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  1. Was on a general music site, and somebody was scathing U2 for making Discotheque the first single...and here's how I responded, good points? Or my usual psycho-babble? :

    Discotheque was a fine single. It hit #10 in the states, and nothing on Pop would have been higher. It was their final top 10 hit in the USA. Pop is my 3rd favorite U2 album, but a singles album? It's not. Nothing else on Pop would have gone higher than 10, though in my heart, I hoped Staring At The Sun would do better...but it got to #26 for a reason. Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me from the Batman Vs Rocky soundtrack is to me, a far better song, and it only got to #16. U2 just wasn't that young anymore, and were still getting on the charts, but were no longer getting people under 25 much anymore. Vertigo only got to #31, but it was #1 or Top 5 on all the geezer charts geared to those over 35, and it had the apple commercial tie in...but #31 is no great achievement. A great single for an aging band for sure. "Boots" was a terrible single choice but still got to #37 based on their name, and that only. Magnificent would have been a better choice for the fans, but likely would not have done much better. U2 was a legacy act by 2009 anyways. Boots remains their final top 40 hit in the USA. Joey Ramone did not even make the hot 100, and SOI is perhaps their weakest album. By the time SOE came out, they were no way going to hit the top 100 in a world dominated by Auto Tune, and charts where someone over 35 was not going to get airplay. And they were pushing 60...so single choices were inconsequential at that point.
  2. Single, yes. Baaaad video though. Killed Pop in the US.

    Why was Gone not a single ? I think it would have done better than Please or Staring at the sun.
  3. Yes, Magnificent or Breathe would have been better lead singles than Boots.
    Cedarwood road over Joey Ramone tune.*
    Best thing was decent but at their age ...no hits will come.

    *only because Invisible was released before amd was tacked onto the second disc.
  4. I think if you swapped them round and Staring at the sun was the lead single with discotheque coming after the album had been released staring at the sun would have had a higher chart position than #10 and discotheque would have had a lower position than #26. Staring at the sun is ‘the’ single of pop.
  5. Do singles matter now anyway… for any band? The best things about the POP singles was Disco got to No.1 in the UK and Last Night, Please and God Will Send were all better than the album versions.

    I’m more bothered about a decent set of songs on an album as a collection as opposed to a hit single. No Line was OK as a collection of songs but SOI and SOE were brill and flowed so well, I’ll stick them both on, got lost in them both and they seem to go really quick.
  6. Originally posted by pleasegone:Was on a general music site, and somebody was scathing U2 for making Discotheque the first single...and here's how I responded, good points? Or my usual psycho-babble? :

    Discotheque was a fine single. It hit #10 in the states, and nothing on Pop would have been higher. It was their final top 10 hit in the USA. Pop is my 3rd favorite U2 album, but a singles album? It's not. Nothing else on Pop would have gone higher than 10, though in my heart, I hoped Staring At The Sun would do better...but it got to #26 for a reason. Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me from the Batman Vs Rocky soundtrack is to me, a far better song, and it only got to #16. U2 just wasn't that young anymore, and were still getting on the charts, but were no longer getting people under 25 much anymore. Vertigo only got to #31, but it was #1 or Top 5 on all the geezer charts geared to those over 35, and it had the apple commercial tie in...but #31 is no great achievement. A great single for an aging band for sure. "Boots" was a terrible single choice but still got to #37 based on their name, and that only. Magnificent would have been a better choice for the fans, but likely would not have done much better. U2 was a legacy act by 2009 anyways. Boots remains their final top 40 hit in the USA. Joey Ramone did not even make the hot 100, and SOI is perhaps their weakest album. By the time SOE came out, they were no way going to hit the top 100 in a world dominated by Auto Tune, and charts where someone over 35 was not going to get airplay. And they were pushing 60...so single choices were inconsequential at that point.
    The Hot 100 you are looking at in the USA is based on commercial sales. There wasn't a commercial song released in the US for "Joey Ramone" - and downloads for the first month were free via Apple, so there were no sales for that song. Not saying it would have made the Hot 100, but there was absolutely zero chance it could have based on the way it was released...
  7. Originally posted by zooropa93:Do singles matter now anyway… for any band? The best things about the POP singles was Disco got to No.1 in the UK and Last Night, Please and God Will Send were all better than the album versions.

    I’m more bothered about a decent set of songs on an album as a collection as opposed to a hit single. No Line was OK as a collection of songs but SOI and SOE were brill and flowed so well, I’ll stick them both on, got lost in them both and they seem to go really quick.
    I never cared for how well a song charted. I only cared for the b-sides at the singles (well...as long as they were no remixes)
  8. The song and the music video is great.

