[Tracklisting]

Because it inspired the (at the time) biggest tour in the world. Because it's one of the most daring eras of U2*. And because it's necessary.

Tracklisting | 1 | Discotheque | 2 | Do You Feel Loved | 3 | MOFO | 4 | If God Will Send His Angels | 5 | Staring At The Sun | 6 | Last Night On Earth | 7 | Gone | 8 | Miami | 9 | The Playboy Mansion | 10 | If You Wear That Velvet Dress | 11 | Please | 12 | Wake Up Dead Man  | Running time | 60:35 |


Singles

Discotheque. February 3rd, 1997; UK #1, US #10. b-sides**: Holy Joe (Garage/Guilty Mixes)
Staring At The Sun. April 15th, 1997; UK #3, US #26. b-sides: North and South of the River, Your Blue Room
Last Night On Earth. July 14th, 1997; UK #10, US #57. b-sides: Pop Muzik (PopMart Mix), Happiness Is A Warm Gun (Gun/Danny Saber Mixes)
Please. October 20th, 1997; UK #7. b-sides: I'm Not Your Baby (Skysplitter Dub)
If God Will Send His Angels. December 8th, 1997; UK #12. b-sides: Two Shots of Happy, One Shot of Sad, Slow Dancing
Mofo. December 8th, 1997; DNC UK and US. b-sides: (all remixes)


Critical praise for Pop before revisionism crept in...

"They rock, to be sure, but with a rare fluidity. Driven forward by the Edge's vivid, adventurous guitar playing, galvanized by Bono's finely judged vocal performances, U2 have never sounded better. It seems obvious that, from here, things can only go downhill. They do not. The spell cast by that monumental opening never wears off."
- The Sunday Times

"Now, this is rock'n'roll dragged grooving and screeching into the '90s. And it's big, loud, euphoric music without ever being overblown. Who'd have thought it? Well, maybe Flood and Howie B, perchance, who are producer and assistant here. But the soundscapes owe as much to the new horizons of The Edge's post-nuclear guitar squall as a few repetitive beats."
- NME

"What we can say immediately is that Pop sounds absolutely magnificent. Working with Flood, who engineered Achtung Baby and co-produced Zooropa, the group has pieced together a record whose rhythms, textures and visceral guitar mayhem make for a thrilling roller-coaster ride, one whose sheer inventiveness is plainly bolstered by the heavy involvement of techno/trip-hop wizard Howie B(familiar from his work on Passengers' Original Soundtracks I)."
- Rolling Stone


...and proof that Pop is one of the few albums to ever get a backlash to the initial backlash.

"The reason why Pop wasn't a bigger hit in the U.S. is a mystery: "If God Will Send His Angels" is as catchy as "With Or Without You" and as stirring as "One," and "Staring At The Sun" is one of the best examples of the electronic-rock hybrid."
- Slant Magazine

"Zooropa and Pop, to understate the point, were very far from masterpieces—uneven in sound, quality and pacing, both are decidedly difficult listens, with little of AB’s immediate, obvious greatness. But that’s not to say that the greatness isn’t there—indeed, both albums have a handful of songs that I would have no problem rating with the band’s very best. But the greatness isn’t found in universal anthems like “One” or “With or Without You,” or in righteous rockers like “Mysterious Ways” and “Where the Streets Have No Name”—rather, it’s in these curious, lyrically obscure genre-benders, songs that often don’t even sound like U2 could possibly be behind them—likely the point all along."

- Stylus Magazine

*"Discotheque" video, anyone?
**b-sides do not count remixes of the singles, namely because there's stupid numbers of 'em, or live tracks. They're essentially the "proper" b-sides.


Songs sampled

"Fane" (Freeform) on "Discotheque".
"Trayra Boia" (Colin Walcott) on "Last Night On Earth".
"You Showed Me" (Venus In Bluejeans) on "The Playboy Mansion".
"Besrodna Nevesta" (Le Mytere Des Voix Bulgares) on "Wake Up Dead Man.


Further Information, Audio and Pretentious Commentary

The album on Last.fm | U2 Wanderer entry for Pop | U2009 entry on Pop

Album Promo | Sound on Sound Article

With thanks to Terrasidius.

