Listening to Pop...

[Alisaura]

I've had Pop playing in my car for the last week or so, and for some reason, IGWSHA and Playboy Mansion didn't irritate me like they used to. Those were the two songs on Pop I'd almost always skip... but now I don't mind them so much.

What's happening to me??

 

[socceroo]

That's typical of a U2 album, the skip songs jump out at you several years later.

 

[An Cat Gav]

In Q magazine this month they have a big thing on the history of U2. In general it's quite good but they review every album U2 have ever made. They give Pop only 2 out of 5!! I remember clearly though that at the time they gave it 4 out of 5 and gave it a very good review. So even Q is jumping on the anti-Pop bandwagon.
Although it's not my favourite U2 album, Pop is still brilliant and other than the turgid (IMO) IGWSHA everything is else is ace!

 

[intedomine]

The album is so ridiculous I love it. I can't imagine it any differently. I've never really had much time for IGWSHA, but I still get a real kick out of listening to the track.

 

[Mr. V]

I've listened to it thrice. First time I thought it was average, second it was growing on me, and third I was convinced - the naysayers are wrong. Pop is a decent bloody album. Not their best, but certainly up there.

Discotheque is rockin'... I have a newfound respect for that song.

 

[love2bmama]

it's taken a decade, but Pop is starting to grow on me, too.
Discotheque, Mofo, IGWSHA, SATS, Gone, Please, Wake Up Dead Man....to me they are like little jewels of songs, it took me a loooong time to get past the electronica and weird (to me) effects on some of them, but the songs themselves: brilliant.
It really bums me out that u2 seem so set on pretending Pop never happened.

 

[redhotswami]

Pop!!! IFWSHA is probably my favorite song on the album. It saddens me too that the band pretends like it didn't happen. Maybe thats why the B-sides of 1990-2000 disc had remixes of Pop songs?

I was very sad when I didn't see anything from Zooropa or Pop on U218. My guess is people are automaticallyy turned off by the sound without truly giving it a listen (not sure if that is accurate, but just a guess.) I didn't immediately love it when I first heard it, but it grew on me...like fungus.

 

[jacobus]

POP is the rough diamond...POP is U2s last 'great' album...POP is its time 10 years ahead...POP rocks...POP is sexy

 

[Aygo]

If U2 had had a different history and evolution and if they decided to release Pop today, I'm pretty sure that the album would succeed even better and that there wouldn't be any kind of backlash.

 

[PookaMacP]

In Q magazine this month they have a big thing on the history of U2. In general it's quite good but they review every album U2 have ever made. They give Pop only 2 out of 5!! I remember clearly though that at the time they gave it 4 out of 5 and gave it a very good review. So even Q is jumping on the anti-Pop bandwagon.

Maybe we should start a campaign for a special 'ten years since Pop' edition of Q to go alongside the 20 years since the Joshua Tree piece they've done!

 

[AtomicBono]

In Q magazine this month they have a big thing on the history of U2. In general it's quite good but they review every album U2 have ever made. They give Pop only 2 out of 5!! I remember clearly though that at the time they gave it 4 out of 5 and gave it a very good review. So even Q is jumping on the anti-Pop bandwagon.

Most of the reviews for Pop when it first came out were pretty positive. It wasn't until the "failure" of the opening of Popmart and the "failure" of only selling 7 million albums or whatever that everyone started jumping on the "Pop sucks" bandwagon, including U2 themselves.

Pop rules, I love every single song on it.

 

[Aygo]

Most of the reviews for Pop when it first came out were pretty positive. It wasn't until the "failure" of the opening of Popmart and the "failure" of only selling 7 million albums or whatever that everyone started jumping on the "Pop sucks" bandwagon, including U2 themselves.

Pop rules, I love every single song on it.

And that happened mostly in the US, because Pop was always well received in Europe (Portugal is one of the stupid US opinion blind follower), I remember it very well. Popmart Tour was the real fever here and in South America... And Pop had a similar initial boost to HTDAAB or ATYCLB.

 

[Lancemc]

There's a POP backlash these days because some people are finally starting to realize that it's dated and really one of U2's poorer albums. It's still better than HTDAAB, but it's not amazing either.

 

[Bona Vox]

I love Pop! IMO one of the best U2 albums. (have a look at those lyrics!!!) I think, the people weren't ready for such an album back in the 90s. Songs like Mofo and Please have so much power when they are performed live!

 

[Aygo]

There's a POP backlash these days because some people are finally starting to realize that it's dated and really one of U2's poorer albums. It's still better than HTDAAB, but it's not amazing either.

yeah, right!...

 

[ElectricalVoice]

Most of the reviews for Pop when it first came out were pretty positive. It wasn't until the "failure" of the opening of Popmart and the "failure" of only selling 7 million albums or whatever that everyone started jumping on the "Pop sucks" bandwagon, including U2 themselves.

Pop rules, I love every single song on it.

That is actually true.

 

[AtomicBono]

There's a POP backlash these days because some people are finally starting to realize that it's dated and really one of U2's poorer albums. It's still better than HTDAAB, but it's not amazing either.

nope, it's what I said before

whether it's actually one of U2's poorer albums or not is irrelevant; the Pop backlash started after the Popmart opening and continued from there. somewhere along the line someone used the word "failure" and it caught on. the band hasn't helped either, though I do believe them when they say it was unfinished in their eyes.

critics may hate on it, but Pop is becoming more of a fan favourite all the time. there seems to be a higher percentage of people finally "getting it" than people "not getting it anymore" around here anyway

 

[schnumi]

POP may have been unfinished etc etc blablabla but it still one hell of a U2 album.

One of their best, U2 need to realize and admit that POP wasnt a failure and play some songs live again...

