Who freaked out the first time they heard Mofo(Album Version)?

[LuvandPeace1980]

I know the day I got the album I went straight to the shopping centre( or mall for you foreigners in the north ) and when I came home it was the 2nd song I listened too, about 30 secs into the song I skipped it and went to Staring At The Sun LOL.
It didn't go down well with me at first.
Now it's my second favourite U2 song, heh aint that funny . It also seems to be infamous yet at the same ime popular on here..
Anyways just seeing how many people had the same reaction?


PS: If your still having the same reaction.. I don't want this to turn into a Mofo trashing thread

 

[Aardvark747]

I love it - always have. 4th fave. Best song on Pop imo. Would've been a great 1st single!

 

[Azor]

I know the day I got the album I went straight to the shopping centre( or mall for you foreigners in the north ) and when I came home it was the 2nd song I listened too, about 30 secs into the song I skipped it and went to Staring At The Sun

Yeah, I did the same thing and I couldn't appreciate the song until a year later

 

[bsp77]

How can anyone here skip through a U2 song the first time? Don't you at least want to give it a chance?

 

[LuvandPeace1980]

How can anyone here skip through a U2 song the first time? Don't you at least want to give it a chance?

Well it's not as if I was thinking properly, I was so excited and it was actually my first purchase of a new U2 album.
I really hated dance music back then as well, so I spose I just didn't want to hear the dance stuff straight up.
A year or so later I was fully into Dance.. Helped by Mofo I spose.

 

[zoopop]

A radio station was playing tracks off Pop about 2 weeks before its release. I was driving (at night) and the DJ says this is new U2 from Pop called "Mofo". Intro starts and I was just BLOWN AWAY. Not only was it different for U2, it was another breed of music. Top 10 U2 for me.

 

[indigo tree]

I remember being rather surpised myself with Mofo. It grew and grew on me though, until I couldn't get enough of it. One of U2's neatest songs.

 

[Judah]

This is one of their top five best songs.

The sonic ideas and layers and the execution is amazing. I think a lot of U2 purists can get turned off by such a track because you don't know how much of the material is done by, or originated from, Howie B. or whomever. You'd hate to think they brought in this musical interior designer and he started pasting all this "techno" wall-paper onto their songs. Certainly the kick-ass jet-engine guitar sounds would be Edge's and Larry probably came up with the drumming (or drum loops).

I'm sure there's a u2 book or web-site somewhere which discusses each of their songs and who plays what instrument and the genesis of song ideas...i'd like to visit such a web-site if there is one.

 

[pepokiss]

one of the best U2 songs ever...

and sure, I freaked out, but of joy and exciment... it was unlike any of the music I had heard before... and remember, POP was my first U2 album... bought after Discotheque, SATS and HMTMKMKM convinced me of U2

 

[amerrydeath]

I did, but it was more of "DAMN, this is COOL" kind of freaking out.

 

[ChrisMartini]

I never got Pop. I heard it was pretty bad, so I steered clear.

 

[chickadee]

What you should do is, get it and decide for yourself, no?

 

[ChrisMartini]

Well, it was more than that. I really didn't like that whole period of U2. Sorry if it sounds like I'm not totally "die hard" by saying this, but I think that they were just kind of stepping out of what I loved by them by releasing Zooropa and Pop. Those were just a little bit too out there for me.

Hold Me Kiss Me was excellent, though!

 

[Marko]

I loved it from the first second... the best song on POP and better than anything after POP...

it was mindblowing to heae it for the first time... those were the days...

 

[trevgreg]

i thought it was alright... still do. but I can't stop listening to the Mexico City version myself.

i can only imagine if they recorded THAT one in studio form...

 

[chickadee]

Well, it was more than that. I really didn't like that whole period of U2. Sorry if it sounds like I'm not totally "die hard" by saying this, but I think that they were just kind of stepping out of what I loved by them by releasing Zooropa and Pop. Those were just a little bit too out there for me.

Hold Me Kiss Me was excellent, though!

No it's nothing to do with being die hard or anything, I just LOVE all the 90s stuff and always want everyone else to like it too I can't help myself! I love the 80s as well, it's all so diverse. But you could always download it and see if you like it - sometimes it's taken me a good few listens to get into some of their stuff, but if you end up liking it it's worth it! Not that you HAVE to, lol, just my recommendations *grins*

 

[typhoon]

Little twelve-year-old me was pissed that Bono sang "mother-sucking" instead of "mother-fucking." What is this, the Disney Channel Mix?

I thought it was pretty neat otherwise, though.

 

[The Disciple]

Love the Phunkforce Mix...

 

[XHendrix24]

Speaking of the Phunkforce Mix, could anyone post that? Pretty please?

Oh, and I loovvveee Mofo. Probably in my top 10. Best song on Pop (followed closely by Last Night on Earth).

