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  1. Every time I see this thread pop up I chuckle a bit.

    Pop is amazing!


  2. Can you imagine a 20th anniversary set like the Achtung Baby/Zooropa collection they put out?
  3. I'd love it. But not again a collection of 50% we already have like all the bsides and remixes. NEW STUFF! All those great outtakes.....sigh. What gems must be out there......

  4. Wrong thread.

    U2 parody and humour

    Please repost there, thanks.


    EDIT. Hadn't seen your post, Ronnie. Sorry for copying!
  5. Originally posted by sparko:[..]
    I'd love it. But not again a collection of 50% we already have like all the bsides and remixes. NEW STUFF! All those great outtakes.....sigh. What gems must be out there......
    Agreed. And this makes me think that even though the band seems content to leave Pop in the past and never touch it again, what a great opportunity to showcase the kind of work that went into it originally! If they are still sticking with the excuse of "we never finished it," well...why not let us fans get a glimpse of the whole messy process then, anyway? Nothing to hide behind then.
  6. Originally posted by bpt3:[..]
    Agreed. And this makes me think that even though the band seems content to leave Pop in the past and never touch it again, what a great opportunity to showcase the kind of work that went into it originally! If they are still sticking with the excuse of "we never finished it," well...why not let us fans get a glimpse of the whole messy process then, anyway? Nothing to hide behind then.
    They'd never do that, they're too perfectionist and self-conscious.


    In fact, one could argue they became perfectionist and self-conscious precisely after the Pop "fiasco".


  7. Pretty much this. I appreciate Pop as an album. It's not my favorite, but it does play a role in developing U2's identity as a band, so I don't think it's right to ignore it.


    I still stand behind my previous statement. Pop had to be what it was in order for the band to find themselves in a place where ATYCLB to emerge. Their simplified Elevation Tour was also a direct product to the criticisms they received from Pop.
  8. The things I'd do for that....
  9. They're probably waiting until 2017 to release the new album so they don't have to pay any attention to Pops anniversary.
    But in 2020 they'll release a mega ultra (even more overproduced) reissue of ATYCLB.

    Kinda my U2 mood at the moment
  10. Originally posted by ahn1991:[..]


    Pretty much this. I appreciate Pop as an album. It's not my favorite, but it does play a role in developing U2's identity as a band, so I don't think it's right to ignore it.


    I still stand behind my previous statement. Pop had to be what it was in order for the band to find themselves in a place where ATYCLB to emerge. Their simplified Elevation Tour was also a direct product to the criticisms they received from Pop.
    I agree.

    At the time 'Pop' felt like a bit of a comedown to me. Don't get me wrong, I loved it then, and I still do now, but if you think about it, it's perhaps only because of the dizzy heights of the standards set by Joshua / Rattle / Achtung (and Zooropa to a degree) that it felt such of a comedown - imho at least. It's still a quality album to me.

    If none of the aforementioned albums ever existed 'Pop' would probably have been more critically acclaimed and perhaps more loved by the U2 community enmasse than it happens to be I think because of just how good The Joshua Tree / Achtung Baby were.

    U2 were still pushing the envelope behind the scenes for Pop it seems. some of that envelope-pushing materialised with 'Mofo', 'Do You Feel Loved?' and maybe some others like 'Miami', but they (or someone else) clearly weren't happy with where 'Pop' was in 1996, probably why the record got delayed until early 1997, and the band felt rushed to get it done because the Popmart tour was well into planning..

    It ended up being your typical 'heavy mutha' of a U2 record rather than that of the dance nature that it was being touted as being in 1996.

    I stumbled across the video below on Youtube recently. It's a different version of the 'Pop' EPK that's out there - perhaps an earlier issue of it I think before they'd come up with the album name and before they went back to the drawing board.

    Theres similar footage to the Pop EPK, but theres also a good chunk more material including some work in progress stuff from 1996 - some very loose stuff. Opens with a kickass different version of 'Mofo' (probably when it was called 'MFRR'), 'I'm Not Your Baby', a dark rocker which sounds like an 'Exit' part 2, totally different version of 'Do You Feel Loved?', and an earlier version of 'The Playboy Mansion' - well worth checking out.



    Not sure why it's titled 'Hong Kong Mixes'. I wonder what Pop may have become had it gone in its originally planned direction?


  11. you are alone in this world ...
  12. Originally posted by Caledonia:[..]
    I agree.

    At the time 'Pop' felt like a bit of a comedown to me. Don't get me wrong, I loved it then, and I still do now, but if you think about it, it's perhaps only because of the dizzy heights of the standards set by Joshua / Rattle / Achtung (and Zooropa to a degree) that it felt such of a comedown - imho at least. It's still a quality album to me.

    If none of the aforementioned albums ever existed 'Pop' would probably have been more critically acclaimed and perhaps more loved by the U2 community enmasse than it happens to be I think because of just how good The Joshua Tree / Achtung Baby were.

    U2 were still pushing the envelope behind the scenes for Pop it seems. some of that envelope-pushing materialised with 'Mofo', 'Do You Feel Loved?' and maybe some others like 'Miami', but they (or someone else) clearly weren't happy with where 'Pop' was in 1996, probably why the record got delayed until early 1997, and the band felt rushed to get it done because the Popmart tour was well into planning..

    It ended up being your typical 'heavy mutha' of a U2 record rather than that of the dance nature that it was being touted as being in 1996.

    I stumbled across the video below on Youtube recently. It's a different version of the 'Pop' EPK that's out there - perhaps an earlier issue of it I think before they'd come up with the album name and before they went back to the drawing board.

    Theres similar footage to the Pop EPK, but theres also a good chunk more material including some work in progress stuff from 1996 - some very loose stuff. Opens with a kickass different version of 'Mofo' (probably when it was called 'MFRR'), 'I'm Not Your Baby', a dark rocker which sounds like an 'Exit' part 2, totally different version of 'Do You Feel Loved?', and an earlier version of 'The Playboy Mansion' - well worth checking out.

    [YouTube Video]

    Not sure why it's titled 'Hong Kong Mixes'. I wonder what Pop may have become had it gone in its originally planned direction?
    This is one of my favorite videos of theirs, even though it's a demo (sent in to confirm they were progressing I believe). That version of Mofo would maybe be my favorite U2 song ever if it'd been released. I think maybe if Pop had continued in that direction, we would have gotten a more AB-ish album. I love Pop, and some days it's an 11/10 album for me, but it could have been even better.