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Rating: March 1997: after four years of anxious waiting (exactly 10 years after the great "Joshua"), the new U2 album is released. The disappointment of both the public and critics was unforgettable after its release - even because of the title. When interviewed by MTV, U2 were as brilliant as ever, turning their interviews into hilarious sketches with one joke after another. But when it came to discussing the music, they evaded the questions or made bold statements: "‘Pop’ is the best album we’ve ever made. This is the music of the future."
Many were struck by the cover, which is nothing more than a creative plagiarism of "Let It Be" (the Beatles' breakup album) and "Hot Space" (the "silent" breakup album of Queen). Many wrote that, considering the ongoing disputes within the group (due to drummer Larry Mullen’s strong opposition to the electronic shift begun with "Zooropa"), this would be their swan song, with the cover acting as the visual foreshadowing.
Sales were disastrous (7 million copies) compared to "Achtung Baby" (18 million). But even more disastrous was the supporting tour, the "PopMart Tour" (an embarrassing display of sick gigantism and kitsch), with a massive stage and empty stadiums. Why did it fail? The answer is obvious. Because half of the songs on "Pop" are characterless mediocrity which no one would have talked about if they weren't U2 tracks. Moreover, while in "Zooropa" we find a questionable yet elegant production, here the overproduction – surprisingly driven by Edge, once a fanatic supporter of sonic minimalism – is borderline tacky.
That said, "Pop" is not total garbage. Despite everything, this album includes several band classics, even though they're very distant from their classic 80s hits. In crescendo: "Discotheque" (a slightly bombastic lead single, with dance music interrupted by a sparkling arpeggio, but with a bitter lyric about the use of ecstasy prevalent in clubs at the time); "Staring at the Sun" (a routine acoustic ballad marred by unnecessary electronics, yet memorable from the first listen, with lyrics about the struggle to keep one's eyes on the light and not fall into darkness); "If You Wear That Velvet Dress" (a splendid mournful slow jam that would have been a masterpiece if Edge had accompanied Bono with his arpeggios); "Gone" (a great song, with Bono speaking of the guilt of having had so much by singing songs); "If God Will Send His Angels" (perhaps U2's last masterpiece, with a mournful arpeggio perfectly underpinning an almost apocalyptic lyric, and that would have been a perfect ending).
If they hadn't wasted the three gems of the clever "Zooropa" ("Lemon," "The First Time," and "Stay") and the two textbook numbers from the pointless "Passengers" (the touching "Miss Sarajevo" and the magnificent organ slow jam "Your Blue Room"), today U2 would have two fewer albums in their discography, fewer millions of copies sold on Billboard, less money in the bank, but one more great album in their repertoire. And perhaps we wouldn't say that U2 died with "Achtung Baby."
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Discothèque (05:18)
You can reach
But you can't grab it
You can hold it, control it
No, you can't bag it
You can push
But you can't direct it
Circulate, regulate, oh no
You cannot connect it
You know you're chewing bubblegum
You know what that is
But you still want some
'Cause you just can't get enough
Of that lovie dovie stuff
You get confused
But you know it
Yeah, you hurt for it, work for it, love
You don't always show it
Let go
Let's go
Let's go
Discotheque
(Hi, come on child)
Oh oh
Let go
Let go
Discotheque
You're looking for the one
But you know you're somewhere else instead
You want to be the song
Be the song that you hear in your head
Love...
Ooo, love...
Love...
It's not a trick
'Cause you can't learn it
It's the way you don't pay, that's okay
'Cause you can't earn it (yeah)
You know you're chewing bubblegum
You know what that is
But you still want some
You just can't get enough
Of that lovie dovie stuff
Let go
Let go
Oh oh oh
Discotheque
(Come on, come on)
Go girl
Go girl
Ah ha ha
Discotheque
(I want you)
(I want you)
Oh, Ooo, oh / (Mmm-love-mmm)
You're looking for the one
But you know you're somewhere else instead
You want to be the song
Be the song that you hear in your head
Love...
