OP
OP
Zoots
Blue Crack Supplier
Holy Joe (guilty mix) FTMFW!!! (better than Garage IMO)
Edge's guitar in that =
Edge's guitar in that =
The POP Celebration Thread ~ This album always re-awakens the rabid U2 fan in me!!!
- Thread starter Zoots
- Start date
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Danny Boy
Rock n' Roll Doggie FOB
MOFO!!!
theFly51
New Yorker
3rd best album behind AB and Zooropa
Discotheque-Great guitar riff. Love the effects live and the segue into IYWTVD.
Do You Feel Loved-wished they played it more often on the tour. Great piece that could've been a great hit.
Mofo-Great song with that hard rock sound. Perfect opener on the tour.
IGWSHA-Great lyrical song and worked great on opening night after Until The End of the World.
Staring at the Sun-wish they would do this song full-band more often
Last Night on Earth-one of the most underrated songs in U2's entire catalouge. Great rock song and awesome outro (Mexico, Rotterdam)
Gone-bring it back!! Love the guitar on this piece!
Miami-shoud've been played EVERY night on the tour. Much better live than the album version (Edmonton, Leeds). Love the visuals on the screen too. And Bono's outfit is awesome during this song.
The Playboy Mansion-wierd but fun song to listen to. (i.e. Babyface)
If You Wear That Velvet Dress-best song on the entire album. Should've been released as a single instead of IGWSHA. The reworked guitar part live was perfect and with the Lemon spinning and reflecting lights set a great mood and atmosphere, especially With or Without You right afterwards.
Please-bring this one back too!
Wake Up Dead Man-full band performance is needed!
Discotheque-Great guitar riff. Love the effects live and the segue into IYWTVD.
Do You Feel Loved-wished they played it more often on the tour. Great piece that could've been a great hit.
Mofo-Great song with that hard rock sound. Perfect opener on the tour.
IGWSHA-Great lyrical song and worked great on opening night after Until The End of the World.
Staring at the Sun-wish they would do this song full-band more often
Last Night on Earth-one of the most underrated songs in U2's entire catalouge. Great rock song and awesome outro (Mexico, Rotterdam)
Gone-bring it back!! Love the guitar on this piece!
Miami-shoud've been played EVERY night on the tour. Much better live than the album version (Edmonton, Leeds). Love the visuals on the screen too. And Bono's outfit is awesome during this song.
The Playboy Mansion-wierd but fun song to listen to. (i.e. Babyface)
If You Wear That Velvet Dress-best song on the entire album. Should've been released as a single instead of IGWSHA. The reworked guitar part live was perfect and with the Lemon spinning and reflecting lights set a great mood and atmosphere, especially With or Without You right afterwards.
Please-bring this one back too!
Wake Up Dead Man-full band performance is needed!
zuropa_fit
Blue Crack Addict
I am one of those people who shunned it when it first came out 
But when ATYCLB came out I bought Pop and really gave it a listen for the first time and, for the most part, absolutely LOVED it, still do - it spends a lot of time in my car's CD player. I will admit that there are a couple tracks that I skip but the ones that I don't more than make up for them.
I love that the 'image' of this album doesn't match the actual content. I sort of feel like really REALLY appreciating Pop is the mark of a true U2 fan (feel free to rip that comment apart).
And yeah, I think it's an amazing culmination of what they did and where they were going in the 90's.
It makes me wonder about the new album.
But when ATYCLB came out I bought Pop and really gave it a listen for the first time and, for the most part, absolutely LOVED it, still do - it spends a lot of time in my car's CD player. I will admit that there are a couple tracks that I skip but the ones that I don't more than make up for them. I love that the 'image' of this album doesn't match the actual content. I sort of feel like really REALLY appreciating Pop is the mark of a true U2 fan (feel free to rip that comment apart).
And yeah, I think it's an amazing culmination of what they did and where they were going in the 90's.
