Maps of Music

Pop (1997)

Where the lyrics of Pop take you, and where it was really made.

The album was rushed out, and the band later re-recorded and remixed many of its songs for singles and compilations.

Key places

Hanover Quay studio, Dublin (1997)

Recording site Hanover Quay studio (Dublin) — In September 1995 the band moved its Pop recording sessions here, to a studio it had just converted from a warehouse. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin (1997)

Recording site Windmill Lane Studios — Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin is listed among the recording locations connected with Pop. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

The Works, Dublin (1997)

Recording site The Works (Dublin) — The Works in Dublin is listed among the recording locations connected with Pop. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

South Beach, Miami (1997)

Recording site South Beach (Miami) — South Beach in Miami is listed among the recording locations connected with Pop. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

The Hit Factory, New York City (1997)

Recording site The Hit Factory — The Hit Factory in New York City is listed among the recording locations connected with Pop. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Pop: ninth studio album by the Irish rock band U2
• Produced by Flood, Howie B, and Steve Osborne; released 3 March 1997 on Island Records
• Continues the band's 1990s musical reinvention, mixing alternative rock, techno, dance, and electronica into its sound
• Uses sampling, loops, programmed drum machines, and sequencing, which were relatively new to U2

Background

• Recording began in 1995 with several producers, including Nellee Hooper, who introduced the band to electronica influences
• Larry Mullen Jr. was inactive due to a back injury, so the other members took different approaches to songwriting
• Some songs, including 'If You Wear That Velvet Dress' and 'Wake Up Dead Man', were first conceived during the Zooropa sessions
• Manager Paul McGuinness booked the upcoming PopMart Tour before the record was finished, leaving the band feeling rushed
• The release was delayed from the 1996 Christmas and holiday season to March 1997

Recording

• In September 1995 the sessions moved to Hanover Quay in Dublin, a studio the band had just converted from a warehouse
• Sessions lasted until December 1995, producing around 30–40 pieces of music
• Mullen had major surgery on his back in November 1995
• Hooper left the sessions in May 1996 and was not credited on the album
• The album was mastered in New York in November 1996, with changes still being made

Cover

• Photography by Stéphane Sednaoui and Anja Grabert

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• U2 are an Irish rock band formed in Dublin in 1976 by teenage pupils of Mount Temple Comprehensive School.
• Members: Bono (lead vocals), the Edge (guitar, keyboards, vocals), Adam Clayton (bass), Larry Mullen Jr. (drums).
• The band was first named Feedback, then The Hype, and in March 1978 took the name U2.
• They won the Pop Group '78 talent contest in Limerick and signed with Island Records in 1980.

Career

• Debut album Boy (1980); War (1983) was their first UK number-one album.
• The Joshua Tree (1987) made them international stars and was their greatest critical and commercial success, selling about 25 million copies.
• The band reinvented their sound in the 1990s with Achtung Baby (1991) and the Zoo TV Tour.
• Their 2009–2011 360° Tour held records for the highest-grossing concert tour until 2019.
• In 2023 they released Songs of Surrender and began the U2:UV Achtung Baby Live residency at Sphere in Las Vegas.
• Estimated record sales: about 170 million worldwide; 22 Grammy Awards; Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees (2005).

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Pop initially received favourable reviews from critics
• Barney Hoskyns of Rolling Stone: four stars, praising the band's use of technology on the album
• David Browne of Entertainment Weekly: B rating, saying the album is still very much a U2 album despite new technology
• Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times: four stars out of four, judging the album to benefit from the tension of competing influences
• James Hunter of Spin: 9/10, saying the record realizes a symphonic transcendence the band's earlier work could only wish for
• Bernard Zuel of The Sydney Morning Herald: praised the understated tracks and the influence of Howie B
• Neil Strauss of The New York Times: negative, writing that U2 sounded inspired early on and that now it sounds expensive
• Parry Gettelman of the Orlando Sentinel: two stars, finding the attempt to merge rock with dance rhythms underwhelming

Reappraisal

• Retrospectively, Pop is viewed in the music press and public as a disappointment
• Spin's 2013 article was more critical than its original review, calling the period U2's nadir
• Elvis Costello included the album in his 2000 list of 500 Albums You Need
• Hot Press ranked the album at number 104 on its 2009 list of the 250 Greatest Irish Albums of All Time
• Bobby Olivier of Billboard believed Pop was the band's last legitimately courageous project
• In 2018, BBC included it on its list of acclaimed albums that nobody listens to any more

Records

• Debuted at number one in 27 countries, including the UK and the US, per the commercial performance section
• Number one in 35 countries, including the UK and the US, per the lead section
• First week in the US: 349,000 copies sold
• Second week in the US: sales fell 57 per cent to 150,000 copies
• Lifetime sales are among the lowest in U2's catalogue
• Certified RIAA platinum once, the lowest since the band's album October

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The album was dedicated to Bill Graham, one of the band's earliest fans, who died in 1996 and had suggested that Paul McGuinness become U2's manager.
• On 26 October 1996, a Hungary-based fansite leaked clips of 'Discothèque' and 'Wake Up Dead Man', an early internet leak for U2.
• Pop featured six international singles, the most the band had released from a single album.
• Nellee Hooper left the sessions in May 1996 for his commitments on the Romeo + Juliet film score.
• The Malaysian edition of Pop has a censored version of 'Wake Up Dead Man' that omits one profane word.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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