How do you think U2 felt about promoting Pop?

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Miggy D

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U2 have all admitted to being unsatisfied with the way Pop turned out as an album, seeing as it was rushed and all. But the band still had to do promotion for it. I wonder how the band felt about promoting an album they knew to be unfinished, and unrepresentative of them as a band. I mean it would be like Steven King coming out with a book missing the last 100 pages, and promoting it on a book tour. I think it must've felt pretty crappy having to release something you weren't completely proud of, and it had to have gotten to them during the album's promotion.

Thoughts?
 
Serves them right for being slack!

They should have done more earlier in order to complete it on time.

So as not to be hypocrite, I'll get back to my essay now. Otherwise I might become dissatisified with the mark I recieve if submit something that could have been better with a few additional rewrites and drafts.
 
I already posted my feelings about Pop (in the Pop vs. ATYCLB thread)....shortly, there are a good 5 songs on there that the U2 catlouge would be totally lacking without, plus I just don't think people "got it". U2 can't be blamed for people being intellectually numb.
 
starsgoblue said:
I just don't think people "got it". U2 can't be blamed for people being intellectually numb.

This is most aggravating, insulting, infuriating, fight causing part of the Pop argument, that people who did not personally care for a certain style of music are lacking in mentality or intelligence :banghead: :mad: :censored:

And speaking of 'lacking' some people must be deficient in intelligence or emotion to hate ATYCLB.

No, I was just trying to show how it looks. It all boils down to taste- it was the STYLE of music some people found hard to enjoy. It has nothing to do with 'getting it' :yell: You can easily like something without getting it, shit, I like songs I can't even understand the words to, and I like songs that are druggie even though I'm not a drug user. I also think you can get something and still not like it. That's not a factor, and NO ONE is STUPID for not liking a song!
 
U2Kitten said:


This is most aggravating, insulting, infuriating, fight causing part of the Pop argument, that people who did not personally care for a certain style of music are lacking in mentality or intelligence :banghead: :mad: :censored:


When they played Toronto for Elevation they went to Much Music right after for an interview and Bono even said that Canada and Europe 'got it' but Americans didn't. That was straight from the horses mouth :wink: . Seriously that album has some of U2's best music and if this whole "album was unfinished" crap never got in the media then none of us would never have known and we wouldn't be talking about that aspect. If i didn't find that out through the internet i would never have known and i don't feel those songs are unfinished except for Wake Up Dead Man which sounds like the skeleton of a full song. Lot's of people wanted U2 to go back to JT days and POP was the final 'experimental' straw for many Americans.
 
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I think the 'get it' thing has been overused as a justification for people who just refuse to believe that it wasn't that good to some fans. Over the years I have seen people act like you had to be some kind of unique genius on a rare cosmic wavelength to love it and everyone else was sadly lacking. I see this as an 'emperor's new clothes' type of thing, no matter what you say, he was still naked.

I also have to add (at the risk of being flamed) that the image of the band at the time had a lot to do with turning some of the older fans off. It was like, WTF? What are they trying to prove, and why? The Halloween-eque costumes, the outrageous, blinding set, the comments from Bono about hating rock and roll and fuck the past, that kind of made people mad at them, the way you would be mad at a friend who had suddenly changed on you. I don't think there's a person on this board who hasn't had an experience with a friend, or an ex significant other, or even a relative you no longer speak to, or didn't for awhile, because they had changed so much from what you loved in them. It's only human. I hope Edge understands that. It's because people love U2 so much and feel so close to them that it can get that way.

I 'get' the concept fine, the irony, selling themselves as a product, materialism, etc., but it doesn't make the songs sound any better to me either. I can't see how that has anything to do with it. Like I said I like plenty of songs I don't 'get.' How can I 'get' Sgt. Pepper when I've never done LSD? But I love it anyway! I 'get' that Tool's "24 and 6" is about football, a team and a game that are very special to me, but I still don't enjoy listening to the song because of the style. It's NOT a matter of getting it, just personal taste as to what each person does or does not find appealing to listen to.
 