It makes me wonder about the new album.
Reggie Thee Dog
Blue Crack Addict
Shouldn't we be celebrating the 25 Anniversary of War being released today...
roy
Refugee
I really like:
Please,
Gone,
Mofo,
Staring at the Sun
The rest on the album is meh.
Please,
Gone,
Mofo,
Staring at the Sun
The rest on the album is meh.
RavenBlue
Blue Crack Addict
Pop was my main U2 album in high school. I really identified with the songs and it remains a special album to me.
Oh, and for the record, I farking love Miami!
Oh, and for the record, I farking love Miami!
blm
New Yorker
zoopop said:I was 19 when Pop came out and here are few stand out moments during that era:
-Hearing Discotheque for the 1st time on the radio
-Local radio playing tracks off the album (yes, stations used to do this.) Heard Gone, LNOE, & Mofo
-Listening to a radio special w/ the band talking about Pop
-The midnight priemere of Discotheque video on MTV
-My Dad buying me tickets to the opening night of the Popmart. There was some kind of VH-1 special on TV to call & buy tickets.
-Buying the album at midnight
-Going to Vegas with hype surrounding the Popmart. Vegas radio was playing U2 all day and every hour they would say "U2 takes the stage for the 1st time in 4 years in 8 hours." Then Miami comes on.
-Concert wasn't great, but I'll never forget it. The hype was surreal and I did hear IGWSHA full band
An awesome time to be a U2 fan. Big risk, High reward for the diehards!!
Wow, I am jealous! but happy for you!!
Love your last line, amen.
And GirlsOutLoud- lovely comparisons, just
intedomine
Rock n' Roll Doggie FOB
Even if i was one of the anti-Pop brigade, I'd still be proud of the album as a part of U2's history. What an amazing thing to release, something soooo 90's yet something still soooo different from anything that was going around at the time. It proved that no matter how differently U2 went about making music, they could still make something sound like something only U2 could do.
Discotheque, Do You Feel Loved, Miami, Mofo and Please are songs that could only be written by u2.
Cracking 5 star album in my opinion, it's only failings being the fact that it copped a lot of flak from music critics and U2 diehards alike.
Discotheque, Do You Feel Loved, Miami, Mofo and Please are songs that could only be written by u2.
Cracking 5 star album in my opinion, it's only failings being the fact that it copped a lot of flak from music critics and U2 diehards alike.
Saracene
Rock n' Roll Doggie VIP PASS
A flawed album, but still a home to some stellar songs.
Discotheque
Gone
Last Night On Earth
Please
Wake Up Dead Man
Discotheque
Gone
Last Night On Earth
Please
Wake Up Dead Man
blm
New Yorker
edurban said:Last Night on Earth video
Which one, if you please, edurban?
zuropa_fit
Blue Crack Addict
Pardon my ignorance, but there's more than one?? There's the 'making of' but is there an alternate video?
OP
OP
Zoots
Blue Crack Supplier
You gotta give it awaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BVS
Blue Crack Supplier
I think Pop was the album where they started the 'album of singles' mentality. With JT and AB(both albums of many singles) it came naturally, but with Pop it was a conscious effort. Not that there is anything wrong with that, it's just why this album has little to no flow whatsoever. But it's obvious that they were really trying to write singles and just had too many irons in the fire and never finished the album.
We got Disco, IGWSHA, SATS, Please, Last Night on Earth, and MOFO. With DYFL and Gone easily being singles as well. I really think we "the failure" of Pop hurt so much because they were planning on this album being HUGE! I remember Billy Corgan interviewing the band at the time of the release and he said this album sounds like a U2 greatest hits album, but of all new material, and that pretty much sums it up.
I definately think this album is their diamond in the rough, but I've always loved it.
