Pop (yes, again)

[gareth brown]

so, I looked for a thread about Pop over the last six pages to see if there was a recent discussion I could just add to instead of starting a new one...and lo and behold there isn't one. I find that very bizarre for Interference

anyway, listening to the album at the moment...it took me years to realise after I bought it a decade ago, but it really is one of the best things they ever did. Hated bits of it at first, but it is the epitome of a 'grower' for me...however long it takes! Can see why people here consider it their best album, which always used to confuse me. not my favourite, that's either Zooropa or Achtung Baby, but definitely one of their best and a perfect way to round off the decade after those two...

What made me post this thread though was seeing a quote on this video

YouTube - U2 - PLEASE live in Rotterdam

And this is from their "crap" album. Hundreds of bands would kill for a "poor" period like this. Please is just a great, great tune.

which is so true! i'm sure there's plenty out there who just plain don't like it, but either way...fantastic album...still prefer live versions of Mofo though

anyway, someone else say something please..

 

[domo-kun]

Please , especially that performance of it! Is fucking brilliant, I don't know why it took you so long to like it.

But seriously, Pop is up there with the best.

 

[theedgeu2]

I came to realize the same last year when I decided to buy Pop on CD. I never listened to it much before when I had it digitally and then I decided last year to get all their albums on CD and when Pop came around I got it and I've been in love with it since. I also must mention that my CD has this funky smell that was very unattractive at the time I got it and has since grown on me. I always associate Pop songs with that smell and was wondering if anyone else with a physical copy has that same smell?

It's not in my top 5 U2 albums but it is still darn great! It's widely loved here and very underrated outside of Interference and hardcore U2 fans. I was actually just listening to Pop all the way through this past sunday. Each listen makes me love it more and more.

 

[Swan269]

please has always been a strong backbone tune for this album. Live, its one of their best.

 

[gareth brown]

Please , especially that performance of it! Is fucking brilliant, I don't know why it took you so long to like it.

But seriously, Pop is up there with the best.

haha well actually Please is one of the tracks I really liked on first listen! the album as a whole just didn't feel right. It was good, and as a young teenager I was at that stage where you really love a band and find it hard to dislike anything (oddly, the only album I have problems with is HTDAAB) so it sounded fine...but it wasn't GREAT. certainly sounds great to me now obviously. on another note Larry's drumming on so many of the songs are fantastic.

but yeah, Please is an incredible song. Only gets better with age I think. perhaps its down to the fact that we don't see it pop up on a nightly basis to the point where we're sick of it? That said, it really needs playing again.

 

[Mrs. Garrison]

i absolutely love PoP

and PoPMart was my first u2 show (st louis 97)

no idea what went on at that show because i blacked out for most of it

 

[bonocomet]

I came to realize the same last year when I decided to buy Pop on CD. I never listened to it much before when I had it digitally and then I decided last year to get all their albums on CD and when Pop came around I got it and I've been in love with it since. I also must mention that my CD has this funky smell that was very unattractive at the time I got it and has since grown on me. I always associate Pop songs with that smell and was wondering if anyone else with a physical copy has that same smell?

It's not in my top 5 U2 albums but it is still darn great! It's widely loved here and very underrated outside of Interference and hardcore U2 fans. I was actually just listening to Pop all the way through this past sunday. Each listen makes me love it more and more.

My POP cd smells good.

And the album has always been in my U2 top 5

 

[cobl04]

I think the second half is better than the first

 

[theedgeu2]

I think the second half is better than the first

 

[lazarus]

I think I agree with Cobbler.

Though I am one of the lone fans of The Playboy Mansion so that probably helps.

DYFL and SATS have always been my least favorites on the album.

But I think that Gone, Wake Up Dead Man, and Please are better than anything on side 1.

 

[cobl04]

Gone, Please and Wake up Dead Man are indeed better than anything on side one, I love the sexy, whisper-in-your-ear Velvet Dress, and both Playboy Mansion and Miami are pretty great if you ask me.

Whereas side one has Angels and SATS, my least favourite tracks on the album.

 

[lemonfly]

I'm glad that more people are coming round to the idea that Pop is one of U2's best albums. Easily in their top 3. I'm going to say something controversial here - Pop sounds fresher today than AB and Zooropa. And it goes without saying Pop is light years more innovative than their 00's output. I know U2 have said they needed an extra few months to "finish" the record, but I'm glad they didn't overcook it. Precisely because they forced to release it early, Pop has a rawness and energy that would have been lost had they worked it to death.

 

[the tourist]

I think I like both sides equally. Love Do You Feel Loved and Last Night On Earth from the first side and If You Wear That Velvet Dress and Wake Up Dead Man from the second side. Also, dislike If God Will Send His Angels from the first side and Please from the second side. Things even out....

