U2's POP makes 'Popology' Eat Itself

[Moser]

U2’s Pop Makes ‘Popology’ Eat Itself � MTV Newsroom

As we announced yesterday, U2 are making their latest comeback. Following Bono's back surgery (which forced the cancellation of their North American tour), the group will hit the road in Europe for a series of dates and be back around the United States next summer. U2 have had a fascinating career, as even though they've been one of the biggest bands in the world for the better part of the past three decades, they have still regularly been cast as underdogs on the comeback trail. Their story arc is remarkable, and it hit an interesting point when they released Pop in 1997.

When you consider most albums, you have to consider the context along with the songs. But in the case of Pop, it's almost all about the context. The last time U2 had appeared, it was a part of the absolutely gigantic ZooTV tour, which at the time was one of the most ambitious stadium-sized rock shows ever produced. It was in support of the hugely successful Achtung Baby, a moody art rock album masquerading as pop music (it helped that "One," the one track on the album that doesn't really fit, was a huge international hit). The band followed Achtung with a pair of strange experiments: 1993's Zooropa, which was an album that leaned heavily on electronics and was written and recorded in between legs of ZooTV, and 1996's Original Soundtracks 1, a heavily ambient album produced by Brian Eno and credited to Passengers (it was so out there that the label didn't want them to release it under their own name).

That meant it had been nearly six years since a "proper" U2 album had been put on the market, so expectations were high. Those expectations were compounded by the fact that in the run-up to Pop's release, people were suggesting that U2 had somehow managed to solve the conundrum that was facing rock music at the time. Back in 1996, a reasonable portion of the population believed that dance music was going to take over as the next great underground genre to blow up to stadium size. Everybody was extremely excited about the Prodigy, and the Chemical Brothers were being treated like big time rock stars and not just a pair of DJs. More and more bands were dipping into the electronic pool, augmenting their rock tunes with breakbeats, bits of trip-hop and whatever else floated over from the United Kingdom. It was seen as a conundrum that needed to be solved, as though somebody would eventually crack the code and deliver a song or an album that would successfully bring together the two disparate worlds to create a new genre.

Everybody was convinced that Pop was that album. Before anybody heard any music, people who thought about pop music for a living seemed to think that U2 had solved it, and when they dropped the single "Discotheque" a month before, it seemed like Pop was going to change everything. "Discotheque" grafted some super-distorted guitars, techno-funky bass and a sweaty breakbeat, and it still allowed for a killer chorus it sounded like the collision of modern dance music and rock and roll.

But when the album came out and fans listened to the other 11 songs on the album, there was much confusion. The first three songs on the album — "Discotheque," "Do You Feel Loved" and "Mofo" — made an effort to attach disparate dance genres (like techno, house and drum and bass) to U2's refined approach to stadium rock. The problem is that none of those songs particularly succeed as dance songs or as rock workouts. "Discotheque" runs out of steam, "Do You Feel Loved" isn't dynamic enough and "Mofo" devolves into a beat-happy mess.

And then U2 seem to abandon the premise entirely. Luckily, they do it for the sake of "If God Will Send His Angels" and "Staring at the Sun," neither of which contain very much in the way of electronics but both of which contain blissful melodies and hypnotic hooks. ("If God Will Send His Angels," in particular, seemed to be laying the groundwork for their throwback 2000 album All That You Can't Leave Behind.) "Gone" is also a spectacular anthem with a giant chorus — in fact, Bono has a great time on Pop, as there are places for him to experiment as well as to hit his usual high notes. (Conversely, the Edge has the roughest time on Pop, as his guitar tones are often subverted, distorted or lost entirely.)

Latter day U2 albums also contain a healthy amount of obsessions with American culture, and Pop contains two such tracks: "Miami" and "The Playboy Mansion." The former is an intense beat experiment that does a lot of swirling but doesn't go much of anywhere, and "The Playboy Mansion" is about the closest thing the band has ever come to making a novelty song. Still, it's charming in spots and has a jaunty little melody.