You want heaven in your heart
Heaven in your heart
The sun, the moon, and the stars
But you take what you can get
'Cause it's all that you can find
But you know there's something more
But tonight, tonight, tonight
Ah, high
High, high
High, high
High, high
Boom Cha, Boom Cha, Discotheque
Boom Cha, Boom Cha, Discotheque / I paid, get in, I can't, not enough
Boom Cha, Boom Cha, Discotheque / I paid, get in, I can't, not enough
Boom Cha, Boom Cha, Discotheque / I paid, get in, I can't, not enough
Boom Cha, Boom Cha, Discotheque
03 Mofo (05:49)
Looking for to save my save my soul
Looking in the places where no flowers grow
Looking for to fill that God shaped hole
Mother... mother sucking rock and roll, mother...
Holy dunc, spacejunk coming in for the splash
(Been around back... been around front)
Wh-wh-white dopes on punk s-staring into the flash
(Been around back... been around front)
Looking for the baby Jesus under the trash
(Been around back... been around front)
Mother... mother sucking rock and roll, mother...
Bubble popping, to the rock and... rock and... rock and roll, mother...
Mother... mother... mother...
Mother... mother... mother...
Mother... am I still your son
You know I've waited for so long to hear you say so
Mother... you left and made me someone
Now I'm still a child, no one tells me no
Looking for a sound that's going drown out the world
(Been around back... been around front)
Looking for the father of my two little girls
(Been around back... been around front)
Got the swing, got the sway, got my straw in lemonade
(Been around back... been around front)
Still looking for the face I had before the world was made
(Been around back... been around front)
Mother... mother sucking rock and roll, mother...
Hopping popping shopping dropping, it's rock and roll, mother...
Mother... mother suck, yeah, fuck yeah, mother...
Mother... mother... mother...
Mother... mother... mother...
Soothe me mother
Rule me father
Fool me brother
Woo me sister
Soothe me mother
Rule me father
Show me mother
Show me mother
Show me mother
Show me mother
Show me mother
05 Staring at the Sun (04:36)
Summer stretching on the grass
Summer dresses pass
In the shade of a willow tree
Creeps a crawling over me
Over me and over you
Stuck together with God's glue
It's going to get stickier too
It's been a long hot summer
Let's get under cover
Don't try too hard to think
Don't think at all
I'm not the only one
Staring at the sun
Afraid of what you'll find
If you took a look inside
I'm not just deaf and dumb
Staring at the sun
Not the only one
Who's happy to go blind
There's an insect in your ear
If you scratch it won't disappear
It's gonna itch and burn and sting
You want to see what the scratching brings
Waves that leave me out of reach
Breaking on your back like a beach
Will we ever live in peace?
'Cause those that can't do
Often have to
And those that can't do
Often have to preach
To the ones
Staring at the sun
Afraid of what you'd find
If you took a look inside
Not just deaf and dumb
I'm staring at the sun
I'm not the only one
Who'd rather go blind
Intransigence is all around
Military still in town
Armour plated suits and ties
Daddy just won't say goodbye
Referee won't blow the whistle
God is good but will He listen
I'm nearly great
But there's something missing
I left it in the duty free area
But you never really belonged to me
You're not the only one
Staring at the sun
Afraid of what you'd find
You step back inside
Not sucking on my thumb
I'm staring at the sun
I'm not the only one
Who's happy to go blind
06 Last Night on Earth (04:45)
(What the fear calls down, stops the car)
(As it feels like rage)
(She's back on the street)
(But it swings so far away)
She feels the ground is giving way
But she thinks we're better off that way
The more you take the less you feel
The less you know the more you believe
The more you have the more it takes today
You got to give it away / You got to give it away
You got to give it away / You got to give it away
You got to give it away / You got to give it away
Well she don't care what it's worth
She's living like it's the last night on earth
The last night on earth
She's not waiting on a saviour to come
(Hows-ya classy)
She's at the bus-stop with News of the World and the Sun
Sun, here it comes
She's not waiting for anyone
You got to give it away / You got to give it away
You got to give it away / You got to give it away
You got to give it away / You got to give it away
Well she don't care what it's worth
She's living like it's the last night on earth
The last night on earth
Clock tells her that time is slipping / Slipping away
Tear drop sunshine / Slip slide
Two sides to one feels missing / Too heavy
Something she might be missing / Slipping away
World turns and we get dizzy / The world turns....
