last Night On Earth
7.Gone
8.If You Wear That Velvet Dress – Get the Jools HOlland version and substitute that.
9.Wake Up Dead Man


Yea, and if you're into that sorta dragging music, I guess Please could be added. Doesnt' tickle my fancy though.
 
POP is attitude. In the words of Bono to some extent, it's like starting at a dance party and ending at a funeral in the morning. It's very engrossing and emotional.

It's quite the diamond in the rough. It's raw, uncut, emotional, and savvy. The live performances from this song were phenomenal. You can hear the band almost thinking "I have no idea WTF we are making, but we think it sounds good".

Each song has a life its own. It's own personality. It's also one of the most cohesive albums I have ever heard.
 
No spoken words said:
I've been trying to convince myself that it's great for a very long time now and have not yet tasted success.
Click to expand...



that's because a lot of people in here became fans during the Pop era, and this was when the band was getting some exceptionally bad PR. so they remain defensive about it and aren't ready to hear that the album is, indeed, undercooked, and it's U2 in their most "whoring for relevance" stage. anyone who was listening to Prodigy and Underworld in 1996/97 could see what they were doing, and the goal was to get out in front of the "techno" revolution that was, supposedly, sweeping across the Atlantic from the UK and would take over the US. it didn't.

that said, there's lots of interesting stuff, some of Bono's better lyrics, it definitely has a larger (though vague) theme running through the album, the live performances were great improvements (though the re-released singles have more than a hint of desperation).

also, PopMart -- very pretty at times, but very static visually. Zoo TV and 360 were far more dynamic.

it's U2's most interesting swing-and-a-miss. and it directly led us to the HTDAAB era that so many claim to despise.
 
Why do you want to be convinced? Everyone has their favorites and prefers one album over the other. I've always liked Pop, even though I think it's very flawed, but maybe I like it because of it's flaws. I've had some opinions on U2's albums and songs that were clearly not very popular here and aren't really "mainstream" among U2 fans, but I still stand by what I like and don't like and I don't think you can be "convinced" to like something that you just don't connect with. On the other hand, you also can't be convinced to NOT like something that you do, in fact, like. Music is subjective and I don't think it should be our intention as fans to convince anyone into agreeing with our own opinion or taste.

Apart from that, POP is a great album :)
 
The old "U2 were trying to be underworld, prodigy, chemical bros" argument... How boring if the person who's reading it lived that era and knows its bullshit.
 
OpenG180 said:
The old "U2 were trying to be underworld, prodigy, chemical bros" argument... How boring if the person who's reading it lived that era and knows its bullshit.
Click to expand...

i was there and i don't see the connection at all!

i know the Prodigy and love Underworld too lol

although i have always believed that the opinion re. POP was simply divided by the Atlantic...
 
mama cass said:
i was there and i don't see the connection at all!

i know the Prodigy and love Underworld too lol
Click to expand...

If anything, i mean IF, there's much more connection with the so called brit pop. But i don't see that either. Perhaps staring at the sun.
 
mama cass said:
i was there and i don't see the connection at all!

i know the Prodigy and love Underworld too lol

although i have always believed that the opinion re. POP was simply divided by the Atlantic...
Click to expand...

Not in South America. Here Pop was HUGE.

Blame it on los gringos. Hehe..
 
mama cass said:
so did i and it IS :D
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Fair enough. :)

I think what is kind of bullshit is people engaging in revisionist history trying to pretend that something that was generally perceived to be a misstep and relative failure at the time (and later even by the band) was somehow a great success. The inability by some to separate their personal love for this album (which I respect, even if I disagree with it) with the real circumstances surrounding it never ceases to amaze me.

I also love hearing about how in every country but the US Pop was supposedly this massive success (and admittedly the tour sold better in non-US markets) when its world wide sales rank among the lowest in U2's catalogue (at least pre MP3 era).
 
Nick66 said:
Fair enough. :)

I think what's bullshit is people engaging in revisionist history trying to pretend that something that was generally perceived to be a misstep and relative failure at the time (and later even by the band) was somehow a great success.
Click to expand...

Generally meaning the USA?

Even Rolling Stone mag gave it a glowing review. The edition with Howard Stern on the cover.
 
Nick66 said:
Fair enough. :)

I think what's bullshit is people engaging in revisionist history trying to pretend that something that was generally perceived to be a misstep and relative failure at the time (and later even by the band) was somehow a great success.

I also love hearing about how in every country but the US Pop was supposedly this massive success (and admittedly the tour sold better in non-US markets) when its world wide sales rank among the lowest in U2's catalogue (at least pre MP3 era).
Click to expand...

If you love hearing that, i'll say it again: Pop was HUGE in South America. And afaik, it was pretty succesful in europe. The revisionist history is the "pop was a failure" one.
 
OpenG180 said:
If you love hearing that, i'll say it again: Pop was HUGE in South America. And afaik, it was pretty succesful in europe. The revisionist history is the "pop was a failure" one.
Click to expand...

Then why doesn't the band play those songs, for the most part, in concert anymore?

Why has the band distanced themselves from it, essentially disowning it over the years?

If it wasn't a (relative) failure, why are its sales at the bottom of U2's catalogue?

If it wasn't a failure, why did they feel the need to go back and redo almost half the record in one form or another over the years?

Yes, it sold better in South America...but that doesn't make it a huge success. Just saying something doesn't make it so.

Really, have you read what the band, themselves, have said about the record over the years? I don't care what Rolling Stone said about it at the time, or how much some people love it now, it wasn't embraced by the fans the way AB was (their other big reinvention). The sales numbers don't lie.
 
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