MrBTH
War Child
Now this is a scary post but here goes...!!
It begins with an ethereal drone, then chattering voices and a beautiful piano refrain. It builds up, as though we are zooming in on something, coming down through the interference filled atmosphere, getting closer... To what? It's an almost cinematic opening to an album which at times appears to have a strong narrative thread.
The song Zooropa is like an introduction to the themes of the entire album. We are introduced to the character of the "star" who will reoccur in various guises... As the object of desire in Babyface, as the robotic zombie in Numb, as the "precious stone" in Daddy's Gonna Pay... In Zooropa we are introduced to the character's confused state of mind...
Soundbites from old advertisements. "a bluer kind of white" was the catchphrase of a soap powder manufacturer, "through appliance of science" the slogan of a washing machine maker, "We've got that ring of confidence" that of a toothpaste company.
To me this is the sound of someone who is immersed in the culture of materialism, bombarded with slogans, a vocabulary made up of soundbites. Add to that the nagging voice asking "what do you want?" As if encouraging this culture of blind consumerism.
The music reflects this also. It is very clean, precise and perfectly structured. But it all disintegrates as the lyrical viewpoint zooms in, this time right into the head of the character in question. The music wobbles and warps, sounding chaotic and somewhat confused. And much louder, reflecting the fact that we are now right inside someone's mind.
The lyric reinforces this state of confusion, of contradiction. Here we are dealing with a lost soul... "And I have no compass...", "...no map...", "...no religion...", "I don't know what's what...". And then you have this character telling itself that it can break out of this, but using the same language of soundbites... "You got the right shoes to get you through the night", "get your head out of the mud baby". It's clear that we have someone here who is desperately trying to convince themselves that there is more to life than soulless consumerism and trash culture, but in an almost half-hearted way. "And I don't know the limit... Of what we've got" is to me the key line. It's as though this is a person with everything, perhaps a superstar of some sort, but they are always wanting more, whilst at the same time contradicting themselves. "I've been hiding, what am I hiding from??", refers to this person hiding from their true self, their soul, by burying themselves in the trash of daily existence.
There's also a subtle reference to the opening of Achtung Baby in the line "Skip the subway, lets go... Overground". Zoo station used the metaphor of a subway journey to signal U2's "descent" (for want of a better word) into exploring the depths of trash culture, the darker realms as it were. Here the character seems to have had enough and is desperately trying to get out of the "mud".
Finally a narrative aspect is added with the final line "She's gonna dream up the world she wants to live in... She's gonna dream out loud...". Notice how the treatment of Bono's voice changes for these final words, reinforcing the fact that this is a comment on what is going on, this is Bono distancing himself from what could actually be interpreted as a song about his own confusion, and his own position as a star with all the trappings who is grappling with questions of faith and conscience whilst also celebrating that which is materialistic and trashy.
He uses the same trick throughout the album, coming to a head with "The Wanderer" and it's use of a completely different voice to sing a song which is, in effect, about himself. It's as though U2 are trying to throw people of the scent, to bury their own misgivings about the nature of their celebrity, stardom, wealth etc. under layers of glitter and distancing techniques. More about that later...
And the word Zooropa itself acts simply as a representation of this confused state of mind. Zoo = chaos, ropa = unity or "state". It's just a state of mind which is in a state of chaos. It relates also to the technology which allows unity, such as satellite TV, and it's abuse at the hands of mass market media culture. And this links seamlessly(!) With the theme of Babyface, where TV has become an object of obsession and technology is abused and twisted. Here the tables are turned and we are in the shoes of the voyeur, the obsessive, observing the celebrity... Here we have the ultimate in commodification. The consumer being fed the illusion "how could beauty be so kind, to an ordinary guy". And it's done through the medium of satellite TV... "You're coming to me from outer space...", recorded and replayed over and over again "...in the freeze frame...", "...seen them so many times...". It's actually quite a sad and twisted little love song: "...I feel like I must be your best friend...".
All this is wrapped up in a sparkly, tinkling and perfectly innocent sounding little tune... On the surface. Listen for the sleazy bass, the tinkling glockenspiel part going completely off the tune and out of time, sounding almost totally random sometimes and working completely against the sung tune, and the dark and bizarre sounding guitar interjections. It all adds a threatening subtext to the song, as do the insanely repeated bababababababa...s. What Bono is singing is being totally undermined by the music showing up the undertones of obsessiveness and madness. Babyface is actually one of my favourite U2 songs because it uses such simple means to be so unsettling.
And then Numb. In this song we are back with the object of the obsession, the star. But I'll talk about that later! I think I have babbled enough for one sitting!
By the way, I'm going to go through the whole album on this topic in an attempt to express my ideas about the overall cohesiveness and, well, the sheer brilliance of Zooropa! Feel free to add any of your own thoughts on the matter!
