"pop"

[u2mikie]

Hey guys!!

Is it just me or is "POP" not that bad of an album after all?

I haven`t listened to it for a while so i decided to put it in my car the other day. I know it got canned in certain circles, and even by the band themselves at times, but to me apart from a couple of forgettable tracks most of the others are pretty good songs! Listening to MOFO with the volume turned way up still sounds cool too!
When i was listening to it today it reminded me of that era and i started remembering everything that i was doing at the time. Going to the Virgin Megastore in Melbourne to buy a copy of the cd at the midnight launch, buying the singles as they were released, going crazy looking for these wierd orange sunglasses...he he (Mikli`s). Which i finally ended up finding by pure luck, and of course going to POPMART, and very nearly meeting the band before the show!

Anyway, if anyone agrees drop me a line!

Cheers, Mikie.

 

[mikal]

"POP" is brilliant. in my top 5. i'm sorry to be the one to inform you that this thread will be filled with flame wars and many posters thinking their opinions are better than everyone else's. you seem like a good guy, so i hope you continue to post here. don't take the future results of this thread personally.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

Pop's also in my top five, so I cannot complain about this thread.

 

[digitize]

I love Pop... and don't worry, it's generally revered on Interference. Mofo is possibly still the greatest piece of sonic awesomeness I've ever heard.

 

[mikal]

I love Pop... and don't worry, it's generally revered on Interference. Mofo is possibly still the greatest piece of sonic awesomeness I've ever heard.

even tracks 8-12, which many tend to slag off, are wonderful tunes. i'm one of the few that really likes Miami and Playboy Mansion. they both create atmospheres really well, and then tracks 10-12 are just so fucking dark.

 

[digitize]

even tracks 8-12, which many tend to slag off, are wonderful tunes. i'm one of the few that really likes Miami and Playboy Mansion. they both create atmospheres really well, and then tracks 10-12 are just so fucking dark.

I like Miami and The Playboy Mansion... and Please is one of my all-time favorites.

 

[mikal]

you know, i'm on my laptop right now, and my Itunes is on my other computer, but i really need to post the awesome Pop double album playlist i made a couple years ago.

 

[ozeeko]

People will tell you this was U2 at their most bandwagon jumping, what with all the electronica/techno influence. And people like me will say, "how is that any different than what they jumped on during the Achtung Baby Manchester rave scene? And yet that album is praised unanimously?!" And then those people will have nothing more to say except..."uhhh well Bono said it could've been better and i agree" and then i'll say, "he said the same thing about HTDAAB- your favorite album!"...and then they'll say "but music is subjective"..and then i'll say "no, it's not. It's common sense. POP rules and HTDAAB sucks big f-ing elephant d-ck!" And then they'll start crying and i'll get banned from the site.

POP is in my top 5 U2 albums. It's the last time U2 really tried anything out of their comfort zone. And no, ATYCLB wasn't out of their comfort zone trying to write hit songs. (see Sweetest Thing for proof of that). But i did like ATYCLB because luckily for me i liked the songs. But if anyone was out of their comfort zone on HTDAAB, it was definitely me, because i felt truly uncomfortable while listening to that album.

POP rules. The end.

 

[mikal]

People will tell you this was U2 at their most bandwagon jumping, what with all the electronica/techno influence. And people like me will say, "how is that any different than what they jumped on during the Achtung Baby Manchester rave scene? And yet that album is praised unanimously?!" And then those people will have nothing more to say except..."uhhh well Bono said it could've been better and i agree" and then i'll say, "he said the same thing about HTDAAB- your favorite album!"...and then they'll say "but music is subjective"..and then i'll say "no, it's not. It's common sense. POP rules and HTDAAB sucks big f-ing elephant d-ck!" And then they'll start crying and i'll get banned from the site.

POP is in my top 5 U2 albums. It's the last time U2 really tried anything out of their comfort zone. And no, ATYCLB wasn't out of their comfort zone trying to write hit songs. (see Sweetest Thing for proof of that). But i did like ATYCLB because luckily for me i liked the songs. But if anyone was out of their comfort zone on HTDAAB, it was definitely me, because i felt truly uncomfortable while listening to that album.

POP rules. The end.

i agree with most of this, except i really enjoy ATYCLB and HTDAAB too. U2 are my favorite musicians, so i generally enjoy most of the music they make.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

I like Miami and The Playboy Mansion... and Please is one of my all-time favorites.

