~*Buffalo*~
War Child
Zooropa and Pop, for me, represent U2's mid-life crisis and their efforts to find a new direction after the overwhelming successes of the JT-R&H-AB era. Maybe they did set out to shock people and maybe that's why they made their choices of singles.
From my own experience, well, I hated Discoteque when it first came out. At the time, I was a very daggy 14-year-old whose favourite band was Savage Garden (a poppy Australian band for those of you who can't remember). And the lead singer, Darren Hayes, was on a mission to look as much like Bono as he could - and I remember thinking, why? I didn't like Bono in his Pop reincarnation, nor did I care much for U2 at all, just based on my dislike for Discoteque. I had had a subtle appreciation for Miss Sarajevo but that was the extent of my U2 fandom.
And what happened? Two words - Sweetest Thing. A radio-friendly, mainstream tune if there ever was one, and I loved it. It changed my whole view of U2 and, surprise, they became my favourite band. Just because of that one song, I was forced into listening to U2's 80s songs and liking them, and even going so far as to admit that I now like Discoteque!
So. It all turned out fine. And that's the beauty of U2. It doesn't really matter whether they release a crappy single once or twice, because there'll always be a better song later on, and there'll always be the fans who keep listening to the anthemic, mullety 80s songs because that's what they like best. I don't mind that they had some unconventional singles choices, because the albums turned out to be great. If their first single off this next album is poor, I won't really care since there's loads and loads of U2 songs to fall back on. I'm just glad U2 decided to go with Numb and Discoteque after they were established as a super band.
From my own experience, well, I hated Discoteque when it first came out. At the time, I was a very daggy 14-year-old whose favourite band was Savage Garden (a poppy Australian band for those of you who can't remember). And the lead singer, Darren Hayes, was on a mission to look as much like Bono as he could - and I remember thinking, why? I didn't like Bono in his Pop reincarnation, nor did I care much for U2 at all, just based on my dislike for Discoteque. I had had a subtle appreciation for Miss Sarajevo but that was the extent of my U2 fandom.
And what happened? Two words - Sweetest Thing. A radio-friendly, mainstream tune if there ever was one, and I loved it. It changed my whole view of U2 and, surprise, they became my favourite band. Just because of that one song, I was forced into listening to U2's 80s songs and liking them, and even going so far as to admit that I now like Discoteque!
So. It all turned out fine. And that's the beauty of U2. It doesn't really matter whether they release a crappy single once or twice, because there'll always be a better song later on, and there'll always be the fans who keep listening to the anthemic, mullety 80s songs because that's what they like best. I don't mind that they had some unconventional singles choices, because the albums turned out to be great. If their first single off this next album is poor, I won't really care since there's loads and loads of U2 songs to fall back on. I'm just glad U2 decided to go with Numb and Discoteque after they were established as a super band.