Why dost thou love Pop so much?

[Angel]

Disclaimer: If you think this is a Pop bashing thread... walk away from the blue crack now.

...Ok.... carry on.

Last night I was listening to various songs from Pop. I personally adore Pop. I think it is a brilliant album. I have to say... I even love the new remixes of some songs from Pop even more than the orginals.
Anyway... while listening to some songs from Pop last night, it got me thinking... even though I had loved U2 for nearly a decade before Pop came out... Pop holds some of my most vivid memories. You know how certain smells and in this case songs... have the ability to take you back in time? Pop does that to me like no other album on this earth.
I clearly remember listening to Pop on a dark and rainy evening after my art History class... It had me questioning religion and peaked my curiosty on God and the story of Jesus. I wasn't raised very religious (and this thread should not turn into a religious debate), however, Pop combined with the aformentioned Art History class, created in my mind a whirlwind of curiosity. I'll never forget this particular moment and it always comes back to mind everytime I put Pop on my stereo. Gives me a feeling of content for some reason...
Anyhow... that's not my only memory related to Pop, but one I was willing to share...

The other U2 album that stirs up the most memories for me is Wide Awake in America. When I listen to that album, I am 16 again. 16 again and all the feelings that consumed me at that age. lol

AND! last but not least... the song with the MOST profound memory of all time belongs to Slow Dancing. Stirs up memories of people and situations long since passed and long since gotten over, but for some reason everytime I hear that song I remember this one particular night... Bizarre how music can do that to you.

So... my point... alas! I have one. I am interested to know... which U2 album(s) and/or song(s) stir up the most vivid memories in you? Not necesarily the most profound... but the ones with such clarity... it's like you were taken back in time.

 

[bayernfc]

Well, It's gotta be POP for me too.......I wasn't a fan back then but my cousin took me to see them in Sarajevo, and when you're only 15 and not a fan you don't enjoy the concert as much. But now everytime I listen to POP I try to remember how I should have felt in the concert and I always regret not discovering them soon enough...not knowing that I wouldn't be able to get tickets to Elevation. (Am i making any sense?!!!....I told this story way too much...promise I won't do it again!!!!LOL)

And one more thing, i really like POP too. I DON'T get why the media treated it like the biggest failure of all time.....madspit: VH1 legends)

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

i have a ton of vivid memories that surround U2's songs.

The UF album reminds me of childhood and of my ex-boyfriend from college. Bad makes me sad and practically reduces me to tears every time I hear it. It was playing when he and I said ?I Love You? to each other for the first time and because of that moment the song will forever have a special place in my heart.

Wide Awake In America and War also reminds me of my childhood, because I stole the actual albums from my sister! Haha. Actually I stole the Wide Awake LP from her and the War CD from her. War was the first CD ever purchased in our house. It was a Christmas gift to my sister from my brother in the mid 80?s and well I thought I deserved it more versus my sister so I adopted it.

If God Will Send His Angels reminds me of my grandfather. That song helped me on my drive home from college after I found out he passed away.

Stay reminds me yet again of another ex. That song helped me through a very terrible and emotional relationship. I could relate to the lyrics in the song and for whatever reason it would comfort me when I felt alone and confused about what I should do with the relationship.







*is trying very hard to step away from the blue crack, but i am finding it hard to give up*

 

[U2Kitten]

Originally posted by Angel
So... my point... alas! I have one. I am interested to know... which U2 album(s) and/or song(s) stir up the most vivid memories in you? Not necesarily the most profound... but the ones with such clarity... it's like you were taken back in time.

For me it would have to be The Joshua Tree! I was 17-18 years old, having a great time and U2 was on top of the world, and at the top of my world! I loved seeing them on MTV and all over the place, and those days seemed to last forever. I have to put Rattle and Hum in this category too, they ran together in a parade of glory. I took it for granted they would always be that way. Even now, the songs, especially IGC and RHMT bring a rush of feeling, emotion, chill, thrill, and awe. It's not just a feeling, but an inner thing, I don't know how to put it. Yes, I can feel it, hear it, see it in my head, and it even brings with it on a breeze tastes and smells as well. Take me there, again and again, and if I stray I will surely return for more!

That one is number one for me, but UF does the same thing too, the way those songs sound, so dreamy and passionate.

 

[The_acrobat]

Pop was my the first U2 album to come out while I was a fan. I was turned to them shortly after Zoo TV ended, so I waited a very long for a new U2 album. So I'm always sort of attached to it. It was just so exciting to hear new U2. I felt so great about that album, until the media started badmouthing it so bad. I'll admit, the media influenced me for awhile and I began to believe that POP wasn't very good. When ATYCLB came out, though it was good, it didn't make me feel like POP did. So I went back to that album and have been in love again ever since. Too bad that the only POP songs I saw them perform on Elevation were "Gone" and that terrible acoustic version of "Staring at the sun". PLAY MORE POP AT YOUR CONCERTS, U2!!!!!