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It is funny because POP really is one of my favorites. Yes I skip a bunch of songs. I think discotheque is a fun song then I skip to Staring at the Sun and Gone. I have versions of Staring at the Sun that give me the chills especially when Bono and The Edge do it acoustically. I actually love the Playboy Mansion, Please and Wake up Dead Man. I think Velvet Dress needed work but it's actually a nice ballad.

Pop just got a bad wrap. Look at Zooropa. That had more issues than Pop. The band has stated on more than one occasion that two bad albums in a row is the death of a band since they are still together, I guess they don't look at Zooropa and Pop as two consecutive mistakes. Zooropa is my least favorite except a handful of songs of which I love. Zooropa is one of my favorites.

It is just a different album and a different styles. One isn't worse or better, they are different and appeal to people differently.

Same thing with ATYCLB, it isn't one of my favorites but again the songs that do reach me like Kite and In a Little While, Beautiful Day are amongst my favorites.

Again when you make a mix of U2 songs you take your favorites from each album not the whole album.
 
What is it about Pop that is not finished. It is a great album probably the 3rd best album they have done behind AB & JT. The music on pop is so diverse that is what makes it such a good album. About promoting it, at the time I would say that U2 were still feeling that it would sell well over 10million, and only when it started to fall short came out with the unfinished statement. It's a better album than ATYCLB as it has no tracks on it that are as bad as Peace On Earth & Grace.
 
EvolutionMonkey said:


When they played Toronto for Elevation they went to Much Music right after for an interview and Bono even said that Canada and Europe 'got it' but Americans didn't. That was straight from the horses mouth :wink: . Seriously that album has some of U2's best music and if this whole "album was unfinished" crap never got in the media then none of us would never have known and we wouldn't be talking about that aspect. If i didn't find that out through the internet i would never have known and i don't feel those songs are unfinished except for Wake Up Dead Man which sounds like the skeleton of a full song. Lot's of people wanted U2 to go back to JT days and POP was the final 'experimental' straw for many Americans.

I agree with everything you said. I also didn't know anything about this "unfinished album" crap until 2 years ago...
The whole POP era was realy a great fun... so they didn't sold-out some of the concerts in US... so what? The songs were/are great, the videos are great, it's a great album...

U2Kitten said:
And speaking of 'lacking' some people must be deficient in intelligence or emotion to hate ATYCLB.

...and this off-topic sentence is here... because...?
 
If people love it, that's fine! We all like different things! The only thing I have a problem with is people dissing, insulting, even HATING people for not liking it. It doesn't seem to be that way with any other album, not even ATYCLB, or even any other band. It's weird. I don't see why anyone would take it so personally. I like a lot of songs, bands and movies that are considered failures, even jokes by some people. But it doesn't matter to me if I like it. I can't understand why people get so defensive, start slinging insults or making excuses. What's the big deal, why can't we just listen to what we like and not listen to what we don't like? No one is going to change any else's minds anyway.
 
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:|

Don't you ever get tired of this argument? It's over, there's a new album coming out.

The album was brilliant and the boys seemed to have a pretty good time promoting the album. I saw PopMart 3 times and not once did I get the feeling they were upset about promoting the album.

I honestly hope this new album puts a nail in this coffin, because the whole Pop or ATYCLB sux is just getting old and stale.
 
BonoVoxSupastar said:
:|

Don't you ever get tired of this argument? It's over, there's a new album coming out.


:up:

I honestly hope this new album puts a nail in this coffin, because the whole Pop or ATYCLB sux is just getting old and stale.

I was hoping it already had. :tsk:

Time to kiss the future! :p

:wave:
 
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bathiu said:





...and this off-topic sentence is here... because...?


If you read the rest of my post, you would see I continued with 'not really, only trying to show you how it looks' ;) It was very on topic, only the ironic opposite of it, used as an example, but only sarcastically.
 
