I don't dislike Pop, but it is my least favorite U2 album.
I love all of their material, but this album is completely out of place in their catalog. Experimenting isn't a bad thing, but it didn't work so well for them. And obviously they realized that because (thank God) they stopped making music like it. It certainly is different though.
POP is the album that represents the real spirit of U2, the essence of U2. In the 90's U2 was "out there in the space".
It makes me sad to watch this video and realize this era is over.
The three albums that became after POP have been a disaster in an artistical way. OK, I must admit that All That You Can't Leave Behind in 2000 had some good songs but U2 changed from odd and original "WTF is this" band to middle-aged mainstream adult rock band way too soon. And that's real shame, real shame...
Most bands today would kill for a period as good as the Pop era. It justs serves to remind us of the stakes that U2 always play for and the standards they set themselves that tracks like Mofo, Wake Up Dead Man and Please weren't considered good enough. U2's "worst" period still outshines most modern bands' finest hour!
You're right. Who could've imagined in the 80's that in 1997-1998 U2 would be playing Discotheque in front of a giant mirroball lemon? U2 took amazing risks, they really wanted to create something fresh in the 90's. From 2000 on they've been copying their own 80's sound with very poor results.
So what if the album was a commercial "failure" (it still actually went Platinum a few times)?
It'll still be a one of the fans' favourites though. I think it was great of them to take this step, and just because it wan't as surprising as Achtung Baby, why the hell does that mean it's not good?
Gotta admit Miami is shit though.
Anyway I love Mofo, Discotheque, Wake Up Dead Man, Staring At The Sky, Do You Feel Loved...pretty much the whole album.
Pop was well recieved by critics...It was also well recieved (Sales) in Europe and Canada...However it was a flop in the States...Thus it's often percieved as a big failure...As time goes by this album will resurface as a classic by u2
Is the next thing true: I read an article where it was claimed that when POP was released the first reviews were good but when the months went by and the Popmart Tour continued, the audience and also the critics started to bash the band and POP.
Why is it that nowadays all the mainstream media gives automatically five stars to U2 if the new album is just easy and lame adult pop rock?
in my opinion music wise they should have stopped at achtung baby to seal the pact of the best band in the world ppl would be thinking of them now saying"man that u2 band was great" but after that thats when they lost that hunger, fire or whatever it was that made them so great in the first place but personally they can make albums till they drop dead go u2!!!
What about ATYCLE and HTDAAB, 2 fantastic albums that came long after achtung baby, I liked what came in between to and even though NLOTH isn't as good as the 2nprevious albums, it still has some classic U2 on it.
Pop is really the album that to me solidified the fact that they are the greatest band ever....the tour kicked ass.saw them when they came to Winnipeg,MB
No way - Playboy Mansion has a great groove. POP by any other band would've been up there for album of the decade. That said, it needed more polishing up - I hope down the road when they have nothing better to do, they decide to re-release it with better production.
wow! I thought I was the only one who found this album truely amazing. Turns out there are more people who think the same way as I do : D. Pop is something else, u2 are the greatest because they aren't afraid of being creative, so damn rare to find in a band these days.
... and even The Playboy mansion isn't that bad. :) In my opinion there is no bad songs at all on POP... Maybe Miami should have had something more like some kind of guitar solo or something I think it's a little bit too simple song.
yeah i agree, but i like miami for its simplicity and plain weirdness. nloth for me was a real dissapointment, middle of the road songs that go nowhere. But on pop,if bonos voice was better and maybe if they cut the length of some songs to a more digestable length,or refined some of the songs, i think it would have been a real classic for the band
Miami is very stripped down and I still like it. In the case of POP: I think it doesn't matter how long the songs are, how was the album produced etc... Cause those things are only the surface. The two most important things why POP got bashed were 1) The formula of the songs is completely un-U2ish: The singing, the rhythm section, guitars. Well, God Will Send... has Edge's clanging guitar but that's all there is. 2) POP is dark but entertaining tongue-in-cheek music. Achtung baby was only dark.
Adding to my previous message: I think POP is a masterpiece but the reason why it's so underrated is the fact that only U2 fans have heard it and most U2 fans doesn't like that kind of music. I'm sure there are many non-U2 fans who have only heard U2 songs from the era 2000-2009 and they are amazed and irritated cause U2 wins all the Grammys, sells millions of albums and gets all the attention in the mass media. They say: "There is nothing special in this band's music!"
