namkcuR
ONE love, blood, life
I've been listening to U2's 90s output a lot the past few days(coming back to the catalog after a long break, in anticipation of the new album). Getting really into it. They really had no fear, no restraint in terms of artistic ambition back then. And the musical climate they were in at the time - the glory days of alternative rock - was conducive to making the kind of music they were making. I think the line from Zooropa's title track - "AND I DON'T KNOW THE LIMIT, THE LIMIT OF WHAT WE GOT" - sums U2's collective state of mind back then up very well. The sky was the limit. There was nothing they couldn't do, no place they couldn't go. That confidence is evident in the music. They've never sounded more confident and fresh and lively than they do on Zooropa, Lemon, Stay, Dirty Day, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, anything on Passengers, Discotheque, Do You Feel Loved, Gone, etc etc. The only time they showed any fear or thought of limitation is when they opted to use the Passengers moniker for their third album of the decade.
Achtung Baby. Enough said. READY FOR THE LAUGHING GAS. LOVE IS A TEMPLE. WAVES OF REGRET AND WAVES OF JOY I REACHED OUT FOR THE ONE I TRIED TO DESTROY. TAKE A DRIVE IN THE DIRTY RAIN TO A PLACE WHERE THE WIND CALLS YOUR NAME. THE UNIVERSE EXPLODED 'CAUSE OF ONE MAN'S LIE. YOU COULD MOVE ON THIS MOMENT, FOLLOW THIS FEELING. DON'T LET THE BASTARDS GRIND YOU DOWN.
Zooropa is a trip. Their Dark Side. The title track is mind-blowing. It's riffs are some of the sweetest I have ever heard. AND I HAVE NO COMPASS AND I HAVE NO MAP AND I HAVE NO REASON NO REASON TO GO BACK. I HEAR VOICES RIDICULOUS VOICES OUT IN THE SLIPSTREAM. LET'S GO TO THE OVERGROUND GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF THE MUD BAY-BAY. OVERGROUND. SHE'S GONNA DREAM UP THE WORLD SHE WANTS TO LIVE IN, SHE'S GONNA DREAM OUT LOUD, DREAM OUT LOUD. Babyface. HOW CAN BEAUTY BE SO KIND TO AN ORDINARY GUY. Numb. TOO MUCH IS NOT ENOUGH(the ambient middle 8 on this is just gorgeous). Lemon. AND THROUGH THE LIGHT PROJECTED HE CAN SEE HIMSELF UP CLOSE. Stay. DRESSED UP LIKE A CAR CRASH. Daddy's Gonna Pay. The fanfare intro into the trippy techno beat. YOU'VE GOT A HEAD FULL OF TRAFFIC. Dirty Day. THOSE DAYS DAYS DAYS RUN AWAY LIKE HORSES OVER THE HILLS. Etc. Currently my favorite U2 record.
Passengers is just a breathtaking piece of art. Mixing post-rock atmospherics with beautiful, haunting melodies, pieces like Slug, Your Blue Room, Always Forever Now, A Different Kind Of Blue, Beach Sequence, Miss Sarajevo, One Minute Warning, Corpse(These Chains Are Way Too Long), among others are sadly overlooked or never known. The work of serious artists. A DIFFERENT KIND OF CONVERSATION IN YOUR BLUE ROOM. TIME SHOOTS ON BY. SURREAL IN HER CROWN.
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me, was single that I always simultaneously felt was perfect for the Batman Forever soundtrack, but also way way way way way too good to not be put on an album. It would've fit fine on either Zooropa or Pop. It is one of THE best singles the band has ever put out. YOU'RE A BIG SMASH, YOU WEAR IT LIKE A RASH, STAR.