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bathiu said:


I'm planning to do it, especialy with the most recent past:wink:

Me too! The last 2 years of my life have completely sucked :grumpy: Time to move on, with U2's help!
 
Yeah, then the new album will come out, and we'll have:

ATYCLB vs HTDAAB

At first, the arguments will be biased towards HTDAAB, but then in a few years it will be as equally divided as the Pop vs. ATYCLB debate.
 
rjhbonovox said:
What is it about Pop that is not finished.

Yup, i don't understand that at all, it's something POP haters have latched onto as their main reason for hating that album but i think it's a bunch of baloney. I have heard a few of the updated songs and I still think there is nothing wrong with the originals at all in fact i like the rawness or rockiness of the originals. Actually the only thing i didn't like about that album is the bass is too loud and no matter where i listened to it i had to turn the bass down or it would hurt my stereo speakers but other than that those songs were just fine and people are just using this 'Larry said it's unfinished' business as there primary excuse for the hating.

The reason you don't hear that many VS debates that include Zooropa is because Zooropa is only half the album POP is, yet POP gets a great amount of hate.

Now the whole image thing they did during the tour i didn't care one way or the other but i think a lot of POP haters were turned off from that album because of U2's image during that time which makes no sense to me because i seperate the image from the music completely, in fact it's 90% music for me and 10% image. I don't care if Adam came out in big bunny suit and played the entire concert like that. I will admit whatever their image they were doing was nothing compared to Zoo Tv but still it's the music that matters to me not the image.
 
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Music is a personal thing like Art. My sister and I bought my dad a picture once for his B-day. I loved it and so did my sister. Well let me just say that the picture hangs in MY dining room. He didn't like it. He said Art is a personal thing and it is.

U2 music is a personal experience. Sometimes you'll agree with a person and sometimes you won't. I think that is why there are so many arguments because people DO feel so strongly about a song, album whatever. To shun or diss people for not believing what you believe is wrong. Isn't that what people in Isreal and Iraq are fighting about? A different belief, religion. Isn't that what it is all about?

It's music people...and it is good music even if you don't love all of it.
 
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youtwohearts said:
U2 music is a personal experience. Sometimes you'll agree with a person and sometimes you won't. I think that is why there are so many arguments because people DO feel so strongly about a song, album whatever. To shun or diss people for not believing what you believe is wrong. Isn't that what people in Isreal and Iraq are fighting about? A different belief, religion. Isn't that what it is all about?


That's right, and because U2 has been so diverse musically over the years it's not surprising not everyone loves every single thing. :shrug:
 
starsgoblue said:
I already posted my feelings about Pop (in the Pop vs. ATYCLB thread)....shortly, there are a good 5 songs on there that the U2 catlouge would be totally lacking without, plus I just don't think people "got it". U2 can't be blamed for people being intellectually numb.

Well, that's a bit pretentious.
 
I have mentioned this before, but it pisses me off when they say it wasn't finished. Are the later versions they did finished? Let's look at them:

Discotheque - the remixed version on the Best of is more 'rock' but I think it looses some of its charm. I still like it, but the original is better.

Staring at the Sun - I hate the remixed version on the Best of. It sounds like a muted version of the original, like I am listening to the song coming from another room. Original way better.

Last Night on Earth - They made a slightly altered version for the single release. Besides for the middle 8, the differences are so minor I could care less.

Please - Also made an altered version for the single release. I kind of like the string addition but I do not like the redone vocals as much. It makes the song sound less urgent. Prefer the original.

If God Will Send His Angels - Another altered single release. They rearranged the order of the song to make it sound more conventional but I liked the original mix better. The redone scat singing is cool though.

Gone - This is the one case where I like the rockier Best of version better. I wish this was on the original album.

So, besides for Gone, I think the original songs are better. I am glad they did not 'finish' it.
 
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