 

[dsmith2904]

I adore Pop, I was so hesistant about even buying the album but it has completely grown on me. I feel like I fancy it more than the band does!!

The U2 album that has the deepest personal connection, really brings me back to a place, has got to be ATYCLB. I went on a tour of Ireland last year and our tour manager was a U2 fan (YAY!) and would play a ton of U2 songs (as well as songs by other Irish artists like Divine Comedy, The Cranberries, Westlife, Boyzone, etc), but every morning our song was Beautiful Day, just a little something to get us in the spirit. Every time I hear that song, I drift back to Dublin, crossing the bridges, looking out over the Liffey, strolling the quays, attacking Grafton St. and just falling completely in love with that fabulous city.

 

[nbcrusader]

I became a U2 fan back in 83 and grew up on War, UF, and JT. By the time I got to Pop, I wondered what happened and didn't even listen to the entire album.

Today, I adore Pop and find it on the top of my U2 list. I am enjoying "rediscovering" the album each day.

 

[MrBrau1]

It has Gone on it. Well worth it for that track alone.

 

[Angel]

It has Gone on it. Well worth it for that track alone.

Ain't that the truth!

 

[Bonochick]

Pop...my first new U2 album experience.

I became a U2 fan when I was 13, back in 1995. I was so excited for Pop to come out. It came out a little while before my birthday, and my parents wanted to buy it for me...but I couldn't wait those extra days. I HAD to get it the day it came out. It was a school day, so between all of my classes and during lunch, I was on the pay phone, calling the music store to make sure they still had them (I think they were getting pissed at me ). After school, my parents drove me to the mall in the next town so I could get the album. There they were...in a glorious display at the front of the store...God, what an exciting feeling!

I went home and listened to it over...and over...and over again.

 

[Tabby]

The album that does it for me was AB! Here's my story.

Back in the late 90's I was dating a guy named Randy. I'd had AB for a long time, but I was one of those lamers who only listened to the radio hits and skipped the rest So anyhooow, one fine day Randy and I had gone for a long ride, and hand ended up almost 200 miles from home! By the time we headed back, it was dark. He put on AB and let it play. He was not the type to skip songs like me. Well, I was amazed at what a totally awesome cd it was! I couldn't believe I had missed out on all those great songs skipping around! By the time it got to Ultraviolet, Acrobat, and Love Is Blindness, I was in another dimenson. It was true greatness. It went so well with the night ride and the stars coming through the sunroof. Since that night, I have loved AB more than I ever thought possible. Randy is not around anymore, but it was a mutual thing so it's not like it's heartbreaking to hear it. I remember him fondly for the things he gave me: a sapphire ring, a huge stuffed lion, and my deep appreciation for Achtung Baby.

 

[wertsie]

Everybody's probably sick of hearing my Pop stories so I'll just say....


POP Rules!!!

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

you know, the funny thing is, for me it's pop, and a little of waia too! they both remind me of summer.

i bought pop right when it came out. i'd been a fan for a while, i remember buying achtung baby a bit before it came out, and i think i got zooropa with my birthday money in 93. but pop was the first one i had to have right away. it was such an awesome album. it still is!

that summer, we went up to go to the beach. that was back when my cd walkman still worked. i remember i pretty much had that (and the spice girls cd, shoot me) on repeat the whole trip.

anyway, another cd that gives me memories, although not so vividly, is wide awake in america. that too reminds me of summer, the same summer in fact. it reminds me of listening to it on the way to the pool to volunteer at church (yeah, i volunteered to swim with kids that never showed up - such hard work!) and stuff. man, i loved that summer. i got to see U2 that may.

 

[daisybean]

Gone

I remember the feeling of listening to Mofo for the first time in my car. All music just sounds better in a car (IMO), and Mofo is just this adrenaline rush anyway, but in my car it has 1,000 times more impact. I remember just feeling so charged up listening to it, like getting an audio herion fix.

 

[u2popmofo]

[BI remember the feeling of listening to Mofo for the first time in my car. [/B]

I dont remember being in your car..... hehehehehe

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

First off, I adore Pop, too. Fantastic album-in my top 5, I think, I can't find a single song off of there that I hate.

Anyway, on to the main point of this thread.

Vivid memories, let's see...

Well, ATYCLB has some very vivid memories for me. "Stuck In A Moment", I keep mentioning how that song helped me during my junior year, when I had this big crush on this guy at my school. We were good friends, but alas, he was a senior and would be graduating later that year, and I just wished I'd had more time to get to know him, to be better friends with him, and I knew I'd miss him when he left.