The album wraps up with the smoldering "If You Wear That Velvet Dress," the lurching "Please" and the sparse, powerful "Wake Up Dead Man." Really, those three songs act as a microcosm for U2's entire career, as it has the right combination of romanticism, Catholicism, passion and darkness. Unfortunately, none of those songs have the sort of sweetness that lurks under even the most militant U2 tunes, which makes for a rather uneven finish to what ends up being a bizarre, disjointed album.

So Pop didn't change the way we think about rock music, nor did it change the way we think about U2 (they ended up really coming back with All That You Can't Leave Behind a few years later). Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen, Jr. seemed to be distracted by keyboards and irony, which may explain why Pop is by far the most schizophrenic release in U2's canon. It's an interesting entry in the band's history (and a fascinating look at the state of rock music in 1997), but not up there with the essential All That You Can't Leave Behind, Achtung Baby and The Joshua Tree.

Oh, if they only gave this album more time and polish.

 

[65980]

I must say I'm bored of corporate rock these days -- even U2, although I still like their music, which is more than I can say for most long-standing groups.

I was watching some interview with (of all people) Bryan Adams a while ago, and he said -- don't know how true it is -- that he plays about 10 gigs every month, and has been doing it for ten years. That may be an exaggeration, but I much prefer the approach of working musicians who write songs, record, play live, do promotion, etc., all at the same time.

I am bored by the corporate rock schedule -- we'll spent two years making the album, two years playing enormo-live shows and promotion, and one year resting. Miss the old days when artists could actually surprise the audience with a new release.

Just thought I'd say that.

 

[U2girl]

Good article, except they made their comeack in 2000, not now. ATYCLB isn't essential, either.

 

[Acrobat51829]

Really interesting article, thanks. Interesting how they thought Pop was going to actually form a new genre.

 

[brooklynmike]

Good article, except they made their comeack in 2000, not now. ATYCLB isn't essential, either.

It's essential to U2 still being around.

And relevant

 

[europop2005]

LNOE doesn't get a shout out?

 

[An Cat Gav]

I think if they had stuck with nellie Hooper as the only producer and kept more to the electronic, trip-hop influenced original idea the album would have been a bigger success, artistically if not commercially. It feels to me as if they tried to straddle to many different genres and thought they could bring them together into something beautiful quicker than they actually could, and they just ran out of time. I also think that for a band who likes to take their time in the studio with a strict deadline to meet, maybe Howie B was not the right guy to crack the whip.

 

[Peterrrrr]

Yes, but lets not foget that the NLOTH album gave us NLOTH, MOS, WAS, COL, Fez. NLOTH was in the right direction.

Also GOYB was one of their braves singel release ever, its a crazy song. That song is one of thier more underrated songs.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

passengers came out in 95
[/pedantic]

can't say i agree with this article, but oh well. mtv were way too anxious to help promote the album when it came out (i at least remember them doing a huge a-z thing the day of discotheque's premiere as well as a u2 game show of sorts where i guess tickets to popmart were given away) but of course once it didn't sell as well as achtung baby it became cool to hate it, so yeah.

 

[subnet]

it didn't help that the former Kmart went belly up too

 

[Salome]

good article
just about sums it up

 

[lazarus]

Good article, except they made their comeack in 2000, not now. ATYCLB isn't essential, either.

It's essential to U2 still being around.

And relevant

I don't think the writer of the article was referring to it being essential because of its place in the band's trajectory. That's precisely why the article is trying to explore/explain Pop. They're implying that the music on ATYCLB is better, which is asinine.

I'm not sure the writer really know enough about electronic music to have dropped these easy labels on things. Especially this part:

"The first three songs on the album — "Discotheque," "Do You Feel Loved" and "Mofo" — made an effort to attach disparate dance genres (like techno, house and drum and bass)"

None of those songs really qualify as drum and bass or house, and I'd only consider Mofo to be "techno". If there's any specific style found in the songs, it's the trip-hop beats on The Playboy Mansion and Miami (which of course goes unmentioned in this article).

One can listen to the remixes on various singles if they want to see what the genres actually sound like. Regardless, I appreciate the sentiment of getting people to take another look at this album.