Finally, U2 Admit POP failure

[jick]

The Best Of Tracklisting is solid proof. Obviously, U2 wanted all albums from the era to be represented. Or maybe they felt uncomfortable including a Passengers track while excluding POP. But the fact that ALL the POP tracks were remixed is proof that those tracks cannot stand on their original form as presented in the POP album.

Also, there are some quarters with extremely bad taste who always thought Please is one of U2's more listenable tracks from POP and deserves inclusion (some even went further to dream on about a Mofo inclusion). Well, they are dead wrong. Please has been totally omitted and ignored - right where it belongs - out of the Best Of Tracklisting because it is not one of their best by any means.

All POP tracks were reworked. Please was rightfully ignored in favor of less popular but more brilliant tracks like Until The End Of The World, The First Time, and Miss Sarajevo. You are all entitled to your own opinions and your own fantasies on what the tracklisting should be but this is reality, U2 have spoken and made their decisions.

Cheers,

J

 

[Angela Harlem]

1000's upon 1000's of fans love that album, and then some. Stick that proof of its success in your pipe and choke on it J.

 

[Rastat]

You'll end liking POP.

I know.

 

[Cowgirl]

pop4ever..
oh no hang on thats your line

 

[Salome]

even though I'm not a big fan of POP's production myself,
I guess the reason why U2 chose to remix the POP songs (and Numb) is to make the album sound more coherently

I might be wrong though

 

[u2sangel]

U2 admitted that Pop did not go over as well as they had hpped a few years ago,they also admitted to the songs being unfinished!They are good songs on it such as Gone ,Please and Do You Feel Loved.I have a lot of respect for u2 finishing the Popmart tour knowing they were losing money and that some people in the audience were not as thrilled with the songs from Pop.Give them a break already!!!!!!!

 

[pinkfloyd]

i think , they had more then enough time to finish the album , the general problem was people didn't want to listen to album like POP , not because it was weak on quality or something ( actually by production , lyrics and song originality it is the best work by U2 ) . but because there were much less people into rock , real rock , " DREAM OUTLOuD " rock , not a pop cd like R&H or anything like ATYCLB , it's a serious grand work ,


and people didn't wanted it , and ofcourse our silly brains goin like --" oh yeah , this album doesn't sell well , every major tv network bashing it , then it's shit to me " .

ATYCLB was an opposite , U2 went down from category of David Bowie , Pinkfloyd , Korn and Pearl Jam to ----------> Corrs , No Doubt , DEstiny's child and Ronan Keating + Madonna . and people calling it " their best work " eeeeek .

 

[GypsyHeartgirl]

As usual, I totally disagree with Pinkfloyd. But if he has a right to endlessly bring up his hatred and distain for ATYCLB, I reserve the same right for my endless hatred of Pop, and no one should post headbanging icons at me if they don't do it for him, because he's just as guilty as I am. Regardless of your opinion on the albums, that is true!! I don't think Pop was in the category with Bowie at all. More like Right Said Fred, Falco, Ace of Base and Real McCoy! ATYCLB was a master work of polished talent, intense emotions and above average lyrics and guitar work. Anyone who doesn't see its brilliance has no heart, because it is very heavy, deep and intense.

I have seen it written that some band members, particularly Larry and Adam, saw it as a mistake. The band knows it was a blight on their legacy and career, and just because a few dozen people here love it more than life itself does not change the facts, that it was a failure by U2 standards. Dicotheque was a bad song with dumb lyrics that is not worthy of Best of. SATS had some very bad lyrics too, like insect in the ear, and happy to go blind, which IMO ruined what was maybe one of the best tunes they'd come up with. Gone was a much better song on the Elevation tour, more hard rocking, less 'funky' which was an improvement. Maybe they realized that and decided to change it more to the Elevation style for the Best of collection. If they did, it deserves to be on the collection.

 

[speedracer]

I think "If God Will Send His Angels" should be on the Best Of... album.

 

[Seconds]

... lyrics and song originality it is the best work by U2 ...

You can't be serious? Have you ever heard Achtung Baby? Or The Joshua Tree? Or even War?

I know we each have our own opinions on what good lyrics are, but are you just saying this to emphasize your belief that POP is a strong album or do you actually really believe this?

 

[adamswildhoney]

1000's upon 1000's of fans love that album, and then some. Stick that proof of its success in your pipe and choke on it J.

 

[rafmed]

what pinkfloyd said

what GypsyHeartgirl said

 

[Zoocifer]

I've only got one thing to say to all these Pop-Haters that have been taking up space for the last few weeks:

Pop kicks ass.

