U2 has gone through more than a few changes in their 50-year career but Bono has been praised for the “biggest change” the band has ever made. The Edge and company may be willing to adapt their style and have done so well over the years but one of the band’s boldest choices came through 1997 to 2000. U2 fans came together to hail Bono for his choices at the time and suggested it was the largest overhaul of the band’s sound and image at that time.
Both Pop and All That You Can Leave Behind were hailed by fans as one of the biggest changes in tone and style to U2 to date. One fan took to the U2 subreddit and wrote: “Hello! I think the shift from the Pop era of U2 to All That You Can’t Leave Behind was arguably the biggest change in the band’s sound and image. Unfortunately, I wasn’t alive at the time, so I’m curious about those who were.
“What was the transition from Pop to All That You Can Leave Behind like from 1997 to 2000? What was the general news, discussion, and expectation around the band during that period? What were you personally expecting from the next album after Pop, and what were your first reactions when All That You Can’t Leave Behind came out?”
Fans who were around for both release cycles have since weighed in on what it meant to them as listeners, but also to how it affected the band. One person wrote: “Huge huge hype. U2 was the band in 2000 and All That You Can Leave Behind was seen as this ‘back to basics return to form.’ I was really young and I enjoyed Pop. All That You Can’t Leave Behind for me was too mellow and saccharine.
“On the flip side, my dad was a fan since ’83 and he felt this was the ‘real U2’ coming back finally after a dark period of 90s experimentation. Pop was everywhere previously, but I think there was a sense that it didn’t push any boundaries from the ZooTV days, and felt like a confused retread. The newer DnB/Trip Hop experimentation didn’t come through as much as was advertised and that whole side of the music was lost on the mainstream public anyway.”
Another added: “Pop was not considered a mainstream success on the scale of The Joshua Tree or Achtung Baby. The first single Beautiful Day was a return to more familiar sounds and really seemed like an abject appeal for mainstream acceptance. Lots of Bono’s stage patter at the time reflected them ‘reapplying for position of best rock n roll band in the world.’
“The album production reflects a lot of that mindset. The album’s success was further galvanised after 9/11 and appearances at the Super Bowl etc. They were playing smaller venues in the US with more intimate staging (the opposite of Popmart) and really fought to get back into public consciousness. That shift in the sound you hear is The Edge planting a few more Joshua Trees.”
A third shared: “To me at the time it was like a breath of fresh air. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Pop and Popmart for what it was, but it was time to move on from that. In the 90s, they were really pushing the envelope with these extravagant tours and wild shows. ZooTV was wild and Popmart just pushed the envelope into the weird shit.
“In the 90s they were putting on these false personas and dressing up in costumes, and then in 2000 I felt like we had the authentic U2 back. It’s like they took the coolness of the ZooTV area and the earnestness of The Joshua Tree era and put them together, and it was just U2 and it’s who they’ve been ever since.”
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