We got Disco, IGWSHA, SATS, Please, Last Night on Earth, and MOFO. With DYFL and Gone easily being singles as well. I really think we "the failure" of Pop hurt so much because they were planning on this album being HUGE! I remember Billy Corgan interviewing the band at the time of the release and he said this album sounds like a U2 greatest hits album, but of all new material, and that pretty much sums it up.
I definately think this album is their diamond in the rough, but I've always loved it.
OP
OP
Zoots
Blue Crack Supplier
BonoVoxSupastar said:
I disagree. Despite having some disjointed moments, Pop still had somewhat of a concurrent theme throughout... of material excess ("you know what that is but you still want some"), decadence/sexuality (do you feel loved?, velvet dress), getting sick of it all and seeking god for help (igwsha, gone, please, wudm etc.) and so on. Even ATYCLB has an album theme going! It's the Bomb that feels like a bunch of singles strung together.
pat132
Acrobat
My 2nd favorite U2 album, after The Unforgettable Fire
The only weak point of the album is The Playboy Mansion, but still a good song. The rest is flawless. And Popmart is my favorite tour
And Please is my favorite non-UF U2 track (except for the single version that I really hate)
The only weak point of the album is The Playboy Mansion, but still a good song. The rest is flawless
. And Popmart is my favorite tour And Please is my favorite non-UF U2 track (except for the single version that I really hate)
Last edited:
sue4u2
Rock n' Roll Doggie VIP PASS
POP is just the epitome of U2..
It's all there for you.
Whether they meant it that way or not..
I always have and still love Playboy Mansion.
OK that only makes sense to me..
Just can't get enough of that Lovey Dovey stuff..
It's all there for you.
Whether they meant it that way or not..
I always have and still love Playboy Mansion.
OK that only makes sense to me..
Just can't get enough of that Lovey Dovey stuff..
mikal
Blue Crack Addict
Mauwer said:
Totally agree.
Man that LNOE remix does sound a lot like everything except LNOE
Cheers ,
Mauwer
actually, that mix of LNOE is one of my favorite U2 mixes ever.
Go POP Go!
namkcuR
ONE love, blood, life
I still believe that Pop contains some of the finest songwriting of U2's career, and that it's arguably Bono's lyrical zenith. I love it dearly.
However...
Sometimes, it's just the little things that the album version of any given song is missing that make it so much less than subsequent versions - for example, it's amazing how much Edge's 'down's add to the chorus in Gone or how much the single version's outro adds to If God Will Send His Angels or how much Bono's 'off' note on the word 'sun' in the first chorus takes Staring At The Sun down, or how much the 'Move Me A Mountain' live outro adds to Mofo, just to name a few. Other times, it's the not-so-little things that subsequent versions improve on - for example, Please just isn't the same without the solo, Miami is just plain subdude on the album, and the middle 8 of the album version of Last Night On Earth is more 'all over the place'(that could be a good thing or a bad thing, it's a matter of opinion) than the subseqent live/single bridge.
The thing is, many of these 'subsequent' versions that improved on one aspect of the song would do so while also damaging another aspect of the song that was already fine in the album version. For example - the single version of Please gives us the solo but it totally neuters the precussion section in favor of strings. The single version of Last Night On Earth gives us the different bridge, but somehow it sounds poppier and less 'rock' than the album version. The 'new mix' of Staring At The Sun fixes Bono's 'off' note in the first chorus and adds Edge's backing vocals to the chorus, but the guitar riff that drove the chorus on the album version is nearly relegated to the background. The 'new mix' of Gone gives us Edge's 'down's but the sirens from the album version are pushed back somewhat and the backing vocals from the second half of the album version are barely audible. Albeit Gone was the song that imo was damaged the least in its 'subsequent' version. The single version of If God Will Send His Angels gave us the great outro, but the rest of it is a completely different arrangement from the album version and imo, it reeks of a cut-and-paste job done to make it more 'radio' friendly. Not to mention the badass 'whoosh' sounds immediatly preceeding the choruses in the album version are not present.