Oh yes. I could listen to Pop all the way through without wanting to skip a track, i'd happily listen to Miami and the Playboy Mansion, If You Wear Your Velvet Dress is an underrated favourite of mine.

Please is one of the greatest pieces of music ever produced (along with Lemon IMO).

 

[Slapnutz]

I consider Playboy Mansion to be almost unforgivable (good concept, terrible execution). Aside from that, I'm also a big fan of Pop. All the cool kids are.

 

[BVS]

I love Pop, but I think it suffers from two things, and when I say "suffer" it means minus these two things and it would be a classic up there with JT and AB.

It had a little bit too much of a bandwagon flavor(and some of it sounds very dated to me) and it lacked a little focus.

That's it...

I think NLOTH lacks a little focus as well... I actually think these albums have a bit in common in the sense that they really could have been classic albums.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

People will tell you this was U2 at their most bandwagon jumping, what with all the electronica/techno influence. And people like me will say, "how is that any different than what they jumped on during the Achtung Baby Manchester rave scene? And yet that album is praised unanimously?!" And then those people will have nothing more to say except..."uhhh well Bono said it could've been better and i agree" and then i'll say, "he said the same thing about HTDAAB- your favorite album!"...and then they'll say "but music is subjective"..and then i'll say "no, it's not. It's common sense. POP rules and HTDAAB sucks big f-ing elephant d-ck!" And then they'll start crying and i'll get banned from the site.

You forgot:

Bringing someone in to use synthesizers to create atmosphere in the 80s was great and CLASSIC and =

Bringing someone in to use samples to create atmosphere in the 90s was TOTALLY DIFFERENT and =

 

[Earnie Shavers]

I think NLOTH lacks a little focus as well... I actually think these albums have a bit in common in the sense that they really could have been classic albums.

Me too actually. In both cases, both kinda stumble at the finish line. They’re both “something” short of slamming it home, so to speak. For Pop, it’s in the finish. It is rough, poorly mixed and poorly edited at points. It's obvious. There’s no work needed on the songs or structure or lyrics or likely any individual part, it’s all in the mixing and editing. You can tell there’s a scramble there in that last stage. For NLOTH, it is to me those three middle songs. Not so much those as much as what could have been there, could have been what belted it out of the park.

 

[BVS]

Me too actually. In both cases, both kinda stumble at the finish line. They’re both “something” short of slamming it home, so to speak. For Pop, it’s in the finish. It is rough, poorly mixed and poorly edited at points. It's obvious. There’s no work needed on the songs or structure or lyrics or likely any individual part, it’s all in the mixing and editing. You can tell there’s a scramble there in that last stage. For NLOTH, it is to me those three middle songs. Not so much those as much as what could have been there, could have been what belted it out of the park.

I agree with this, with the exception that Miami would need different lyrics(I know it's suppose to be some fun postcard type of song but to be classic it would have needed something else) and I do think WUDM suffered slightly in the structure department, especially hearing some of the early jams where this lyric comes from...

I honestly think NLOTH could have been classic with Boots and Crazy, but maybe a slightly different version of Crazy(I think some of the mixes sound really interesting), and if SUC was replaced with the right song it could have it hit it out of the park like you said.

 

[Irvine511]

People will tell you this was U2 at their most bandwagon jumping, what with all the electronica/techno influence. And people like me will say, "how is that any different than what they jumped on during the Achtung Baby Manchester rave scene? And yet that album is praised unanimously?!"

because Achtung Baby is the best album of the 1990s, and Pop isn't.

 

[ozeeko]

because Achtung Baby is the best album of the 1990s, and Pop isn't.

They are both phenomenal albums. Anyway, i think you missed the point i was making about the bandwagon jumping.

 

[BVS]

I just think the "bandwagon jumping" on AB was different than Pop.

It didn't seem as obvious on AB, and it came off a lot more timeless with AB. It was effortless with AB, or so at least it sounded that way. It sounded a little forced with Pop.

 

[Irvine511]

i feel like AB is a perfect example of finding inspiration and organically incorporating it into your music. the only part that doesn't work, now, nearly 20 years later, is the beginning of Wild Horses (for me ... that sounds forced, like, wow! look what our machine can do!).

