Doesn't that describe any U2 album ever? I think every U2 album sounds amazing to Interference once. Awful production, lyrics, sequencing, etc. are the kinds of things that hurt replay value, not necessarily the initial impression.
I honestly believe that the circumstances play a bigger role than the technical or artistic merits of an album.
1. Modern Toilet Walls.
Probably if people wouldn't gather in this kind of forums many that now consider Bomb (ATYCLB, NLOTH...) a bad album, wouldn't think that. It's not one of my favourites, but I was totally surprised when I joined and saw the bad reputation that it has in here.
If we have had these forums in the early/mid 90's, probably people (don't think about you, think about the big 80's fans) would've bashed Zooropa (or, gasp, Achtung) to the ground.
(Not saying that there's anything wrong with the forums, just that they do affect the perception indeed).
2. Being there first surely helps.
Probably if they hadn't had to be compared against Joshua Tree AND Achtung Baby AND Zooropa, people would consider Bomb the best follow up to Joshua Tree ever. I mean, Bomb (Leave Behind, No Line) being released in the early 90's instead of 10 years later, thus rewriting the 90's.
Beautiful Day, COBL or Breathe would've picked it up right from where Streets left it. But by the time they came out we weren't actually expecting that, we were expecting them to follow up on their 90's selves, so they sound less exciting than -imho- what they actually are.
And in this hypothetical case, what about Achtung and Zooropa released in the new millenium, being compared against (arguably) not 10, but 20 solid years of the same classic U2 sound?... probably wouldn't be considered as great as we do now.
3. Time between albums
Probably if the follow up of Bomb had come in 2006 instead of 2009, Bomb would still be considered one of the very best albums by the majority of fans in here. Bomb is welcomed by the fans, it's considered great by the critics, it receives a lot of awards, it has a very successful tour and... here comes a new album! great.
But no, instead we had 3 more years to get bored of if, to overanalyze it, to compare it over and over with the previous eras, to start making snarky remarks in the forums, to build up on those remarks and so on.
Also, keep in mind that 3 internet years are way more than 3 pre-internet years. If after Achtung we have had to wait 5 years for Zooropa, with everybody posting on the forums, probably there would've been people totally tired of it.
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So, maybe Bomb (or any album, for that matter) have problems in the production, lyrics, sequencing, etc, but I believe that those problems are magnified (or diminished) by the circumstances, and those circumstances in the end weigh more than their problems themselves.