Spinning for you / ...and we get dizzy
The way it's spinning for me / Slipping away
She's living, living next week now
You know she's going to pay it back somehow
She hasn't been to bed in a week
She'll be dead soon then she'll sleep
You got to give it away / You got to give it away
You got to give it away / You got to give it away
You got to give it away
She already knows it hurts
She's living like it's the last night on earth
The last night on earth
Last night on earth
Last night on earth
(Last night)
07 Gone (04:26)
You get to feel so guilty
You got so much for so little
Then you find that feeling just won't go away
You were holding on to every little thing so tighly
'Till there's nothing left for you anyway.
Goodbye, you can keep this suit of lights
I'll be up with the sun
I'm not coming down
I'm not coming down
I'm not coming down
You wanted to get somewhere so badly
You had to lose yourself along the way.
You changed your name
Well, that's okay, it's necessary
What you leave behind you don't miss anyway.
Goodbye, you can keep this suit of lights
I'll be up with the sun
I'm not coming down
I'm not coming down
I'm not coming down
'Cause I'm already gone
Felt that way all along.
Closer to you every day
I didn't want it that much anyway.
You're taking steps that make you feel dizzy
Then you learn to like the way it feels.
You hurt yourself, you hurt your lover
Then you discover
What you thought was freedom just was greed.
Goodbye, and it's an emotional
Goodnight, I'll be up with the sun.
Are you still holding on?
I'm not coming down
I'm not coming down
I'm not coming down.
08 Miami (04:52)
Weather 'round here chopping and changing
Surgery in the air
Print shirts and southern accents
Cigars and big hair
We got the wheels, petrol's cheap
We only went there for a week
Got the sun, got the sand
Got the batteries in the handycam...
Her eyes are swimming pool blue
Dumb bells on a diving board
Baby's always attracted to the things she's afraid of
Big girl with the sweet tooth
Watches the skinny girl in the photo shoot
Freshmen, squeaky clean
She tastes of chlorine
(Miami), my mammy
Love the movies babe
Love to walk through the movie sets
Get to shoot someone in the foot
Get to smoke some cigarettes
No big deal we know the score
Just back from the video store
Got the car and the car chase
What's he got inside the case
I want a close up of that face
Here comes the car chase
I bought two new suits... Miami
Pink and blue... Miami
I took a picture of you... My mammy
Getting hot in a photo booth... Miami
I said you looked like a Madonna
You said maybe...
Said I want to have your baby... baby, baby
We could make something beautiful
Something that wouldn't be a problem
We could make something beautiful
Something that wouldn't be a problem
At least not in Miami
You know some places are like your auntie
But there's no place like
Miami, my mammy
Miami, my mammy
(Keys are in the car)
(Miami, my mammy)
Miami, my mammy
(Shake, shake down)
(Shake down...)
09 The Playboy Mansion (04:40)
If Coke is a mystery, Michael Jackson History
If beauty is truth, and surgery the fountain of youth
What am I to do?
Have I got the gift to get me through
The gates of that Mansion
If OJ is more than a drink, a Big Mac bigger than you think
If perfume is an Obsession, then talk shows confession
What have we got to lose?
I'll never push my way through
The gates of that mansion
I never bought a Lotto ticket
I never parked in anyone's space
And the banks feel like cathedrals because casinos took their place
Luck, come on down
I wake up, she'll come around
Sex is a kind of religion
We're down for playin' hard luck
I never did see that movie, and I never did read that book
Luck, come on down, let my numbers come around
Don't know if I can hold on
Don't know if I'm that strong
Don't know if I can wait that long
Til the colors come flashing and the lights go on
Then will there be no time for sorrow
Then will there be no time for shame
And though I can't say why
I know I've got to believe
We'll go diving in their pool
It's who you know that gets you through
The gates in the Playboy Mansion
The Playboy Mansion
In the Playboy Mansion
Then will there be no time for sorrow?
