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When it comes to the appreciation of disco, North Americans and Europeans are oceans apart. Generally, Europeans consider dance music viable and progressive. However, ask North Americans about disco and often you'll be given the brusque response: 'It sucks!'

But if those same North Americans are also fans of U2, they'll be in for a rude awakening when the band's new album, Pop, is released on March 4. Seems like Bono and the boys have been soaking up the sounds of club culture in the four years since their last album, Zooropa. And Pop, though not a full-blown disco album, shows techno and industrial influences to varying degrees throughout its 12 tracks. Of course, U2 flirted with dance music on Zooropa and 1991's Achtung Baby, but this time the experiments are bolder and sexier. Pop's first single and opening track 'Discotheque' is a close cousin of 'The Fly,' yet the latter sounds anemic compared to the booming rhythms, buzzing guitars and dense arrangement of the former.

'Discotheque' may be a studio-crafted concoction but, ironically, U2 has rarely sounded so loose and so free. The next two tracks maintain the momentum. 'Do You Feel Love' is carried by an in-your-face bass line that closely follows New Order's 'Melody for Confusion'; and 'Mofo,' with its machine-gun-like blasts of electronic bass, is an all-out techno track that's unrecognizable as U2 until Bono starts to sing. It is, undoubtedly, Pop's boldest stroke. After 'Mofo,' U2 retreats a bit.

Pop's middle three songs ('Staring at the Sun,' 'Last Night on Earth' and 'Gone') still shuffle along to accentuated, syncopated rhythms, but they remain standard U2 rock tracks - albeit fine, ingratiatingly tuneful rock tracks. The tempo slows for the album's second half, with the electronically treated instruments painting ambient landscapes - in fact, 'If You Wear That Velvet Dress' even brings back the ethereal, ringing guitar style that earmarked U2's work on The Unforgettable Fire.

So, Pop isn't the band's most daring and adventurous album - Zooropa maintains that title - but it is deceptively substantial. On the surface, U2 is aligning itself with the hedonism and moral ambiguity of dance culture, specifically Britain's Ecstacy-fuelled rave scene - but only to point out how disconnected society has become to notions of God and faith. In 'The Playboy Mansion,' Bono plays the part of the Modern Thrill-seeking Man (or Woman) by making the gates of Hugh Hefner's palace of pleasure sound like the Pearly Gates. Pop culture, Bono suggests, has become our new object of worship; the pursuit of thrills and overstimulation our new religion.

And what has become of the mysticism that's been in U2's music from Day 1? Bono - who once declared, 'Oh Lord, if I had anything/Anything at all/I'd give it to you' - still pleads to the heavens, but now he sounds disillusioned.

'God has got his phone off the hook,' he sings in 'If God Will Send His Angels,' only to add: 'Jesus never let me down/You know Jesus used to show me the score/Then they put Jesus in show business/Now it's hard to get in the door.' Later, on the closing track 'Wake Up Dead Man,' Bono sings resigningly: 'Jesus, I'm waiting here boss/I know you're looking out for us/But maybe your hands aren't free.'

Songs Of Innocence

In the end, Pop is not about disco music or dance culture. Ultimately, it's about being surrounded by people but feeling utterly alone and isolated; it's about having it all but feeling you have nothing; it's the sounds and moods of a pop-culture hangover.

Ten years have passed since U2 first declared: 'I still haven't found what I'm looking for.' They haven't stopped looking but, with Pop, they've decided to shake their booties while they continue the search. © Calgary Sun, 1997. All rights reserved.

Dubliners U2 started in their hometown in 1976. They began their legacy rooting their music in the political turmoil that was all around them. After having Steve Lillywhite produce their first three albums, U2 looked for a more commercial sound.

They hired Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno to produce 'The Unforgettable Fire' and 'The Joshua Tree' albums, which both put them onto the charts all over the world. After the 80s ended U2 re-invented themselves once again. Incorporating elements of electronics into their rock construct, U2 created a new sound with 'Achtung Baby'.

Live

Bono and the band used their notoriety more than ever expressing their opinions on social matters on a global scale. Inducted into Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 2005 (Performer). Members: Paul David Hewson (aka Bono) David Howell Evans (aka The Edge) Adam Charles Clayton Lawrence Joseph Mullen Jr. Due to their uncanny ability to change with the times, U2 have managed to stay alive as the majority of their '80s counterparts have disappeared.

Disco

The evolution of their music is ongoing, and each new record seems to bring a never-before encountered style to the band's oeuvre. From the jangly Post-Punk of their earliest records to the genre-exploding extravaganza that marked their hyper-rhythmic re-entry into the post-Nirvana world, the quartet has provided an utterly original sound and a rarely matched depth of feeling every time. Clearly inspired by post punk legends joy division (in fact Bono is has often cited Ian Curtis as his biggest influence) alongside Kurt Cobain.

Songs

The band continues to produce emotionally stunning music, injecting everything from countrified pedal steel, gurgling Techno sounds and processed hip-hop beats into their particular brand of Euro-rock.In 2000, U2 showed a spectacular return to form with the release of All That You Can't Leave Behind. Singles such as 'It's a Beautiful Day,' 'Stuck In A Moment.,' 'Walk On' and 'Elevation' helped redefine the band's sound once again, with All That You Can't Leave Behind going platinum three times over.

Original players in the post-rock sound, U2 came full circle in 2004, when they released How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. Ironically, the album was released in the midst of a trendy resurgence of post-punk, cementing U2's place as pioneers of the sound. Fittingly, U2 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005, i just wish now that Bono would stop trying to be like Sting and Bob Geldof!! I don't disagree with all the U2 detractors when they complain about the band's persona, their marketing tactics, or their crusading, self aggrandizing theatrics. However, it has become quite popular to bash them and yet they remain incredibly vital and ambitious as artists and songwriters. 'Songs of Innocence', for all of the wailing and gnashing of teeth over the forced download, is actually another great effort. That's nothing to say of the magnificent and relatively ignored 'No Line On The Horizon'.

If you ever enjoyed U2, ignore the naysayers and get back to listening to the music. The last 20 years have been glorious.

When MTV first came out in the early 80's, Gloria video was played constantly. I bought October and thought it was pretty good. My friend in school was the president of a club at his church in Grand Rapids, MI and said U2 was going to play there. He asked if I wanted tickets. They were $7 each and I thought it would be pretty cool to see another rock band play in a church. I had seen the Romantics there the year before.

The Joshua Tree

I took my girlfriend and we were incredibly impressed. There were maybe 4-500 people in all.15 years later, I saw them at Mile High in Denver to a crowd of 20,000. Wow how times had changed a band!