Sunday Monday U2 Sermons: Thou shalt not dick around with POP

If there's one thing that George Lucas has taught me (besides, if you're a shitty writer and director, have someone else do that damn job), is that one shouldn't be seduced into the idea of revising the past.

Unfortuantely, U2 can't seem well enough alone. Every couple of years, like that relative that gets released and then sent back to jail after a drunk-driving relapse, there's talk about re-recording POP, the 1997 album that wasn't the critical or commercial success that the band hope it would be.

The album, made after Achtung Baby, takes electronica exploration one logical step further. The usual lyrics about love, emptiness, yearning, searching and redemption are shoved through a techno-fied blender powered by producer Howie B. When it came out in 1997, Britney was shaking her school-girl ass, the Spice Girls were hollering about if someone wanted to be their lover, they had to get with their friends and Hanson was mmmmmm...bopping its way to the number one position. In short, it seemed to fit in to the musical scene -- except that it was U2 (you know, those four sober-looking guys that stood in front of the Joshua Tree).

For folks who loved the echoing, broad soundscapes from the 80's, Pop was probably one step too far in experimentation. The band often treats it like a red-headed stepchild, saying that it wasn't finished and that if they didn't book the tour before finishing the album, it would have been great.

I disagree. Pop's a brilliant album in my mind. It effectively conveys the idea of the trash and the spiritual living together in uneasy compromise. It's also a continuation of Achtung Baby's idea of the subject getting lost in a world of knowledge and decadence. In Pop, the person's woken up with a pounding headache and looking around going, "Is this all there is?"

It doesn't need re-recording in my mind. But admittedly, I come from the viewpoint that once something is put out there, it's the finished product -- for better or worse. There is no going back and revising (despite what Lucas thinks) -- especially almost 10 years after the fact. My biggest fear is that Pop will be similar to Star Wars -- going through constant revision until the original ideas and concepts are erased away (or revised to the point beyond recognition).

The band now is not the same band that was in 1997 that came off of an experimental trip with Brian Eno. Hell, with the Best of 1990-2000 CD, they took out the "boomchas" in Discotheque. That omitted a layer of froth and fun for Pop, that I think was necessary to get the listener in the right state of mind for the album. It's like Han shot Greedo first -- the boomchas have to stay in Discotheque.

I hope that these are empty threats. I hope that the band doesn't re-record Pop, but if they do, I'm going to treasure my original, unfucked-with, CD a little more.