Side note, I love The Playboy Mansion. I tend to like a lot of what "normal" fans dislike, though (such as Babyface, Red Light, The Refugee, and Is That All?).

 

[ozeeko]

Was just listening to POP before. Side 2 is mesmerizing (tho i skipped Miami), and in my opinion better than the first half, although DYFL and MOFO are killer, and Last Night On Earth is also a great late night driving track. Discoteque, SATS and IGWSHA sound pretty average to me these days. Maybe I just gotta be in the mood for Discoteque, but SATS never amazed me (it's just ok) and IGWSHA functions alright as background music I guess, but Playboy Mansion thru to the end of the album is one trippy flawless experience. And Gone is ridiculously good as well. Miami is kinda like Discoteque, I just gotta be in the mood for it, although I always thought it was a halfassed experiment. It's no EPAA (and I'm being serious).

 

[Registered Dude]

my copy of POP smells like oil pastels.. which is an odd smell that I like.

 

[zoopop]

Anyone have a copy of POP on vinyl?

One of my pride U2 possessions.

What I've always loved about POP is the colors it portrays. Many U2 album covers are of Black n White, yet POP has some of U2's darkest materials but each song screams a different color.

 

[Galeongirl]

Yea I finally found the double vinyl last year Mint condition. It's my favourite and I'm really glad I found it.

 

[kneely]

poptastic mate

I have always loved POP ...however i have never smelt it!? surely it should have a whiff of citrus about it ...sorry

 

[bonocomet]

Anyone have a copy of POP on vinyl?

One of my pride U2 possessions.

What I've always loved about POP is the colors it portrays. Many U2 album covers are of Black n White, yet POP has some of U2's darkest materials but each song screams a different color.

I have the double vinyl version and yeah I love it. Pretty record.

 

[nirniva]

I don't own any of the '90s albums on vinyl, but I'll definitely bite when the reissues are released.

 

[gareth brown]

yeah, I've only got Achtung Baby and Zooropa [on vinyl] but Pop will definitely be worth investing in at some point, probably (like you) when the remasters come out.

almost forgot to say in the opening post of the thread. MIAMI RULES. g'night!

 

[trevgreg]

I always liked parts of it, but I think I really got into it about a year ago or so. It's nowhere close to perfect, but I think that's part of the appeal of it for me. It's rough at points and experimental in other places, but it finds a way to work (for me anyway). Probably in my top five albums for the band, honestly.

 

[mad1]

PoP is an album that makes me feel alive and does transfer my mind back to 97 and EVERYTHING that surrounded it, and what with all I done with Dublin trips and Botanic Gardens concert and stuff, and how its a little chapter in my life that made me feel so damn good!

Mofo is still my top top TOP fav because the bass sound in it is so deep, it make me want to smell Bono's cigars.

 

[mrex]

I agree...I have always loved this album. I heard it a few eeks before it came out, and had not yet read any reviews...I had no idea it was supposed to be a "weak" album. It's just so fuckin' noisy I love it.

 

[Salome]

first 3 songs - great
last 3 songs - great
miami - underrated

 

[Achtung Ya'll]

Pop is in U2's top 3 albums and third best album of the 90s behind Achtung Baby and The Bends.

 

[intedomine]

Always been a big fan of the album, though I am one who prefers the first half pretty comprehensively over the second.

I may almost be tempted to rank Pop higher than Joshua Tree some day, such is the consistency of pleasure and excitement of PoP. Joshua Tree has a relatively weak final four for me.

Miami is underappreciated. I love it, and while I still enjoy Gone, I find there to be many more enjoyable songs on the album.

 

[ElectricalStorm]

I may almost be tempted to rank Pop higher than Joshua Tree some day, such is the consistency of pleasure and excitement of PoP. Joshua Tree has a relatively weak final four for me.

What what? Okay, TTYW is quite weak compared to the rest of TJT, but One Tree Hill >> Exit (!) >> MOTR ? That's got to be my favorite ending of an U2 album, except maybe Achtung Baby's.

What I personally like so much about POP, is how the atmosphere goes from Discotheque down to Wake Up Dead Man. In my opinion, it's one of their most diverse albums.

 

[cobl04]

I would rank MOTD comfortably in the bottom bracket of their closers, though I do like the song.

Shadows & Tall Trees > MOTD

 

[scottyT]

interesting, i would say shadows and tall trees has the best name of any U2 song, and yet it is one of my least favorite songs. MOTD is easily one of the best of all time.

good thing there a lot of fans out there!

I really wish they spent some more time on Do You Feel Loved?

It is great how it is and it has the potential to be grand.