bathiu
Refugee
OK...
'U2 want to re-record Pop. They shouldn't need to, but they do.'
Pop is one of my five favorite albums of all-time. No one in America agrees with me, but probably most of Europe agrees. Bono knows this. Even the Zimbab warriors in east Africa agree, but through hubris, stupidity, and a bottle of chianti he convinced his bandmates to release an album of sarcasm, emotion, and irony here in America by cutting the ribbon at a K-Mart. Bad idea.
We take ourselves way too seriously, and refuse to allow anyone to criticize us even if their points are true. This is especially problematic for lyricists who want to write about fixing problems: to fix a problem, you have to acknowledge it. As I said, that's not our strong point.
So how do you sell that type of album here? You don't (U2 found this out the hard way)... but a re-release could if they *ugh* market it right.
How to sell a great album in five easy steps:
1. Make the first single sound as "normal" as possible - as Frank Zappa said, "People just want to hear that falls comes, the leaves turn brown, winter happens, but then everything is OK again in the spring." Release Staring at the Sun as the first single this time around, guys. People just want to sing along with the little drunken irishmen who dreams about world peace.
2. Front-load the album - put all of the singles as first tracks. That's what they did with the Joshua Tree. That's how Nirvana sold Nevermind. They did it again with All that you can't Leave Behind. Those albums sold despite not being the best work.
Why do bands even pretend that we have an attention span? As much as I'd love the idea that there are 22 million people in America who are hardcore U2 fans who've read Plato's Allegory of the Cave just because it was referenced by U2, I just can't buy it. They like the singles. The Postal Service would just be known as mail-losing, slow-moving retirees if it weren't for the fact that the two singles were the first two tracks on the album. People get confused and disoriented trying to find "That song that Zach Braff wrote" if it's not one of the first two tracks.
3. Don't call it electronic, dance, pop, or experimental - Those are code words used by the average American that mean, "bad music." The ironic thing (and the thing that people think is so clever in Europe) is that Pop, the album, isn't pop music, it isn't dance music, it isn't electronic, and it is definitely not experimental. It's hard rock with a chorus.
4. Lie to the media - tell them (us?) that they (we?) are gods who "keep America on the right track!" Ignore the reality tv. Don't try to make a statement. The phrase "circle jerk" came into use because of the media industry. Don't make claims that the media shouldn't take itself so seriously. Journalists become journalists because they're the only people who can take such inane topics as seriously as they do. How else do you keep a straight face while writing a headline like "New Oasis Album a Fountain in the Desert?"
5. Don't make gay disco videos - Gays are evil here. They're the new Jew. I don't know what America's problem with gay people is. I don't get it. Maybe it's the fact that they dress nicely? Maybe it's the fact they're all nicer than the rest of America? Maybe it's just the dancing?
Whatever it is, we don't like it. Most of us apparently don't want our kids growing up to be anything but unkempt, smiling klutzes. So implying any effeminate qualities like these will kill you.
We want hairy, stupid men, and vapid, conniving women. Please, leave all notions of logic and compassion on the boat before you head for Ellis Island.
That's how you sell an album. How you make an album is by doing whatever they did to make Pop because it's great. It doesn't fall down after a fast start like The Joshua Tree. It doesn't ramble through truly experimental (but genius still) ruminations on nerve endings (see the song "Numb" on Zooropa). It doesn't sit on one idea for an entire 74 minutes (see the idea that "love hurts" on Achtung Baby). It doesn't ruin itself with hollow 80's production (see: War, The Unforgettable Fire, and October). It doesn't have Bono pretending he's a cowboy (see: Rattle and Hum). It doesn't have Bono pretending he's in the Harlem Boys' Choir (see Rattle and Hum). It doesn't have Bono pretending he's BB King's nephew (see Rattle and Hum), and it doesn't have Bono pretending he's the devil (see Zooropa).
Pop does have:
- The most intricate guitar parts on any U2 album.
- Immediacy (the vocals for Please were done in one take)
- The most unexpected drum patterns on any U2 album (ironically, this is the only album where Larry doesn't sound like a drum machine).
and...
- The best lyrics of any U2 album. Here's a quick rundown of the topics covered:
Disengenuous love affairs- Do You Feel Loved
Oedipus complexes - MoFo
Domestic abuse - If God Will Send His Angels
The Allegory of the Cave - Staring at the Sun
Ressurection - Last Night on Eart
Losing yourself to greed when you try to avoid pain - Gone
Everything you can do in Miami to procrastinate while making an album - Miami
The loss of meaning that happens when words for passion are coopted by the media - Playboy Mansion
Placing qualifications on love- If you Wear that Velvet Dress
Abandoning life for addiction - Please
A prayer for Jesus to come alive again after all of your other options are gone - Wake Up Dead Man
Buy it, and start on track 2; you'll love it.
Rolling Stone: U2-Pop: Music Reviews
RS rating: 4/5
Average user rating: 4/5
The conventional, major-label A&R wisdom on electronica boils down to this: "If only we could find a rock band that plays dance music and can write real songs." U2 did just that on "Pop" -- and nobody cared. Maybe they overhyped the techno angle; "Pop" is far more economical in its art-pop disturbance than "Achtung Baby" and less flamboyant in its ache than "The Joshua Tree." There are loops aplenty, but Pop is about hearts beating, not just pulse beats, and the best mix of sob and throb is in the ballads, a U2 specialty: the grim burbling of "Gone," Bono's arcing anguish in "Please." Taken on its own -- away from the chart numbers and the big shtick of PopMart -- "Pop" is simply an album of great pop. For some reason, for a lot of folks, that's just not enough.