Pop just isn't as good. it's clunky, the very opposite of AB which is smooth as silk.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

Here's my ranking of the U2 90's albums: (Passengers excluded)

1. Achtung Baby
2. Pop
3. Zooropa

I'm sure it would be the same on a few other lists.

 

[the tourist]

I like about half of Pop. Can't stand a few of the songs, though.

 

[ozeeko]

I just think the "bandwagon jumping" on AB was different than Pop.

It didn't seem as obvious on AB, and it came off a lot more timeless with AB. It was effortless with AB, or so at least it sounded that way. It sounded a little forced with Pop.

I don't think the problem with POP had anything to do with bandwagon jumping. The problem lies in the production, I'll admit it. But i think this had more to do with the producers being used rather than any sort of bandwagon jumping on the band's part. if you wanna stretch it and say using Howie B was a form of bandwagon jumping, then alright, but i still think that's stretching it a bit because the band's songwriting chops were still topnotch, and in many cases the electronic musical approach benefitted the songs. it's just that something went wrong with the mixing. If POP sounded as smooth as AB that would be awesome. But this had mostly to do with the mixing, and in some cases the choice of arrangement didn't work (Miami, God send his angels).

 

[BVS]

but i still think that's stretching it a bit because the band's songwriting chops were still topnotch, and in many cases the electronic musical approach benefitted the songs. it's just that something went wrong with the mixing. If POP sounded as smooth as AB that would be awesome. But this had mostly to do with the mixing, and in some cases the choice of arrangement didn't work (Miami, God send his angels).

I think if this were true they would have found a way to pull off DYFL live. Howie B had something to do with it but that was just a small portion of it... They went from incorporating electronic beats, experimenting with technology to let's make some songs sound like Prodigy. They went from embracing to emulating on a few songs...

 

[ozeeko]

I think if this were true they would have found a way to pull off DYFL live. Howie B had something to do with it but that was just a small portion of it... They went from incorporating electronic beats, experimenting with technology to let's make some songs sound like Prodigy. They went from embracing to emulating on a few songs...

Whether they could play it live the same way is one thing, but i think DYFL sounds great on the album. They should've found another way to play it. I mean, they did open the concerts with MOFO didn't they? If anything, THAT'S the Prodigy song! And it translated really well to live performance.

There are other songs that never worked live for U2. The Zooropa title track was only played 3 times before they dropped it due to difficulty performing. Now would you blame that on bandwagon jumping?

 

[mikiejedi]

Hi guys! Thanks for the support!

I was listening to it and just thought i'd share my thoughts! Not worried about any negative comments this post might get because it's just my own opinion.

Cheers, Mikie.

 

[TM]

Here's my ranking of the U2 90's albums: (Passengers excluded)

1. Achtung Baby
2. Pop
3. Zooropa

I'm sure it would be the same on a few other lists.

1. Achtung Baby
2. Zooropa
3. Pop

I'm very sorry

 

[jacobus]

POP is great. its my #2 of U2. imo its their last truly great album so far.

 

[BVS]

Whether they could play it live the same way is one thing, but i think DYFL sounds great on the album. They should've found another way to play it. I mean, they did open the concerts with MOFO didn't they? If anything, THAT'S the Prodigy song! And it translated really well to live performance.

There are other songs that never worked live for U2. The Zooropa title track was only played 3 times before they dropped it due to difficulty performing. Now would you blame that on bandwagon jumping?

Yeah, I think you missed my point. The part of your post that I quoted said:

but i still think that's stretching it a bit because the band's songwriting chops were still topnotch, and in many cases the electronic musical approach benefitted the songs.

this is an album where I don't think it benefitted the songs. It either dominated the songs such as DYFL, or it felt slapped on like IGWSHA.

 

[Galeongirl]

I love Pop... and don't worry, it's generally revered on Interference. Mofo is possibly still the greatest piece of sonic awesomeness I've ever heard.

This, pretty much. It's probably my 4th fave Album.

Only song I just cannot listen to used to be TPM, yet I didn't skip it when it came up on shuffle on my iPod a few days ago. It just.. clicked. I still don't think it's a great song, but the melody is quite nice.

If NLOTH hadn't been what it is, Pop would still be Adam's best album. Some awesome basslines on there!

 

[Sir BonoBjanglz]

I Pop