So what you end up having is the album versions, which get x right and y wrong, and the subseqent versions, which often get x wrong and y right. The point is for many of these songs, there are no versions that get x AND y right. And so for the large number of us that are sometimes not satisfied with either the album version or the 'subsequent' version of a song, there are basically two options available to hear the 'ultimate' version. One option is obviously live versions. The live versions of Please and Mofo and Miami are nearly universally and indisputably recognized and hailed as the ultimate versions of those songs. The live versions of Gone are kickass as well(although it's always bothered me the way Bono doesn't actually sing the word 'lights' in 'you can keep this suit of lights' live the way he does in either studio version). The other option is to open up a wave editor and cut-and-paste to make your own custom versions of songs. A few of us(including myself) have combined the first two-thirds of the studio version of Please and the last third of the single version to make an 'ultimate' mix. I made a version of Last Night On Earth that is essentially the album version of the single version's bridge and a version of If God Will Send His Angels that is essentially the album version with the single version's outro.
IMO, there are only four tracks on the album that are perfect(as in 'didn't need any additions, subtractions, re-mixing, or re-arranging) the first time around, and they are Discotheque(the 'new mix' improves nothing and damages everything, imo), Do You Feel Loved, The Playboy Mansion, and Wake Up Dead Man. That's only a third of the record, and that to me speaks volumes. All twelve songs are KICK-ASS imo, but only four of them were 'nailed' the first time around(that's not say the other eight album versions are bad; on the contrary, they're mostly good, just not 'complete'). To me, that is THE story of why Pop has the reputation it does.
Looking at all of this, it is clear to see that the problem was never the songs, it was the mixes, the arrangements, and production problems that hampred the project. But the heart of these songs was always there. But the band's assertion that the album was incomplete and that with a little more time it would have been better is very legitimate. After all, they proved that they COULD get everything right, just not at the SAME TIME(example: precussion in the album version of Please is right, solo in single version is right, but they're never together - vocal execution of the 'new mix' of SATS is right, the mixing of the guitar riff in the album version is right, but never together, etc). So perhaps if they HAD had more time, they would have gotten everything right at at the SAME TIME, and then they wouldn't have had to put out all of these altered subsequent mixes and the live versions wouldn't be so radically different from their studio counterparts, and then the fanbase's opinion of these songs wouldn't be so schizophrenic(i.e. album versions vs single versions vs new mixes vs live versions arguements, and people perhaps judging the album based on custom playlists that mix different versions of different songs from different sources together, effectively meaning many of us listen to a different record than anyone else but then we debate it as though it's all the same thing), and as a result the record itself would have a more stable and consistant and less polarizing reputation.
The thing that bothers me the most is the attitude that U2 seem to have taken towards Pop. They've adapted a sort of 'yeah, you were right, Pop was a failed experiment' kind of attitude, which shows in the lack of Pop songs showing up in the live set, etc. I hate that. If you listened to the interviews U2 were giving when Pop was first released, it is obvious that they were VERY excited about it and VERY proud of it, 'finished' or not. If you create a piece of art and you are proud of it and you believe in it, you fucking stand by it, you don't just say 'yeah, you're right' when a group of people say they don't like it or don't get it. That's the thing that gets me the most. I sincerely hope Pop's songs become a regular part of the set again next tour, because it's a record I love dearly, and I've been to one show each on Elevation and Vertigo and I've still never heard a Pop song live in person.
Rock on, Pop.
However...
Sometimes, it's just the little things that the album version of any given song is missing that make it so much less than subsequent versions - for example, it's amazing how much Edge's 'down's add to the chorus in Gone or how much the single version's outro adds to If God Will Send His Angels or how much Bono's 'off' note on the word 'sun' in the first chorus takes Staring At The Sun down, or how much the 'Move Me A Mountain' live outro adds to Mofo, just to name a few. Other times, it's the not-so-little things that subsequent versions improve on - for example, Please just isn't the same without the solo, Miami is just plain subdude on the album, and the middle 8 of the album version of Last Night On Earth is more 'all over the place'(that could be a good thing or a bad thing, it's a matter of opinion) than the subseqent live/single bridge.