Plain and simple. Get offended, get provoked, I don't really mind. If you cannot see what U2 was trying at the time then I can't see why you're still a fan. You can go ahead and disagree with the music, production, lyrics, etc. - that's your opinion. Pop was an album in a catagory all its own and I haven't heard any album sound like it since. And that's not because people thought it was bad - it's because people can't match that showmanship and blood that goes into U2's music. Pop was praised when it first arrived. Rollingstone gave it great reviews. It was innovative all by itself. It mixed rock music with the technology of the studio in a way that was never heard of before. Pop is a great example to how the public are affected by visuals. So the "discotheque" video was far-fetched - I still heard it on the radio many, many times. Pop was U2 telling the music industry to "fuck off". Now-a-days U2 want to be in the mainstream and that's fine. That's their thing right now. I can respect all eras of U2's career. I may not like it (such as the War era), but I can still respect it.

Oh, and the reason I think they re-made those certain songs is that U2 wanted to polish them up. If you haven't noticed, U2's into a more polished sound (always has been), and I think they just wanted to do something different. "Discotheque" was given a makeover during Elevation and I hope it sounds like that on the disc. Same goes with "Staring at the Sun". Now I think "Gone" was fine as it is, but oh well. As for "numb" - I'm interested in to see what has been remixed and such.

- z -

 

[z edge]

" rock , not a pop cd like R&H :

R&H = a pop cd?????????

 

[scatteroflight]

If you cannot see what U2 was trying at the time then I can't see why you're still a fan.

For an exciting change, why don't we all give this exceedingly dull topic, which has been done to death millions upon millions of times since I joined this forum, a rest...like forever?

 

[scatteroflight]

It was innovative all by itself. It mixed rock music with the technology of the studio in a way that was never heard of before.

BS. I'm really tired of hearing this. Have you ever listened to Dark Side of the Moon or The Wall? 70's prog rock? Radiohead's OK Computer? U2 may be one of the greatest bands of all time, but I'm tired of hearing about how they set all the trends, especially with Zooropa and Pop, because it's not true. I personally am not even that into music which is exceptionally "groundbreaking," more into solid songwriting, but there are many people out there who can tell you of dozens of albums that make Pop look about as groundbreaking as my rear end. As a matter of fact, part of the reason I like Pop more than Zooropa is that I found some of the songs on Pop to be better "songs" than most of the tracks on Zooropa. Pop jumps out at me more, while Zooropa always sounded flat and boring to me. At the same time, I hate Discotheque, Mofo and Playboy Mansion more than anything on Zooropa, so just maybe they're evens.

If I were a moderator I would start closing every thread related to Pop. It's such a waste of time.

 

[Matthew_Page2000]

J is the problem

J has ruined every mailing list he has been a part of. He single-handedly made Wire unbearable for a great many of us. He takes equisite pleasure in starting fights, encouraging discord and just plain pissing people off. It's the only reason he's here. He's been doing this for five years and I fervently pray that the moderators take note of this.

MAP

 

[Zoocifer]

Radiohead? Gimme a break. I can get the same music by Radiohead by simply running over a pussy-cat.

- z -

 

[Summer~Rain]

If I were a moderator I would start closing every thread related to Pop. It's such a waste of time.

Agreed.

 

[wertsie]

Arg...I may as well bang my head against the wall because I don't think I could possibly make my headache worse.

I POP. I always will. Some people don't. That's fine. Frankly, I couldn't give a tiny rat's ass. But why do we have to beat this issue into the ground time and time again? What purpose does it serve?

That being said, I sincerely hope that U2 will never regret making POP. It is a brilliant album in the eyes of many, and if and when I ever meet them someday, I'm most definitely going to tell them that.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

shut up jick. these anti-pop threads are boring.

i too am getting sick and tired of these roundabout arguments:

"pop rules!"
"no! pop sucks!"
"okay, atyclb sucks!"
"no! atyclb rules!"

much ensues

the whole reason i started those other appreciation threads here was to hopefullay divert people's attention from either lauding or dissing these two albums. anything would be better than this, seriously. maybe it's because of the best of that's to come out soon, but as of late this board has been focusing way too much on these two albums. true, it's their two most recent works, but that doesn't mean it needs to be our only focus.

i really wish i could close any threads of this nature, but i know i'd get a lot of flak for it, mainly from people who want them open. or people would just start another topic on it.

oh yeah...

Falco

i love falco

 

[Elvis]

If I were a moderator I would start closing every thread related to Pop. It's such a waste of time.

You're not.
I like people to be able to express their likes and dislikes...

however...
Why certain people feel the NEED to impose their favorites or 'hatreds' on other people in beyond me... for gawd sake.. it's a freakin' band that changes its sound with almost every album. GET USED TO CHANGE... it seems to be the trend

Joel