Personally I think it's one of the Bono's best lyrics. Sexy and ironic. Who else ever called described paradise as the Playboy mansion? Brilliant irony. Just what they lacked so much for the last 10 years.
"The banks they're like cathedrals, I guess casino's took their place" is one of my favorite lines ever.
This is my favourite album Of U2 and i don't understand why??? It has everything. It moves me deeply and makes me wanna dance. It's a rough diamond. Beautiful and yet to be discovered......just wait for the remaster version
I know it's not supposed to be their best album but I don't get why the press started panning their stuff at the time. The Guardian got very cool towards them at the time. Is it a public school thing, because all the papers got really chilly about them.
I prefer this album in some places to 'All You Can't Leave Behind', it's more personal and the lyrics have more meaning (only my opinion, ask Bono for the facts!).
I like 'MOFO', 'Please' and 'Wake Up Dead Man', even if they're not very upbeat.
Your words are mine..Please, is my life, and rejoice from way back when, with drowning man..Pop is a classic work and you have to listen to it many times before it happens..Thats why im up still, and i found you..Thanks...Cbono69..Or you can call me Chris..33 shows and rich in the heart,,write back..New u2 November...2008....
Hola Suitbluesky! Yo también estoy contigo; el LP "POP" era buenísimo, un gran album, muy infravalorado por los ultraconservadores fans de U2. CD fresco, innovavador, atrevido y encima, bueno.
it was logically a natural progression from achtung baby and zooropa especially for the 90's era. it got panned by the critics because they thought u2 put more time into making the tour before they finished the album. u2 themselves say they would like to go back and rerecord parts of pop, i wish they would because i love the album and the era it came from!
Wow, what a great time in the band's history. This is one of my favourite U2 albums. It's a shame it's so badly underrated. Some people are just too afraid of experimentation. Rather than try to give it a chance and be challenged by the music, they'd rather stomp on it from the outset.
The way this awesome album was received, I think, is partly to blame for why the next 2 albums were so bland. Still good, but very dry and bland in my opinion.
The song played in 2:03 is Wake up from Mad Season????
gengisdiaz 1 month ago
u2 pop the worst record in history
pakitovillanueva 1 month ago
loved the imagery of pop
nakedstud 3 months ago
incredible..))
susanpresley01 4 months ago
U2 in the 90's were at their best , and this is my fave album of thier's.
Zooropa and Achtung are classics also.
MrAntiFarLeft 1 year ago 3
Without doubt the four most coolest men on the plan....
if there is such thing as reincarnation , im coming back as Larry Mullen jnr....
habib234 1 year ago
Best U2 record.
laboloche 1 year ago 5
this is the ONE CD I bought from U2 I liked thier interpretation of POP music for the entire CD. I enjoyed all the tunes on this one thumbs up.<3R!
notntusay 1 year ago
I think this is the last GREAT album of U2, and the last time that the band really toke a risk too. Great album!!!
Chuks073 1 year ago
I don't dislike Pop, but it is my least favorite U2 album.
I love all of their material, but this album is completely out of place in their catalog. Experimenting isn't a bad thing, but it didn't work so well for them. And obviously they realized that because (thank God) they stopped making music like it. It certainly is different though.
Love U2 though!
annakitty7 1 year ago
POP is the best album of U2 along with Achtung baby. POP is a masterpiece.
zoogarten 1 year ago 3
I can't understand why you all shoot Miami and Playboy Mansion,the both songs are great for me!So different!
Paint4U2 2 years ago 2
POP is the Blade Runner of U2's discography.
yellochuckles 2 years ago 3
that is the single best way to describe this album i have ever heard.
chip8230 2 years ago
Were you talking about this promo or somebody else's comment?
zoogarten 1 year ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
U2 wrote "Miami"
extreme67 2 years ago
POP is the album that represents the real spirit of U2, the essence of U2. In the 90's U2 was "out there in the space".
It makes me sad to watch this video and realize this era is over.
The three albums that became after POP have been a disaster in an artistical way. OK, I must admit that All That You Can't Leave Behind in 2000 had some good songs but U2 changed from odd and original "WTF is this" band to middle-aged mainstream adult rock band way too soon. And that's real shame, real shame...
zoogarten 2 years ago
Most bands today would kill for a period as good as the Pop era. It justs serves to remind us of the stakes that U2 always play for and the standards they set themselves that tracks like Mofo, Wake Up Dead Man and Please weren't considered good enough. U2's "worst" period still outshines most modern bands' finest hour!
wrightherewrightnow9 2 years ago 16
You're right. Who could've imagined in the 80's that in 1997-1998 U2 would be playing Discotheque in front of a giant mirroball lemon? U2 took amazing risks, they really wanted to create something fresh in the 90's. From 2000 on they've been copying their own 80's sound with very poor results.
zoogarten 2 years ago
Pop is U2
glammm25 2 years ago 3
So what if the album was a commercial "failure" (it still actually went Platinum a few times)?