 

[AtomicBono]

Well, it was more than that. I really didn't like that whole period of U2. Sorry if it sounds like I'm not totally "die hard" by saying this, but I think that they were just kind of stepping out of what I loved by them by releasing Zooropa and Pop. Those were just a little bit too out there for me.

Hold Me Kiss Me was excellent, though!

How can you know you don't like it if you've never heard it? Pop isn't as "out there" as everyone likes to think it is, anyway. It's a lot more "U2" sounding than Zooropa, granted it is different from anything they've ever done and probably anything they will ever do again. But therein lies part of the brilliance.

I freaked out when I heard Mofo, alright. If the song Discotheque didn't singlehandedly convert me to U2 fandom for life, then hearing Do You Feel Loved and Mofo certainly did.

The song SOUNDS great and is really different than anything U2 has ever done, even on the rest of Pop. Lyrically it has some fanfuckingtastic lines - "Lookin' for the baby Jesus under the trash" "Lookin' for to fill that God-shaped hole" "Lookin' for a sound that's gonna drown out the world" "Lookin' for the face I had before the world was made." and of course Bono at his most confessional - "Mother, you left and made me someone. Now I'm still a child...no one tells me no."

at typhoon. I've always wondered why he sang mother-sucking instead of mother-fucking. It's not like Bono's afraid to drop the f-bomb

Man I love Pop.

 

[Sir BonoBjanglz]

Hey Chris Martini:

Pour yourself a strong one and do yourself a favor and listen to this album. It's dark and different in ways the band had not been up until this point, and I think its music is actually more appreciated today.

I really don't think you'd be disappointed at all!

 

[ChrisMartini]

I guess back when I first heard it, I was a bit threatened by the huge drastic change. boy howdy I love their 80s stuff. my friend is totally "mad for it" and I'm not sure why. Maybe a 'nother listen will change my mind.

Also Bono said fuck about 20 times in the Vertigo 2005 program. He probably said mother-sucking to get rid of that pesky parental advisory

 

[Earnie Shavers]

He's says 'fucked' later on in Wake Up Dead Man.

Dude, if you like Hold Me, Thrill Me, then a lot of the songs off Pop are probably not too far off something you'd like.

The dance and techno hype is mostly off base. It is first and foremost a guitar based album that uses electronica to beef it's sound, but at least half the album is firmly filed under 'rock'. There are beeps and whizzes and whirs in some songs, but for the most part the electronica tricks are simply used on the bottom end - the bass and drums on here are pounding and heavy.

In 1997 the album gained a negative reaction from a lot of fans, but now in 2005 I think with 8 years of musical history gone past, Pop is a different beast. I think basically they were 2 or so years too early for some of their usual base.

Give it a listen. If you are a die hard 80's fan some of the tracks may be hard to get into, but again if you are a Hold Me Thrill Me fan then others should be dead easy to love.

 

[Hoodlem]

Live from the MTV awards in Europe is the most incredible thing ever. I don't know how anyone could not like this song or admit U2 is one of the all time greats after witnessing this performance. I just watched it and I got chills...straight chills all over my body. Bono was such a Bad-A back then. I just don't get that same feeling when I watch them post-ATYCLB.

The funny thing is, this (1997 U2) is supposed to be U2 at there worst. Bollocks I say. (I'm not from the UK, did I use that right?)

 

[Zoots]

I was freaked out in a 'these drums are soooooooooo ' kinda way! The thing is Achtung and Pop kinda hit me at the same time in 97. Till then I only knew the singles and radio hits from AB and Zooropa. Didn't listen to Zooropa in it's entirety till 2000. So the whole rock/dance phase was what I grew up with.

Pop is so fucking cool. ChrisMartini, do yourself a favor and give it a chance.

 

[Snowlock]

My reaction was cool music, but what's that line... Is that? Is... Is Edge really singling "Little Red Vet"? That's just stupid.

 

[LuvandPeace1980]

My reaction was cool music, but what's that line... Is that? Is... Is Edge really singling "Little Red Vet"? That's just stupid.

it's not little red vet, it's: been around the back, been around the front

 

[Pero]

I freaked out too, but i started jumping and dancing because i realized how great it is

 

[jacobus]

i loved it from the start and its still in my top 5
MOFO is a great fuckin' rocker

mothafuckinrrrrocknrrrolll

 

[Meghan]

The first time I heard mofo, it was watching that Best Of 1990 - 2000, and yeah, it freaked me out a little. Well, not freaked out so much, I just thought it was..... Well, it wasn't what I expected from U2.
Still, the next day, Mofo was stuck in my head, so I listened to it again. And again. And again. Now I love Mofo.

Lemon and Numb kinda freaked me out more than Mofo though, but I think that had more to do with the flim clips. A close up Macphisto mouth was unexpected (I'd never really met Macphisto before) and Feet in the Face was just weird.





(And doesn't Bono say "Wanna suck you, fuck you.... Rock and Roll." somewhere in Mofo? I think its written as 'Scat singing' or something in the booklet though.)