An Open Letter to Bono Regarding the Underrated Gem ‘Pop’

Dear Bono,

I know you’re still embarrassed about getting stuck inside that giant lemon.

You felt rushed to finish recording Pop and you weren’t quite satisfied. I get it. The Edge called it a “compromise” and Larry said that given more time, you would’ve had a “very different record.” You’ve even tried re-recording some of the tracks.

Announcing the tour from the lingerie section of a Kmart got you a lot of press (and was kind of brilliant, by the way) but album sales still weren’t what you hoped for. As an aside, I think we need to talk about your obsession with Billboard charts and radio airplay.

Here’s what I want to tell you: Forget about all that. Pop is great. It was ahead of its time, and it’s time for you to embrace it again.

I say all this as someone who really got on the U2 bandwagon with All That You Can’t Leave Behind, your big comeback album. I named my Tumblr after a line from “In a Little While.” And I still remember hearing “Beautiful Day” on the radio for the first time, driving north on I-85 from Atlanta with the windows down. It was a revelation.

So was Pop. I picked it up some time later for $5 at a used CD store (I hope you don’t mind) and fell in love. Okay, maybe not with “Miami.” That one took some time, I have to admit. Seventeen years on, the album as a whole still feels fresh and energetic. And I listen to it more often than anything you’ve recorded since.

Sure, some of your fans — even some of my own friends! — don’t like it or just don’t get it. I’m not sure why. After all, you started chopping down the Joshua Tree two albums earlier. Pop just burned the remains and scattered the ashes. I’ve tried to argue the whole thing can be understood through a single lyric.

I’m referring, of course, to “BOOM-CHA!”

But seriously, let’s talk about “Mofo.” You said it yourself once, your whole life is in that song. The ghost of your mother. Blaise Pascal and C.S. Lewis. That classic, ringing Edge guitar that rises up from underneath the drum loops. And the crucial lyric: “Looking for the baby Jesus under the trash.” Eight words that unlock an entire decade of your work.

Pop is confident and adventurous, with hidden depths.
It’s not perfect, but it’s thrilling.

And it’s still distinctly U2. No one else could sound like this. So why are you hiding your disco lights under a bushel?

Rumor has it you’re on the verge of releasing a new album, produced by Danger Mouse and maybe Paul Epworth and hopefully not that guy from OneRepublic, so this may be reaching you too late. Or perhaps it’s unnecessary. Maybe with your new collaborators, some of the same influences behind Pop will help put you back on top of the world.

Regardless of what happens in the studio, could you at least dust off a couple tracks for the next tour?

You got my head filled with songs,
John