The thing is, many of these 'subsequent' versions that improved on one aspect of the song would do so while also damaging another aspect of the song that was already fine in the album version. For example - the single version of Please gives us the solo but it totally neuters the precussion section in favor of strings. The single version of Last Night On Earth gives us the different bridge, but somehow it sounds poppier and less 'rock' than the album version. The 'new mix' of Staring At The Sun fixes Bono's 'off' note in the first chorus and adds Edge's backing vocals to the chorus, but the guitar riff that drove the chorus on the album version is nearly relegated to the background. The 'new mix' of Gone gives us Edge's 'down's but the sirens from the album version are pushed back somewhat and the backing vocals from the second half of the album version are barely audible. Albeit Gone was the song that imo was damaged the least in its 'subsequent' version. The single version of If God Will Send His Angels gave us the great outro, but the rest of it is a completely different arrangement from the album version and imo, it reeks of a cut-and-paste job done to make it more 'radio' friendly. Not to mention the badass 'whoosh' sounds immediatly preceeding the choruses in the album version are not present.
So what you end up having is the album versions, which get x right and y wrong, and the subseqent versions, which often get x wrong and y right. The point is for many of these songs, there are no versions that get x AND y right. And so for the large number of us that are sometimes not satisfied with either the album version or the 'subsequent' version of a song, there are basically two options available to hear the 'ultimate' version. One option is obviously live versions. The live versions of Please and Mofo and Miami are nearly universally and indisputably recognized and hailed as the ultimate versions of those songs. The live versions of Gone are kickass as well(although it's always bothered me the way Bono doesn't actually sing the word 'lights' in 'you can keep this suit of lights' live the way he does in either studio version). The other option is to open up a wave editor and cut-and-paste to make your own custom versions of songs. A few of us(including myself) have combined the first two-thirds of the studio version of Please and the last third of the single version to make an 'ultimate' mix. I made a version of Last Night On Earth that is essentially the album version of the single version's bridge and a version of If God Will Send His Angels that is essentially the album version with the single version's outro.
IMO, there are only four tracks on the album that are perfect(as in 'didn't need any additions, subtractions, re-mixing, or re-arranging) the first time around, and they are Discotheque(the 'new mix' improves nothing and damages everything, imo), Do You Feel Loved, The Playboy Mansion, and Wake Up Dead Man. That's only a third of the record, and that to me speaks volumes. All twelve songs are KICK-ASS imo, but only four of them were 'nailed' the first time around(that's not say the other eight album versions are bad; on the contrary, they're mostly good, just not 'complete'). To me, that is THE story of why Pop has the reputation it does.
Looking at all of this, it is clear to see that the problem was never the songs, it was the mixes, the arrangements, and production problems that hampred the project. But the heart of these songs was always there. But the band's assertion that the album was incomplete and that with a little more time it would have been better is very legitimate. After all, they proved that they COULD get everything right, just not at the SAME TIME(example: precussion in the album version of Please is right, solo in single version is right, but they're never together - vocal execution of the 'new mix' of SATS is right, the mixing of the guitar riff in the album version is right, but never together, etc). So perhaps if they HAD had more time, they would have gotten everything right at at the SAME TIME, and then they wouldn't have had to put out all of these altered subsequent mixes and the live versions wouldn't be so radically different from their studio counterparts, and then the fanbase's opinion of these songs wouldn't be so schizophrenic(i.e. album versions vs single versions vs new mixes vs live versions arguements, and people perhaps judging the album based on custom playlists that mix different versions of different songs from different sources together, effectively meaning many of us listen to a different record than anyone else but then we debate it as though it's all the same thing), and as a result the record itself would have a more stable and consistant and less polarizing reputation.
