Three Pop Songs

4 Mar 2022107

Three Pop Songs

'Edge I'd describe as a gardener, Larry as a chef, Adam as a keen polo expert and Bono as a very enthusiastic beachcomber.'

That's Howie B,  'vibemaster' and producer, with Flood, of Pop,  released twenty five years ago this week.

'They wanted to make something different. They had this hunger to make new music. Pop is a magic album. I listen to it, there's music there, songs, beats. I'm glad I had something to do with it...' 

Discotheque, the first single, was followed by Staring At The Sun, Last Night on Earth, Please and If God Will Send His Angels.

But if you had to pick just three songs from the twelve tracks on Pop, what are they…  and why?

Cast your vote here and then tell us why in the comments… and what the album means to you.

Comments
107
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sandersound
Pop rocks!!
Pop is such a great album! Achtung Baby and The Joshua Tree are the best U2 albums in my opinion with Pop on the third place. The Popmart tour was my first time to see U2 live in Rotterdam. What a great gig it was! Great memories! Hopefully there will be a Deluxe Edition of Pop soon... Best tracks of the album are Please, Mofo and Do You Feel Loved. And especially Please (live from Rotterdam) and Mofo (live from Mexico) are my favorites!
Merijn
The one that gave me goosebumps
Pop was the first release I had been counting the days and minutes for. 4 long years since Zooropa, an eternity in the mind of a late teenager. I discovered U2 in 93, got deep into them, and Pop was my first release. It was intense, emotional, creative, colourfoul, artistic. I listened to it in full the other day on a flight and was taken back to those amazing days! Discotheque of course.. the anticipation, the leaks, the rumours.. and then that groove! Oh wow. Still love it! Gone.. so emotional.. so intense, so new and fresh.. 'goodbye.. you can keep this suit of lights'' still gives me goosebumps. it's so perfect! Wake up Dead man.. oh wow.. see deep, dark, haunting.. I feel every bassnote and every word in my blood! Of course it's impossible to choose, soo many amazing tracks.. but these 3 define the album and the era for me!
bennettj
One of the great concept—and under-appre
I was a young kid when their big ones made U2 the biggest rock band in the world. But it wasn't until Pop in 1997 that I really started paying attention to U2. This album is a wonderful commentary, almost prophecy really, about the times that lay ahead. I listen to it often. We need a Super Deluxe version of this great moment in rock history. Please take my money.
jeff mcguire
London Wembley 1997
With my love Sharon ,who sadly passed away 2 years later, a great gig and a great day xxx." I'll see you again when the stars fall from the sky " xxxx
merchanzuleta
wow
This album is one of a kind!
PierreF
Will POP ever get a Super Deluxe Edition
All U2 albums got special remastered editions up to All That You Can't Leave Behind except POP! For me, it was their most daring album. I'm surprised that there was not a 20th or 25th anniversary edition. Maybe a 30th?
DeanWThomas
Masterpiece!
I'll admit that this album had me scratching my head at first even though I liked it. I know this album is considered a low point but to me this album was a bold move. It's a masterpiece in my opinion.
graham_robertson
Votes
It's a hard album to love but ... Discotheque the single gave me hope for one brilliant album - just didn't quite happen.
gabriellamanksy
Pop , ahead of its time
I remember Pop getting slammed by critics . “U2 had lost their rock origins”, but for me this was U2’s best album at that point of time.. U2 had obviously worked hard and were becoming more crea musically and much better singers. Looking back I can see this album was ahead of its time,
Roger_C_Rocha
Only 3?!?
I’ve been listening to this album A LOT the last weeks.
tbonejazzman76
Evergreen album, even better live!
“Mofo” was better live as the PopMart tour opener. What a jam. “Gone” same way, the distorted guitar atmospherics were fantastic live. “Last Night On Earth” is just a simply great song. I struggled not listing Discotheque, to be honest!
traviezo333
Traviezo's Vote
These 3 songs live as they evolved were EPIC!
Didine
Hard to pick only 3 songs
Pop is a masterpiece, it's aging very well and it never gets obsolete. It's very hard to pick only 3 songs as every song has a unique place in the album and contributes to its full flavour.
paultellefsen
Hated this Album, now it's okay.
First time I heard this album my wife had become very ill with encephalitis. I was scared to death and needed my faith to sustain me through it. She was litterally someone else at the time. I love U2 and for the most part the music always encourages me and lifts my spirits. This album made me feel alone and depressed as it seemed to paint God as indifferent to my fears. I have since grown in faith and appreciate the album from a different perspective.
nbayer
Just 3..?
Every U2 album has at least 1 masterpiece that goes on the mt. Rushmore of the band's work. Please is that song for Pop. Does anyone do the macro and micro better than U2? Even when the subject matter is specific, or universal, it still feels deeply personal to the individual listener. Last Night on Earth: Is there a better example of what live rock n' roll is all about than LNOE on the Live in Mexico DVD? It just soars. I've always felt this song fills stadiums as well as anything in U2's catalog, and eagerly hoped it would reappear with each new tour. Alas, not to be... Velvet Dress: Humanity wrapped up into a five minute song. Lust, longing, especially for what you know might be wrong or bad for you. When I listened Pop, I thought "the one song they could never perform live is Velvet Dress." What a great surprise to find it at Solider Field on this tour. If you can't relate to this song....
