GEN
Active topics
 

  1. So is this where U2 dreamt it all up again?

    It’s around 1986 and a short-lived group called Sigue Sigue Sputnik were trying to shock the world with their sexualised rock’n’roll take on commercialism, consumerism and the power of television and its influence – sound familiar?

    The band even sold paid advertising space between the tracks of their albums

    Looking at the video to their first single Love Missile F-11, there are a ton of images similar to that of ZOO TV - some even look like the future artwork of Zooropa

    And in the live video, as well as all the televisions and that 'familiar' screen, the lead singer also wears a 'familiar' silver suit











  2. Interesting take but I just think Bono was ahead of the game and capitalised on the tech of the time.
  3. Cool band, and I love that song: always have. But ..no..not really
  4. Well, I‘m sure it is…!

    I remember both Bono and BP Fallon raving about S.S.S. in the late 80s or early 90s and their show at the Royal Albert Hall in particular

    And if you watch some footage of said show, it just looks like the blueprint for ZOO TV and its stage set-up

    For a brief moment, S.S.S. were quite popular in the UK and Europe

    I don‘t remember whether both Bono and Fallon attended the show at the Albert Hall, but the way BP talked about it, at least he should have been present

    It might have been at this very gig or later, but U2 got to meet S.S.S. through Mick Jones, the former guitar player with The Clash

    And later on, two members of S.S.S. joined Mick Jones‘s new band Big Audio Dynamite, which was one of the support acts for U2 on the ZOO TV tour…

    It‘s hard to remember the details or sources, after all these years, but somewhere in the back of my head, I remember the words SIGUE SIGUE flashing up on the screens during THE FLY

    If my memory serves me right, in one of the many skits of the (Yankee Stadium) Outside Broadcast tape, there is at least a short audio sample of Love Missile, and also some short video frames of S.S.S.

    Maybe someone else has better memory or knowledge…

    So they knew about the concept and the stage design, they knew the guys, and I do not believe the striking similarities being a total coincidence, although I don’t believe that when they first saw it, it was something they intended on doing themselves, as they had (probably) no intentions of reinventing themselves, back then, but four or five years down the lane, I guess they remembered something they saw earlier
  5. Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief, so maybe?
  6. To me it looks like SSS stole the hair style from Bono circa 1985
  7. Can definitely see some similarities, yet thanks to a lot of work from Emergency Broadcasting Network ZOO TV was more about manipulation. Personally, I think EBN were the true innovators of video art and gave a lot of lift to ZOO TV, however U2 took spectacle to another level with the tour, presentation and probably the biggest impact on the music industry; the B stage which is now a standard.
  8. They saw this in 1986 yet Zoo happened in 1992. I dont think so.

  9. It definitely was an influence, but I've noticed that one of the screenshots I posted must have been modified much later (see below) as this was uploaded by their fansite - and as we know, there weren't no fansites back in 86

    But using the star in imagery was incorporated into U2's artwork - okay, based on the European flag, but still another similarity

  10. You have to remember that the creative process takes years to master - with designers and stage sets all having to be done well before any music release or tour

    Look at the stage show - if that's not a mini ZOOTV stage then...
  11. Originally posted by EridescoFly:Can definitely see some similarities, yet thanks to a lot of work from Emergency Broadcasting Network ZOO TV was more about manipulation. Personally, I think EBN were the true innovators of video art and gave a lot of lift to ZOO TV, however U2 took spectacle to another level with the tour, presentation and probably the biggest impact on the music industry; the B stage which is now a standard.
    That’s true.
    They had the means and the connections to fill the template with cool content
    And along with Willie Williams, Brian Eno,
    Emergency Broadcast Network, Jenny Holzer, Kevin Godley, Mark Pellington, David Wojnarowicz, Rene Castro, Catherine Owens and more, they indeed managed to take it to a whole different level.
    And together with this team they even expanded the idea and created one of the most groundbreaking and impactful tours ever