Pop (album)

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pop
Studio album by U2

Publication
(s)

1997

Label (s) Iceland

Format (s)

CD, LP

Genre (s)

Rock music , alternative rock

Title (number)

12 (13)

running time

60 min 08 s

occupation
  • Singing / guitar: Bono

production

Flood , Howie B , Steve Osborne

Studio (s)

Hanover Quay Studios , Windmill Lane Studios , The Works (all Dublin, Ireland) & South Beach Studios (Miami, Florida, USA) 1996

chronology
Zooropa
(1993)
pop All That You Can't Leave Behind
(2000)

Pop is the ninth studio album by the Irish rock band U2 and was released in March 1997. On this album, U2 combined the then popular techno influences with classic U2 guitar sound for the first time . The album enjoyed very early commercial success when it was released and topped the charts in 32 countries. Nevertheless, the total sales fell short of expectations and it is one of the U2 albums with the lowest sales in relation to z. B. The Joshua Tree from 1987. At the time of release, there were various critical opinions, but now Pop is considered one of the most experimental and innovative albums of the band.

History of origin

In creating Pop , U2 consistently continued the experimental and alternative path that they had already taken in 1991 with Achtung Baby and in 1993 with Zooropa . Guitarist The Edge described the album in its creation as "as far away from U2 as it gets". Accordingly, the album turned out to be far darker than the album name suggests. Of "lighter pop music " and mainstream is Pop very far away.

The recording began in the spring of 1996 and put the band under time pressure right from the start, as they had set a very tight time window for the production with a popmart tour scheduled for 1997 . So the album release was postponed from November 1996 to March 1997. This resulted in massive start-up difficulties on the following PopMart tour , because the time to rehearse the songs for a tour was correspondingly short. The band also admitted that they had rushed themselves into the release; some songs would have been released practically unfinished. The vocals for Last Night on Earth were actually sung in directly at the mixer on the last day.

Despite these teething problems, Pop reached the top chart position when it was released in 35 countries and received mostly positive reviews. English-language Rolling Stone Magazine noted that U2 wrote "contrary to all predictions, some of the best plays of their lives".

During the PopMart tour , the band repeatedly made it clear that some songs were unfinished when they were released. As a result, the songs Discotheque , If God will send his Angels , Staring at the Sun , Last night on Earth , Gone and Please were rearranged before the best-of album The Best of 1990-2000 was released .

Track list

Music by U2, lyrics by Bono and The Edge.

  1. Discothèque - 5:19
  2. Do You Feel Loved - 5:07
  3. Mofo - 5:46
  4. If God Will Send His Angels - 5:22
  5. Staring at the Sun - 4:36
  6. Last Night on Earth - 4:45
  7. Gone - 4:26
  8. Miami - 4:52
  9. The Playboy Mansion - 4:40
  10. If You Wear That Velvet Dress - 5:14
  11. Please - 5:10
  12. Wake Up Dead Man - 4:52

particularities

  • The Japanese edition of the pop album was released with a bonus track . Holy Joe (Guilty Mix) (5:08) was actually the B-side of the single Discotheque .
  • In Malaysia the album was released with a censored version of the song Wake up Dead man . The words "fucked up" were suppressed.

Individual evidence

  1. U2 Discography: Pop U2.com. Retrieved March 4, 2014