LucianaLobo
Hard choice
Please is definitely a masterpiece… together with Where the streets have no name… one of the finest live moments ❤️
maxey
we need a deluxe!
1. Disco 2. Last Night on Earth 3. Staring at the Sun. Please release a deluxe edition with b-sides and demo versions of the songs!
seanhorne
U23Popsongs
my pop 3: Do You Feel Loved (why this wasn’t a single i’ll never know) Last Night on Earth Gone
Scottyburen
Three cans of POP
I loved this album and got to see them three times on the tour. Twice in Rotterdam and then in Edinburgh. Its an excellent album and great live. My favourites are Discotheque, last night on earth and please. They had an amazing performance of Please in Rotterdam on the first night, the one that used for the video clip. They put everything into that one. We where lucky to get up to ten B-stage in Edinburgh, what a great experience that was, to hear the drums twice, once straight from Larry then through the speakers. Great album with a lot of memories, it was a good year that year 1997.
revold
Great Album
The Pop album was a very underrated U2 album. I love this album rushed or not still a great album.
StepCloser
I want this!
I am truly sad that I have not hear many of Pop's songs live... It is a great album and it is a shame that U2 tries to overlook it constantly. I so much wish to hear it live!
mariusznowak
❤️Pop❤️
The album that I love the most. The beginning of my adventure with U2.
Johnxxx
POP songs
"Do You Feel Loved": An awesome, underplayed, song. The bassline throbs, good lyrics, and you can really dance to it, always a nice surprise for a U2 song, ha ha! "If you Wear that Velvet Dress": my favorite romantic "courtin" song "Please": a well made song; great guitar at the end, a very personal and political song
aflang
The Cartoon Network turns into the News
POP captures its description in Bono’s lyric: “And the cartoon network turns into the news" The album starts playful before turning to slap your face. Screaming guitars from Edge, strong bass licks by supremo Adam’s and, the masterful drum loops by Larry, … Please, what’s not to like? Pop has no duds. My “had to pick of three” is: - If God Will Send His Angels - Please - Wake Up Dead Man Achtung Baby, Zooropa, Pop, PopHeart Live EP, Original Soundtracks 1, … ... just magnificent.
Cuitlahuac
¡Todo el disco!
Fue, es y será para mi un gran disco, cuando U2 me llenaba las primera veces la cabeza y el corazón ¡Boooom chaaa!
Runner3209
Very difficult to pick afavourite
I picked my three, but it was shortlist of five/six. I note with interest the the poll results are pretty even across the board. No tracks running away with it. That is a sure sign of a really good album. Often singles stand out a mile. Much of the band's subsequent output for the next ten years cannot say the same. It was very hit & miss after this period.
SLodewijks
Discothèque, Do You Feel Loved, Staring
- Discothèque, because of its hilarious video and because I always think of my colleague Esther who died much too young. - Do You Feel Loved, because of its simple and straight forward sound, and because I've always wanted to hear a remixed and revamped version of it, which doesn't exist, as far as I know. Staring At The Sun, because it is one of the darkest ballads I know, with, in contrast, the lightest title.
keith360
Talk About Pop Music
After being unable to go to Zoo TV as a result of major surgery (friends had an extra ticket and everything), PopMart was the first time I got to see U2 live. So, this album, Pop, and its accompanying tour mean the world to me. I will never forget walking into the stadium and seeing the PopMart stage for the first time. It was so cool, I was speechless. Then I watched them enter the stadium from the back, prizefighter style, to the tune of Pop Muzik. Still the coolest stage entry ever.
stevescouse
If You Wear That Velvet Dress
If you want a treat and haven't heard it (or even if you have), listen to Bono absolutely smash this one out of the park with Jools Holland & his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra on "More Friends - Small World, Big Band Volume Two" - talk about a contrast of styles from the original, but hell, it works!
Wildman55
saying HI to the band
my best friend and I flew to Vegas for the first POP show... raw & uneven. Then we saw it a couple of weeks later in Dallas... MUCH BETTER. Then later in the year they came back and I convinced a fellow U2 lover to drive to San Antonio for the show; I knew it would be much different as they reinvent their show when they come around again. WE had no tixs; bought a couple outside the Alamodome. When we went in, they pulled us to the side. Oh no! They reseated us because we were in a restricted view! We were tight above where the band comes out. BINGO. they had a little draped square right below us and when the warmup song before they come out and march through the crowd came on, the band appeared in there with Bono doing his boxing routine. I shouted down, "hey guys, have a good show!" They looked up and smiled/waved and Bono gave us the thumbs up... and then the curtain opened and off they went. AMAZING SHOW. so worth the drive. we listened to POP all the way home- 7 hours.
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