It begins with an ethereal drone, then chattering voices and a beautiful piano refrain. It builds up, as though we are zooming in on something, coming down through the interference filled atmosphere, getting closer... To what? It's an almost cinematic opening to an album which at times appears to have a strong narrative thread.
The song Zooropa is like an introduction to the themes of the entire album. We are introduced to the character of the "star" who will reoccur in various guises... As the object of desire in Babyface, as the robotic zombie in Numb, as the "precious stone" in Daddy's Gonna Pay... In Zooropa we are introduced to the character's confused state of mind...
Soundbites from old advertisements. "a bluer kind of white" was the catchphrase of a soap powder manufacturer, "through appliance of science" the slogan of a washing machine maker, "We've got that ring of confidence" that of a toothpaste company.
To me this is the sound of someone who is immersed in the culture of materialism, bombarded with slogans, a vocabulary made up of soundbites. Add to that the nagging voice asking "what do you want?" As if encouraging this culture of blind consumerism.
The music reflects this also. It is very clean, precise and perfectly structured. But it all disintegrates as the lyrical viewpoint zooms in, this time right into the head of the character in question. The music wobbles and warps, sounding chaotic and somewhat confused. And much louder, reflecting the fact that we are now right inside someone's mind.
The lyric reinforces this state of confusion, of contradiction. Here we are dealing with a lost soul... "And I have no compass...", "...no map...", "...no religion...", "I don't know what's what...". And then you have this character telling itself that it can break out of this, but using the same language of soundbites... "You got the right shoes to get you through the night", "get your head out of the mud baby". It's clear that we have someone here who is desperately trying to convince themselves that there is more to life than soulless consumerism and trash culture, but in an almost half-hearted way. "And I don't know the limit... Of what we've got" is to me the key line. It's as though this is a person with everything, perhaps a superstar of some sort, but they are always wanting more, whilst at the same time contradicting themselves. "I've been hiding, what am I hiding from??", refers to this person hiding from their true self, their soul, by burying themselves in the trash of daily existence.
There's also a subtle reference to the opening of Achtung Baby in the line "Skip the subway, lets go... Overground". Zoo station used the metaphor of a subway journey to signal U2's "descent" (for want of a better word) into exploring the depths of trash culture, the darker realms as it were. Here the character seems to have had enough and is desperately trying to get out of the "mud".
Finally a narrative aspect is added with the final line "She's gonna dream up the world she wants to live in... She's gonna dream out loud...". Notice how the treatment of Bono's voice changes for these final words, reinforcing the fact that this is a comment on what is going on, this is Bono distancing himself from what could actually be interpreted as a song about his own confusion, and his own position as a star with all the trappings who is grappling with questions of faith and conscience whilst also celebrating that which is materialistic and trashy.
He uses the same trick throughout the album, coming to a head with "The Wanderer" and it's use of a completely different voice to sing a song which is, in effect, about himself. It's as though U2 are trying to throw people of the scent, to bury their own misgivings about the nature of their celebrity, stardom, wealth etc. under layers of glitter and distancing techniques. More about that later...
And the word Zooropa itself acts simply as a representation of this confused state of mind. Zoo = chaos, ropa = unity or "state". It's just a state of mind which is in a state of chaos. It relates also to the technology which allows unity, such as satellite TV, and it's abuse at the hands of mass market media culture. And this links seamlessly(!) With the theme of Babyface, where TV has become an object of obsession and technology is abused and twisted. Here the tables are turned and we are in the shoes of the voyeur, the obsessive, observing the celebrity... Here we have the ultimate in commodification. The consumer being fed the illusion "how could beauty be so kind, to an ordinary guy". And it's done through the medium of satellite TV... "You're coming to me from outer space...", recorded and replayed over and over again "...in the freeze frame...", "...seen them so many times...". It's actually quite a sad and twisted little love song: "...I feel like I must be your best friend...".
All this is wrapped up in a sparkly, tinkling and perfectly innocent sounding little tune... On the surface. Listen for the sleazy bass, the tinkling glockenspiel part going completely off the tune and out of time, sounding almost totally random sometimes and working completely against the sung tune, and the dark and bizarre sounding guitar interjections. It all adds a threatening subtext to the song, as do the insanely repeated bababababababa...s. What Bono is singing is being totally undermined by the music showing up the undertones of obsessiveness and madness. Babyface is actually one of my favourite U2 songs because it uses such simple means to be so unsettling.
And then Numb. In this song we are back with the object of the obsession, the star. But I'll talk about that later! I think I have babbled enough for one sitting!
By the way, I'm going to go through the whole album on this topic in an attempt to express my ideas about the overall cohesiveness and, well, the sheer brilliance of Zooropa! Feel free to add any of your own thoughts on the matter!