Then will there be no time for shame?
10 If You Wear That Velvet Dress (05:14)
Tonight the moon is playing tricks again
I'm feeling sea sick again
The whole world could just dissolve
Into a glass of water
I've been good 'cause I know you don't want me to
Do you really want me to be blue as you
It's her daylight that gets me through
We've been here before
Last time you scratched at my door
The moon was naked and cold
I was like a two year old
Who just wanted more
If you wear that velvet dress
If you wear that velvet dress
Tonight the moon has drawn its curtains
It's a private show
No one else going to know
I'm wanting
Sunlight, sunlight fills my room
It's sharp and it's clear
But nothing at all like the moon
It's okay, the struggle for things not to say
I never listened to you anyway
And I got my own hands to pray
But if you wear that velvet dress
But if you wear that velvet dress
Tonight the moon is a mirrorball
Light flickers from across the hall
Who'll catch the star when it falls
If you wear that velvet dress
11 Please (05:02)
So you never knew love
Until you crossed the line of grace.
And you never felt wanted
Till you'd someone slap your face.
So you never felt alive
Until you'd almost wasted away.
You had to win, you couldn't just pass
The smartest ass at the top of the class
Your flying colours, your family tree
And all your lessons in history.
Please, please, please
Get up off your knees.
Please, please, please, please, oh yeah.
And you never knew how low you'd stoop
To make that call
And you never knew what was on the ground
Till they made you crawl.
So you never knew that the heaven
You keep you stole.
Your Catholic blues, your convent shoes,
Your stick-on tattoos now they're making the news
Your holy war, your northern star
Your sermon on the mount from the boot of your car.
Please, please, please
Get up off your knees.
Please, please, please
Leave me out of this, please.
So love is hard
And love is tough
But love is not
What you're thinking of.
September, streets capsizing
Spilling over down the drains
Shard of glass, splinters like rain
But you could only feel your own pain.
October, talk getting nowhere.
November, December; remember
We just started again.
Please, please, please
Get up off your knees, yeah.
Please, please, please, please, ah.
So love is big
Is bigger than us.
But love is not
What you're thinking of.
It's what lovers deal
It's what lovers steal
You know I've found it
Hard to receive
'Cause you, my love
I could never believe.
12 Wake Up Dead Man (04:53)
Jesus, Jesus help me
I'm alone in this world
And a fucked up world it is too
Tell me, tell me the story
The one about eternity
And the way it's all gonna be
Wake up, wake up dead man
Wake up, wake up dead man
Jesus, I'm waiting here boss
I know you're looking out for us
But maybe your hands aren't free
Your father, He made the world in seven
He's in charge of heaven
Will you put in a word in for me
Wake up, wake up dead man
Wake up, wake up dead man
Listen to your words they'll tell you what to do
Listen over the rhythm that's confusing you
Listen to the reed in the saxophone
Listen over the hum of the radio
Listen over sounds of blades in rotation
Listen through the traffic and circulation
Listen as hope and peace try to rhyme
Listen over marching bands playing out of time
Wake up, wake up dead man
Wake up, wake up dead man
Jesus, were you just around the corner
Did You think to try and warn her
Or are you working on something new
If there's an order in all of this disorder
Is it like a tape recorder
Can we rewind it just once more
Wake up, wake up dead man
Wake up, wake up dead man
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Other reviews
By SouthMan
"Pop remains the last great U2 album because it possesses that artistic courage that has always distinguished them on the world stage."
"Bono brought his voice to a much warmer and soulful tone, mainly due to his throat problems related to smoking."
By Bleak
The album is, on the whole, well done, although excessively produced and played, and has no particular flaws except for the fact, for purists, of departing too much from the band’s past.
‘Pop’ is simply a good album. I say it bluntly, there’s no need to investigate too much on the meanings of the title or the intentions of the band; after all, in the world of music, no one (or almost no one) does anything for the love of art.