One day, after hanging out with him during gym class, I was in a friend's car, and the song "Stuck In A Moment" came on the radio (this was before I became a fan). I liked the song, but I'd never really paid much attention to the lyrics-until that day.

When the verse "I never thought you were a fool/But darling, look at you/You gotta stand up straight/Carry your own weight/These tears are going nowhere, baby" came up, and then the chorus, as well as the very last part ("It's just a moment/This time will pass"), and I heard those, that was very vivid for me. It was, to me, saying that I shouldn't mope over this guy-I really haven't known him for very long. Yes, I'll miss him, 'cause he is a friend, but I shouldn't make such a drama out of it, I'll move on.

So there's one song that definitely has vivid memories.

I also remember the very first time I heard "In A Little While"-it was on the radio, and I didn't know the name of the song at the time, but I loved it and wanted to know what it was called (this was when I was starting to become a U2 fan). Eventually I found out, and it's still a personal favorite of mine. It's just such a sweet song, and never fails to make me smile when it's playing.

I can also thank "Angel Of Harlem" for really pushing me to become a U2 fan (that is one reason why it's my favorite song by them). Very first time I heard that song on the radio, I thought it was awesome and a fun song, and anytime I heard it on the radio after that I'd turn up the volume. And then I decided to put it on a mix CD I was making, along with some other U2 songs, and thanks to that decision, I gradually began to see how great U2 was.

As far as albums go, the first U2 album I picked up as a fan was The Joshua Tree. I listened to it on the way home (we'd gone on a trip up to South Dakota, which is where I got the album), and I remember that when "Exit" came up, because we were driving down the road and the wind was going and all that, I couldn't hear the very beginning of the song, because it was so quiet-and I actually thought that my CD player was acting up. So I played that song again when I got home, and heard it a lot more clearly.

That album is my favorite one for so many reasons-classic songs (and those personal favorites-"Trip Through Your Wires", baby, yeah! Woohoo!), jaw droppingly poetic lyrics, the music in the songs gives each song its exact mood and adds to the beauty of the songs...just incredible.

Angela

 

[saad]

yeah pop is a masterpiece. its definately in my top 3 fav's. sorry unlike moonlit_angrl i dont have a dawson's creek-like story to tell ya guys.

 

[yertle-the-turtle]

Song that did it for me was Sunday Bloody Sunday. Borders was doing some pre-release hype for ATYCLB and I thought this 'U2' band looked interesting, so I put on War and picked a random track and there I was.

I think the whole Achtung/Zooropa/Pop thing really pushed me to like 'electronic' music. I'm not a serious music listener, but before I was a member of 'don't play instruments then you're shite' camp, but these albums showed me studio tinkering and effects can make good songs.

 

[adamswildhoney]

I must say I LOVE POP!!!


Album memories:

JT: I became a fan right around or after the relase of this album and I remember singing ISHFWILF all the time, there was constant shouts of "Shut up, Kelly" even tho my family were and still are fans too.

R&H: I this album bc the movie is the first real time I saw U2 on tv bc my parents didnt really allow to watch alot of tv when we were younger. I love the whole Larry making fun of Adam bit too

AB: U2 fanatism set in to full gear during this album. My sister had wall to wall, top to bottom posters, articles, photos and other U2ey stuff plastered on her wall and luckily I was able to share a room with her. Also during ZooTv my sister begged my mom to allow her to go to a U2 concert but bc my mom didnt know anything about the band at that time or the whole sha bang w/ macphisto my sister wasnt allowed to go but instead in '94 she got to see INXS in concert!!

Zooropa: Awesome album, me and my sister played that over and over again and we told each other the next U2 tours we will both hassle mom until she gives in and allows us both to go. I was 10 and she was 16 at the time.

POP: alots and alots of memories. First U2 concert i ever saw was June 21, 1997 @ LA COL. we had travel over 2 days to get down there. All my siblings(4 of us) went without any parents. Right as U2 took the stage I made my sisters mad bc I told them I had to go to the bathroom. My mom bought all 4 of us kids the album each(my first album that i actually owned and didnt have to share)

ATYCLB: This album makes me have mixed emotions bc those 2 yrs after it came out have been 2 of the toughest in my adult life.
I lost my grandfather who i was extremely close to in Sept of 2000. I literally cried myself to sleep listening to this album and RTSS and Bad for over a week, I didnt show anyone my emotions. I graduated high school in 2001 and felt and still feel extremely lost and confused about the direction or whatever directions my life is going. I got to see them 3 times during Elevation tour, I cried the first show all the way through bc I finally got rid of all the anger and guilt I felt after losing my grandfather and at the same concert my parents got to finally see U2(funny enough it was their first concert in over 25 yrs ) then Sept 11th happened. I laughed and cried at the second show and the 3rd one my brother was finally able to see the boys again bc I bought him tixs as a bday present!