 

[zoopop]

nope, it's what I said before

whether it's actually one of U2's poorer albums or not is irrelevant; the Pop backlash started after the Popmart opening and continued from there. somewhere along the line someone used the word "failure" and it caught on. the band hasn't helped either, though I do believe them when they say it was unfinished in their eyes.

critics may hate on it, but Pop is becoming more of a fan favourite all the time. there seems to be a higher percentage of people finally "getting it" than people "not getting it anymore" around here anyway

Thats right about the backlash starting after the Vegas/1st Month failure. Prior to the tour the hype machine was huge for U2. MTV, VH1, the media, and even radio was talking about them and playing songs off Pop on the radio. Vegas hit and word of failure was heard throughout the world. It was also hard that Pop was realeased in March and the tour started in April. U2 hasn't ever done anything like that before and hasn't ever since.

If U2 would have rehearsed more and had the 2nd & 3rd leg energy/performances during the 1st leg, they would have gotten so much praise. By the time they came back to the states for the 3rd leg no one cared about Pop or U2 at that point. U2 should have released Pop in Oct./Nov. 1996 to have 3 singles by the time the tour started in April. Discotheque, Gone, and SATS.

I'm a huge Pop fan. I find it to be a top 3 U2 album and actually put it on last week for the first time in a while. Pop is such a unique album. Has so many different sounds. Starting with Discotheque (awesome opener) and closing with Wake Up Deadman, you go through so many different soundscapes that U2 had never ventured out to.

 

[Aygo]

critics may hate on it, but Pop is becoming more of a fan favourite all the time. there seems to be a higher percentage of people finally "getting it" than people "not getting it anymore" around here anyway

 

[Salome]

It really bums me out that u2 seem so set on pretending Pop never happened.

this has become such a fable
the thing that struck me when reading U2 by U2 (or whatever that book is exactly called) is that they talk about POP in the same way as about any of their other albums

the only difference seems to be that while they seem to hear mostly flaws when listening to their own albums that with POP they feel even stronger that the potential wasn't reached

U2 18 didn't have any songs on it from Boy, October, Zooropa and POP
Unforgettable Fire is only represented by Pride, no Bad and no Unforgettable Fire
Rattle & Hum is only represented by Desire!! No Angel of Harlem, no When love comes to town, no All I want is you

U2's setlist look about the same
except for Bad and the band bringing back songs from Boy during Vertigo

now where did the myth start that POP is the one album U2 is disowning?
they're doing it to about half their discography!!

 

[Salome]

critics may hate on it, but Pop is becoming more of a fan favourite all the time. there seems to be a higher percentage of people finally "getting it" than people "not getting it anymore" around here anyway

get it?

the other big Intererence myth
"you don't like what I do like so you don't get it, boo hoo"

I'm well able to listen to music
and I'm well able to appreciate POP for what it is
a good album but not exactly the band's best

and I truly don't care how many people showed up during the US tour or how much they messed up their opening night when listening to the album
it's well possible to not like The playboy mansion for instance without background info like that

 

[Total U2 Nut]

I love Pop, it's my favourite U2 album, even though it has on it my least favourite U2 song. The "mumbling monstrosity" that is Miami

 

[coolian2]

If God Will Send His Angels is great..took me a while to get into it but now i find it haunting.

 

[AtomicBono]

get it?

the other big Intererence myth
"you don't like what I do like so you don't get it, boo hoo"

I'm well able to listen to music
and I'm well able to appreciate POP for what it is
a good album but not exactly the band's best

and I truly don't care how many people showed up during the US tour or how much they messed up their opening night when listening to the album
it's well possible to not like The playboy mansion for instance without background info like that

when I said "get it" I was referring to people who didn't like the album for years but something clicked inside their heads and suddenly they like it; it's as if they've seen the light. however, it's perfectly acceptable to not like Pop and I think like any other record it's entirely subjective. you can like it or not, it's not that the people who do like it "get it," it's that for whatever reason it resonates with them. if you don't like Pop that doesn't mean you "don't get it," it just means you don't like it. i suppose I could have phrased that better. I was just trying to say that there are more people who are falling in love with Pop than people falling out of love with Pop.

no, U2 is not pretending Pop never happened, but they do seem to speak negatively of it. I believe they really do mean it when they say they think the songs were unfinished and such, but I also have a feeling that they wouldn't be focusing so much on the flaws if the critics hadn't slammed them, and that maybe more Pop songs would be played live. U2 thinks people perceive Pop as a failure, erego, they don't think people want to hear Pop songs at any given show. and they're probably right in that the majority of people at a U2 show may not even own Pop

 

[U2girl]

Since we're on critics's comment getting to the band topic, I wonder how much the "insufferrable little Jesuses" comments on 80's U2 or "it's not bigger than the sum of its parts" Bomb comments Bono makes are influenced by critics too.

 

[Chile]

Maybe U2 didn't really like how the POP tracks were mixed (?).

In my opinion, POP isn't a groundbreaking, popular-music-altering, experience like Joshua Tree was in it's time time, but the song on POP were well written, and close listening proves the value of the songs in the overall catalog.

PoP is in my top 5 u2 albums, but I don't expect my opinion to matter much to anyone else.

 

[U2Man]

pop was definitely unfinished when it was released.

please single version

 

[Lancemc]

pop was definitely unfinished when it was released.

QFT. And that's really the reason why I never listen to the album, but the live versions of most of the songs are pretty damn amazing.

 

[U2Man]

i wonder why, though, because they had plenty of time. it was released almost 4 years after zooropa which was just an extended ep. so it was 6 years after their last 'real' studio album. i think they had confused themselves beyond believe at the time it was released. it wasnt before they started to play the songs live that they were able to complete them. or at least some of them.