The thing that bothers me the most is the attitude that U2 seem to have taken towards Pop. They've adapted a sort of 'yeah, you were right, Pop was a failed experiment' kind of attitude, which shows in the lack of Pop songs showing up in the live set, etc. I hate that. If you listened to the interviews U2 were giving when Pop was first released, it is obvious that they were VERY excited about it and VERY proud of it, 'finished' or not. If you create a piece of art and you are proud of it and you believe in it, you fucking stand by it, you don't just say 'yeah, you're right' when a group of people say they don't like it or don't get it. That's the thing that gets me the most. I sincerely hope Pop's songs become a regular part of the set again next tour, because it's a record I love dearly, and I've been to one show each on Elevation and Vertigo and I've still never heard a Pop song live in person.
Rock on, Pop.
BonoVoxSupastar said:
I don't know about singles, but I think Pop was the first "we're trying to be hip, yet we're also going back to a more straightforward U2 sound" album. I also think they were maybe going into another reinvention too soon, without the execution of JT or AB (flow, theme and a tighter musical direction especially) - not necessarily lack of time, just trying too many things at once. I'd also venture that what the album lacks is a really *great* U2 song. Even if you take the other "black sheep" of their catalogue, there's a Gloria, Desire, BD, COBL.
I never believed "U2 hates it" hype either. They just wish they'd done what they wanted better.
Mr. V
Refugee
outstanding post, namkcuR. i agree with just about everything you say.
namkcuR
ONE love, blood, life
Eazy-V said:
Thanks
BVS
Blue Crack Supplier
namkcuR said:
Yeah, very arguably...
BVS
Blue Crack Supplier
Zootlesque said:
I agree, lyrically it is a very cohesive, but sound wise not even close.
Pop and Bomb are actually very similar in the sense of having no cohesion and trying really hard for singles. The only difference Pop was trying to embrace the current wave, and Bomb, hell I'm not sure what it was trying to embrace.
Dusty Bottoms
Acrobat
i think if you remove staring at the sun the album flows very well
staring at the sun is the only "single" song i think they forced in there. its a decent song but just doesnt fit into the album very well.
staring at the sun is the only "single" song i think they forced in there. its a decent song but just doesnt fit into the album very well.
ZOOTVTOURist
Refugee
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2005
- Messages
- 1,700
Yeah, leave this album, where it's now – in the shelves, where U2 bury songs, they don't want to play anymore. Don't misunderstand me: I do apreciate POP very much (as written here a thousand times before), I think, it has some of the best tunes, U2 have written – and even the setlist wise lacklustre tour had its astonishing moments.
But I don't wish U2 will return there with full conscience: POP stands for an unfinished album (please do NOT re-record it!, stands for U2 having lost any studio discipline & artistic control because of the tour tp be confirmed & to play, stands for Bono & the band the most ridiculous Tour concept of all times, being a damage to what U2 are ...
Best idea: Take some tunes, re-arrange them for the gigs – and play them from time to time. That would be great – and would do justice to the album and the fans, who'd like to hear something from this wannabe-masterpiece. But before, the band might rehearse tunes like "The Unforgettable Fire" or "God Part II" – these tunes are much more important to be played and far, far better ...
But I don't wish U2 will return there with full conscience: POP stands for an unfinished album (please do NOT re-record it!, stands for U2 having lost any studio discipline & artistic control because of the tour tp be confirmed & to play, stands for Bono & the band the most ridiculous Tour concept of all times, being a damage to what U2 are ...
Best idea: Take some tunes, re-arrange them for the gigs – and play them from time to time. That would be great – and would do justice to the album and the fans, who'd like to hear something from this wannabe-masterpiece. But before, the band might rehearse tunes like "The Unforgettable Fire" or "God Part II" – these tunes are much more important to be played and far, far better ...
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