It'll still be a one of the fans' favourites though. I think it was great of them to take this step, and just because it wan't as surprising as Achtung Baby, why the hell does that mean it's not good?
Gotta admit Miami is shit though.
Anyway I love Mofo, Discotheque, Wake Up Dead Man, Staring At The Sky, Do You Feel Loved...pretty much the whole album.
Long live U2
bassmanUSSR 2 years ago 2
Pop was well recieved by critics...It was also well recieved (Sales) in Europe and Canada...However it was a flop in the States...Thus it's often percieved as a big failure...As time goes by this album will resurface as a classic by u2
8Bokd 2 years ago 11
Is the next thing true: I read an article where it was claimed that when POP was released the first reviews were good but when the months went by and the Popmart Tour continued, the audience and also the critics started to bash the band and POP.
Why is it that nowadays all the mainstream media gives automatically five stars to U2 if the new album is just easy and lame adult pop rock?
zoogarten 2 years ago
in my opinion music wise they should have stopped at achtung baby to seal the pact of the best band in the world ppl would be thinking of them now saying"man that u2 band was great" but after that thats when they lost that hunger, fire or whatever it was that made them so great in the first place but personally they can make albums till they drop dead go u2!!!
kingsofleonwftw 2 years ago
What about ATYCLE and HTDAAB, 2 fantastic albums that came long after achtung baby, I liked what came in between to and even though NLOTH isn't as good as the 2nprevious albums, it still has some classic U2 on it.
actung008 2 years ago
Pop is really the album that to me solidified the fact that they are the greatest band ever....the tour kicked ass.saw them when they came to Winnipeg,MB
1badbat 2 years ago 2
No way - Playboy Mansion has a great groove. POP by any other band would've been up there for album of the decade. That said, it needed more polishing up - I hope down the road when they have nothing better to do, they decide to re-release it with better production.
Zooboy1975 2 years ago
Well I think that POP doesn't need to be re-arranged, the sound is great... I can't figure out what it is that needs to be changed on that album?
zoogarten 2 years ago
wow! I thought I was the only one who found this album truely amazing. Turns out there are more people who think the same way as I do : D. Pop is something else, u2 are the greatest because they aren't afraid of being creative, so damn rare to find in a band these days.
clapphamjunction 2 years ago 5
dammit pop is so good. theres only one bad song on it and that is the playboy mansion.
monsterinyourpocket 3 years ago 5
... and even The Playboy mansion isn't that bad. :) In my opinion there is no bad songs at all on POP... Maybe Miami should have had something more like some kind of guitar solo or something I think it's a little bit too simple song.
zoogarten 2 years ago
yeah i agree, but i like miami for its simplicity and plain weirdness. nloth for me was a real dissapointment, middle of the road songs that go nowhere. But on pop,if bonos voice was better and maybe if they cut the length of some songs to a more digestable length,or refined some of the songs, i think it would have been a real classic for the band
monsterinyourpocket 2 years ago 2
Miami is very stripped down and I still like it. In the case of POP: I think it doesn't matter how long the songs are, how was the album produced etc... Cause those things are only the surface. The two most important things why POP got bashed were 1) The formula of the songs is completely un-U2ish: The singing, the rhythm section, guitars. Well, God Will Send... has Edge's clanging guitar but that's all there is. 2) POP is dark but entertaining tongue-in-cheek music. Achtung baby was only dark.
zoogarten 2 years ago
Adding to my previous message: I think POP is a masterpiece but the reason why it's so underrated is the fact that only U2 fans have heard it and most U2 fans doesn't like that kind of music. I'm sure there are many non-U2 fans who have only heard U2 songs from the era 2000-2009 and they are amazed and irritated cause U2 wins all the Grammys, sells millions of albums and gets all the attention in the mass media. They say: "There is nothing special in this band's music!"
zoogarten 2 years ago
Personally I think it's one of the Bono's best lyrics. Sexy and ironic. Who else ever called described paradise as the Playboy mansion? Brilliant irony. Just what they lacked so much for the last 10 years.