    I will defend the video until the end!
  9. I used to think Pop was fine the way it was fine the way it was, and that the band were using the "Not Finished!" argument as a way of backpeddling after it didn't do so well.

    But now that I'm a little older, with the benefit of hindsight 25 years later, I fully agree. Most songs from Pop were improved upon by the end of 1997, in the form of superior single edits or live versions. I like "Discotheque", but the whole BOOM-CHA/Village People outro I really think was not only a poor way to end the song, but it really put a poor taste in everybody's mouth and pretty much sealed the entire album's fate. Here's how I would've handled it, looking back

    1st single- Mofo. Released about 6 weeks before the album. A more rocked up version, similar to what it eventually evolved to by the time of Mexico City show. Dance/tehcno elements still very present, but sounds like a rock band playing with it. A more lively vocal take from Bono, and slightly edited down for better single length. Fans impressed, yet also somewhat confused.

    Popmart Tour announced shortly after, only with a better name. Broadcast on MTV.
    Tour announcement takes place somewhere cool, not K-Mart. U2 plays new single "Mofo", plus 1 or 2 classic hits. Mostly stadiums, but arenas mixed in for smaller markets like Kansas City, Memphis, Portland, etc. Fans get excited and buy all the tickets.

    2nd single- Staring at the sun. Arriving to air-video waves a week or two before the release of the album. Has a MUCH BETTER music video. Casual fans can rest assured, as U2 can still sound like U2. Single is released in full band version, as well as Bono/Edge acoustic/harmonizing version. U2 hit the relevant TV shows at the time. Letterman/Leno, SNL, MTV Unplugged, etc. Things hit a fever pitch by the time Pop is released.

    3rd single- Gone. Again, same version as the Mexico City version. Released shortly before the tour begins. The initial buzz from the album's release has passed, but this song gains them a lot of cred in the alt-rock scene. A cool video is released, comprised from shots of the band playing in similar lighting / visuals to the Popmart versions of this song, mixed with scenes of a somewhat famous, but not A-list actor, living out the story of the song.

    4th single- Last Night on Earth. Least popular single from the album, but enough to maintain mild interest throughout the summer. Completely different music video, mixture of a woman living out the song's premise, mixed with visuals of the band playing live, showing how electrifying the new tour is.

    5th single- If God will send his angels. The single version that we all know is the only version. U2 sounding unashamingly like U2. Any casual fans who haven't taken an interest in the album do so because of this. Possibly still tied to a major film release. Band actually works out a decent live arrangement and play the song on tour.

    Anyway, hope you liked my alternate universe sequence of events!!
  10. Boom-Cha left a poor taste in the mouth?? Such nonsense.
  11. Originally posted by u2wanderer1:[..]
    The Hot 100 you are looking at in the USA is based on commercial sales. There wasn't a commercial song released in the US for "Joey Ramone" - and downloads for the first month were free via Apple, so there were no sales for that song. Not saying it would have made the Hot 100, but there was absolutely zero chance it could have based on the way it was released...
    By the time Joey Ramone was launched, the Hot 100 was a combination of airplay, and download sales, and possibly streaming. Unlike Europe, there were no longer singles of any physical format sold since at least 2007 or so. You could find the No Line CD singles available as imports for $13 or so. Joey Ramone got 0 airplay on the rock stations I listened to in Florida, Georgia, and several other states I travel to. In the Orlando area, and everywhere else, I did not hear it even once. For most older acts I would hear a new single for a week or two on and off and then never again. The local Orlando station played Boots at least 5 times in the first 2 weeks of release. Even Magnificent I heard a few times. Not trying to bash U2 in any way, shape, or form. They just were not getting airplay anymore. I did hear You're The Best Thing About Me on the piped in system at a McDonald's once, which was a shock.

    I did hear Discotheque on local radio a lot. It was Top 10 for a reason. It was the lead single, and the US had not yet taken the ugly turn on the album that forever caused U2 to disown it. And Staring At The Sun a good bit. No other Pop singles got airplay in Florida, or anywhere else I traveled. Sad. The album is so much better than most think. It's my third favorite U2 album behind Achtung and Joshua.
  12. I recall hearing discotheque in Ohio a few times on the radio, and then nothing. Then SATS got a decent amount of radio play. I remember hearing LNOE and Please on the radio once each. In fact, I remember being confused by the Please single edit, because I had never heard it before.

    I’m pro Discotheque, myself, but I don’t think it was a good choice for the first single.