A good first impression

[~*Buffalo*~]

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.

 

[The_acrobat]

The Discotheque video was fine until the last 30 seconds. When I first saw it, I was in awe. WOW, I thought, This is the new U2. They looked cool. The song was good, the video was stunning. But then it happened.....they did the village people. Not only was the choreography awful, but they looked stupid as hell doing that. It totally killed the credibility that the first 4 minutes of the video set up for them. A different video would've been good.

Also, Pop should've been promoted better. Go on Saturday Night Live, Leno, Letterman, etc. Basically, what they did with the ATYCLB promo tour. When people are watching TV and are forced to watch a band performt he song, they get a better impression of the band/song. Had ppl seen U2 perform Discotheque on the SNL stage, that would've been a better visual in their heads than them dancing around like the village people.

 

[RocknRollKitty]

One interesting thing I notice in several of the posts here is people saying how much they didn't like it when it came out, but after all these years it's okay. Time is a factor here, and also ATYCLB and Elevation, knowing that U2 did not stay that way and that they survived and thrived. But what I'm talking about is the FIRST impression. Several years down the road doesn't help it anymore. It was the FIRST impression that can do the damage, because it's in its own time that matters most as to what will happen.

 

[WinnieThePoo]

discotheque is a great song , musically anyway , however there is a big lapse between single release and the album itself , plus public had changed , prodigy released thier one and only masterpiece that year , oasis did nice , and the first pop mart shows were dreadful , discotheque was a huge hit for u2 and a great opener , it's one of thier biggest hits , actually ,

 

[david]

1997 wasn't a great year for music, there were just too many one hit wonder bands emerging and people soured on long time acts like U2.. Plus the beginning phases of the boy band trend was starting with Hansen and then the Spice Girls were dominating everything.. Ska was also popular as well.