Zooropa

A friend of mine had posted a status on facebook about the greatness of U2’s Zooropa -an album proclaimed by many as their worst-I agreed… when I was 10 (and it creeped me out when I was 7). As time has passed, and as U2 has become more comfortable making the same generic/pseudo-spiritual/commercial music, Zooropa gets better with age.

So while avoiding studying for a bit I took a stroll down memory lane via YouTube and enjoyed not only the music but even the videos. I don’t remember seeing a music video with such artistic integrity. It reminded me of early European modernist views of the human form through photography.

Lemon, Stay (Faraway So Close), Numb, and Zooropa are all catchy classics that cap off the artistic/experimental phase of the band.

I guess if the album had a message, for me it always seemed to be about Europe after the fall of Communism and rise of the commodity-oriented Western World of the 1990’s. It is a message that is no longer of much interest or relevance but its always great to blow the dust of the cassette and give it a spin.

Artistically I’d say they’ve been irrelevant since Pop, maybe even since Zooropa but they still pull out a catchy tune or two every album. I’ve learned to accept the fact that every great band peaks and then spends another 10-20 years milking it.