The first half of Pop is really good, but I enjoy the second half even more. It's as trippy and experimental as U2 has evern been. Miami's got a pretty cool vibe, Please is a monster of a song, Playboy Mansion is fun and laid back, Velvet Dress is sexy as fuck, Wake Up Dead Man is a great closer.They show more range in that second half than in all their 80s and 00s albums put together.

Zooropa is also very experimental (by U2 standards) but I find Pop to be the more consistent album.

I love Pop. Their last album is really the only one I had trouble finding songs to get into. I think I only liked two songs.

I really liked No Line on the Horizon, and Cedars of Lebanon and White as Snow were okay (songs I'd probably enjoy more on a stronger album, but not necessarily worth showing up for). Otherwise yeah, it was a big disappointment for me. I haven't listened to it in forever, but HTDAAB was in heavy rotation for quite a bit.

I should probably put this in the admit something thread but I like Put On Your Boots even though its one of the dumbest songs I've ever heard.

It was stupid, but likeable stupid.

Cedars of Lebanon is one of my favorite post-90's U2 song. I thought it was one of the two best songs on the album (along with Unknown Caller).

Stand Up Comedy might be their nadir.

These are all pretty good songs:
No Line On The Horizon
Magnificent
Moment of Surrender
Unknown Caller
White As Snow
Cedars Of Lebanon

If you take everything U2 has released since 2000 and put it on one disc you'd have a really strong, if not classic album. The problem is that they've released 3 albums since 2000.

I think a lot of bands have this problem when they've been around long enough.

people actually like pop? awesome, because i do, too. i like u2 enough, but certainly don't love them. growing up in the late 80s/early 90s i'd obviously heard a lot of u2, but at 12-14 years old none of their output i was familiar with really made me think they were worthy of the praise they were getting. then "numb" and its weirly awesome video came out and i found myself enjoying the direction their sound was going, though i got burnt out on zooropa and the seemingly unending hype surrounding it (which in retrospect seems more a residual effect of the success of achtung baby).

pop finally made me like u2. on its release, "discotheque" became my favorite u2 song. it might still be my favorite u2 song. the album's only misstep in my opinion was "staring at the sun", which sounded the most like standard u2, and even that one isn't terrible by any means. the closing trio of "...velvet dress/please/wake up dead man" is haunting, fascinating, and engaging music. on the other hand, tracks like "mofo" and "miami" are abrasive and determined to challenge you, making them more rewarding with subsequent listens. pop is a great record, in my view.

after pop's release, the popular opinion was that the album was a disaster, and even the band started making excuses for its lack of success. as they begun work on their next record, word was that the new album would be a "return to form" for u2. all that you can't leave behind came out and everyone loved how u2 was u2 once again. u2 came to town and i went to the show, but pop was completely absent from the setlist (and all but absent from the whole tour). so from my perspective, the band completely disowned pop and took the safe route out. all of this made all that you can't leave behind and its relative success a colossal disappointment to me, and i've never really gone back. i listened to ...atomic bomb a couple times, and haven't bothered with anything else since.

so, pop4lyfe, yo.

I really like Breathe as well.

You know what? Fuck it. I really like "The Sweetest Thing".

Do you prefer the original version from The Joshua Tree sessions or the one that was a hit in the late 90's with all of the bells & whistles and "modern" Bono vocal?

The single version, for its unabashed pop production. It's also the one most closely associated to my childhood memories-- that song was a big radio hit in Colombia when I was 11 or so. The original version is kind of a mess, from what I remember.

I always preferred the original, though that's the one I was first exposed to (it was one of the most sought after U2 b-side "gems" before they re-did and re-released as a single, back when it was harder to track these things down). I still feel like the worn, ragged vocal on the original one better suits the idea of the song. I have a soft spot these days for the 1998 version though. I took a lot of shit from people during the Pop-era for being the local U2-fanatic, and it was nice to have people telling me how much they loved the "new" U2 song for once, even if I thought it was just ok.

I got sick of it SUPER fast on the 2001 tour. It's up there with Last Kiss for me as songs I can't stand to hear live.

if I am remembering the right song I despised unknown caller

when my wife and I were dating i would sing that song to her in a cookie monster voice (I don't remember how that started). She'd laugh so hard she couldn't breathe. I did it for the first time while she was driving and it almost got us killed.

I bequeath this thread to you all.

I'm fairly sure this was the song that violently turned me off U2, at least initially.

that song would totally piss me off if I wasn't already a fan. But I am, so I like it