Pop vs HTDAAB...

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youtwohearts said:
I'm in a bad mood so I thought I'd start a POP thread. That seems to get everyone's blood boiling. Discuss..........

And you're in a bad mood - why? And why take it out on POP?
Maybe I'm misunderstanding... Just wondering.. I'll help if I can,,,,
:heart:
 
I think when U2 started out Achtung Baby the wanted to create a big hit album, and they kinda stumbled and dabbed into electronica and it worked, and then they said lets try this full out experiemental, and see if people will buy this album just because its U2 and if people will actually like it.. and it did okay but it definately wasn't their best work.. and then they said okay lets give it some time and they said okay lets try something experimental and this one is the album we really wanted to make when we did Zooropa, and they tried to do some hip-hop and eletronica songs, and it turned into Pop eventually, and then they were like, whoa, we're drifting away into nothingness, lets consolidate what we learned and bring it back into the fold of rock and roll and out came ATYCLB, and then they said, you know what? we fucked up on Pop, lets do it right this time, and out came HTDAAB
 
I sometimes marvel at how good Pop really is, 80% finished copies all over the world taken into consideration.
 
Pop is a severly underrated album, and the ATYCLB is both a severly overrated and underrated album at the same time.

HTDAAB just feels more polished.
 
POP fucking rocks.
And this albumb does too.

It took me months to get to grip with POP,
I've on listened to "Bomb" once.

I hop it grows more on me.
Pop was just out there sonically.
It still sounds 10 thousand years ahead, of 90% of anything else out there.
 
Pop so far. Have to wait for A Bomb to grow on me. Apart from Miracle Drug and COBL, it isn't anything special.. YET! I only acquired it today, and I haven't given it a proper listening.
 
Heh, HTDAAB isn't anywhere near U2's best....but POP is undoubtedly their worst....that's like comparing used socks to anything.
 
NO CONTEST! I really didn't like Pop (still don't) but I LOVE the new one! I said LOVE!!!!!!!!
 
I love Pop. Sometimes I like it better than Joshua Tree. It's an amazing record.
It's heavily underrated.

Bomb is better though.
 
BigMacPhisto said:
Heh, HTDAAB isn't anywhere near U2's best....but POP is undoubtedly their worst....that's like comparing used socks to anything.


ooh...big u2 fan in the house.:|
 
For me at this moment POP is much much better....

Right now I only like Miracle and City from the HTDAAB, and even these songs are nothin special by U2 standard...

For me this new stuff seems a little bit to calculated and polished - trying to be something that it isn't.... They were talkin about big rock record, and ther is nothing remotely rocking as UTEOTW or anything from AB or POP...

sadly I still don't like this record... yesterday I listend to it for 10 times and when I went to bed I returned to Snow Patrol and Interpol... :(
 
POP is the worst U2 album of all time. So it would be an insult to U2 to even mention their latest album (HTDAAB) in the same breath as their worst album (which U2 themselves have tried so hard to disown.)

Cheers,

J
 
I think that I ultimately have no choice but to side with Pop . I believe with all my heart that Pop is a very melodic and sonically-accessible album after maybe two or three very close listenings; at the same time, I will readily admit that, as far as straight-up accessibility goes, How To Dismantle... , has a big upper-hand.

I don't think that accessibility automatically makes an album, though (nor am I implying that that's the only thing that some people think the new album wins out on). When I listen to each album, I hear great songs--there's no denying it. Pop has two things going for it, in my eyes: 1) I'm still listening to it with alarming regularity seven years later, and 2) On the whole, Pop said a HELL of a lot more to me, lyrically. The new album has its moments of lucidity, to be sure, just as Pop had its moments of inarticulateness and cumbersome verse, but I really think that the latter has a good deal more to offer, lyrically. When I look at an album's staying power (and we really don't know what How To Dismantle's... will be, of course), I have to head to the lyrics, because all sounds eventually date. Nobody sings Beowulf anymore...but people still READ it.

Bottom line: this is music, so it has to be listenable. Both albums are totally listenable to me, so the lyrics make the call. I really don't like too many of the new songs at all, lyrically--I think they're pretty bland and, sometimes, laughable.
 
