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The Story of U2 - Part 8

1996 was spent developing yet another album and yet more changes of direction and emphasis. As with Achtung Baby, the first single from the new album (in this case Discotheque) brought more questions than answers. The album itself was released in March 1997, and this too dispelled any doubts created by its lead-off single. This time the evolutionary process leans towards techno and dance influences. One story is that techno samples were introduced to take the pressure off Larry who had injured his back.

As with all U2 albums, Pop contains a mix of the brash and the beautiful, the loud and the lyrical. I am left with a feeling, however, that some of the brash bits don't work as well as their predecessors. But when critics complain that their music "doesn't sound like U2" the band's response is "but we are U2". The band chose to use each album to explore and extend their own musical inclinations rather than to trade on their past success. Mark Ellis (aka Flood), who had been involved in the production of several earlier albums, took the lead role on Pop.

In 1997 U2 embarked on their PopMart world tour, another massive venture complete with a gigantic golden arch, a gigantic lemon, a gigantic video screen and a gigantic convoy of trucks to transport it all. The tour took in North America, Europe, America again (North and South), Australia and Japan. Perhaps the high point came in September 1997, when U2 went straight from their biggest show in front of 150,000 people in Italy, to their most poignant in recently war-torn Sarajevo. The tour ended on March 21st 1998 in Johannesburg.

In April 1998 the band took yet another new direction when they appeared in the 200th episode of The Simpsons! After the PopMart tour everyone expected U2 to take another hard-earned break, but they are reported to be working on another album. A PopMart video of the concert in Mexico City was released at the start of November, along with a "Best Of U2" album covering the period from 1980 to 1990.

U2 Articles The History of U2 The History of U2 - Part 1 The History of U2 - Part 2 The History of U2 - Part 3 The History of U2 - Part 4 The History of U2 - Part 5 The History of U2 - Part 6 The History of U2 - Part 7 The History of U2 - Part 8 The History of U2 - Part 9 The Story of U2 The Story of U2 - Part 1 The Story of U2 - Part 2 The Story of U2 - Part 3 The Story of U2 - Part 4 The Story of U2 - Part 5 The Story of U2 - Part 6 The Story of U2 - Part 7 The Story of U2 - Part 8 U2 News & More U2 - January 1993 U2 - Worlds Most Popular Rock Act U2 Earnings - 2001 U2 In Africa U2 Performs for iPod Commercial U2 Gets Replacement Recording Studio U2 Article Index