"The banks they're like cathedrals, I guess casino's took their place" is one of my favorite lines ever.
DrSequoia 2 years ago
most emotionally-energetic album of u2,
you can tell they worked their asses off and struggled to produce something truly amazing!
You gotta love pop
JoyC666 3 years ago 2
a fantastically underrated album.
mrstromer 3 years ago 5
VERY POP SONG~
NICE
chenhen72 3 years ago
Very well said, Aristeidisf, i don't care about critics, PoP is special album and one of a kind which cannot be boring anytime you listen to it.
We want some new U2 album who will suprise us and make us excited, just like POP.
Viva PoP Viva!
DaniMoFo 3 years ago 2
This is my favourite album Of U2 and i don't understand why??? It has everything. It moves me deeply and makes me wanna dance. It's a rough diamond. Beautiful and yet to be discovered......just wait for the remaster version
Aristeidisf 3 years ago 3
moj prvi album koji sam kupila je bio pop U2 i ja ga bas gotivim
mnikolic27 3 years ago 2
I know it's not supposed to be their best album but I don't get why the press started panning their stuff at the time. The Guardian got very cool towards them at the time. Is it a public school thing, because all the papers got really chilly about them.
I prefer this album in some places to 'All You Can't Leave Behind', it's more personal and the lyrics have more meaning (only my opinion, ask Bono for the facts!).
I like 'MOFO', 'Please' and 'Wake Up Dead Man', even if they're not very upbeat.
ray1bradbury 3 years ago 2
Your words are mine..Please, is my life, and rejoice from way back when, with drowning man..Pop is a classic work and you have to listen to it many times before it happens..Thats why im up still, and i found you..Thanks...Cbono69..Or you can call me Chris..33 shows and rich in the heart,,write back..New u2 November...2008....
cbono69 3 years ago
agree well done to them
howdycaptain63 4 years ago
Hola Suitbluesky! Yo también estoy contigo; el LP "POP" era buenísimo, un gran album, muy infravalorado por los ultraconservadores fans de U2. CD fresco, innovavador, atrevido y encima, bueno.
ivan2m16 4 years ago
You cant say its their best album but you could say it inspired their best tour concerts
didnt they first present it at K Mart at NY too? sooooooooooo 90s!
knownpleasures 4 years ago
it was logically a natural progression from achtung baby and zooropa especially for the 90's era. it got panned by the critics because they thought u2 put more time into making the tour before they finished the album. u2 themselves say they would like to go back and rerecord parts of pop, i wish they would because i love the album and the era it came from!
niallmckenna2006 4 years ago 2
Wow, what a great time in the band's history. This is one of my favourite U2 albums. It's a shame it's so badly underrated. Some people are just too afraid of experimentation. Rather than try to give it a chance and be challenged by the music, they'd rather stomp on it from the outset.
The way this awesome album was received, I think, is partly to blame for why the next 2 albums were so bland. Still good, but very dry and bland in my opinion.
Inflicter 4 years ago 3
ahhh amo esta epoca de u2!!
no se porque dicen que es el peor cd de u2..
para mi es demasiado bueno
gracias por bubir esto!
suitbluesky 4 years ago
gotta go..be more fluid
stacekir 4 years ago
Saw POP live in Dublin - Great Show.
Tonyo1221 4 years ago
POP is the best album by u2 every song is strong and the album sounds like nothing else it still holds up.
natesot 4 years ago
Why is Pop so underrated? It's a great album in my opinion!!
Thanks for posting!
U2fan003 4 years ago 2
Best U2 album ever and Mofo best U2 song
martineo68 4 years ago
yes, my favourite U2 album!!!
playornotplay 4 years ago
pop was a new era regarding u2 it worked it made them better and they tried something new not like other bands scared of taking ricks U2 rock!!!!!
celtmarshall 4 years ago
This is pretty rare!
juztincase 4 years ago
i lk pop
u2feeder 4 years ago
One of the most underrated U2 albums!! People are just afraid of the title but the songs are great!
vivaecuador 4 years ago 3
This album went "POP!"" and everyone hated it. WHY? There is no law telling them to stick with "Joshua."
zooropro 4 years ago 2
i totally agree! It would be nice if some of these songs could be played live in their original form...such as Discotheque
meanstreet81 4 years ago
I love pop era :D
Chikavertigo 4 years ago