Pop was the band en route back to the mainstream after Zooropa and Passengers. Despite all commentary to the contrary, Zooropa and Passengers are much more out there than Pop. Pop is a relatively accessible techno rock album. And it kicks ass. Discotheque. YOU GET CONFUSED BUT YOU KNOW IT YEAH YOU HURT FOR IT WORK FOR IT LOVE YOU DON'T ALWAYS SHOW IT. Do You Feel Loved. TAKE MY SHIRT, COME ON TAKE IT OFF ME, YOU CAN TEAR IT UP IF YOU CAN TIE ME DOWN. Mofo. LOOKING FOR A SOUND THAT'S GONNA DROWN OUT THE WORLD LOOKING FOR THE FATHER OF MY TWO LITTLE GIRLS. Staring At The Sun. INTRANSIGENCE IS ALL AROUND. Last Night On Earth. SHE HASN'T BEEN TO BED IN WEEKS SHE'LL BE DEAD SOON THEN SHE'LL SLEEP. Gone. YOU HURT YOURSELF YOU HURT YOUR LOVER THEN YOU DISCOVER WHAT YOU THOUGHT WAS FREEDOM WAS JUST GREED. Please. SO YOU NEVER KNEW WHAT WAS ON THE GROUND UNTIL THEY MADE YOU CRAWL. Etc.
THIS IS THE ZOO WORLD ORDER. Always loved that phrase and that Rolling Stone cover.
I think U2's 90s output - including the universally hailed instantly legendary ZooTV tour and it's follow-up Popmart tour - could be their entire catalog and it would still be enough to make them legends of the music industry.
Fuck, I think their 90s output is unique enough to the rest of their catalog that if one who was completely unfamiliar with them read a brief history that said:
"After burning out following the superstardom that came with The Joshua Tree and Rattle And Hum, U2 disbanded in 1989. They reformed at the outset of the 90s under a different moniker, THE ZOO WORLD ORDER. As THE ZOO WORLD ORDER, they experimented with dance rock, industrial rock, techno rock, glam rock, post rock, art pop, and more. They put out four LPs - 1991's Achtung Baby, 1993's Zooropa, 1995's Passengers, and 1997's Pop, as well as the 1995 stand-alone single Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me. They went on two tours - the 1992-93 Zoo TV/Zooropa tour in support of Achtung Baby and Zooropa, and the 1997-98 Popmart tour in support of Pop. Both were groundbreaking and redefined what could be done on a rock tour. At the conclusion of the Popmart tour in 1998, THE ZOO WORLD ORDER disbanded, and later that year, they officially re-adopted the U2 moniker, and put out a compilation of their biggest hits from the 80s. Two years later, in 2000, they put out the first U2 record since Rattle And Hum 12 years earlier, All That You Can't Leave Behind, and it was hailed as a comeback masterpiece."
they would have no trouble at all believing it.
ACHTUNG, Y'ALL!
CLICK IT TO READ THE ARTICLE INSIDE
Achtung Baby. Enough said. READY FOR THE LAUGHING GAS. LOVE IS A TEMPLE. WAVES OF REGRET AND WAVES OF JOY I REACHED OUT FOR THE ONE I TRIED TO DESTROY. TAKE A DRIVE IN THE DIRTY RAIN TO A PLACE WHERE THE WIND CALLS YOUR NAME. THE UNIVERSE EXPLODED 'CAUSE OF ONE MAN'S LIE. YOU COULD MOVE ON THIS MOMENT, FOLLOW THIS FEELING. DON'T LET THE BASTARDS GRIND YOU DOWN.
Zooropa is a trip. Their Dark Side. The title track is mind-blowing. It's riffs are some of the sweetest I have ever heard. AND I HAVE NO COMPASS AND I HAVE NO MAP AND I HAVE NO REASON NO REASON TO GO BACK. I HEAR VOICES RIDICULOUS VOICES OUT IN THE SLIPSTREAM. LET'S GO TO THE OVERGROUND GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF THE MUD BAY-BAY. OVERGROUND. SHE'S GONNA DREAM UP THE WORLD SHE WANTS TO LIVE IN, SHE'S GONNA DREAM OUT LOUD, DREAM OUT LOUD. Babyface. HOW CAN BEAUTY BE SO KIND TO AN ORDINARY GUY. Numb. TOO MUCH IS NOT ENOUGH(the ambient middle 8 on this is just gorgeous). Lemon. AND THROUGH THE LIGHT PROJECTED HE CAN SEE HIMSELF UP CLOSE. Stay. DRESSED UP LIKE A CAR CRASH. Daddy's Gonna Pay. The fanfare intro into the trippy techno beat. YOU'VE GOT A HEAD FULL OF TRAFFIC. Dirty Day. THOSE DAYS DAYS DAYS RUN AWAY LIKE HORSES OVER THE HILLS. Etc. Currently my favorite U2 record.
