Zooropa vs Da Bomb

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Zooropa vs Da Bombdiggity

  • Zooropa

    Votes: 114 47.9%

  • How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

    Votes: 124 52.1%
  • Total voters
    238
xaviMF22 said:


Actually, I think ATYCLB fits better to what you are talking about here. Songs like beautiful day, stuck and walk have a distinct message.
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Can't agree with that. Those songs are great, but they don't have the post- traumatic stress orientation that HTDAAB has. HTDAAB is a form of musical open-heart surgery for the traumatically wounded.

On the other hand, ATYCLB is more of a 'pick yourself up by the bootstraps' album. In other words, take it upon yourself to change your perspective from a negative one to a more positive one. Remember, Pop is an album fueled by emptiness and despair like no other U2 album. ATYCLB is a direct response to Pop's main character's sink into depression and hopelessness.

I know some people are going to think I'm splitting hairs in differentiating these 2 album's themes. Yet, I think there's a big difference between one album combatting depression and negative thinking and the other combatting traumatic events and their implications on a world stage. Basically, the last 3 albums are a great thematic progression.
 
Zootlesque said:


I agree! I thought ATYCLB was like the soundtrack to 9/11. :ohmy:
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That's a comment based on public perception. It was media created, much like AB's everlasting link to reinvention is media created.

I'm not slighting ATYCLB, though. I'll defend that album as much as I defend HTDAAB. It's as much of an example of U2's uncanny ability to change before the change comes, so to speak, as AB was. These things are not called reinvention. It's called sensing the end of something and artistically responding to it. With ATYCLB, you could say that U2 sensed that the prevailing mood of the '90's had max'ed out. Wild and frivolous times can last for only so long, says history. U2 changed before the change came. That's why they were in position to 'be there' during the 9/11 aftermath.
 
timothius said:
Zooropa by a country mile.

Zooropa was a creative and varied masterwork that sounds fresh on every play. HTDAAB to me was a par disc that I had already gotten over by December 2004.

Putting songs like The Wanderer, Daddy's Gonna Pay & Numb against the offerings from HTDAAB further solidifies it.

Zooropa songs translated better live as well.
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interesting thoughts :hmm:

thank you for your contribution to this thread
 
It's a good question actually because I think they are the two U2 albums that stand on the furthest edges of the spectrum from each other. Zooropa is this fast, loose thing that was knocked up in (as far as U2 recordings go) absolutely no time. Virtually straight from the head onto the record. It's absolutely bursting at the edges with some kind of fun and ease that really no other U2 album has. It's also their most wildly different sound, their biggest experiment, and it's come with the least effort. In a sense it's their most inspired album. It's also the only album where you feel like Bono absolutely should be wearing sunglasses at night. The whole album is sexy as fuck. Zooropa, Lemon, Stay, Numb, Dirty Day.... this album is fucking amazing.

Then at the other end is The Bomb. The most conspired album. Taking forever to record, re-record, produce, re-produce. Hammered and hammered till it fits a mould they felt they needed it to be in. This has managed to produce some great moments, some exceedingly solid songs, but has also pushed the soul and spirit of many of the songs way out the window till they feel so clean and sterile that you expect them to have been recorded in this big, bright white lab or something.

Zooropa = Better album. Better concept. Better feel. Better music. More soul. More layers. More depth. More intelligence.
 
The part in the Numb video where Larry just leaves and the screen is totally blank for like 30 seconds or so except for a little bit of (what appears to be) cigarette smoke wafting in from the side of the screen... that moment alone pushes Zooropa way up above The Bomb!
 
Not a hard decision for me at all. ZOOROPA! This album brought some of U2's most kickass songs...Zooropa, Stay, Dirty Day, Numb, Lemon, and Babyface. I still love the Bomb, but I'll always favor experimental U2 over typical U2, it's just the way I'm wired I guess.
 
That method of rating the songs is good, but I sometimes feel it's a little unfair to compare based on the tracklisting. Anything paired up with Babyface would sound good. Larry's Irish drinking songs sound better than Babyface.
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I see your point.
And I think cats drowning in boiling hot lava sounds better than Babyface. :drool:

In that case the ranking goes:
Zooropa - 4.8
Babyface (can I give negative numbers?) 0.1
Numb - 4.8
Lemon - 5.0
Stay - 4.5
Daddy (blabla) - 3.8
Some Days - 3.0
The First Time - 3.5
Dirty Day - 4.0
The Wanderer - 5.0
Album = 3.85

Vertigo - 4.0
Miracle Drug - 3.5
SYCMIOYO - 4.5
LAPOE - 3.8
COBL - 4.0
ABOY - 4.5
AMAAW - .9
Crumbs - 2.0
One Step Closer - .3
OOTS - 5.0
Yahweh - 3.3
Album = 3.25

When do we get to grade Pop?

:drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool:
 
Hmmmm, let's see....

Zooropa-

Zooropa- 5
Babyface- 2.5
Numb- 4.5
Lemon- 5
Stay- 5
DGPFYCC- 4
Some days- 3.5
First time- 4
Dirty Day- 4.5
The wanderer- 4



HTDAAB-

Vertigo- 4
Miracle Drug- 2.5
SYCMIOYO- 4
LAPOE- 3
COBL- 4.5
ABOY- 2.5
AMAAW- 2
Crumbs- 3.5
One Step closer- 3.5
OOTS- 2.5
Yahweh- 4


Zooropa easily more consistently good. Hands down the winner!
 