Pop is a brilliant record: I've liked it since the first time I heard it years and years ago. Gone, Last Night on Earth, Please, and Staring At the Sun are some of the band's best work and lyrically it's unbelievable. I'm glad to see people coming around and finally giving this album (as well as its tour) the credit it deserves.

BOOM-CHA!

Say what you will about Pop, but up until all of the newly remastered albums were released, Pop was the one that has been getting the most play out of all their studio releases.
I actually like the remixed Pop tracks that were on the "Best of", except for 'Staring at the Sun'. But for the Pop album as a whole, I like those tracks in their original mix. They fit together much better on the album.

Lyrically one of U2s best albums. 

Please, Gone, Do You Feel Loved, Discotheque, IGWSHA, Last Night On Earth, Staring At The Sun all great songs. 

Yes! This is U2's only album where I consider every song on it AMAZING!!!! (yes, even Miami). The Joshua Tree came close, but Mothers Of The Disappeared bores me, and Achtung Baby throws me off with So Cruel.

It is there most complete album in my opinion.
And The Playboy Mansion has to be one of their most underrated songs. That song is perfect!

Plus, this picture pretty much sums up how great the Pop-era was...

[LIVE]

Lyrically one of U2s best albums. 

Please, Gone, Do You Feel Loved, Discotheque, IGWSHA, Last Night On Earth, Staring At The Sun all great songs. 

and my I add... LIVE one of U2's best albums 

MOFO - WHAT AN OPENING!
last night on earth - how's the whole band jam at the end!
gone - speaks for itself
please - musical genius
velvet dress - as if the mirrorball didn't give you goosebumps
discotheque - the lemon and bono's pants during popmart made this song oh so cooler when they performed it

[LIVE]

Lyrically one of U2s best albums. 

Please, Gone, Do You Feel Loved, Discotheque, IGWSHA, Last Night On Earth, Staring At The Sun all great songs. 

and my I add... LIVE one of U2's best albums 

MOFO - WHAT AN OPENING!
last night on earth - how's the whole band jam at the end!
gone - speaks for itself
please - musical genius
velvet dress - as if the mirrorball didn't give you goosebumps
discotheque - the lemon and bono's pants during popmart made this song oh so cooler when they performed it

Spot on, you forgot Do You Feel Loved... 

WHOA!!!! 

I'm flatered! Did my thread for TUF gave you the idea?

It's such a coinsidense cause I was actually thinking of making a worship thread for Pop.

This is just great!

Indeed it is.

There are more threads on Pop than on any other U2 album so far. 

Indeed it is.

There are more threads on Pop than on any other U2 album so far. 

Now that you mention it, there IS more threads for Pop than the rest. I wish it was more for TUF but I'm glad that Pop is finally getting the recognition it badly deserves.

Indeed it is.

There are more threads on Pop than on any other U2 album so far. 

Now that you mention it, there IS more threads for Pop than the rest. I wish it was more for TUF but I'm glad that Pop is finally getting the recognition it badly deserves.

Its unfair that Pop got/gets bashed all the time. 

It produced some real masterpiece songs like Gone, Please and Do You Feel Loved. 

Indeed it is.

There are more threads on Pop than on any other U2 album so far. 

Now that you mention it, there IS more threads for Pop than the rest. I wish it was more for TUF but I'm glad that Pop is finally getting the recognition it badly deserves.

Its unfair that Pop got/gets bashed all the time. 

It produced some real masterpiece songs like Gone, Please and Do You Feel Loved. 

Yeah. I hate it when underrated albums get bashed and all. 

Oops, looks like you posted in my quote. lol 

Anyways, I don't think people at the time understood Pop at all hence probably why they didnt buy it/enjoy it.

Spot on, you forgot Do You Feel Loved... 

did they play this during popmart?

Spot on, you forgot Do You Feel Loved... 

did they play this during popmart?

I think they played it on the first few shows and on the tv special but it went badly more than once so they took it off the setlist...so yeah, I don't know why you would include that when talking about great live songs.