Pop was an incredible album--sonically challenging, lyrically (well, lyrically not all that bad, certainly not as cliched at ATYCLB). Seriously anyone who says that Pop is the worst U2 album of all time ought to listen to SATS, DYFL, and perhaps one of U2's greatest songs, 'Gone.' That song, alone, puts Pop up there with anything else they've done.
 
ahmad said:
Pop was an incredible album--sonically challenging, lyrically (well, lyrically not all that bad, certainly not as cliched at ATYCLB). Seriously anyone who says that Pop is the worst U2 album of all time ought to listen to SATS, DYFL, and perhaps one of U2's greatest songs, 'Gone.' That song, alone, puts Pop up there with anything else they've done.

I'm so glad they wrote Gone. It kills me.
 
I'm still intrigued by the fact that so many are inclined to relegate POP to the mediocrity basket. I won't suggest that it's akin to Achtung Baby, but I will admit that I find it's co-existant symbolism and cynicism absolutely brilliant, even if - as often regarded - unfinished. Even the album cover, along with the cover for the single "Please", are rich with thoughtful insinuations about the real, fundamental features of pop culture. Any prior exposure to the "art" work of consumate capitalist, Andy Warhol breathes life into POP before you even open the wrapping. Andy Warhol's 'Che Guevara', Monroe prints, and numerous other works that are untechnically (but literally) nothing more than factory reproductions, depict various famous personnages, revealing the artist's personal aspiration for fame. Ultimately, he achieves it by virtue of tremendous marketing and being one of the first to distinguish between traditional and pop culture. Warhol realized that all the new digital age culture really wanted was more and more of the same. With this and sometimes an Andy Warhol signiature, images reproduced many times over sold for tens of thousands of dollars, defying market scarcity laws. All of a sudden, to be fashionable and "in", was to own more of the same and more of the same as everybody else.

If the cover of pop, in the context of U2 and in comparison to the music, doesn't attempt to forward the same cynical perspective regarding pop-music, politics and mass-consumer culture in general, I don't know what does. Quite frankly - and sadly -, I find much of qualitative criticism levied at POP to be regurgitated and dogmatic. That being said, to each their own. Maybe you prefer the raw intensity characteristic of the band up until Achtung Baby. But I find that POP was magnificent continuation. If God Will Send His Angels, Last night on Earth, Please, Gone etc all have many of U2's trademark elements, including ambiguous qualities like ambitious music and lyrical depth. I love it. Anyway, apologies for the rant.

As for HTDAAB, I'm not 100% sure what to think of it yet. It's too early to compare for me. Personal highlights (apologies if this is the same as anybody else)...Vertigo...a great rock and roll tune. City of Blinding Lights is definitely one of my favourites. Miracle Drug and Sometimes take me to that same thoughtful place as "walk on". ABOY has that Even Better than the Real Thing going, which I love. I don't want to be too quick to judge the rest, in case I change my mind (I always do!!), but thus far, Original of Species isn't my favourite and neither is One Step Closer. Hope you guys are enjoying this like I am. Not all songs are going to be Streets.
 
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Pop is a gem plain and simple. The year that it came out was the year of "electronica". Many bands attempted to join pop and electronic music and many failed, except for U2 and Beck. The songs on there are brilliant, sure there are a few that aren't but the good stuff on there is among the best in U2's catalog.

HTDAAB is a lot more commercial in its sound. It's very accesible and unlike Pop will cater to everyone from a casual U2 listener to a soccer mom. The differences between it and Pop are extreme but they all come back to the center at the end with Bono's lyrics and the usual melody filled U2 sound.

That said, I prefer HTDAAB. I love Pop and it's a severely underrated album not just among U2 fans but music in general. However, HTDAAB is U2 doing what they do best, straight ahead melodic and soulful rock and roll. Pop is the same at its core but in the end its more experimental and away from the norm.
 
Yes, Gone is a great song. But the rest of the album blows chunks :reject: so I wouldn't say Gone puts Pop up there with the rest of the albums.
 
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