Earnie Shavers said:
Then at the other end is The Bomb. The most conspired album. Taking forever to record, re-record, produce, re-produce. Hammered and hammered till it fits a mould they felt they needed it to be in. This has managed to produce some great moments, some exceedingly solid songs, but has also pushed the soul and spirit of many of the songs way out the window till they feel so clean and sterile that you expect them to have been recorded in this big, bright white lab or something.

Zooropa = Better album. Better concept. Better feel. Better music. More soul. More layers. More depth. More intelligence.
Click to expand...

:yes: HTDAAB could have been so amazing if they hadn't over-produced it so much. :( Incredible, incredible songs, they just feel without spirit, even more so than some songs on ATYCLB do. I think that's why Pop appeals to me, too, it's unfinished, it's not perfect, and I think that's something that adds to the character of the album. There are some songs on Pop that make me :yuck: but I wouldn't have it any other way. As far as HTDAAB goes, every song is listenable, in that way that they are well-done and pulled off, but I wouldn't listen to HTDAAB if I were in a dark place, nor would I ATYCLB.

Edit: Got thinking about Fast Cars... there's a song that has got some soul, some edge.
 
Maybe its a sign that people who like HTDAAB aren't the people who would comment on something like this. Which is kind of interesting since Zooropa is an album which requires comment and analysis, wheras HTDAAB is more in your face (initially at least).

Songs I like on Zooropa = 5
Lemon, Stay, SDABTO, Dirty Day, The Wanderer

Songs I dislike on Zooropa = 2
Babyface, Numb

Songs I like on HTDAAB = 7
Vertigo, Miracle Drug, SYCMIOYO, LAPOE, COBL, OOTS, Yahweh

Songs I dislike on HTDAAB = 1
One Step Closer

So on this basis I like 2 more songs from HTDAAB and dislike 1 less thus making it my preferred album.

I do prefer the Zooropa artwork and general experimentation however I just feel that the songs themselves aren't as good as those found on HTDAAB.
Although both albums don't flow too well, there is a unified "lack of theme" on Zooropa which works. HTDAAB has a poor running order in my opinion (Vertigo -> MD???). I also feel like LAPOE, Fast Cars and Vertigo belong to some other U2 album.

One of Zooropa's strengths is that its lack of direction works because the content is so experimental. As someone said, its like a snapshot in the head of U2 at that time without any of the tinkering and overproduction. If you look inside someones head its gonna be a mess of ideas, which although most are interesting, you won't like all of them.

So from a musical PoV, How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, is my preferred choice.
 
Earnie Shavers said:
There are more votes pro-HTDAAB, but more comments pro-Zooropa. Is that because HTDAAB voters know they can't back it up?
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"it has a better cover art" :hmm:

Also, Bomb is a far better album live.
 
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of course I'd pick Zooropa for 9 million reasons....



I don't know how anybody could say one way or the other about Zooropa vs HTDAAB live. HTDAAB has been given the full-on thorough treatment. Zooropa was a pretty careless excerise.

they didn't have time to rehearse shit for Zooropa. They were recording right up until the tour started back up. Of course, I am not claiming they all were great live versions, but the ones that got a proper rehearsal were all pretty damn good, and actually fucking awesome.

There have been songs in the past that were disasters until the band got them down. It's completely understandable.

They debuted those songs (besides the single Numb) 3 months into the 4th leg, with no substantial break. This, from the same band who struggles to play ANY song in their catalog without proper rehearsal much less brand new songs.

Dirty Day, Daddy and Lemon didn't even debut until the 5th leg.

So yeah, they gave up on those other songs, but they have given up on songs before for less understandable reasons. When I Look At The World is one that comes to mind, that might have been a killer live track.

Also, imagine Lemon played 100 times instead of 10.
Imagine how good that song would have become or any of the others. Zooropa never got a real shot live.
 
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Zooropa Vs. Vertigo
1-0
Babyface Vs. Miracle Drug
1-1
Numb Vs. Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
2-1
Lemon Vs. Love And Peace Or Else
3-1
Stay Vs. City Of Blinding Lights
4-1
Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car Vs. All Because Of You
5-1
Some Days Are Better Than Others Vs. A Man And A Woman
6-1
The First Time Vs. Crumbs From Your Table (only just)
6-2
Dirty Day Vs. One Step Closer
7-2
The Wanderer Vs. Original Of The Species
8-2

Zooropa all the way.
 
Zooropa's best songs are better than the Bombs best songs.

Zooropa's mediocre songs are better than the Bombs mediocre songs.

Zooropa's worst songs are better than the Bombs worst songs.

And really musically and vocally Zooropa was performed better than the Bomb.

Bomb is ok, but Zooropa is in another class.
 
I voted for Zooropa. I still listen to it but rarely listen to HTDAAB. It comes down to personal preference.

You are welcome for my contribution to this thread.
 
U2girl said:


"it has a better cover art" :hmm:

Also, Bomb is a far better album live.
Click to expand...

Pfft... there's more performance and higher quality in the Sydney ZooTV Lemon than the entire Chicago DVD. Bomb songs, Achtung songs or otherwise.

Yeah, "better cover art" isn't the greatest argument.
 
zooropa has better vocals and lyrics!!
the songs are better duh!!
OH AND THE MUSIC VIDEOS FOR LEMON, STAY AND NUMB PISS ALL OVER "DA BOMB" VIDEOS!!


ZOOROPA!!
 
Tough tough decision. Now I may surprise some people here, but I have to go with Zooropa.

I love both albums, don't get me wrong, but Zooropa's highs outweigh its lows enough to put it over HTDAAB, which is a solid album overall.

While HTDAAB is a better album taken as a whole, in my opinion, Zooropa has two things going for it.

1. The songs Lemon, Stay, and The Wanderer

2. An overall Eno vibe which really brings out this album's magic.
 
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