Passengers is just a breathtaking piece of art. Mixing post-rock atmospherics with beautiful, haunting melodies, pieces like Slug, Your Blue Room, Always Forever Now, A Different Kind Of Blue, Beach Sequence, Miss Sarajevo, One Minute Warning, Corpse(These Chains Are Way Too Long), among others are sadly overlooked or never known. The work of serious artists. A DIFFERENT KIND OF CONVERSATION IN YOUR BLUE ROOM. TIME SHOOTS ON BY. SURREAL IN HER CROWN.
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me, was single that I always simultaneously felt was perfect for the Batman Forever soundtrack, but also way way way way way too good to not be put on an album. It would've fit fine on either Zooropa or Pop. It is one of THE best singles the band has ever put out. YOU'RE A BIG SMASH, YOU WEAR IT LIKE A RASH, STAR.
Pop was the band en route back to the mainstream after Zooropa and Passengers. Despite all commentary to the contrary, Zooropa and Passengers are much more out there than Pop. Pop is a relatively accessible techno rock album. And it kicks ass. Discotheque. YOU GET CONFUSED BUT YOU KNOW IT YEAH YOU HURT FOR IT WORK FOR IT LOVE YOU DON'T ALWAYS SHOW IT. Do You Feel Loved. TAKE MY SHIRT, COME ON TAKE IT OFF ME, YOU CAN TEAR IT UP IF YOU CAN TIE ME DOWN. Mofo. LOOKING FOR A SOUND THAT'S GONNA DROWN OUT THE WORLD LOOKING FOR THE FATHER OF MY TWO LITTLE GIRLS. Staring At The Sun. INTRANSIGENCE IS ALL AROUND. Last Night On Earth. SHE HASN'T BEEN TO BED IN WEEKS SHE'LL BE DEAD SOON THEN SHE'LL SLEEP. Gone. YOU HURT YOURSELF YOU HURT YOUR LOVER THEN YOU DISCOVER WHAT YOU THOUGHT WAS FREEDOM WAS JUST GREED. Please. SO YOU NEVER KNEW WHAT WAS ON THE GROUND UNTIL THEY MADE YOU CRAWL. Etc.
THIS IS THE ZOO WORLD ORDER. Always loved that phrase and that Rolling Stone cover.
I think U2's 90s output - including the universally hailed instantly legendary ZooTV tour and it's follow-up Popmart tour - could be their entire catalog and it would still be enough to make them legends of the music industry.
Fuck, I think their 90s output is unique enough to the rest of their catalog that if one who was completely unfamiliar with them read a brief history that said:
"After burning out following the superstardom that came with The Joshua Tree and Rattle And Hum, U2 disbanded in 1989. They reformed at the outset of the 90s under a different moniker, THE ZOO WORLD ORDER. As THE ZOO WORLD ORDER, they experimented with dance rock, industrial rock, techno rock, glam rock, post rock, art pop, and more. They put out four LPs - 1991's Achtung Baby, 1993's Zooropa, 1995's Passengers, and 1997's Pop, as well as the 1995 stand-alone single Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me. They went on two tours - the 1992-93 Zoo TV/Zooropa tour in support of Achtung Baby and Zooropa, and the 1997-98 Popmart tour in support of Pop. Both were groundbreaking and redefined what could be done on a rock tour. At the conclusion of the Popmart tour in 1998, THE ZOO WORLD ORDER disbanded, and later that year, they officially re-adopted the U2 moniker, and put out a compilation of their biggest hits from the 80s. Two years later, in 2000, they put out the first U2 record since Rattle And Hum 12 years earlier, All That You Can't Leave Behind, and it was hailed as a comeback masterpiece."
they would have no trouble at all believing it.
ACHTUNG, Y'ALL!
CLICK IT TO READ THE ARTICLE INSIDE