Boy and October and War: make me think strongly of Ireland and what it might or might not have been for my grandparents growing up in North and Southern Ireland

*takes a deep breath* thats it for me!!!

 

[u2popmofo]

Why I love Pop:

I was living in Japan when it came out. Didnt have the opportunity to hear it until I came home. It totally satisfied my needs when I finally heard it! So good. I remember having the line, "Looks like the sun, but it feels like the rain" from Do You Feel Loved stuck in my head for days.

 

[daisybean]

I dont remember being in your car..... hehehehehe

I stared at that for like ten minutes thinking wtf is he talking about.

@ Dawson's Creek reference.....

 

[oliveu2cm]

dyfl rocks and twists my world

This has been a really great thread & I enjoyed reading everyone's memories.

Like many others here, Pop was the first U2 album I knew about before it came out. It also contains one of three very visceral memories that came with listening to their music. I was riding on a school bus to a drama competition, when the person I was dating at the time handed me the cd player with Pop in. I put it on track 4 - If God Would Send His Angels. Changed my life. While other people I knew saw that as a spiritually uplifting, praising God song (maybe you see what you want to see?) I saw it as a person in love with God but confused at the world around him. It hit me. I didn't give back the cd player until we returned home.

I also remember being about 14 when MW was on the radio. My parents never really listened to music so I was a bit out of it in that regards. But something about MW must have grabbed me, because I specifically remember running off the front porch and jumping down onto the grass, pointing down and saying "On your knees boy"

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

@ Dawson's Creek reference.....

I think that's referring to my story about my crush.

Another memory I have, that I forgot to mention: Monday night I listened to ATYCLB, and "Peace On Earth" came on-geez, crimety, I just started crying my eyes out ('cause of all the craziness in the world right now-that song fits so perfectly). It's just the idea that this song, along with many of U2's other songs, can move me (and other people) so much when listening to them, you know?

Angela

 

[AchtungJedi]

Pop is a great album.

I love Mofo, IGWSHA, Last Night On Earth, Gone, and Please (particularly the single version).

Those songs have a ton of depth, and they're rocking kind of songs.

 

[Chizip]

i like pop because its spelled the same way backwards and forwards. symmetry is very very important to me. .em ot tnatropmi yrev yrev si yrtemmys .sdrawrof dna sdrawkcab yaw emas eht delleps sti esuaceb pop ekil i

 

[oliveu2cm]

Another memory I have, that I forgot to mention: Monday night I listened to ATYCLB, and "Peace On Earth" came on-geez, crimety, I just started crying my eyes out ('cause of all the craziness in the world right now-that song fits so perfectly).

That happened to me this morning on the way to work!

 

[Lemonboy]

POP R-O-X!!!

 

[bullet the blue sky]

Achtung Baby is their best album but POP is my favourite and the one that I listen to more than any of the others, probably because it has that If You Wear That Velvet Dress followed by Please, which are possibly two of my favourite songs ever by anyone.

Please in particular... the VMA performance in 1997 they did is probably my favourite one-off U2 performance.

As for songs with memories, Streets was the song that got me into U2, but I will always have a soft spot for Lemon and the Unforgettable Fire. The latter is the first song I heard on the radio by U2 that I HADN'T heard of before while I was beginning to become a fan. I remember a local radio station did a little phone-in vote each week where you voted for the top five songs by a particular artist, and they played the songs in reverse order one a day, going from Monday through to Friday. I can't remember what the other songs were, but I remember the Thursday and the Unforgettable Fire coming on as number two and thinking "what the hell is this?!".

It's a shame it's never quite as much fun once you've discovered all the songs!

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

uh i didn't really answer your question angel about why i like this album. i just rambled on about my memories.

anyway, i love POP. however i really wasn't a fan of it until a few years ago. and that was due to my hairstylist Jon, who insisted i listen to it again. lol we had an arguement about U2 and he told me i really wasn't expanding my musical interests without giving POP a chance. so i went home and listened to it again and realized that i actually do like this album. i don't think there is one song on there that i do not like. so yeah POP is my 2nd favorite U2 album behind UF. obviously i like it enough to have a user name that is named after a song on that album

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

POP


I adore this album. Great summer album, I blared it everyday practically 2 years ago on the way to my old job. I had a 45 minute drive so I could listen to a pretty good chunk of it before going in.

I love Please, IGWSHA, Mofo has grown on me over the years, DYFL, Discotheque (I can't listen to that now without hearing the director's commentary from the DVD, lmao ), etc. Just a really great album.