POP
Without rehashing all of the reasons as to why i choose this one, let me just say that the first u2 album i purchased new for myself was Zooropa (i think i purchased JT for a girl back in middle school). After Zooropa i became very interested and decided to dive into the back catalog, which was interesting to me because i had certainly heard the hits but not the deep cuts. Also i tend to get around to things in my own time which can take years.
So between the ZooTV tour (which i missed) and POP there was quite a chilling off period of 2-3 years which seemed like an eternity for me at that age. Miss Sarajevo and HMTMKMKM somehow were released within six months of each other - imagine that - two great songs that have stood the test of time and yet sounded completely different from each other. During the summer of 95 Batman was blasted through the speakers of my Camaro countless times on the way to and from the beach. I went to Egypt in the late summer and returned in the winter to find Miss Sarajevo on MTV.
There was plenty of talk about the new album, intense wild speculation, and then of course the delays. "New Adventures in Hi Fi' from REM would have to hold me over until U2s album would finally appear. I left active duty military in the spring of 1996 to come back home and find out that home was not really what i had expected it to be. 1996 was a down year for me, adjusting back to civilian life after being in the military since 1989. Even though i remained in the national guard while selling cars full time - it just wasn't the same. I moved at an entirely different speed than everyone else and you make strong bonds in the military that last a lifetime because of where you go and what you've been through together. Lets just say that after years of moving around i wasn't quite ready to settle down. Eventually I found a government contracting job with the military in Korea and so off i went right back into the circus i had barely left.
Discotheque hit the radio a few months after i was back in country. And then POP arrived. I had already read the RS and SPIN reviews on the new album, tried to imagine in my head what these songs would sound like based on the title and description in the magazine articles. Never had i anticipated something so much in my life as this new album. I remember the day it showed up in the PX in Yongsan, Seoul, South Korea. I was with an army officer and we were walking around Itaewon shopping district on a warm afternoon in early march and i had the CD in the little bag. We went to a quaint bar high above the chaos of the traffic and crowded streets below.
As i sat there sipping my beer and looking over the CD case, the Major was giving me an earful about something but i couldn't have understood a word he said as i opened the CD case and looked over the booklet inside. The young Korean bartender noticed the CD and asked me what it was, once i told him he seemed excited and asked if he could play some of it for us on the sound system. Of course i said "YES" and so he put it in and played the familiar Discotheque, but then afterwards i heard DYFL for the very first time streaming through the speakers....what a rush.
The Major continued talking and all i could hear was that bassline and those lyrics. But then as the song faded away into next there was the sound of mountains being moved as MOFO kicked off. Finally the Major stopped talking for a moment and a puzzled look came across his face, "This is U2" he would ask me in genuine surprise.
We only listened to the first three songs and then it was time to go to the next stop, which i believe was a steakhouse. After the chaotic sounds of MOFO played out in the upstairs bar that afternoon - suddenly everything and nothing at all in my life made sense - the chaos was normal. The noisy traffic, the crowds, the honking of horns down below.....we were able to drown it all out for a little while with the musical equivalent of a supernova....and the promise of more to come.